Background
He was one of six children and only son of Julia Mae Williams of Shreveport, Louisiana. His father abused his mother before abandoning the family altogether.
He was one of six children and only son of Julia Mae Williams of Shreveport, Louisiana. His father abused his mother before abandoning the family altogether.
He graduated from high school, moved to Chicago, and eventually to California, where he met Betty Johnson, whom he married in 1965.
He says that he wrote up a 78-page plan, and started giving lessons to Venus and Serena when they were four and a half, and began taking them to the public tennis courts. (He now says he feels like he took them too early, and six is a better age) Soon he got them into Shreveport tennis tournaments. In 1995, Richard pulled them out of a tennis academy, and coached them himself.
After that victory, Richard shouted "Straight Outta Compton!" (in reference to a song by NWA based on that area in Los Angeles) and jumped over the National Broadcasting Company broadcasting booth, catching Chris Evert by surprise and performing a triumphant dance.
Evert said that the broadcasters "thought the roof was coming down".