Billie Chesney vs. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Billie Chesney died over the weekend. In 2013 I wrote about her efforts to keep the photos in the very first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue out of the hands of her 13-year-old son Gary. 

Gary Chesney started subscribing to Sports Illustrated when he was in the seventh grade at Ross N. Robinson Junior High. Coincidentally that was the same year that the magazine began its annual Swimsuit issue.

“It didn’t get my attention,” recalls Gary, 50 years later. “The second Swimsuit Issue in 1965 didn’t either. But it did grab the attention of my alert mother, Billie.”

 Gary says that glancing through the weekly sports magazine was just a routine for him. “I flipped through the 1965 Swimsuit Issue and tossed it aside to read whenever.”

But later that night… “My father came into my room carrying some pages and said, ‘Son, your mother didn’t think these pictures were suitable for you but I disagreed and think you’re old enough.’”

Then he handed Gary the color pictures of girls in swimsuits that had been “surgically” removed by razor blade from his new Sports Illustrated.

“I hadn’t even noticed! I suppose this was a bonding moment of sorts for me and my dad. But mom wasn’t taking being overruled lightly. She vowed to write a letter to the magazine and let them know what she thought. Mom was always threatening to write a letter then toss it before mailing, so I gave it no more concern.”

Flash forward to 2008. Gary’s dad had just passed away.

“I was cleaning out his desk drawers. Tucked way back in an old crumpled folder containing the mundane trivia important only to Dad, I found a letter written to my mother from a female editor’s assistant at SportsIllustrated. This lady had apparently heard from plenty of America’s mothers about models in swimsuits and who should not be seeing them. One of those mothers was mine. I don’t know what Mom’s letter said, but the editor of Sports Illustrated wasn’t swayed. I never knew about this letter and I suppose Dad probably thought I was old enough to see that, too. But I also think experience told him he’d best keep quiet.”

 When the 50^th anniversary edition of the Swimsuit Issue landed in Gary’s mailbox this past week, it reminded him of his mother’s long ago exchange with SI. And he dug it out of his files.

A much-put-upon junior staffer who identified herself as Mrs. Gertrude Miner wrote to Gary’s mother:

Thank you for writing SPORTS ILLUSTRATED in regard to the January 18 cover story. We respect your views and appreciate the time you took to let us know how you feel. We are glad of this opportunity to explain our editorial position to you. Although you suggest that a fashion article does not belong in a sports magazine, we feel it does. From the magazine's inception we planned a fair amount of what might be called circumferential sportsmaterial, including travel, nature, fashions and so forth. We are sorry this particular article has caused you distress. Our readers' opinions, whether pro or con, are important to the editors and carefully considered.

Sports Illustrated admitted to Mrs. Chesney that it had received “heavy” mail about the issue. But it stood its ground and kept publishing Swimsuit Issues. And half a century later they are still publishing them. And they are still stirring up controversy.

Gary says, “I can tell you those ‘swimsuits’ in the 1964 (and ’65) issues could probably be worn to school today without violating any dress code policies.”