Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990 TAG: 9007270068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BIRMINGHAM, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
The new policy, however, probably will not deter demonstrators from picketing the tournament site, Aug. 9-12, when professional golf brings one of its four major events to the all-white club.
Three major sponsors - IBM, Toyota and Anheuser-Busch - already have said they were dropping their advertisements during ABC and ESPN telecasts of the championship because of Shoal Creek's membership policy.
On Thursday, Delta Airlines, the official airline of the PGA, also was said to be reducing its level of participation.
"The entire matter is an embarrassment to the city," said Arrington, who is black. He has been negotiating behind the scenes with Shoal Creek, business and civic leaders and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The controversy began last month when Shoal Creek's founder, Hall Thompson, said the club would not be pressured into accepting black members - a statement for which he later apologized.
Arrington, serving his third term as the city's first black chief executive, called a news conference specifically to address the membership issue and the problems it has caused the tournament and town.
He produced a clarification of Shoal Creek's bylaws and a letter from Thompson; both said no proposed member would be turned down because of race.
The mayor said he was confident, "based on these good faith commitments, that Shoal Creek's membership will include blacks within the next year."
Private country clubs "all over the country practice discrimination," Arrington said, adding that if Shoal Creek is integrated, "we will be leading the country in that regard."
He said that while in the past Shoal Creek had no policy barring blacks, its bylaws were silent on the issue "and the practice appeared clearly to be one of exclusion of blacks with rare exceptions."
The new policy, he said, "clearly is non-discriminatory."
"I believe that black membership at Shoal Creek will become a reality in the near future and that the proposed demonstrations at the PGA will not be necessary to achieve this end," Arrington said.
However, the Rev. Abraham Woods, president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference who has been organizing demonstrations, said he wanted "something more than on paper" before he would call off the protestors.
He said that Arrington "has full confidence in good-faith efforts. I've said all along we need substance."
Woods had said he would call off his protest if the club accepted Arrington as an honorary member, suggesting that a corporate sponsor could pay the $35,000 initiation fee.
Arrington at first said country clubs were "not my style," but he said Thursday he would reconsider.
Nevertheless, he said, "the likelihood is very slim of being accepted before the tournament. I don't know where the honorary matter stands."
Woods, however, noted that Arrington was "the first citizen of the city and the most prominent person in the city. He's qualified and they know him. They wouldn't have to do a lot of scrutinizing on him."
Woods later identified two men he said could pay the dues and are interested in joining: Donald Watkins, a lawyer who has represented the city, and Jim White, a certified public accountant, the state revenue commissioner from 1983-87 under appointment by then-Gov. George C. Wallace and now a member of a state tax-study committee created by the Legislature.
Woods said he doesn't understand why the membership process should take very long, and that he still wants to see black members of Shoal Creek before the PGA.
Steve Bradley, tournament publicity chairman, said he understood the question of an honorary membership for Arrington is moot and that Woods "now wants a full-time regular member by the tournament."
The PGA reissued a statement it made July 14 saying it had "initiated a detailed review, in concert with our co-sponsors, to determine all pertinent information concerning the membership policies of these private clubs."
In Atlanta, a civil rights leader said the PGA protest would extend to the Masters, the most prestigious of United States tournaments.
"The PGA and golf are eons behind other sports," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Lowery promised to call for advertisers to boycott the Masters next year if the Augusta National Golf Club continues to exclude black members.
by CNB