Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990 TAG: 9007270649
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BIRMINGHAM, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
"We've dealt with good faith efforts before, when the crisis was over, and those people sometimes developed amnesia," said the Rev. Abraham Woods after Birmingham's black mayor said Thursday he had assurances that Shoal Creek would consider taking in blacks.
Mayor Richard Arrington said, however, that because it normally takes six months to get into Shoal Creek, even on an expedited basis, he expects no black members prior to the tournament, one of the four majors on the professional golf tour.
Despite Arrington's efforts to end the controversy, a fourth corporation reportedly pulled its commercials from the tournament telecast. The Birmingham Post-Herald reported today that Honda Motor Company spokesman Bob Butorac said the automaker would shift its ads to another sporting event on ESPN rather than run them during the first round of the PGA. Butorac could not be reached immediately at his Los Angeles office to confirm the report.
Earlier, Toyota, IBM and Anheuser-Busch said they were dropping plans to run commercials either on ABC or ESPN during the networks' coverage of the tournament.
Arrington said at a news conference Thursday that Shoal Creek's governors and members had assured him that efforts would be made to take in blacks at the club, located in adjoining Shelby County south of Birmingham. The mayor displayed copies of clarifications of the club's bylaws, plus a letter from founder Hall Thompson, promising that race would not be determined in voting on proposed members.
Woods said, however, he wants "something more than on paper, more than something they say they'll do" before he calls off protests during the tournament, expected to be attended by about 140,000 people.
"I love my mayor, but I love justice and freedom better," said Woods, adding that Shoal Creek should have or could actively recruit a black member before the tournament.
Arrington, Woods said, "has full confidence in `good faith efforts.' I've said all along we need substance."
He has suggested Arrington himself as a Shoal Creek member, and the mayor said he would reconsider any such offer although his earlier reaction was that country clubs were "not my style."
Woods later suggested two blacks whom he said could pay the dues and are interested in joining Shoal Creek. He named Donald Watkins, an attorney who has represented the city in various cases, and Jim White, a Birmingham accountant and former state revenue commissioner who now serves on a Legislature-appointed state tax study committee.
He says he doesn't see why the membership process should take six months. He said he wants to see black members of Shoal Creek before the tournament.
The tournament's publicity chairman, Steve Bradley, said he understands that the question of an honorary membership for Arrington was now moot and that Woods wants a full-time regular member by tournament time.
"It is frustrating for all those involved when they feel they have come three-quarters of the way in good faith with some tangible steps and those are rejected out of hand, and that it appears that those on the other side of the issue won't even take a few steps to come a quarter of the way," he said.
Bradley said that "when the mayor of this city stands up and says it's good enough for him, it makes you wonder if there was ever a real intent by Rev. Woods to be reasonable on the issue and help resolve it.
"What they're really saying is, `We don't trust what you put on a piece of paper.' That is a commitment that people involved in this issue do not take lightly."
Thompson said in a newspaper interview six weeks ago that Shoal Creek, which has a $35,000 initiation fee, would not be pressured into accepting black members, a statement for which he later apologized.
Along with the corporations dropping plans to run commercials on television during the tournament, Delta Airlines, the official airline of the Professional Golfers' Association, was also reported to be planning to reduce its level of participation. But Dean Breest, a spokesman for Delta in Atlanta, said the company's relationship was with the association, not the tournament, and Delta was hopeful the opposing parties at Shoal Creek "are going to work it out."
Breest said the company would not speculate on its plans with several days for matters at Shoal Creek to be resolved. As the official airline of the PGA, Delta provides transportation for members and operates a desk to handle travel arrangements at the PGA tournament, he said.
Arrington, after displaying the documents from Shoal Creek, said he was confident, "based on these good faith commitments, that Shoal Creek's membership will include blacks within the next year.
Keywords:
GOLF
by CNB