Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990 TAG: 9006210506
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Hall Thompson, 67, said club members have not allowed any black members because "that's just not done in Birmingham."
Thompson's remarks followed a city councilman's criticism of the club's policy and a call to cut municipal funding from the Aug. 6-12 PGA tournament.
"Bringing up this issue will just polarize the community . . . but it can't pressure us," Thompson said.
He said Shoal Creek's members include Jews, women, Lebanese and Italians - but no blacks.
"The country club is our home, and we pick and choose who we want," he said.
Officials with the PGA of America said if a club is found to discriminate, it could impact a decision whether to hold a PGA Championship there. But it won't affect the 1990 PGA at Shoal Creek.
"This was not a point in 1984 [when the championship was held at Shoal Creek]," PGA of America president Pat Rielly said in a phone interview from his home in Pasadena, Calif. "This has become a point, or issue, in the last two years."
Rielly said the PGA has found no discriminatory written policies at Shoal Creek, but the organization can do little if a club has unwritten rules.
Birmingham Mayor Richard Arrington described the racially segregated country clubs in Birmingham as an "an embarrassment." He said he made a distinction between the exclusive country club, in a wooded area on the southeast fringe of Birmingham, and the Professional Golfers' Association.
Blacks played the course during the 1984 tournament.
by CNB