NAACP joins effort to save Lions Municipal Golf Course

Austin (KXAN) — National and state NAACP leaders joined the Muny Conservancy to honor the course's 100 year anniversary and push for its further preservation as development threatens its future.

Austin (KXAN) — National and state NAACP leaders joined the Muny Conservancy to honor the course's 100 year anniversary and push for its preservation as development threatens its future.

The Lions Municipal Golf Course is hailed as a landmark civil-rights site. Founded in the 1920s, it's regarded as the first-ever integrated golf course in the south, that taking place during the Jim Crow era in 1950s.

National NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson addressed a crowd inside the course's clubhouse. He said the course deserves to remain as it is and serve as a reminder of the progress civil rights has made in this arena.

"The golf course is an opportunity for people to come together around a game that they love, but the ability to socialize is a great equalizer. And this is the opportunity for Austin and the state of Texas to preserve this historical site," Johnson said.

Gary Bledsoe, Texas NAACP President, also addressed the crowd. He said the University of Texas owns the land the course is on, its future currently threatened by a proposed multi-use development site.

"During the week that we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday, we are here to say that MUNY is more than the land it occupies, more than something measured in dollars and cents or as a potential redevelopment opportunity. As a public space with a rich history, MUNY represents how we can cooperatively work together to overcome racial division," Bledsoe said.

Ed Clements with the Muny Conservancy said the organization hopes for a more-concrete arrangement with the University of Texas and City of Austin in the near future.

Time is of the essence and we need to get solid, solid commitment from the university and the city to carry on this 100 year old golf course," Clements said.