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Ladies Irked by Zaharias SignDirector says it was all in jestby Richard Mudry (Tampa Tribune, 6/26/75)Some people make mountains out of mole hills. Take, for instance, the rift last week at Babe Zaharias Golf Club over a locker sign. The sign said: "For rent. Lockers at $3 per quarter. Bring your own lock -- perfect for wife storage and other bothersome items while playing golf." Harmless enough, huh? Nope. Seems some female golfers were upset over the handmade poster that was adorned with a lady golfer in a mock-up locker. That group took their complaints to Commissioner Betty Castor. Mrs. Castor relayed the complaints to Tampa Sports Authority (TSA) member and fellow commissioner Bob Bondi. Bondi then asked TSA head Joe Zalupski to have the sign removed and the latter "made one phone call and remedied the situation in 30 minutes." Yet the disagreement was not intentionally meant by the group which operates Babe Zaharias, a course named after the greatest woman athlete ever, says pro Bobby Stricklin. "I walked in Monday and Bert (Stump, assistant pro) had taken down the sign," said the club's golf director and pro. "We didn't mean to offend anyone by it. We thought people would think it was in good humor. Just looking at it you could see that it was all in jest." The sign, which now reposes in Stricklin's office at the club, had sold about half of the 20 rental lockers, according to the pro. Whether that is sign-related or not is indeterminable. What is the lack of sense of humor these days in the golfing society we live? Perhaps it is the state of the world. But surely women cannot claim a bias by the club since it opened last September. "We're not chauvinists," says Stricklin. ""We've only got a women's golf association. And they were not at all offended with the sign. The first tournament we had was the Babe Zaharias Ladies Invitational and the first special day discounts we gave were for ladies day." That ladies day special rate began in October, long before any junior, senior citizen or businessmen's discount rates went into effect. Now you think, perhaps the sign was taken out of context. Perhaps. Then it might help to know, and this is the clincher, that the controversial sign was hand-made by a female woman's right advocate of the club's staff. Oh, well, back to the drawing board.
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