PHOENIX — As we honor those who fought for civil rights this Black History month, ABC15 is taking a look back at Arizona's rocky history that led the NFL to cancel the state's first Super Bowl 30 years ago.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed into law a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But it would be 10 more years until Arizona officially honored it.
In 1986, then Governor Bruce Babitt signed an order recognizing the day as a state holiday. But a year later, Governor Evan Mecham cancelled it. According to the Associated Press, Mecham claimed "Babbit's action was illegal. In addition, he said no other American, including King, rated having a holiday alongside George Washington and Abraham Lincoln."
"We were trying to fight that Arizona would join the nation for a King holiday," Dr. Warren H. Stewart said.
It was a fight, led by Stewart, with marches across the Valley. Long-time Mesa resident and former NFL player John Goodie joined them.
"The first couple times I marched in the parade and then I was given a bullhorn," Goodie said. "What do we want, a holiday. When do we want it, now."
The backlash put Arizona in the national spotlight.
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"It sort of illuminated to me hate in the Valley," said NAACP Education Chair in Arizona Michael Williams. "Although we didn't use that term at the time, hate."
It got the attention of civil rights icon Rosa Parks and musicians, like Stevie Wonder, boycotted the state.
"He eventually had written a song, 'Happy Birthday', this classic song all about MLK day," said Dr. Scott Brooks, director of the Global Sport Institute at ASU. "In it, in some ways, he was shaming Arizona."
But when it went to the ballot, Arizonans said they still didn't want it, voting against the holiday in 1990. There were two propositions, that both failed. One would have eliminated Columbus Day as a paid state holiday and substituted it with MLK day. The other would've added MLK day as an additional paid holiday.
"One was accepting or continuing with MLK Day and getting rid of Columbus Day, so that sounds more like a business decision, how many days off are we giving?" Brooks said. "Then there's a question of do you just add on MLK Day and businesses may not be in support of whether or not there's an additional day. You can also look at this as a social justice issue. Just the very simple fact of this is celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so what does this mean for people?"
"With only 3 to 4% of Black people in the state, they said, why do you Black people want a holiday? So we had to educate them that the King holiday, one, is an American holiday, a federal holiday and Dr. King represents America at its best," said Stewart.
"Now you get into the global issues around sports. The threat of boycott... in terms of athletes really feeling this wasn't a game that was safe for them, this wasn't a game they could get behind if it were here in Arizona," added Brooks. Brooks, alongside ASU and OH Predictive Insights, recently conducted a national survey looking into how Americans perceive social justice issues and sports.
"The business community came on board because they wanted the Super Bowl, but there were hundreds of thousands of Arizonans who voted for the right reason," said Stewart.
The issue prompted the NFL, for the very first time, to move the Super Bowl set for 1993 out of Arizona and to California instead.
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"I can't think of a better way to protest non-violently then to lose the biggest show or the biggest game of the world out of the state that refused to honor a man that had a dream, and it was a shock," Goodie said.
Arizonans eventually voted yes, and Super Bowl XXX was held at Sun Devil Stadium in 1996, a move described by some as bittersweet.
"Because it came down to economics and not that the people felt it was the right thing to do," Williams said.
