Martin Luther King Jr. Day, colloquially known as MLK Day, was deemed a federal holiday in聽1986. However, not all 50 states observed the day until 2000 when it was recognized by South Carolina. Another late holdout was Arizona.
In 1990, the voters of Arizona rejected a proposal to create a paid holiday for MLK Day. This happened while the University of Louisville Football team, under the lead of Coach Howard Schnellenberger, was slated to play in the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, on Jan. 1, 1991, versus Alabama.
Their original opponent was the University of Virginia, but that university聽declined the bid in the wake of Arizona鈥檚 controversial vote.
UofL accepted the bid, a move one Louisville civil rights leader called 鈥渕orally regrettable,鈥 according to the book 鈥淭he University of Louisville,鈥 by Dwayne D. Cox and William J. Morison.
Still, UofL trustee chair Woodford Porter Sr. urged acceptance, as did the football team鈥檚 players, who voted unanimously to play.
Those players wore a patch during the game that read,鈥 The Dream Lives On,鈥 as well as a helmet decal representing the university鈥檚 cultural diversity. (Alabama players wore black armbands with 鈥淢LK鈥 on them).
Notably, the university stood to gain as much as $2.5 million for its partic
ipation, and the bowl鈥檚 sponsors pledged an additional $200,000 for minority student scholarship at the participating schools.
UofL President Donald C. Swain proposed using the bowl revenue to strengthen UofL programs benefiting minority students, appointing a committee to explore ways in which to do so. A Martin Luther King Endowment Fund was subsequently created.
Swain also promised to find funds to create a campus center dedicated to cultural diversity and to enhance the College of Arts & Sciences鈥 Pan-African Studies Department. The multicultural center opened in 1991 with funds resulting from discussions which arose聽out of the Fiesta Bowl controversy.
Arizona voters later established MLK Day as a paid holiday in 1992. UofL also got the bowl win, 34-7.
