DVR Alert: ESPN On 10th Anniversary Of Casey Martin Case
/For Immediate Release...
A decade ago, Casey Martin was at the center of a debate that transcended sports. An All-America and teammate of Tiger Woods at Stanford, Martin turned pro, despite an incurable and debilitating disease weakening his right leg. He asked the PGA Tour for permission to use a cart in competition under the Americans with Disabilities Act. When the Tour refused, citing the integrity of competition, Martin sued. A four-year legal battle culminated in a Supreme Court ruling, May 29, 2001, granting Martin the right to use a cart on the PGA Tour. Shelley Smith catches up with Martin in his hometown of Eugene, Ore., where he is now head golf coach at Oregon. This report will also feature rarely seen video from the January 1998 depositions of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, each supporting the PGA Tour.
Bet The King and The Bear are thrilled to see those grainy, embarrassing depo's surface!
“I don’t have ill will towards the Tour or Tim Finchem at all, I really don’t. I look back and say ‘thanks’ in a lot of ways, because certainly when you have that tension and that drama, it makes for a great story and people want to be around it and it’s kind of made me in a lot of sense, who I am today.” -- Casey Martin, on the four-year legal struggle with Commissioner Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour
“Casey has exceeded my expectations over the past 10 years. I would’ve thought that he would have either had a fracture or had enough discomfort that he would request an amputation, so I anticipate that will be the case in the future, but I would love to be wrong.” – Dr. Donald Jones, Martin’s orthopedist since the 1970s
“My career as a golfer wasn’t a great one, I’m not going to lie. I was frustrated most of the time. It’s hard to compete at the PGA Tour level, period, no matter who you are, let alone if you have a physical disability that you’re dealing with and then all the attention that comes with it.” -- Martin, on making the cut only once in a PGA Tour event after the Supreme Court’s 2001 ruling
“We were only required to provide a cart in cases where it was absolutely necessary for being able to play the game at all. It’s kind of like they (the seven Supreme Court justices who decided for Martin) wanted to give him a cart, but they wanted to protect the basis of why we were making the argument.” – Finchem, on his view that the Supreme Court’s decision for Martin was a “win-win”
Ahhhh...that's the spinmeister we love and know!
Viewing times:
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN; re-air 10 a.m. ESPN2)
The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap (Friday, 10 p.m., ESPN Radio)
