Wednesday, May 30, 2001
Others share Casey Martin's victory
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court voted in favor of Casey Martin and against pettiness and meanness of spirit. The PGA Tour has to allow Martin to ride a cart. Like it or not.
Martin's fight took three years. A man who can barely walk has just climbed Mount Everest.
In Minster, Ohio, north of Dayton, a high school freshman clapped her hands in joy. Gina Homan has what Martin has: Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome. It's a circulatory disorder in which blood doesn't move efficiently; it pools.
The consequences
In Martin's case — and Gina's — it settles in the right leg, deforming it and filling it with clumps of blood vessels.
What that means is Mar
tin needs a cart to play golf. For Gina, it's worrying kids will stare at her when she wears shorts.
Martin knows his weakened leg could break at any time. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic told Gina's parents her best bet to walk was to have her leg amputated at the knee and replaced by a prosthesis.
“We weren't brave enough to sign off on that,” Al Homan, Gina's father, said Tuesday. These are the sort of people the PGA Tour wanted to hold back. In the name of integrity. Of course.
“I think we ought to take them all out and play golf,” decided Jack Nicklaus, referring to the members of the High Court. I think we ought to sentence Nicklaus to 18 holes in Martin's leg.
Here's another shard of brilliance, courtesy of Steve Pate:
“In sports, everybody brings their own strengths and weaknesses to the game. Whoever can overcome their weaknesses and maximize their strengths is going to do well.”
Playing on a leg that could snap like a toothpick at any time isn't exactly a “weakness.” But way to get in the spirit of the debate, Steve.
Finding an identity
Gina is 15, a fragile age when what people think of you and say about you matters too much. When fitting in often involves a disease-free body. Kids don't always take the time to appreciate a classmate's spirit.
“This is probably the toughest part of her life,” said Al, “when she's trying to figure out who she is.”
Martin rode a cart on the PGA Tour all last year. It gave him such an incredible advantage, he lost his Tour card. He's playing the Buy.com Tour now. Al Homan doesn't like what he sees.
“It looked like it was getting harder for him,” he said. “If the progression of his (disorder) is as bad as Gina's, I'm not sure where it's going to take him. At least he can participate if he's able.”
That's the point, isn't it? This three-year legal dance was not about whether walking was integral to golf. (It's not.) It wasn't about Martin gaining an “unfair competitive advantage” by riding a cart. (Yeah, right.)
It was about allowing one human being to pursue happiness, as is his right granted by law. Casey Martin didn't want special treatment. He'd walk all day if he could.
But he needed a hand up. Don't we all.
“Gina was very excited at the news,” Al Homan said.
I last saw her three years ago, following Martin around a tournament outside Dayton. “Her limp is worse now,” Al Homan said. “That's just how this goes.”
Not on Tuesday, though. On Tuesday, Gina danced.
E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.
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DAUGHERTY: Others share Casey Martin's victory
