An organization calling for the preservation of a historic Austin golf course hosted the NAACP at a press conference on Jan. 18 to publicize their efforts.

UT owns the land on which the Lions Municipal Golf Course, nicknamed “Muny,” the first desegregated golf course in Austin, sits. UT announced in 2019 its intention to sell the land to develop it.

As a result, the Texas Senate formed Save Historic Muny District the same year, creating a way for Austinites to have a say in Muny’s fate. The Muny Conservancy was also formed in 2019 and continues advocating for its preservation today.

“The University has taken a position in recent years to preserve other forms of history,” said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas State Conference of the NAACP. “We think this type of history should be preserved as well.”

Since 2019, Austin City Council delayed the District’s dissolution twice, and it is now scheduled for 2025. Scotty Sayers, co-chair of the Muny Conservancy, said he wants to use the extra time to find a more permanent solution.

“What we are out to accomplish is to help find a win-win situation between the University, the city and citizens of Austin,” Sayers said. 

The golf course makes up 141 acres of the 345-acre Brackenridge Tract. Sayers said the Muny Conservancy is working with UT and the city to develop other areas of the tract but preserve the golf course. 

The University did not respond to requests for comment.

Muny was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 for its civil rights history. During the Jim Crow era, two Black youths, one of them a 9-year-old caddie, began to play on the course. This prompted Muny staff to call City Hall to handle the players. The mayor at the time famously said, “let them play,” leading to the desegregation of the golf course.

“The peaceful desegregation of the golf course led to a lot of things in Austin changing, whether it was the fire department allowing African Americans to serve (or) whether it was the libraries opening up,” Sayers said. “Different things that fell into place in our city that weren’t necessarily taking place in other cities in the South.”

Beyond a golf course and historic landmark, Sayers said Muny is an important green space in the city that also fosters a sense of community among Austinites by tearing down social and economic barriers. Sayers said he fondly remembers days from his childhood spent in Muny.

“First it’s me, then it’s my kids, and then it’s my grandkids,” Sayers said. “This place is generational.”