Spurred by a hassle over a holiday...

Spurred by a hassle over a holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., the Fiesta Bowl plans a tribute to civil rights during halftime of the New Year’s Day game between Louisville and Alabama.

More than 800 singers, dancers and musicians will participate in a show Fiesta Bowl organizers describe as “the most ambitious and spirited halftime production in the history” of the game.

“We had planned as far back as this spring to do a tribute to the Bill of Rights. Civil rights would have been part of that,” bowl spokesman Brent DeRaad said. “After the King holiday vote, we sat down and discussed it and decided to expand the show and to make a statement to the rest of the country.”

Arizona voters defeated two proposals to create a paid King holiday in the Nov. 6 general election. One, which would have made room for King Day by dropping the state’s paid Columbus Day holiday, was defeated 3-1. The other, which would have kept Columbus Day and added King Day, lost by a margin of about 1 percent.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced the day after the voting that the lack of a King holiday could cost Arizona the 1993 Super Bowl that is set to be played at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium in suburban Tempe, also the site of the Fiesta Bowl.

There also were reports that some top college teams turned down Fiesta Bowl bids because of the King holiday controversy.

After Alabama accepted a Fiesta Bowl bid, the school’s Faculty Senate passed a resolution urging it to reconsider. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King founded, also urged the school to change its mind.

But the university refused to go back on its commitment, saying not only had the team voted in favor of acceptance, but that it was part of a Southeastern Conference bowl package.

Two teams wooed by the Fiesta Bowl, Virginia and Notre Dame, were said to have turned down bids because of the King controversy.

But DeRaad said both passed on the Fiesta Bowl because they got more lucrative offers to play elsewhere.

The halftime show--entitled “Celebrate America”--will feature singers B.J. Thomas and Chuck Jackson, the Louisville and Alabama marching bands and a variety of singers and dancers.

It also will include a tribute to the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights and to King, Patrick Henry, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.