"A GGO Thing" Exclusive Book Excerpt Part 5

1973 “springtime is GGO time!”

The 1973 decanter’s size sets it apart from the other bottles in the series. While the decanter has a few odd proportions its obvious theme of the golfer swinging a golf club fits well into the promotional nature of the GGO commemorative decanters. The demand for this bottle was incredible and caused a few unexpected problems for the local ABC stores that sold them in March of 1973.

It may come as a surprise to GGO decanters collectors that the bottles where seen as a “headache” to the local ABC Board responsible for selling them. In a report dated Monday, March 26, 1973 in The Greensboro Record, members of the ABC Board describe the sale of the GGO bottles as a “headache”.

Alexander Parker, chairman of Greensboro’s ABC Board said “Too many problems are created over these bottles which are only put on sale once a year.” Collectors and GGO partygoers that were acquiring five-gallon liquor permits and then buying the collectible bottles caused one of these problems by the case.

Parker told reporter Mike Forte that because the bottles were being sold by the case, they sold out within an hour. Because of this, many people were just not able to purchase their own decanter. According to the article, it made some customers “irate”.

Greensboro’s ABC Board had discussed making a ruling to control the sale of the bottles but because they contained liquor they were controlled by state statute and the local board had no power to overrule the state law.

Parker went as far as to state publicly that, “at this time it looks like we are going to get out of the collector item business.” He felt at the time this action was the only way to solve problems from the Sunday, March 25, 1973 sale of the GGO decanters. It was reported that 6,000 bottles were sold within 45 minutes.

Members of the ABC Board felt as those they had been fooled into granting the five-gallon permits. Don Mason, ABC Manager was quoted as saying, “We were flimflammed”. It appears that several fans of the collectible bottles had applied for the five-gallon liquor permits saying they were hosting GGO parties and then used the permits to buy the bottles a case at a time.

At that time state law prohibited an individual from purchasing more than a gallon of liquor at one time. Mike Forte’s article does point out that these collectors did not break any laws as the permits did not specify what kind of liquor could be purchased.

In an effort to combat the problems of the 1973 commemorative decanter sale, the ABC Board devised an aggressive plan to stop individuals from using loopholes allowing them to buy the decorative decanters a case at a time. The effects of the 1973 GGO decanter sale would continue to be felt throughout the remaining years of the GGO commemorative decanter promotion. The sale of the 1973 GGO decanter changed the way in which the bottles would be sold for the next eight years. The effects of these changes would be felt in, not only the way in which collectors purchased the bottles, but also in the way the local media would report on the sale of these popular promotional items. Bottle collectors would be reminded once a year of the rules put into place to insure that everyone had an opportunity to take home a cherished memory of the Greater Greensboro Open.

(March 27, 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the Greater Greensboro Open decanters. To celebrate this anniversary "A GGO Thing" is now on sale on Amazon.com for only $9.00.)