Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Bill Boyd keeps his family’s legacy of giving alive

Wednesday, May 20, 1998 | 10:46 a.m.

IT IS AN HONOR to honor Bill Boyd.

Few Las Vegans remember the good old days when the post-war pioneers of this burgeoning valley risked what they had -- which wasn't much more than their good names and fertile minds -- to invest in a dream that was to become the Entertainment Capital of the World.

In those days there wasn't much more to the town than Fremont Street and some residential areas that stretched out for a mile or so in every direction. When Bugsy Siegel built the Flamingo Hotel, it was way out of town on the old Los Angeles highway, many miles from the heart of Las Vegas. That's one of the main things I remember when we moved into a new part of town that, like everything else in this valley, wasn't there just a few months before. We were a community that welcomed change and a newness of life and shunned the old, more boring ways of doing things.

And while my mind has been more selective in recent years about what it will let me remember and what it won't, the latter far outpacing the former, I do recall the people who "settled" the outskirts of a town in which very few had a clear picture of where it was heading.

One of the men who made his mark both as a struggling entrepreneur and later as a most giving and charitable founder of what Las Vegas had become was Sam Boyd. He lived across the street, and so did his son, Bill. Bill, of course, was older than this writer, although as the years have flown by, I think the difference in ages has been compressed somewhat.

Where there was no difference, though, was in the lessons each son learned from his parents. That was made clear in Bill Boyd's case this past Sunday night as he was honored by the Anti-Defamation League. In his acceptance speech, Bill laid the blame -- actually the credit -- for his success at the feet of his parents, who helped lead the way in this town as examples of how to treat people whether they were employees, colleagues or customers. They were lessons that the world is still struggling to accept but which the Boyds knew instinctively.

Few people in this town who are leaders in our predominant industry command the level of respect that Bill Boyd does. Like his father before him, his word is gold and his heart is evident all over his sleeve.

That was also made clear when his longtime friend, Art Marshall, indicated to the packed house how hard he had to work on Bill to get him to agree to be honored. I think Art said that Bill agreed as long as he wasn't asked for another 20 years or so.

There is a difference among men that is discerned in the humility with which they conduct their lives. Some accept such public honors willingly. They realize that their names are useful in raising the needed funds for a particular worthy cause. The kudos also fill some personal need, which is not a bad thing because most of us have that need from time to time.

With Bill Boyd, however, you get the feeling that he doesn't ever have a yearning for public accolades or acknowledgement of his good deeds. That's the purest kind of giving, and that is a legacy of Sam Boyd. When Bill allowed the ADL to use his name to raise critical funds to help in its fight against discrimination of all people, he did it because he has lived the mission of ADL his entire life. In a sense, it was a no-brainer for him because it allowed him to give in a different but no less important way to an organization that exemplified the lessons taught to him by his parents as he grew up in Las Vegas.

For we were not always a town of tolerance. Frank Sinatra's death last week brought back some wonderful memories of the Rat Pack and a time in our city when entertainment and entertainers ruled the day. Some of them, however, could only entertain on the Strip; they had to sleep in other parts of town because "Negroes were not allowed in Las Vegas' fancy hotels."

Sam Boyd was one of the first to put an end to that practice and many others that today seem abhorrent but that just a few years ago represented business as usual. Bill has done no less during his tenure. He has helped educate a city that needed to learn a better way to treat its guests, its employees and its residents.

He deserves the recognition of ADL. He also deserves the thanks of every one of the 560 people who attended the dinner Sunday because, through his efforts, Las Vegans were treated to an intellectual challenge from one of the great leaders of the United States Congress, Tom Lantos.