Induction Year: 1977

Marion Beirne Spragins

  • September 17th, 2021

Marion Beirne Spragins – industrial developer and banker – is synonymous with the development of Huntsville.

Spragins graduated from The University of Alabama with an A.B. degree and began his career as a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Huntsville, where he worked until he left for service in World War I. He was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the field artillery in 1917, but because of extensive training reached France only a few months before the Armistice. After his discharge, he returned to Huntsville and married Georgia Lowry. In 1933, amidst the Great Depression, Spragins was elected executive vice president. His bank was one of two banks permitted to re-open after all banks were closed by presidential order. After his father died in 1935, Spragins became president of the bank. Spragins was a leader in the growth of the First National Bank of Huntsville and a leader in the community. He was a member of the Birmingham Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, chairman of the Alabama Bankers Association Legislation Committee, and member of the Advisory Committee to the United States Senate Banking and Currency Committee. From 1946 to 1967, Spragins served as a member of the Third Army Advisory Committee, and for his service received the Outstanding Civilian Service Award for his contributions to the liaison between the Army and the citizenry. Spragins was also closely identified with the establishment and growth of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In 1963, Spragins was awarded Huntsville’s Distinguished Citizens Award.

James Craig Smith

  • September 17th, 2021

James Craig Smith brought glamour to the textile industry by becoming a prominent textile manufacturer, a fearless industry spokesman, an outstanding civic leader, and an unselfish educational benefactor.

Smith attended Gulf Coast Military Academy. In 1925, he graduated from Virginia Military Institute with a Bachelor of Arts degree. His first job at Avondale Mills, which his grandfather was president of, was to weigh cotton. Soon after Smith joined Avondale, he married Mary Page Thompson. Smith’s ability, business acumen, and incisive mind led him to become president of Avondale Mills in 1951. As president, Smith was the corporation’s spokesman for modernization. He constantly urged the improvement of mills and argued for the purchase of new machines. Perhaps Smith’s most lasting contribution to Avondale was the Zero Defects Program, which urged employees to take pledges to do their jobs right the first time. Smith became a spokesman for the textile industry. He served as president of the Alabama Textile Manufacturers Association, president of the National Cotton Council, and president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute. Under Smith’s leadership, Avondale became the world’s largest producer of ticking and cotton-carded and combed knitting yarns. Smith was an outstanding civic leader, serving as a director and past president of the Alabama Chamber of Commerce; a trustee and past chairman of the Eye Foundation; a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of Commerce and Business Administration; and a director and past president of the Alabama Safety Council.

Thomas R. Miller

  • September 17th, 2021

Using his native intelligence and the resources at hand, Thomas R. Miller opened the door for the lumber industry.

Miller, after the Civil War, quickly recognized the need to break the south’s total dependence on agriculture. He began to produce hewn timber as an alternative source of income. In late 1868, Miller married Mary Elizabeth Foshee. By 1870, Miller had accumulated enough capital to purchase a small grist and sawmill. Miller took on a partner, and the enterprise became Miller and Foshee. The partners operated the mill successfully until 1887 when they decided to sell out and invest in a larger mill. Miller, taking with him $50,000, invested in a mill that became known as Blacksher-Miller Lumber Company. Miller moved to Tennessee planning to raise horses. However, his plans were changed when he was approached to purchase a much larger timber company for more than a half-million dollars, which became Cedar Creek Mill Company at Brewton. Shortly after arriving in Brewton, his wife died in childbirth. Two years later he married Alice Collins. Miller became one of the first to advocate and follow good forestry practices by practicing selective cutting. Miller’s success at Brewton was an entry to other ventures. Over the next fifteen years, Miller acquired a sawmill, a cotton oil mill, an ice plant, and organized Citizens Bank in Brewton where he served as president until his death. By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, Miller had built a small sawmill into a timber empire.

Crawford Toy Johnson

  • September 17th, 2021

Crawford Toy Johnson founded The Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Company and contributed to the growth of Birmingham as a businessman, civic leader, and humanitarian.

Johnson attended Ole Miss and earned a Bachelor of Philosophy. In 1897, he married Caroline Acree. Through his friendship with a former classmate at Ole Miss, Johnson learned about the possibility of acquiring The Birmingham Coca-Cola franchise. Asa Candler of Atlanta, owner of The Coca-Cola Company, agreed to the deal, and Johnson jumped at the chance to acquire the Birmingham franchise. In 1902, Johnson founded The Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Company with only one employee. Under Johnson’s leadership, the company expanded production. The company evolved from bottling 30 cases per hour to more than 300 by the 1920s. One of Johnson’s innovations, a new red metal vending machine that replaced the old barrel and tub coolers, kept his product in the public’s eye and contributed to the company’s survival of the Great Depression. Johnson emerged as one of the nation’s most respected soft drink bottlers. As a leader in organizing the Coca-Cola Bottler’s Association, he became its first president. As a civic leader, Johnson served as president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce; president of the Jefferson County Community Chest; and president of the Better Business Bureau. Johnson was also instrumental in founding Children’s Hospital. Johnson was an educational benefactor serving on the state board of education and supporting numerous colleges and universities throughout the state.

Lee Bidgood

  • September 17th, 2021

Lee Bidgood will be remembered for generations to come because he helped found the College Business at The University of Alabama.

Bidgood attended Churchland Academy and the University of Virginia, where he graduated with an A.B. in 1905 and an M.A. the following year. Bidgood married Emily Smith in 1914. Bidgood’s reputation as a teacher and scholar in economics led to his appointment at The University of Alabama. With the support of President George H. Denny, Bidgood convinced the board to take action, and in January 1920, the School of Commerce and Business Administration came into being. Bidgood was chosen as Dean. To accomplish the tremendous job of starting a college, he was given the administration’s good wishes, $7,000, one office, one classroom, one instructor, and two student assistants. Under Bidgood’s leadership, a building specifically designed for business programs was built in 1928. In 1929, the business school at The University of Alabama became the first, and for forty years thereafter remained the only, business school in Alabama to be accredited by the American Association of Collegiate School of Business. Bidgood held honorary degrees from The University of Alabama and New York University. He was elected president of the American Association of Collegiate School of Business. Two of Bidgood’s greatest honors came when he was invited to serve as interim president for The University of Alabama and the naming of Bidgood Hall in his honor.

X