Lonnie Johnson

• September 24th, 2021

Lonnie Johnson, acclaimed inventor, is the founder and President of Johnson Research and Development and founder and chairman of Johnson Energy Storage and JTEC Energy. His most popular invention is the Super Soaker water gun, which sold over 250 million units since its launch in 1990 and grossed more than $1 billion.

He conceived the extremely sought-after kids toy in 1982 while working on another invention, an environmentally friendly heat pump. Dr. Johnson partnered with Larami Corporation, which was later bought by Hasbro when the Super Soaker became the number one selling toy in the world. The wild success of the Super Soaker allowed him to fulfill a life-long dream of becoming a full-time inventor and establishing his own company, Johnson Research.

Dr. Johnson is a prolific inventor and holds over 150 patents and continues to invent to this day.  His innovations to science and engineering are significant and include numerous energy technologies,  consumer products, and high-tech toys.  He is among an elite group of African-American inventors who hold 6 percent of all patent applications in the United States.

He served in the United States Air Force and worked as an engineer for NASA.  While in the Air Force, he served as the Chief of the Space Nuclear Power Safety Section and worked on the Stealth Bomber program. He was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal twice and the Commendation Medal for his contributions to the Air Force.

At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), he was a Senior Systems Engineer for the Galileo mission to Jupiter and spacecraft engineer for the Mars Observer and the Cassini mission to Saturn.  He received multiple achievement awards for his work at NASA.

In 2011, Dr. Johnson was the first African American to be inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.  His Super Soaker was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2015 and Dr Johnson received the Trailblazer Award from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition the same year.  He is also the recipient of the Legacy Award from the United Negro College Fund, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Golden Mousetrap Awards, and the Innovation Award from the Bounce Trumpet Awards, to name a few.

Aside from his notable inventions and revolutionary scientific work and research, Dr. Johnson has found numerous ways to mentor and support a new generation of engineers, particularly young people of color. He is the founder and chairman of the board of his non-profit, the Johnson STEM Activity Center, located in Atlanta.  He is also a board member of the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, a Trustee of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and a member of 100 Black Men of Atlanta.  He is the former chairman of the board for the Georgia Alliance for Children and a former member of the board of directors for  Commonwealth National Bank.

Ms. Thelma Thrash, former president of the Boys and Girls Club of Mobile said of Johnson, “He is a Renaissance Man with social conscience, a leader, and a visionary.” “His many achievements and global-wide contributions speak volumes […] of his character, integrity, and commitment to making a difference in the lives of others.”

He was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, where he attended Williamson High School.  As a high school student, he traveled to The University of Alabama to compete in a science fair sponsored by the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS). The only African-American student in the competition, he won first place for his invention, “Linex,” a remote-controlled, compressed-air-powered robot created from junkyard scraps.

He attended Tuskegee University on a math scholarship and earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1973 and his master’s degree in nuclear engineering in 1975. Tuskegee University also awarded him an honorary Ph.D. for his accomplishments in science and engineering.

Johnson lives with his wife in Atlanta and has four children.

Alfred Frederick Delchamps

• September 21st, 2021

In 1921, two brothers purchased a 20 by 50 frame store on the corner of Lawrence and Canal Streets in Mobile, Alabama. With a $1,000 capital investment, they opened a new type of “cash and carry” grocery store­ a store that evolved into a multi-million dollar corporation­ Delchamps, Inc. – which today operates 79 stores in four states. A driving force behind this success story was Alfred Frederick Delchamps, who not only rose to Chairman of the Board of the Corporation but also became a leading citizen of Mobile.

Alfred Frederick Delchamps was born in Mobile on January 25, 1895, the second child of Alfred W. and Anna Maria (Theuer) Delchamps. When young Alfred was five years old, his father died, and the youngster soon began working to help support his family. He picked produce on a farm in exchange for part of a crop, which he then sold from door to door. While in the second grade (after which his formal education ended), he worked as a cash boy in department stores for $2.50 a week. As a youth, he worked for the Pinch Gas Company and then as a mailroom supervisor for the Mobile News-Item, until he joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps in May 1917.

Throughout these years and later, the young man (who later confessed that he would like to have become a “professional man”) managed to study at night school at the YMCA, take correspondence courses, and read widely.

After discharge as a sergeant in May 1919, Alfred Delchamps returned to Alabama and secured work at the Gulf Shipyards in Chickasaw. When he was laid off because of a reduction in naval construction, he “bought himself a job.” He purchased a small grocery store (the New York Cash and Carry #10) which he operated alone for several months. When his younger brother Oliver lost his job at the ship­ yard, they pooled their (and their family’s) savings to purchase a larger store on the corner of Lawrence and Canal Streets. This first of the Delchamps grocery stores opened on a warm November day in 1921.

When Alfred Delchamps later reminisced about this beginning of Delchamps, Inc., he said that the first store had to be “cash and carry” because daily business was the only source of cash flow. The $1,000 investment had “emptied our pockets and filled us with enthusiasm” to succeed. To attract customers, the partners began to offer low prices every day on quality merchandise, at a time when most other cash and carry stores relied on weekend specials and carried poor quality merchandise and when quality merchandise was usually found only in higher-priced, credit and delivery stores.

The store thrived on the policy of low-profit margins on quality foods. For each of the next five years, Delchamps Grocery Company opened another unit and “ended up with a chain of small frame stores-and everybody in the family working.”

The company opened its first ware­ house in 1927. By 1937, Delchamps was operating 10 stores, making it the dominant, growing company in the area. In 1946, with 15 stores, the company was changed from a partnership to a corporation-Delchamps, Inc.-to make further expansion possible and enable employees to own shares in the company. At that time, Alfred Delchamps became President, a position he held until he became Chairman of the Board of Delchamps, Inc. in 1965.

In 1921, the Delchamps brothers (who became known as Mr. Al and Mr. Ollie) had been among the first in the country to put a low-profit margin on quality foods. During the ensuing years, the corporation established a record of firsts in the retail food industry, including the first supermarket size food store in Alabama; the first self­service meat markets in the area; the first chain in the Southeast to offer generic label products as an additional choice for its customers; and among the first in the region to introduce computerized checkout systems.

As Alfred Delchamps was becoming a leader in the retail food industry, he was also becoming a leader in educational, civic, and religious organizations in the community.

This self-educated man showed his respect for formal education through 12 years ser­ vice as a member of the Board of Education of the Mobile County Public Schools­ including two terms as president of that board. For more than ten years he was a member of the Board of Mobile County Foundation for Higher Education. He served as president of the Board of Trustees of Huntingdon College in Montgomery and was made a lifetime member of this board by special act of the North Alabama and Alabama-West Florida Conferences of the Methodist Church-the first to be designated as such.

Always interested in every aspect of com­ community development, he contributed his time as a member of the Commission to bring the U.S.S. Alabama to Mobile and of the Revolving Fund Board of the Mobile Historic Development Commission. He was a president of the Industrial Development Board of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and a director of the Mobile Safety Council.

He was the first man to serve twice as a Campaign Chairman of the Mobile Community Chest, of which he was also president for a year. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the United Fund and Councils of America.

He served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Junior Achievement; Chairman of the Planning Committee for the American Red Cross; and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the YWCA.

He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mobile Infirmary Association and a member of the Building Commission for both the Mobile Infirmary and the Alabama Medical College.

In addition to his other activities, Alfred Delchamps also became a leader in the Methodist Church. When he and his brothers and sisters were small, his widowed mother insisted that they go to Church every Sunday. As children, they all attended the Methodist Church nearest their home.

Alfred Delchamps became chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dauphin Way Methodist Church; a president of the Mobile Federation of Churches; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Religious Heritage of America; and a member of the Jurisdictional Advisory Board of the Chandler School of Theology.

In 1950, Alfred Delchamps was named Mobilian of the Year and in 1963, “Man of the Year” by the Phi Delta Kappa honorary educational fraternity. In 1955, he was granted an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Huntingdon College.

Nine years after the first Delchamps retail food store opened, Alfred Delchamps married Lucile Crowell of Mobile. They became the parents of three children: Alfred Frederick, Jr. (now President of Delchamps Inc.); Margaret (now Mrs. Edward W. Young); and Lucile (now Mrs. Richard T. Nelson.)

Alfred Delchamps died in Mobile on July 22, 1978. His leadership in business, education, civic, and religious affairs might be attributed to the philosophy that a person must, “Do what you have to do the best you can and if you have to do it tomorrow, do it better.”

Alfred Delchamps was a kind man who knew business, but most of all knew people. He believed a person did not just make friends but had to be a friend.

George Cabell Outlaw, Sr.

• September 20th, 2021

But the then thirty-four-year-old Mobile attorney saw phenomenal opportunities in J. A. Morrison’s nontraditional idea for establishing a cafeteria that would employ waiters to carry customers’ trays. He advanced Morrison $800. With a handshake, the nation’s largest and most dynamic cafeteria chain was born, and George Cabell Outlaw’s highly influential business and devoted public career was begun.

George Cabell Outlaw, son of Tiberius Gracchus and Belle (Garner) Outlaw, was born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1886. After completing his secondary education at the University Military School in Mobile, he attended the University of Virginia and transferred to The University of Alabama Law School where he received his degree in 1917. After serving two years with the FBI during World War I, he opened a law practice in Mobile in 1919.

In October 1920, he married Mayme Ricks from Texas, a lady whose influence he was always to credit for his highly respected balanced and prudent judgment, generosity, mild temper, and gentleman’s bearing. In the spring of 1920, he also embarked on a business venture which shaped his career.

The Morrison’s Cafeteria opened on the corner of St. Emanuel and Conti Streets in downtown Mobile in September 1920. The cafeteria suddenly became the startling answer to the businessman’s meal problem – convenient service with low prices. Under Mr. Morrison’s expert guidance in food preparation and operations and Mr. Outlaw’s astute, professional guidance in business management, the cafeteria soon began serving three meals a day and became known as “the family cafeteria.”

With such a success beyond either Mr. Morrison’s or Mr. Outlaw’s immediate expectations, Mr. Outlaw examined other markets for a Morrison’s Cafeteria and found them in Pensacola, Florida, and Montgomery, Alabama. Morrison’s Cafeterias Consolidated was formed, with Mr. Morrison as President and Mr. Outlaw, as Secretary-Treasurer. By 1927, the new corporation had opened thriving cafeterias in three more cities-Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and New Orleans, Louisiana. In seven short years, Mr. Outlaw’s faith in Mr. Morrison’s “outlandish” idea had been justified. Morrison’s Cafeteria was a fully incorporated, successful enterprise with cafeterias in six southern cities.

In 1928, Mr. Outlaw made a decision that paved a way for further expansion of Morrison’s Cafeterias Consolidated, Inc. Sale of public stock brought outside capital into the enterprise and enabled the corporation to continue to grow. Four more cafeterias were opened in Florida-in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, and West Palm Beach.

Even during the Great Depression, the bustling southern cafeteria chain proceeded unhindered, providing people in every financial class with savings in meal tabs. The cafeterias provided breakfast for a nickel, lunch for an average of thirty-five cents, and free ice cream and cake on Thursday “Family Nights.” Thousands of people in every cafeteria city were gaining “the Morrison habit.”

In 1933, Mr. Outlaw was recognized for his contribution to the nation’s restaurant business by being named a charter board member of the National Restaurant Association. In 1935, Mr. Outlaw terminated his law practice to concentrate fully on his business career with Morrison’s Cafeterias. For the next twenty years, he provided sagacious and imaginative direction to the development of the enterprise.

Early in the 1930s, Secretary-Treasurer Outlaw directed that cost control practices and procedures of all cafeterias be standardized. The centralization was so efficient and economical that each cafeteria could offer a greater variety of food at much lower prices. He also implemented the installation of central air conditioning units in all cafeterias-a progressive and unique decision that enhanced the company’s reputation for imaginative customer service.

During the 1940s, he continued as Secretary-Treasurer after Mr. J. A. Morrison, the creator of the Morrison dining concept, sold his interest in the company and retired in Florida.

When World War II created a manpower shortage, Mr. Outlaw adapted the company’s operations (applying financial restraint in incurring debts) to continue the tradition of customer service in all units. Consequently, in 1945, a new cafeteria would be opened in Lakeland, Florida. In 1947, ‘The Cafeteria of Tomorrow” created from an old, crowded facility in Tampa-dazzled the public with its innovative and imaginative, modern design and also brought recognition to Morrison’s at the National Convention of the National Restaurant Association. The citizens of Florida never had a chance to catch their breath. Other cafeterias were quickly opened in strategic tourist centers.

Once more, the combination of Mr. Outlaw’s keen business judgment and good taste bore fruit. Working with the President, Mr. Outlaw counseled the organization of providing cost control through a network of wholly-owned subsidiary companies, which today supply Morrison, Inc. with nearly all its needs. This vertical integration made the firm one of the nation’s most self-sufficient.

By the 1950s, Mr. Outlaw had turned more of the authority in running the company over to younger men-two of whom were his sons, George Cabell, Jr., and Arthur. Though less active in management decisions, he maintained a counselor role in all business affairs. In 1952, he was instrumental in the formation of Morrison Food Services-a division that today is contracted to serve over 300 institutions, including hospitals and nursing homes, office facilities, industrial complexes, and school systems and universities.

Through the years, much of Mr. Outlaw’s energy was channeled into the development of the cafeteria/ food service that he was so instrumental in founding. But, he also worked ceaselessly in creating an economic atmosphere to lure industry and business to his native city. For a number of years, he served as President of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.

He was equally prominent in fostering the betterment of his fellow citizens by his participation in charitable and church activities.

When George Cabell Outlaw, Sr., died on July 16, 1964, after a brief illness, newspapers, and magazines extolled his virtues as a lawyer-businessman of great ability and foresight, the co-founder of an immensely successful business enterprise, and a man who served his community and fellowman.

Glen Porter Brock, Sr.

• September 20th, 2021

The destiny and dreams of Glen Porter Brock, Sr. – presently the Honorary Chairman of Illinois Central Gulf Railroad – have long been intertwined with those of the railroad industry.

Son of Loren Ellsworth and Mable L. (Porter) Brock, he was born near Alden, Iowa, in 1896; but from the age of six, he lived in Palestine, Illinois, always within earshot of a train whistle. His father was a locomotive engineer and his brother a brakeman with the Illinois Central Railroad. Through them, the youngster experienced the excitement of the railroad industry, and he too longed to be a part of it. While still in school, sixteen-year-old Glen Brock began working as a caller clerk on the Illinois Central Railroad. This minor position intensified a dream that had been growing over the years he wanted to manage a railroad.

After graduating from Palestine public schools and Central Business College in Indianapolis, Indiana, the young man served in the Infantry at Columbus Barracks, Ohio, from June 1918 until the Armistice was signed November 11, 1918, when his unit was disbanded. The day he was discharged, young Glen Brock took the train from Urbana, Illinois. Still in uniform, with only $98 in his pocket, he enrolled in classes at the University of Illinois to help prepare himself to pursue his dream. During his college years, he disciplined himself to get by on only five hours of sleep each night so that he could gain time for both study and the jobs he held to pay his college expenses. He graduated in 1922 with a B.S. degree in Railway Administration.

Soon after graduation, Mr. Brock married his childhood sweetheart, Esther Goodwin. In December 1922, the newlyweds moved to Mobile, Alabama, where Mr. Brock had accepted a position as a cost accountant with the Gulf, Mobile, and Northern Railroad. Thus began a long and productive association with GM&N.

Mr. Brock became known for his hard work and innovative ideas. For example, in 1935, by which time he was serving as General Manager, he began a hostess service on passenger trains. Because he believed that the hostesses should represent the railroad’s commitment to friendly and dedicated service, each hostess was required to be a college graduate and be medically trained. The program was such a success that it was widely imitated throughout the railroad industry.

In 1940, when the Gulf, Mobile, and Northern merged with Mobile and Ohio Railroad to form the Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio, Mr. Brock was elected Vice President and General Manager of the combined system. His record of innovation continued. In 1946, he helped create a “highway post office” system. Service from the traditional mail car on each train had been limited to towns along the railroad. Under the new system, the new GM&O Railroad refitted a fleet of buses to post office specifications and charged the Postal Service a mileage rate for the “highway post offices.” The first successful route between Mobile and Union, Mississippi, was soon extended from Mobile through Meridian, Mississippi, St. Louis, Missouri, and as far north as Chicago. Also, under Mr. Brock’s guidance, in 1948, the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio became the first-class A Railroad to completely convert to diesel engines. Mr. Brock’s capabilities continued to be recognized by GM&O. From 1952-1957, he served as its Executive Vice President and General Manager. In 1957, he was elected President of the railway. In 1972, when GM&O merged with Illinois Central to become The Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, Mr. Brock became Chairman of the Board of Directors and served in that position until he retired in 1977 when he was named Honorary Chairman-the culmination of 66 years of service, in fifty-two jobs, in the railroad industry.

Mr. Brock has also utilized his expertise in directorial positions with GM&O Land Company, the New Orleans Great Northern Railroad Company, and Gulf Transport Company. He has been an alternate director for the Kansas City Terminal Railroad Company and a member of the National Freight Traffic Association. He has been a director for Protective Life Insurance Company of Birmingham, and the Mobile-based Home Savings and Loan Association, American National Bank and Trust Company, and Merchants National Bank.

No group has benefitted more from his humanitarian beliefs than the people of Alabama. A complete list of Mr. Brock’s civic and charitable activities and awards would fill several pages. He has served as committee chairman, vice president, and president of the Mobile Rotary Club. He has held major positions on the Mobile Chamber of Commerce and committee status with the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. In 1959, Governor John Patterson appointed him to the Alabama State Docks Advisory Board on which he served until 1963.

Mr. Brock’s interest in social improvement is reflected in his record of service to charitable organizations. He was the 1953 General Chairman for the Community Chest Campaign and later served as Campaign Chairman and President and Chairman of the Board for the United Fund of Mobile. Mr. Brock has also been involved as a member of the advisory boards and committees for the Mobile County and Providence Hospitals, the Mobile Mental Health Center, and the Mobile Association for the Blind. Because of his many years of dedicated service, he was named Mobilian of the Year in 1961.

The people of Mr. Brock’s home state of Illinois have also been aware of his outstanding business and civic record. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1959 and was later chosen to be a trustee of that institution. The National Alumni Association of his Alma Mater, The University of Illinois, presented him with the “Illini Achievement Award” in 1969. Four years ago, Glen P. Brock was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor by the State Legislature.

Mr. and Mrs. Brock has two sons, Paul Warrington and Glen Porter, Jr., and seven grandchildren. They reside in Mobile, where Mr. Brock, even though retired, still maintains an “open-door policy” at his office for the employees of Illinois Central Gulf and the citizens of Alabama.

Joseph Linyer Bedsole

• September 9th, 2021

Joseph Linyer Bedsole was known for his resourcefulness and keen business skills.

As a merchant in the New South, Bedsole was partly responsible for salvaging two Alabama cities. Educated at South Alabama Bible Institute and a small business college in Montgomery, Bedsole began work at his father’s store in Thomasville. In 1910, he married Phala Bradford. By 1913, the store had become a department store, and the volume of business had increased dramatically. Bedsole initiated three dramatic steps to change the economic base of Thomasville. He established a factory and a scrap iron yard and introduced citizens to the hog and sheep industry. As a result of Bedsole’s dedication and innovation, the area and community prospered along with the Bedsole firms. In 1919, Bedsole moved to Mobile where he organized and became president of Bedsole-Colvin Drug Company. Bedsole also founded Bedsole Investment Company, Mobile Fixture and Equipment Company, Bedsole Trading Company, and Bedsole Surgical Supply Company. Due to his extraordinary success, Bedsole was called to aid the city of Mobile in recovering from $1.5 million in indebtedness on its municipal bonds. After three grueling years, the committee on which Bedsole served devised a plan that saved the city. Bedsole served as director of First National Bank of Mobile and Alabama Power Company. In his lifetime, he contributed more than $1.5 million for the improvement of the state. He was named Mobile Man of the Year in 1951.

Ben E. May

• September 9th, 2021

Although few knew the magnitude of his endeavors, Ben E. May’s contributions are now recognized by the giants of the medical field.

Ben E. May, a Mobile businessman, contributed more to the eradication of suffering and disease than many scientists. At the age of 15, he worked in a sawmill where he learned about the enterprise in which he would make his fortune. After one year of formal higher education at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he moved to Mobile. May quickly recognized the value of timber property and began acquiring cut-over lands with the idea of reforesting them. May’s fortune was made during World War I as he supplied England with much-needed timber for the war effort. May took the money he made from this venture and invested it inland in southwest Alabama, Florida, and California. He founded and became president of the Gulf Lumber Company in Mobile in 1940 and served as vice-president of Blackwell Nurseries. He also served as director of the First National Bank of Mobile and Morrison’s Cafeteria. May’s real success in life came from his intense desire to use his wealth to assist others. May supported the Weizmann Institute; Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin; Dr. Paul Dudley White, renowned cardiologist; and Dr. Charles B. Huggins, director of cancer research at the University of Chicago. May was also instrumental in establishing the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham.

Edward Aubert Roberts

• September 9th, 2021

Edward Aubert Roberts, a quiet force that shaped the city of Mobile, served not only Alabama, but the nation, with a modest spirit, never seeking recognition or reward.

Ed Roberts was the first employee of Waterman Steamship Corporation in Mobile, which was formed to cultivate opportunities for steamship navigation after World War I. Roberts, a Mobile native, attended University Military School and Auburn Polytechnic Institute, prior to becoming Waterman’s chief assistant. On the $125 a month salary of a cargo clerk, Roberts began his career, and his efficiency won him steady promotions that led to becoming president of the company in 1936. During World War II, Roberts headed the largest privately owned steamship line in the nation, operating a fleet of 125 ships. Roberts personally served as an advisor to the director-general of the War Shipping Administration, a position for which he was awarded a Certificate of Merit from President Harry S. Truman. After the war, Roberts served without pay to develop a multi-million-dollar post-war expansion program. In recognition of his services, the Mobile Civitan Club named him the first recipient of its Man-of-the-Year Award in 1948. Roberts also served as a member of the Business Advisory Council of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He also founded another business empire, Southern Industries, which under Roberts’ leadership grew from $1.9 million in total assets in 1946 to more than $28 million in 1964.