Location: Tuscaloosa AL

Nick Saban

  • November 20th, 2024

Nick Saban is a sportscaster, sports analyst, entrepreneur, and retired college and professional football coach, best known for his coaching of the Crimson Tide football team at The University of Alabama (2007-2023). Saban’s coaching leadership, focusing on hard work and attention to detail, translates to the business world. Saban calls his unique set of principles The Process: a philosophy emphasizing consistency over outcomes. As head coach, Saban urged his players not to focus on long-term goals like championships, but instead to invest fully in the moment, in the work at hand, delivering repeatable excellence play-by-play, game-by-game. He ran a football program that routinely earns upwards of $100 million a year like a highly-effective CEO.

After playing defensive back at Kent State University, Saban graduated in 1973 with a bachelor’s in business, then in 1975, from the same university, with a master’s in sports administration. His coaching career began in graduate school as a graduate assistant to coach Don James. He went on to work as assistant coach to several college football programs from the mid-1970s to late-1980s, before starting his career as head coach at the University of Toledo in 1990. After one season with Toledo, Saban left to join the Cleveland Browns as defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick. He stayed until 1995, when he became head coach of Michigan State University, then LSU in 2000, and then the Miami Dolphins in 2005. Saban took on the head coach position at The University of Alabama in 2007, where he led the team to six national championships, and steered the Crimson Tide into ranking #1 in the AP Top 25, at some point in the season, from 2008 until 2022 — the longest in college football history.

Saban now works as an analyst for the nationally-televised ESPN College GameDay. He has also applied The Process to his own business concerns. He is co-owner of the Alamite Hotel in downtown Tuscaloosa and of Dream Motor Corp., which operates automotive dealerships in five U.S. states and has over 500 employees.

Along with his wife, Terry Saban, he cofounded Nick’s Kids Foundation, a charitable organization that has donated more than $14 million to support children, teacher and student causes throughout the state of Alabama and beyond and honored more than 650 teachers with the Nick’s Kids Teacher Excellence Award. Completed projects include career tech classrooms at the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Detention Center, the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk Playground, building 21 Habitat for Humanity homes (18 National Championship Homes, two SEC Championship Homes, and the Sugar House), and the Alberta School of Performing Arts playground. Nick’s Kids is also a major donor to the Tuscaloosa All-Inclusive Playground, Boys & Girls Club of West Alabama, and Freedom Farm. The Sabans’ legacy project is the Saban Center, a project that will elevate education and combine STEM programs and the arts to provide a unique and interactive learning experience for children in West Alabama. Saban Center will be home to the state of Alabama STEM Hub, Ignite, and the Tuscaloosa Children’s Theatre.

Saban and Terry have two children and two grandchildren and live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Woodrow Wilson “Foots” Clements

  • October 26th, 2021

Woodrow Wilson Clements, the man with the unusual nickname “Foots,” is responsible for much of the growing success of the soft drink with the unusual name “Dr. Pepper.”

He acquired the nick­name in high school, he says, because, “My feet were big then and my legs were thin; they looked like two toothpicks stuck in a watermelon.” He used his nickname when he became a route salesman for Dr. Pepper in 1935 because it was a different name, and as a salesman, “you want people to remember you and in a friendly manner.” He refused to drop his nickname even after he became president of the company in 1969 and subsequently chief executive officer and chairman of the board. “I got here using the nickname Foots,” he has said, “and I’m going to continue using it.”

This kind of determination to stick to his beliefs, or “just plain stubbornness” he might call it, is one of the characteristics that contributed to his rise in the company and the company’s rise in the soft drink industry.

The youngest of the nine children of Martha (Christian) and William Houston Clements, Woodrow Wilson Clements was born in Wind­ham Springs, Alabama, on July 30, 1914. In 1925, the family moved to Northport, Alabama (where he still visits relatives at least once a year). From his parents, he learned early the rewards of work and acquired faith and belief in the free enter­prise system. By the time he was ten, he was carrying a full load of work on the family farm. His first “paying job” was trapping “possums” and selling the skins to his father.

Throughout his school years, the enterprising young man held a variety of jobs, but they didn’t keep him from being an honor student during his high school years. After graduating from Tuscaloosa County High in 1933, he attended Howard College on a foot­ball scholarship but left after one semester because of a knee injury. From 1933-1935, he attended the University of Alabama on a working scholarship. He also worked part-time as a butcher and performed almost any type of work where he could earn a dollar.

In 1935, the young man obtained what he thought would be a summer job as a route salesman for the Tuscaloosa Dr. Pepper bottling plant. He fell in love with selling, which he calls “the gentle art of letting the other person have your way.” He discovered that it was “a profession in which your rewards are based on your efforts.” After becoming a top salesman for Dr. Pepper in Alabama, he decided he wanted to work at the main office of the Dr. Pepper Co. Three times he applied and three times he was turned down. When he was twenty-seven, he tried again and was successful. He moved to the headquarters in Dallas as Dr. Pepper’s zone manager for four Eastern states.

Thus, began the out-of-the-ordinary career of this man whose business acumen is matched only by his personal attributes.

In 1944, “Foots” Clements was moved up to sales promotion manager and four years later, assistant manager of bottler services. By 1949, he was named general sales manager, and in 1951, vice president, general sales manager. He became vice president of marketing in 1957 and is credited with aggressively franchising the company, creating a network of bottlers throughout the country and a distinct identity for a distinct soft drink. This marketing technique stemmed from his early belief that Dr. Pepper had to be more accessible. “People don’t really walk a mile for a Camel,” he said, “and they won’t dig in the backroom for a Dr. Pepper.”

During this period of steady promotion, this expert marketer was somewhat frustrated because he just wasn’t making the progress that he desired. He wanted to “get ahold of the company” in order to make it a more aggressive firm. His patience and hard work were, of course, eventually rewarded. In January 1967, he was elected execu­tive vice president and director. In March 1969, he became president and chief operating officer and in March 1970 was elevated to chief executive officer. From March 1974 to February 1980, he served as chairman of the board, president and CEO. He remained chairman and CEO until he was named chairman emeritus in August 1986.

W.W. “Foots” Clements was the catalyst for the company’s significant growth in the 1960′ s and 1970′ s. His two-pronged objective of building the industry’s strongest bottler network and a solid sales/marketing organization resulted in the firm’s rise from that of a “Texas drink” to one of significant national stature with international potential.

In 1973, Fortune called “the emergence of Dr. Pepper Co. as a glamour issue .. . among the more remarkable developments in recent years” and called this emergence a “triumph of marketing,” which began when W. W. “Foots” Clements became executive vice president and a director in 1967. Dr. Pepper Co. had been “total­ly unglamorous and little known above the Mason-Dixon line.” But by 1973 revenues and earnings had nearly quadrupled and Dr Pepper was sold in almost every community and in much of Canada, with plans to market overseas for the first time – in Japan. One of the principal changes that marketer Clements had made was to increase advertising. Thus, were many people who had never tasted the drink – or even heard of it – persuaded to try Dr. Pepper, “America’s Most Misunderstood Soft Drink.”

Even while concentrating most of his energy in trying to get more and more people over larger and larger areas to drink more and more Dr. Pepper, this kind, understanding, and down-to­earth man found time to serve his adopted hometown Dallas. He has said, “Anything good for Dallas, I was involved with it.” He has served on the boards of scores of Dallas civic and business organizations.

He has also served The University of Alabama in various capacities-including service as a member of the College of Commerce Board of Visitors and the President’s Cabinet. He has been asked many times to speak before Congressional committees as an expert of the soft drink industry and is a member of the U.S. Senatorial Business Advisory Board.

For his many accomplishments in marketing and management he has received numerous awards from the international, national, regional, and local chapters of the Sales and Marketing Executives Club. He was also named Beverage Industry “Man of the Year” in 1976 and Finan­cial World “Chief Executive Officer of the Year­Beverage Industry” in 1977; he was inducted into Beverage World Hall of Fame in 1982. He received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Southern Methodist University School of Business in 1975.

In recognition of his overall accomplishments, he received: an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from The University of Alabama (1974); the George Washington Certificate Award for Dallas Citizenship presented by Freedoms Foun­dation at Valley Forge (1975); the Horatio Alger Award (1980); and the National Football Foun­dation and Hall of Fame, Inc. – Lone Star Chapter Distinguished American Award (1980).

“Foots” Clements, now Chairman Emeritus of Dr. Pepper Co., has said he wishes he could be forty again so he could say that he’ll live to see Dr. Pepper become the best-selling soft drink. But regardless of whether he’s around, he pledges it will happen.

Sources of biographical information: The Dallas Morning News, July 18, 1982; Dallas Times Herald, May 26, 1985; Fortune, December 1973.

Frank McCorkle Moody

  • October 26th, 2021

Frank McCorkle Moody has said that “a bank is nothing but a shadow of its administration.” During his fifty years with First National Bank of Tuskaloosa (now AmSouth Bank of Tuskaloosa), he set an example of excellence through his leadership in Alabama Banking; through his community service; and through the financial support of educational, cultural, and other worthy causes in the community.

This model citizen, as he has been called, was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on September 25, 1915, the son of Frank Maxwell and Sarah (McCorkle) Moody. He received his elementary education in public schools and his secondary education at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He then entered The University of Alabama and graduated with a B.A. degree in Economics in 1937. (He later did post-graduate work at the Finance School, Duke University, and in the Graduate School of Banking, Rutgers University).

After graduation from The University of Alabama, Frank Moody decided to follow in the footsteps of his forebears and pursue a career in banking at the First National Bank of Tuskaloosa (FNB). His great-grandfather (Judge Washington Moody) had established FNB in 1871; his grandfather, Frank Sims Moody, had led the bank for forty years; his father, Frank Maxwell Moody, was in 1937 the leading executive.

Frank McCorkle Moody would become the fourth member of the family to lead the First National Bank. But, he would climb to the top in an old-fashioned way. His first job in 1937 was in the bank’s proof department.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Frank Moody joined the U.S. Army Air Force and served until 1945 when he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain.

The young veteran re­turned to Tuscaloosa where he became an assistant cashier at FNB. By 1949, he had become executive vice-president. By 1956, he was made president and CEO. In 1970, he became both CEO and Board Chair­ man, positions he held until he retired in 1987. Upon his retirement, he was named Chairman Emeritus of AmSouth Bank of Tuskaloosa, and still serves in that capacity. Frank Moody has said that investments in time and money are part of a “two-way street, … what helps community growth helps banks Communities that don’t

have aggressive banks don’t do much.” A bank must be “a catalyst and a leader.”

First National Bank has been a catalyst for growth since 1871 when Frank Moody’s great­ grandfather along with eight prominent citizens formed the bank. The bank’s credit was largely responsible for helping Tuscaloosa begin reconstruction. Under the leadership of Frank Moody’s grandfather and father, FNB continued to be a catalyst for growth in the West Alabama area as “a friend of the farmer.” When Frank McCorkle Moody became the fourth Moody to head FNB, the focus changed to commercial activity; and the bank became the leading bank in West Alabama, with at least ten branch banks. In the 1980s, with increasing competition in the banking industry and with powerful statewide banks in every community, Frank Moody felt that FNB’s potential for growth was decreasing. Thus, it was decided that the bank be sold to AmSouth Bancorporation. In 1987 Frank Moody oversaw the transition of Tuscaloosa’s strongest hometown bank, First National Bank of Tuskaloosa, to AmSouth Bank of Tuskaloosa.

During his years at First National Bank of Tuskaloosa, Frank Moody always stressed the importance of service and leadership. He personally set the example for the bank.

Frank Moody served in various leadership positions in the Alabama Bankers Association as well as the American Bankers Association. He also served as a member of the advisory board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Birmingham. For many years, he was a director of the Alabama Power Company, and a director and partner with R. L. Zeigler Co., and Creative Displays, Inc.

He has given his time to the community as president and member of the board of the Chamber of Commerce. As chair of the Chamber’s Aviation Committee, he spearheaded the paving of the runways at Tuscaloosa’s airport. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Druid City Hospital (now DCH Regional Medical Center) and on the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority Board and the Tuscaloosa Development Board. For twenty-five years he was a board member, and also served as a chairman, of the Alabama State Mental Health Authority.

He has been president and chairman of the Tuscaloosa United Fund Drive; an active member of the Black Warrior Council of the Boy Scouts of America and also of the vestry of Christ Episcopal Church. He is a member of the University Club of New York City.

At his alma mater, Frank Moody has served as a member of the President’s Cabinet and the Board of Visitors of the College of Commerce and Business Administration. At Stillman College, he has served on the Board of Trustees and the executive committee.

During Frank Moody’s tenure at FNB, the bank established an employee welfare fund to encourage giving to educational, cultural, and other worthy causes. The resulting contributions, combined with money donated by the bank, had totaled over $3 million when Frank Moody retired.

The Moody family’s interest in the arts led to the construction of two facilities on The University of Alabama campus. Frank Moody, two sisters, and FNB contributed substantially toward the construction of a music building. Named the Frank Moody Music Building, it honors not only Frank McCorkle Moody but also his father and grandfather, also named Frank Moody.

And another UA facility, the Moody Gallery of Art, has been dedicated to honor his Mother (Sarah McCorkle Moody), a staunch supporter of the arts.

For his leadership and service, Frank McCorkle Moody has often been recognized. For example, in 1991, he was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor. His name was added to the list of other prominent Alabamians whose contributions, in a variety of areas, have greatly enriched Tuscaloosa, West Alabama, and the state.

In 1992, he and his wife Gloria were the recipients of the Frances S. Summersell Award and they were selected to ODK (leadership honorary) at his alma mater.

In 1986, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Stillman College; and in 1979, an honorary LLD. from The University of Alabama.

Other honors include the Silver Beaver Award from the Black Warrior Council of the Boy Scouts in 1987; the “Business and the Arts Award” presented by the Society for the Fine Arts (to Frank Moody in conjunction with FNB) in 1984; and a tribute – “To Tuscaloosa’s Finest,” placed in the Congressional Record by Richard Shelby on March 15, 1984.

In 1958, Frank Moody received the Tuscaloosa Citizen of the Year Award, and in 1957, he was named “Number One Boss” by the Business and Professional Women’s Association.

After Frank Moody announced that he would retire on June 30, 1987, the Tuscaloosa City Council proclaimed May 28 as Frank Moody Day. The Council’s resolution cited, among other things, Frank Moody’s leadership and “dedication to the economic growth and prosperity of the area and the meeting of humanitarian needs.”

The president pro-tern of the Council said that “rarely does one have an opportunity to see an individual who fits the mold of a model citizen… Most people know him as Frank Moody, but a lot of people call him ‘Mr. Tuscaloosa.'”

He and his wife, Gloria, are the parents of six children and five grandchildren.

Samuel Paul Garner

  • October 26th, 2021

Samuel Paul Gamer, Professor and Dean Emeritus of the College of Commerce and Business Administration at The University of Alabama, is recognized as a leader in the educational aspects of international business, with special attention to its accounting relationships. Even though he retired in 1971, he has remained an active participant in professional organizations throughout the world. His colleagues have said he is probably one of the best-known living academicians in America, Europe, and Asia.

During all of his fifty years of travels in pursuit of knowledge of the international aspects of business management and in attendance at numerous professional meetings, Paul Garner’s goal has been to inform people about The University of Alabama and its academic programs. His public relations efforts have earned him the unofficial title of The University of Alabama’s “Ambassador to the World.”

Samuel Paul Garner was born in Yadkinville, North Carolina (near Winston-Salem) on August 15, 1910. He was the oldest of the seven children of Samuel W. and Ila Jane (Hoots) Garner. His father owned and operated a large country store before opening a Yellow Cab Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1921.

Paul Garner’s early education consisted of a combination of private tutorage and attendance in one-room schoolhouses. After the seventh grade, he attended Mineral Springs High School from which he graduated in 1927 as valedictorian in his class.

For twelve months after graduation, the young man worked full-time for his father’s taxi business and banked his savings in order to attend college. His savings, plus loans and a four-year tuition scholarship, enabled him to enter Duke University. In 1932, he graduated (Phi Beta Kappa) in the top ten of his class with an A.B. in economics (with minors in languages and physics).

Paul Garner’s interest in other countries and other cultures had been kindled by a sixth-grade geography teacher. Thus, the twenty­ one-year-old college grad­uate used the $500 he had managed to save from the many jobs he held during his college years to finance a graduation trip to Europe. This first venture abroad was the forerunner of sixty other trips he would take to ninety-five countries in years to come. But the ensuing trips would be primarily for business and to make contacts for the University.

Another scholarship enabled him to return to Duke University in September 1932 to work on his master’s degree, which he received in 1934. After serving as an instructor at Duke for the academic year 1934-35, he was an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University for two years.

Between 1937 and 1939, Paul Garner served as an Instructor at the University of Texas while earning his Ph.D. During these two years, he not only completed his course work, passed his preliminary exams in four disciplines, and his oral comprehensive, but also almost completed his dissertation.

In 1939, he accepted the offer of Dean Lee Bidgood to become an Associate Professor of Accounting at The University of Alabama. By the fall of 1940, Paul Garner had finished his dissertation and was awarded his Ph.D. By 1943, he had been promoted to Professor. In 1949, he was named to succeed Chester Knight as head of the Accounting Department. In 1954, he became the second dean of the College of Commerce and Business Administration when Dean Lee Bidgood retired.

During his tenure as dean (1954-1971) Dr. Garner led the College to new heights through the example he set as a researcher, a writer, an administrator, a leader in professional organizations, and in interaction with the business community. He encouraged faculty members in these areas as well as in the development and expansion of activities in the College, such as the Ph.D. program.

During his years as an academician and administrator, Paul Garner has written more than fifty professional articles which have appeared in more than forty-nine publications involving at least twelve languages. He has also authored or co-authored seven textbooks. His revised dissertation, The Evolution of Cost Accounting to 1925 (first published in 1954) has been translated into Japanese and Chinese and was in 1991 called a significant milestone in inter­ national accounting literature (see The Costing Heritage: Studies in Honor of S. Paul Garner, published by the Academy of Accounting Historians, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1991.) In recognition of Dr. Garner’s outstanding contribution to accounting research and education, the faculty of the University’s Culverhouse School of Accountancy voted unanimously in 1990 to call the school’s Center for Current Accounting Issues, “The Paul Garner Center.”

Over the years, Dr. Garner has been the president or a ranking officer in virtually all of the major accounting organizations. He has also held the presidency of major academic groups such as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (the accreditation body for business schools in the United States).

He has traveled and lectured extensively throughout the United States and the world. He has developed hundreds of contacts with businesses and universities in the U.S.; and with foreign educators, students, businessmen, and government officials through his attendance at more than thirty world congresses. By cross­ indexing the names of his national and international friends, he has established a file of more than 5,000 people in over 125 countries.

Even in retirement, Dean Emeritus Paul Garner maintains correspondence with people all over the world. Businesses, faculty members, students, and other individuals still come to or call Dean Garner for advice about whom to contact to help them achieve their desired goals in our “global village.”

Dr. Garner has also been active in civic affairs almost from the first day he arrived in Tuscaloosa. For example, he has been a financial advisor to the City for five decades. He has served on the boards of at least four local businesses – something he always encouraged faculty members to do so that they would have working experience in the business world. He has served as a director of the Chamber of Commerce, as a member of the board of the YMCA, and (since retirement) on the board of FOCUS. He has also been an active member of the Alabama Export Council, and many other groups.

For his leadership, Dr. Paul Garner has received numerous awards and honors over the years. For example, in 1988 alone he received public service awards from the American Institute of CPAs and the Alabama Society of CPAs, and the Financial Service Award from the city of Tuscaloosa. In 1990, he was named the International Accounting Educator of the year by the American Accounting Association; and in 1991, he received the Presidential Citation of Distinguished Service from Beta Gamma Sigma. Previous honors have included the prestigious Dow Jones Award and Prize in 1976 and honorary degrees from Pusan National University (Korea) in 1966 and The University of Alabama in 1971.

Dean Emeritus Paul Garner is married to the former Ruth Bailey, whom he met at Duke University. They have three children and four grandchildren.

J. Reese Phifer

  • October 26th, 2021

Reese Phifer, Chairman, and CEO of Phifer Wire Products, Inc., has been called the prototype of an entrepreneur. Reese Phifer, Chairman, and CEO of Phifer Wire Products, Inc., has been called the prototype of an entrepreneur. In 1952, he rented an old, vacant warehouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and set up a small, five­loom weaving operation which he called Phifer Aluminum Screen Company. From this humble beginning arose Phifer Wire Products, Inc.

This corporation today sells its products in all fifty states and exports products to over 125 countries. The corporation, still locally owned and operated, has also become one of West Alabama’s largest and most respected corporate citizens.

One of three sons of William and Olga Gough Phifer, Reese Phifer was born on February 19, 1916, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where for many years his father owned and operated a grocery store in Tuscaloosa’s West End. During his years in the public schools, the young man was a good student as well as a good athlete. In high school, he was one of the area’s outstanding athletes and later (in 1968) was named to the Tuscaloosa High School Football “Hall of Fame.”

After graduating from Tuscaloosa High School, Reese Phifer entered The University of Alabama and earned a B.S. degree in commerce in 1938 and a law degree in 1940. With the advent of World War II, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Force and logged many hours flying the famous P-51 Mustang.

After his discharge from the service, Reese Phifer returned to his hometown to resume his career as a lawyer. He served briefly as an Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Tuscaloosa before entering private practice.

While practicing law, he conceived the idea of a wire-screening weaving operation. After two years of studying the feasibility of setting up such an operation, he established in 1952 a manufacturing plant that would eventually become the world’s largest producer of woven screen wire. The original company, Phifer Aluminum Screen Company, was soon renamed Phifer Wire Products and by 1956 had moved to larger facilities. Installation of fine wire drawing equipment enabled the company to produce the .013-inch diameter wire necessary to weave insect screening. Later a large breakdown mill allowed the company to have more control over the final product. From the very beginning, Reese Phifer put major emphasis on “Quality, Service, and Delivery.”

In 1963, Phifer Wire Products, under Reese Phifer’s leadership, developed a totally new product – a woven, all-aluminum screening which acts as a solar screen to help keep out solar rays and solar heat gain. This Phifer invention, marketed under the brand name SunScreen, gave the company an exclusive product to add to its product line.

In 1974, Phifer adapted the aluminum SunScreen concept to the new fiberglass yarns, because in 1970 Reese Phifer had the foresight to initiate the construction of a fiberglass weaving plant with the finest weaving machines available.

In the 1970s the company continued to expand and modernize its facilities, as well as to search for new products and markets. A new warehouse and shipping facility as well as a yarn-coating division, a chemical division, and a new international headquarters office building were all constructed in the Kauloosa Ave. Industrial Park area. Phifer Wire Products, Inc. emerged as the most modern and efficient plant in the world for the production of aluminum and fiberglass insect screening.

In 1982, the company added another woven product, Phifertex, a vinyl-coated product widely used in the outdoor and leisure furniture market.

Today, Phifer products – all manufactured in Tuscaloosa – may be seen by customers in Phifer warehouses and sales offices in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Salt Lake City, St. Petersburg, or Honolulu. The company’s corporate aircraft is used extensively by the home office sales team in Tuscaloosa to work with salespeople and customers in the field, and to regularly bring in customers and potential customers to Tuscaloosa. The company’s fleet of modern tractor-trailer trucks travel over a million miles a tear to make deliveries to customers from coast to coast and to all major ports for export abroad.

Under the leadership of Reese Phifer, the company has achieved national and international recognition. In 1984, he was a special guest of President Ronald Reagan at the White House to receive the prestigious “E” Award in recognition of the company’s success in export sales. He had realized early on that the seasonal demand for screen wire reached its peak every summer, so he turned to exports to countries with seasons opposite the U.S.A.

Also under his leadership, Phifer Wire Products has always been an equal opportunity employer. In 1981, Phifer was presented the very first Human Rights Award ever given by the local NAACP organization. In 1988, Phifer Wire Products was the recipient of the Presidential “C” Award. The familiar “We Can…We Care” Award was initiated to recognize companies such as Phifer for corporate involvement in such areas as education, drug abuse, job training and assistance to the handicapped. Also, under Reese Phifer’s leadership, job opportunities have been made available to physically challenged and mentally handicapped persons, disabled veterans, and persons with hearing problems; and the company has always felt fortunate and grateful to the employees who do such an outstanding job.

Through the years, Reese Phifer has made many contributions to The University of Alabama through Phifer Wire Products as well as the Reese Phifer, Jr. Memorial Trust, the charitable arm of the company which was established in 1964 in memory of Reese Phifer, Jr., who died in an airplane accident.

In recognition of Reese Phifer’s continuing support of The University of Alabama, the Board of Trustees this year named the Old Union Building (which now houses the College of Communications) Reese Phifer Hall.

Reese Phifer has always had a vision of the American Dream – based on hard work, ingenuity, and innovation – as well as a sense of social responsibility. Phifer Wire Products, Inc. represents his fulfillment of that dream and reflects the vision of its founder, now Chairman and CEO.

Other officers of this family-owned, Tuscaloosa-based, international industry are members of Reese Phifer’s family. His wife, Sue Clarkson Phifer, is Senior Vice President; his oldest daughter Beverly Phifer serves as President; daughters Karen Phifer Brooks and Susan Phifer Cork serve as Vice Presidents; sons-in-law Brad Cork and Jim Brooks serve as Senior Executive Vice Presidents.

Today, the Phifers and Phifer Wire Products, Inc. continue to chart a course which opens windows to the future and around the world.

James I. Harrison, Jr.

  • October 22nd, 2021

Jimmy Harrison got his start in the pharmacy business working as a soda jerk in his daddy’s drugstore.

Some five decades and 153 stores later, James I. Harrison, Jr., chairman, and chief executive officer of Harco Drug Incorporated, made the difficult decision to sell his $258 million company and bring to an end an incredible family tradition.

James Irving Harrison, Jr., a native and lifetime resident of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was born July 11, 1932, to James Irving Harrison, Sr., and Agnes Elizabeth Doherty. The young Harrison finished high school at age sixteen, then attended Baylor Prep School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a year before accepting a basketball scholarship to The University of Alabama. After two years at Alabama, he then transferred to Howard College (now Samford University) in Birmingham to study pharmacy – and keep playing basketball. The university’s athletic department still lists Jimmy as holding the school record for most points scored (48) in a basketball game. He was an honors student, inducted into such societies as Rho Chi, Kappa Psi, and ODK, and it was during this time that he and Peggy Thomas were wed, May 30, 1954.

He and his bride returned to Tuscaloosa upon graduation in 1955, at which time his father, who had successfully owned and operated downtown Central Drug since 1941, purchased a second store. The senior Harrison turned over the keys to Druid Drug, located on the edge of the University of Alabama campus, to his son and gave him the freedom to run the operation. The stores used separate bank accounts, with Jimmy’s father managing the finances and paying the bills for both stores. Many years later the son would recount part of that experience to an Alabama business magazine.

“After he had a stroke, he was unable to manage the finances anymore,” Jimmy said, remembering. “I took over the books and discovered he was making me look good by paying some of my bills out of his store. I had thought I was so smart.” In the late 1960s James Harrison, Sr., retired, and James Harrison, Jr., took over the family business, which by then consisted of four stores in the Tuscaloosa area. Chain drugstores were then beginning to make an impact on the country, and, as Jimmy said, “We had to choose whether to get involved in this type of expansion or get eaten by it.”

He made the right choice.

Under Jimmy’s direction, the company began its expansion as a chain in 1969 with its first Harco Super Drug in neighboring Northport. Next came a store in Clanton, still in Alabama, but the first store outside of the immediate Tuscaloosa area. Again, Jimmy’s own words tell the story best: “Back when we first started, there were times when our cash position was very weak. We made the joke that every time we sold a pack of cigarettes, we made a deposit. In the early days, when we had six to ten stores, we opened three stores a year on a very small base of stores. We didn’t know what a risk that was.”

While Jimmy was building his company, which would grow to have stores in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, he and Peggy were also building their family. The two would have three sons, James I. Harrison, III, Ronald Patrick Harrison, and Kie Anthony Harrison; and two daughters, Rebecca Elizabethanne Harrison Fuhrman, and Cheryl Lynn Harrison Sisson. The family would grow further in later years, with the devoted father becoming as well a devoted grandfather to eleven grandchildren.

The company officer would also become more and more active in his role as a civic and industry leader. An active member of Holy Spirit Catholic Church, he served at various points as a board member for Hospice of West Alabama, West Alabama Rehabilitation, Druid City Hospital Foundation, and the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. He is a past director of the Tuscaloosa County United Way and Tuscaloosa County Heart Association, and a current director of the Tuscaloosa County Chamber of Commerce. He is also currently chairman of the President’s Advisory Cabinet at The University of Alabama and a member of the UA Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration Board of Visitors, and a member of the Samford University School of Pharmacy Advisory Board, as well as recipient of the 1987 Samford University Distinguished Service Award.

On the business front, he served as a board member for AmSouth Bank and Alfa Insurance, as past chairman of Affiliated Drug Stores and the Southern Drug Store Association, and on the executive committee of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. Harco and Jimmy Harrison were named Employer of the Year by the Alabama Rehabilitation Association in 1996, Best Community Drug Store Chain 1995, and Retailer of the Decade (1990 award) by Chain Drug Review, as well as the 1986 Outstanding Small Drug Chain in the United States and America’s No. 1 Regional Drug Store Chain in 1996 by Drug Store News. He was recognized with a National Human Relations Award by the American Jewish Committee in 1997, the Bronze Oak Wreath Award for community contributions and involvement in 1990, and the Governor’s Volunteerism Award in 1989. He received the Alabama Gerontological Society Award for service to the elderly in 1986 and the Alabama Association of Elementary School Administrators Southeastern Award for contributions to education in 1996.

During the 1980s, Jimmy Harrison extended the family business to include a home health care business, Totalcare, with annual sales of about $6 million, which was sold in 1996 to American HomePatient; and Carport Discount Auto Parts, an automotive parts retail chain with forty-seven stores, which became a separate company in 1996. Even as the scope of the business expanded, however, Jimmy never forgot that operative word, “family.”

“We have always tried to run our business like a family, with a lot of interaction at all levels,” said the father whose five adult children all have roles within the operations. “Even though the family is much larger now we still strive to treat our associates with respect and with personal caring, just like you do in a family … keeping good people is very important in our business.”

But that business, one of tonics and powders and personal caring, is no longer theirs. In July of 1997, the announcement was made that Harco and New Orleans-based K&B would both become part of Rite Aid, in an acquisition estimated at worth $325 to $340 million. “I approached Jimmy Harrison,” said Rite Aid Chairman and Chief Executive Martin Grass, whose company is based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. “He was not aggressively selling the business.”

As his family’s business was nearing its fiftieth anniversary some years ago, Jimmy Harrison commented that he was only “a small part of what has happened. If I can take any credit, it’s in putting together a group of talented people.”

That group of talented people would probably disagree. History will record Jimmy Harrison as a leader in retailing, in pharmaceuticals, and in the ranks of family businesses. And those who knew him well will remember best his devotion to family, both immediate and extended – very extended.

“He’s always referred to the company as an extended family,” said son James I. Harrison, III. “The people who have worked for him would probably describe my dad as more of a father figure than a boss – he’s a mentor, a teacher, a warm human being.”

Young J. Boozer, Jr.

  • October 11th, 2021

Keen business inclinations, dedication to his work, and commitment to Alabama’s philanthropic community permeate all aspects of Young Jacob Boozer, Jr.’s life. Born July 9, 1912, to Young Jacob and Gipsy Hall Boozer, Young Boozer, the eldest of four children, began at the early age of five to accept family responsibility upon his father’s death. A native of Noma, Florida, he developed business ideologies at an early age and cultivated them at The University of Alabama where he earned a Bachelor of Science in 1936.

His affiliations and activities while at The University of Alabama proved to be an indi­cator of what he would eventually contribute to the Alabama business and philanthropic communities.

Young Boozer’s interests spanned academic, athletic, and social organizations. He played for the Crimson Tide football and baseball teams from 1934-1936. He served as president of the Junior Class in the Commerce School and the University Cotillion Club. He was secretary-treasurer of the “A” Club and a member of Jasons, an honor fraternity, and Sigma Nu, a social fraternity.

Following graduation from the University, Young Boozer entered the banking industry in Dothan, Alabama, working for First National Bank of Dothan. From 1939 to 1943 he was employed by the State of Alabama Department of Insurance as an insurance examiner. During this time he married his late wife, Phyllis Chamberlain. They had three children: Jo Ann Boozer Ray, Ellen Boozer Daly, and Young J. Boozer, III.

After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1943- 1945, Boozer was discharged as Lieutenant, Senior Grade. He then returned to his position with the Department of Insurance. The return was a short one. Boozer then entered another phase of his career.

Over the next twelve years, Boozer was involved in numerous business developments and associations. He served as the secretary-treasurer and general manager of Dixie Sporting Goods, a partner in the Evans Motion Picture Company and Hayes, Gilchrist ChrisCraft Sales and was state director of the Savings Bond Division. It was during this phase of his career that Boozer established lifelong relationships with bankers and insurance executives statewide.

In 1959, Boozer returned to Tuscaloosa, as president and treasurer of Cotton States Life Insurance Company where he worked until 1973. Under his leadership, the company became an integral component of the Tuscaloosa business community.

In 1974, Cotton States Life Insurance Company was acquired by Federated Guaranty, which would become known as ALFA Insurance. Boozer again aligned himself with top management and served as the senior vice president and a director of the ALFA Corporation. Boozer retired from the board in 1999 after 25 years of service, during which ALFA grew from $16 million in assets to $1.247 billion.

Just a few years after beginning his career with ALFA, Boozer joined another business venture, which would prove to be very successful. In 1981, Boozer, along with business associates formed Colonial BancGroup. The business started with one location and has grown to more than 250 locations and $10.7 billion in total assets. Boozer served on the board of directors from 1981-1998, and his contribution to the development of the company is very evident.

“Young Boozer has been a friend of my family for all of my life. His business acumen and practical skills were greatly valued by my father in his relationship with Young at Farm Bureau (ALFA), and it was natural when we started Colonial BancGroup for Young to be a founding director. From our beginnings at $165 million and one bank, to today’s Colonial at $10.7billion, Young’s influence, advice, and counsel have been invaluable,” said Bobby Lowder, Chairman, and CEO of Colonial Banc­Group.

Only his philanthropic work and service to The University of Alabama rival Boozer’s business accomplishments.

Boozer’s commitment to The University of Alabama is evidenced by the positions he has held and the awards and recognition he has received for his service. In 1989, he was the Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award recipient. He is the co-chairman of the Paul W Bryant Museum Committee and a member of the President’s Cabinet for the University.

Boozer’s past business affiliations have enriched the University through scholarship endowments. He is the honoree of a $100,000 endowed fellowship fund established at the University by Colonial BancGroup.

As a member of the University’s Capital Campaign Steering Committee and the Committee for the Paul W. Bryant/Alumni Continuing Education Center, Boozer uses his experience as a business and industry leader to guide and advise these groups.

Boozer is also active in The University of Alabama National Alumni Association and has contributed time and financial resources to numerous College of Commerce and Business Administration organizations. He was the chairman of the Board of Visitors for C&BA and is co-chairman of the Commerce Executives Society.

Boozer’s influence, while statewide in scope, is concentrated in the Tuscaloosa area. He has served as the director or president of numer­ous Tuscaloosa businesses: First Alabama Bank, Southland Bank Corporation, Tuscaloosa Enterprises, Old Union Life Insurance Company, Tuscaloosa Hotel Company, Southland Insurance and Penn Media, Inc.

Coupled with Boozer’s service to the community is his dedication to philanthropic efforts, which makes him not only one of Alabama’s greatest businessmen but one of its greatest citizens.

His work spans a diversified group of organizations. He has served as the director for the National Kidney Foundation of Alabama, Alabama Chapter of the American Cancer Society, and the Alabama 4-H Club. He was the chairman of the Druid City Hospital Medical Clinic Board. Other organizations in which he has held the position of the director include the Alabama Heart Association, Alabama Chapter of the Leukemia Society of America, Inc., American Red Cross, and Salvation Army.

His athletic excellence has been recognized by having been named in 1961 a Sports Illustrated Silver Anniversary All-American, and by his induction into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 1993.

From athletics to philanthropic efforts to service to The University of Alabama, Young Boozer has made a name for himself throughout the state. His willingness to give so freely of himself has won him not only awards and recognition but also the attention and respect of those who are inspired by his selfless dedication.

His son, Young J. Boozer, III, describes his father as a person who is attentive to a higher responsibility, honor, and integrity: “Young Boozer is a successful businessman, but more importantly, he is one of integrity and honor. While others may have been driven by absolute self-interest, he acted with the best of intentions and accomplished much without thought of personal gain or reward. It can be said that he built his net worth more in reputation than in dollars. Nevertheless, both have grown to be substantial.”

James L. Hinton, Sr.

  • October 11th, 2021

Chances are if you are a native Alabamian or have spent much time in the Southeast, you’ve had the opportunity to enjoy some of Jimmy Hinton’s work, probably in the form of a Zeigler hotdog, maybe at a football game, or roasted over a wood fire at the end of a bird hunt or on the bank of one of the state’s many lakes.

Hinton is the owner and chairman of the board of R. L. Zeigler Company, Inc., of Tuscaloosa. Under Hinton’s leadership and business philosophy, Zeigler has become one of the South’s leading processors of meat products, and its motto “Seasoned to Please” is a familiar saying in most Southern homes.

But Jimmy Hinton is much more than a hot­dog maker. An entrepreneurial spirit, unwavering support for University of Alabama athletics, and a passion for wildlife conservation have been key elements in the life and career of James Lucian Hinton.

Hinton was born in Tuscaloosa on April 8, 1923, to George and Mary Alice Hinton. He attended The University of Alabama in the 1940s before serving in the United States Army during World War II. In 1958, he married Jean Jolly, a union that produced three children: James Lucian Hinton, Jr., Mary Katherine Hinton Gibson, Elizabeth Hinton Pruett, and eight grandchildren.

R.L. Zeigler was founded by Rebel Louis Zeigler and tradition has been a matter of quality and commitment ever since. When Rebel Zeigler bought his first grocery store in the early 1920s in Bessemer, Alabama, people came from all over to buy his homemade fresh pork sausage. When his pork sausage operation outgrew the store in 1927, he incorporated and opened his first packing plant in Bessemer, enabling him to increase the production of his prize-winning sausage. Mr. Zeigler introduced the first vacuum-packed lunchmeat in Alabama, an innovation that paved the road to meat packaging principles used today.

Zeigler remains the largest independent meatpacker in the Southeastern United States, producing the No. 1 selling wiener in the state of Alabama, along with a vast array of top-selling meat items. In over 70 years, Zeigler has built a strong business that takes pride in servicing its customers with the same commitment to excellence exhibited by its founder. Mr. Zeigler died in 1964 in Birmingham and three years later the successful business was purchased by Jimmy Hinton and two other Tuscaloosa businessmen of note, Mr. Frank Moody and Paul “Bear” Bryant. Over the years Hinton bought out his partners. Today Ziegler employs more than 400 people and has offices in Tuscaloosa, Selma, and Mobile.

Hinton’s business and professional relationships extend throughout the state. He is widely known for his diverse business interests. His business philosophy is often called entrepreneurial, and it is this philosophy that has made him one of Alabama’s finest businessmen.

“Jimmy has been one of Alabama’s most successful entrepreneurs and has done so in a wide range of businesses and industries, spanning fifty years,” Paul W. Bryant Jr. writes.

Other industries in which Hinton has thrived include farming and lumber. Hinton is the founder and owner of Tusco Wood Products Company of Tuscaloosa. Under Hinton’s direction, the company manufactures quality hardwood pallets for industry and pine boxes for national defense. The company, founded in the early 1960s, employs more than 150 people.

The company became nationally known during the Vietnam War as the largest manufacturer of ammunition boxes in the United States. Ammo box production trailed off until the Gulf War broke out and Tusco was asked by the Department of the Army to resume making the wooden ammunition boxes.

In addition to the processed meat and lumber industries, Hinton made has an impact on the West Alabama real estate industry as well. He was a co-developer of McFarland Mall, Tuscaloosa’s first shopping mall.

Throughout his career and across industries, Hinton has spurred business developments, guided successful businesses, and fostered business relationships and affiliations statewide. Bryant credits Hinton as being an integral part of the economic development of west Alabama.

Hinton has served on the boards of numerous Alabama companies including AmSouth and Fayco, Inc.

As further testament to his business initiative and planning, Hinton was a founding partner of Southern United Life Insurance Company of Montgomery and Olympia Mills of Tuscaloosa.

Like many successful businessmen, Jimmy Hinton has donated both time and financial resources to charitable causes without thought or expectation of recognition. Thomas W. Moore, president of Pritchett-Moore, Inc. describes Hinton’s contributions: “His support of and contributions to civic and charitable organizations, particularly The University of Alabama and Stillman College of Tuscaloosa, have been significant.” Hinton has served on The University of Alabama’s President’s Cabinet since its inception. He also was a founder of Tuscaloosa Academy and is a member of the school’s board of directors.

Both Bryant and Moore describe him as a low-profile individual. “He has been a major financial supporter of the University’s athletics programs … in many cases that have not been apparent to those not directly involved,” Bryant writes.

Along with his business success, Hinton has done much to preserve and protect the state’s natural resources and has become known as a preeminent wildlife conservationist. He spends a considerable amount of his time working on wildlife conservation and game management. He has served for 10 years as the Chairman of the State of Alabama Conservation Advisory Board. In 1998, Hinton received the highest honor for a conservationist; the Alabama Wildlife Federation recognized him as the 1998 Conservationist of the Year.

A lifelong passion has been training and owning bird dogs, and three of his dogs have won national championships four times. As part of his conservation efforts, he owns land in Dallas County, Alabama. His land, Sedgefield Plantation, is the site each year of state and national bird dog field trials. As a result of years of dedicated work, Hinton was inducted into the Field Trial Hall of Fame in 1975.

Hinton has used Sedgefield Plantation to give Alabama hunters with disabilities a unique opportunity. He opened Sedgefield Plantation to the Disabled Sportsmen of Alabama. Deer hunters in this group now have a wonderful place to hunt, all thanks to the generosity of Hinton.

Numerous Alabama industries, conservation groups, and University of Alabama programs have reached a higher caliber of excellence due in large part to the entrepreneurial and generous spirit of James Hinton.

Harry H. Pritchett

  • October 6th, 2021

Every day scores of young golfers, many of them students at The University of Alabama, tee off at the Harry Pritchett Golf Course in east Tuscaloosa. But few of them realize the legacy and the golfing prowess of the man for whom the course is named. But make no mistake; Harry H. Pritchett was a man of high accomplishment, both in the business world and in the golfing community.

Harry Houghton Pritchett was born June 28, 1909, in Montgomery, where his mother, Kate Louise Powers Pritchett, was temporarily living after the sudden and untimely death of his father, Edward Hill Pritchett. Mrs. Pritchett returned to Tuscaloosa shortly after his birth and Pritchett attended Tuscaloosa schools.

Pritchett began playing golf at the age of 12. At The University of Alabama, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry in 1930, Pritchett was one of the top golfers in the South and in the old Southern Conference, playing four years with the Crimson Tide varsity golf team. He won the Southern Intercollegiate title in 1928 and went on to win the Alabama Amateur title twice. Later in his career, he was the Alabama Senior Golf tournament champion and won the medal for low score in the Southern Amateur tournament. He played in the United States Amateur Championship twice. He was a formidable competitor and a supreme shot-maker who struck his irons with marksman-like accuracy.

“I’ll tell you something,” Pritchett once told a newspaper reporter. “I haven’t meant much to golf, but golf has meant the world to me. I have met some truly wonderful people thanks to this game.”

In fact, he credited golf for helping him land his first post-college job, as a chemist with T.J. Moss Tie Company, a creosote fire, in Columbus, Mis­sissippi at $85 a month. He was playing golf one afternoon in Tuscaloosa and mentioned to a fel­low player that he was looking for work. The other player needed a chemist and Pritchett was hired on the spot.

Pritchett left Columbus and moved to Maplesville where he was engaged in the lumber business. After a major fire at the mill and the complete loss by fire of the apart­ment where he lived with his new bride, Margaret (Sis) Partlow, he sold his interest in the business and moved back to Tuscaloosa, where he began a long and lucrative career in real estate and insurance in 1936. He opened Pritchett Insurance Company and in 1940 was joined by Marlin Moore. The business later became Pritchett-Moore, Inc., a real estate, and insurance company that is a Tuscaloosa landmark. Later he was a found­ing partner and secretary-treasurer of Creative Displays, Inc. of Tuscaloosa.

A Pritchett friend, Harvey Edwards, Sr., said his friend was “never short on doing all he could in civic matters. Always he was ready and willing and did an able job at whatever he undertook. He did a great many things under difficulties.”

For more than 40 years, Pritchett helped mold many of the institutions of Tuscaloosa. He served on the City Board of Education for 30 years, helping to lead the city school sys­tem and The University of Alabama through the integration crisis of the 1960s with moral courage and dignity.

Morris Sokol, a fellow civic leader who served with Pritchett on many civic boards and projects, said at Pritchett’s death: “He is one of the outstanding persons I have ever known. He was talented and not only gave, but he worked for everything good for the community and its people.”

Sokol recalled Pritchett’s leadership role during the integration crisis. “He was moving out front, telling everybody what his feelings and his ideals were when so very many were afraid to open their mouths about it.” Pritchett appeared on national televi­sion asking local community leaders to practice restraint and abide by the law.

He also headed the Tuscaloosa Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations during the post-war development explo­sion. His professional activities included serving as president of the Alabama Asso­ciation of Mutual Insurance Agencies and of the Alabama Real Estate Association, which named him Realtor of the Year. He organized and served as the first president of the Tuscaloosa Board of Realtors.

In 1949 he was named Citizen of the Year in Tuscaloosa. He was a past president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce and of the United Way of Tuscaloosa County. He was a member of the boards of directors of Alabama Gas Corporation, the First National Bank of Tuskaloosa, and the Alabama Chamber of Commerce.

In 1965 Pritchett received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for service to The Uni­versity. He was a member of the president’s cabinet of the University and was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1979 and the Liberty Bell Law Award in 1981.

He headed the fundraising campaign to build the University Law Center. In 1979 the University of Alabama National Alumni Association named him distinguished alumnus of the year.

In 1978, the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System approved naming the university golf course in his honor and a resolution confirming the honor was approved by the state Legislature. He repaid the game he loved by serving as president of the Alabama Golf Association, the Southern Golf Association, and the Alabama Senior Golf Association.

Pritchett was an active and longtime sup­porter of historic preservation efforts, and served on the Alabama Sesquicentennial Commission in 1969, as co-chairman of the Tuscaloosa County Bicentennial Commission and as a member of the Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County.

Pritchett was married to the former Margaret (Sis) Partlow, whom he met at Sunday School at the First Methodist Church. They were high school sweethearts and married shortly after college. They had four children: the Very Reverend Harry H. Pritchett, Jr., Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; Mrs. Margaret “Boo” Privett of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; Mrs. Katie Mitchell of Decatur, Alabama, and Mrs. Kathleen “Kat” Quarles, of Tuscaloosa. All are graduates of The Uni­versity of Alabama. The Pritchetts were members of Christ Episcopal Church where he served on the Vestry and as senior warden for several years.

Pritchett was a longtime member of Indian Hills Country Club, and he developed his game at the nine-hole Riverside Course in Tuscaloosa and at Tuscaloosa Country Club. At Indian Hills, he was a member of a golfing group facetiously called “The Gangsters.” Shortly after Pritchett’s death in 1981, a fellow golfer told The Tuscaloosa News, “When you open up the rules book to that page where it talks about golf being a gentleman’s game, that’s where you’ll find Harry Pritchett’ s name.” A gentleman on the golf course and a gentleman of the business community.

Ernest G. Williams

  • October 6th, 2021

When Ernest Going Williams was selected to receive The University of Alabama’s Distinguished Alumni Award, The Tuscaloosa News, in a congratulatory editorial, said Williams “joins the ranks of UA legends… ”

Indeed, his service to the University, to his community, and to humanity, in general, is legendary.

Paper company executive, University treasurer and trustee, banker, and all-around outstanding citizen, Williams’ roots go deep into the soil of the Southeast. His ancestors journeyed to Alabama from North Carolina in 1817 and played prominent roles in the development of the territory. His great-grandfather, Nicholas Gaines Augustus, was a Mississippi planter and attended The University of Alabama in the 1840s. His father was an owner of Consolidated Lumber Company, which had sawmills throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. and Mary Sanford Williams. He was named for his step-grandfather, Alfred Ernest Going, Jr. The family moved to Tuscaloosa when Ernest was five.

Williams was born in Macon, Mississippi, on September 24, 1915, the son of Augustus Gaines

Ernest Williams attended Tuscaloosa schools and graduated in 1938 from The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science degree in commerce and business administration. As a student, he was a member of the Excelsior and Philomathic literary societies, the Cotillion Club, Quadrangle, Jasons, and Omicron Delta Kappa. One of his greatest interests was the Kappa Alpha Fraternity, the members of which bestowed on him the title of “Boss,” which has stayed with him as he served on the National Executive Council of Kappa Alpha Order.

In 1942, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II, he sought and was accepted into the Navy’s officer training program at Notre Dame and Northwestern University and was commissioned as an ensign. He served as communications and deck officer aboard the U.S.S. Kaskaskia, a fleet oiler and as a communications officer aboard the U.S.S. Severn in the South Pacific. After three years of active duty, he was released at the end of the war and returned to Tuscaloosa and a position as assistant treasurer at the University. He soon was elected treasurer and established a reputation for fairness and openness, as well as for shrewdness in financial matters. During his tenure, he negotiated several loans that were used to build student dormitories and fraternity and sorority houses. He also promoted a plan that allowed faculty members to obtain housing loans at a 5 percent fixed-rate, with no closing costs and no prepayment penalty. Many young faculty members can thank Ernest Williams for helping them finance their first home.

The 1950s proved to be eventful times for Ernest Williams. In 1951 he married Cecil Butler of Jacksonville, Florida, who he met while she was visiting her sister in Tuscaloosa. He was becoming active in the community, as president of the University Club, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the Exchange Club. But all was not roses.

As Williams was working one afternoon in 1956, an unruly crowd gathered in front of the education building next door to Williams’ office to protest the attendance of Autherine Lucy, the first black student admitted to UA. Another UA official approached Williams for help in getting Miss Lucy out of the building unharmed. He left his office and went upstairs in the education building where Miss Lucy waited. Williams surveyed the situation for several minutes until the mob’s attention was diverted, then escorted Miss Lucy downstairs to a waiting police car, which rushed her away unharmed. So, what did Williams do? He went back to work. “I had a long line of students waiting to get their fees deferred,” he told the news media later.

Later that year, Williams left the University and joined First National Bank of Tuscaloosa as a vice president and member of the board. But the University recognized the importance of having Williams close at hand and in August 1956, he was elected to the Board of Trustees and became the school’s third local trustee.

In 1958 Williams resigned his position at the bank and became vice president for finance and treasurer at Gulf States Paper and a member of its board of directors.

In 1977, Williams left the Gulf States and organized Affiliated Paper Companies, where he became chairman and chief executive officer. The Tuscaloosa company-owned paper houses in Texas, North and South Carolina, and Florida as well as Anniston and Huntsville in Alabama. It also was affiliated with 85 additional companies. Under his leadership for 17 years, the corporation grew to 264 affiliated companies with total sales of more than $2.2 billion in 1994, the year Williams retired at age 78.

Williams’ tenure as a trustee of The University of Alabama spanned 30 years, 26 of which were on the executive committee. His service ended in 1986 at age 70.

A highlight of his service to the University came in 1957 when he chaired a selection committee to search for a new football coach.

Paul W. Bryant was high on the list and Williams, along with Dr. Frank Rose, Fred Sington, and Marc Ray Clement persuaded Bryant to return to the Capstone.

Williams has been honored as Tuscaloosa’s Outstanding Citizen in 1973; by the University’s Board of Trustees with a dinner and resolution of appreciation on his retirement; as the recipient of an honorary LL.D. degree from the University in 1987; and by induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 1987.

He is an elder at First Presbyterian Church of Tuscaloosa, and a past chairman of the Tuscaloosa County American Red Cross and past president of Associated Industries of Alabama, Chamber of Commerce of Greater Tuscaloosa, DCH Foundation, Exchange Club, JayCees, United Way, the University Club, and YMCA. He also is a member of the Newcomen Society of North America and is listed in Who’s Who in America.

Throughout his career, his wife, Cecil, has been at his side. The couple has made significant gifts to The University of Alabama, including the Cecil B. and Ernest G. Williams Faculty Enhancement Fund. They have three children, Ernest Sanford, Turner Butler, and Elizabeth Cecil (CeCe), and nine grandchildren.

In February of 1999, the University presented Williams the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, which recognizes excellence of character and service to humanity. The tribute said:

“Ernest Williams is without peer in the annals of The University of Alabama. Some individuals can earn distinction as outstanding students; others, as alumni, achieve greatness in professional careers. Then there are those who serve their alma mater as trustees and benefactors. Ernest Williams has scaled the pinnacle of every category in a lifetime of service to the Capstone that spans more than half a century.”

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