The Historical Context for the Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame has been posted from the Records Disposition Authority (RDA) approved by the State Records Commission on April 17, 2024. The RDA establishes disposition requirements by designating records as either temporary records which may be destroyed after a specified retention period, or permanent records, which must be preserved in perpetuity. The complete RDAs for close to 175 agencies can be found on the Alabama Department of Archives and History website.
The State of Alabama has created many official halls of fame to honor the achievements of its citizens. With the sponsorship of Rep. Paul Meeks of Jefferson County, the State Legislature established the first of these, the Alabama Hall of Fame, in 1951, and directed its Board to “consider for election to the Alabama Hall of Fame worthy citizens of Alabama who have rendered outstanding services or who have won fame on account of their achievement.”[1] Legislation placed the Hall at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, where, although the Alabama Hall of Fame is now defunct, commemorative bronze plaques for inductees remain as of April 2024. The Hall stopped inducting members after 1965. Twenty-three of its twenty-five inductees were men, and only one, Booker T. Washington, was non-white.[2]
In the following decades, the state created halls of fame that honored Alabamians based on gender, age, occupation, or hobby. For example, Judson College administrators created the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 1970 to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of women.[3] The Legislature conferred state agency status upon the Women’s Hall of Fame in 1975.[4] Other state halls of fame from this era include the Alabama Livestock Hall of Fame (1981), the Alabama Senior Citizens’ Hall of Fame (1983), and the Alabama Turkey Hunters’ Hall of Fame (1986).[5]
The Men’s Hall of Fame originates from this fertile era of new halls of fame in Alabama, especially the founding of the Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1981, Lois Whitten, a founder of the Women’s Committee of 100 for Birmingham, a service group devoted to promoting Birmingham and Alabama across the United States, proposed the formation of a parallel Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame. The Women’s Committee of 100 accepted her proposal and formed a subcommittee to lay the groundwork for the nascent agency. This committee sought funding and permanent housing for the Hall, developed internal bylaws to govern its operations, and lobbied state legislators to establish the Men’s Hall of Fame as a state agency.[6]
State Senator Bill Cabaniss (R-Birmingham) introduced a bill in 1986 to establish the Men’s Hall of Fame as a state agency, but the legislative session ended before the bill came to a vote.[7] The following year, however, lawmakers passed Cabaniss’s bill and formally established the Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame as a state agency “to recognize those men native to or identified most closely with the State of Alabama who have made significant contributions… within their professional or personal fields of activity and concern.”[8] With this enabling legislation, the Harwell Goodwin Davis Library housed the Men’s Hall of Fame on the campus of Samford University, a private Baptist university in Homewood, Alabama, where the Hall remains as of April 2024.[9]
Following the Legislature’s establishment of the Men’s Hall of Fame, Gov. Guy Hunt appointed a nineteen-member Board of the agency in 1988. The Board consisted of two members from six of Alabama’s seven U.S. Congressional districts, excluding District 6; five members of the Women’s Committee of 100 representing District 6; the governor; and the director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History.[10] As of April 2024, the compositional formula of the Men’s Hall of Fame Board has not changed, but some Samford University executives, the President of the Women’s Committee of 100, and the Men’s Hall of Fame Executive Secretary serve as Ex-Officio members.[11]
Men’s Hall of Fame inductees must have affected the “state, nation, and world” and been deceased for at least two years. The Hall calls for nomination applications each year and accepts applications in advance of the Board’s spring meeting, when Board members select which nominees shall be inducted in an autumn ceremony. Nominees not selected for induction may be renominated indefinitely.
Via this procedure, the Hall honored Gov. Braxton Bragg Comer (1907-1911) and Alabama Power Company president Thomas Martin as its first inductees in 1988.[12] Gov. Guy Hunt spoke at the first induction ceremony and lauded Comer and Martin as “great men who applied themselves” and “the kind of people who make things happen.”[13] Since then, the Hall has inducted an average of two men annually,15 including former Surgeon General of the United States Army William Crawford Gorgas in 1989, Cherokee linguist Sequoyah in 2000, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. in 2009.[14] King’s daughter, Bernice, accepted the honor on his behalf and called his induction “the second most important honor” since his death, just behind the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.[15] The Hall has also “adopted” the twenty-three men inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame between 1951 and 1965. In 1990, the Legislature abolished the Alabama Hall of Fame because other agencies, like the Men’s Hall of Fame, had effectively taken responsibility for its purposes.[16]
Although the Men’s Hall of Fame primarily honors outstanding Alabama men by inducting them into the Hall, it has also promoted educational programs to teach elementary and high school students about Alabama men honored in the Hall. In the mid-2000s, the Hall sponsored an essay contest through Samford University’s Alabama Governor’s School in which students who authored the best essays about Men’s Hall of Fame inductees won prizes.[17] The Hall has also worked with Samford University’s Department of Education students to create inductee-themed lesson plans for fourth-grade social studies classes; the Men’s Hall of Fame maintains these lesson plans on its website.[18]
The Men’s Hall of Fame regularly received appropriations from the Legislature until the Great Recession of the early 2010s.[19] A legislative earmark resumed in 2023. The Hall has also benefitted from other sources of revenue, including annual stipends from the Women’s Committee of 100.[20]
Men’s Hall of Fame staff, Board members, and volunteers collaborate to induct new members. Indeed, Women’s Committee of 100 volunteers provide most of the labor involved with preparing for and conducting the Hall’s annual induction luncheon each September.[21] At these luncheons, the Hall officially inducts new members and unveilsbas-relief[22] plaques of each inductee to be displayed at Samford University.[23] The Hall will induct more than the standard two men annually under extraordinary circumstances; it recently inducted its largest-ever class after the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the Hall from holding its annual luncheon. As of April 2024, the Hall continues to honor prominent Alabama men, promote Alabama history, and educate the public about its mission.[24]
[1] “Meeks Seeking Hall of Fame for Alabama,” Birmingham Post-Herald,August 16, 1951, accessed September 21 via Newspapers.com;Alabama Act 1951-646.
[2] Alabama Act 1951-646; Holdings of the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
[3] Bill Mathews, “Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, March 27, 2023, https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/alabama-womens-hall-of-fame/.
[4] Alabama Act 1975-1061.
[5] Joe McFadden, “What about Hall for Halls of Fame?” The Montgomery Advertiser, March 17, 1986, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com; Alabama Act 1983-674; Alabama Act 1986-202.
[6] “The Women’s Committee of 100 for Birmingham – History,” accessed July 26, 2023, http://wc100bham.org/history.html.
[7] McFadden, “What about Hall for Halls of Fame?”; “In Praise of Endless Praise,” The Montgomery Advertiser, May 4, 1986, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com.
[8] Emily Bentley and Virginia Martin, “Rowe says fund shuffling is OK,” Alabama Journal, August 4, 1987, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com; Emily Bentley, “Senator calls Hall of Fame Bill ‘chauvinistic,’” Alabama Journal, August 5, 1987, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com; Code of Alabama 1975 § 41-9-850.
[9] Code of Alabama 1975 § 41-9-851; Sean Flynt, “Samford University,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, March 27, 2023, https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/samford-university/.
[10] Annette Green and Elouise Wilkins Williams, “Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, March 27, 2023, https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/alabama-mens-hall-of-fame/.
[11] “Members of the Board of Directors,” Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame website, accessed May 25, 2023, https://www.samford.edu/alabama-mens-hall-of-fame/board.
[12] “Editorial Notebook,” Birmingham Post-Herald, July 30, 1988, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com.
[13] Hoyt Harwell, “Gov. Hunt honors first 2 inductees into Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame,” Birmingham Post-Herald, September 27, 1998, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com.
[14] Ann Vrocher (Executive Secretary, Men’s Hall of Fame), interview by the Alabama Department of Archives and History Records Management Section, July 11, 2023, Montgomery, AL; Michaelle Chapman, “Samford, Washington, Gorgas cited,” Birmingham Post-Herald, September 26, 1989, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com; “Cherokee alphabet inventor to be honored,” The Montgomery Advertiser, September 4, 2000, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com; “Men’s Hall of Fame,” The Montgomery Advertiser, October 17, 2009, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com.
[15] “Men’s Hall of Fame,” The Montgomery Advertiser.
[16] “Inductees,” Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame website, accessed May 25, 2023, https://www.samford.edu/alabama-mens-hall-of-fame/inductee-list; “State’s Hall of Fame getting abolished, The Selma Times-Journal, February 16, 1990, accessed May 26, 2023, via Newspapers.com.
[17] “Notable,” Selma Times-Journal, September 30, 2005, accessed May 26, 2003, via Newspapers.com.
[18] Ann Vrocher, interview by Records Management Section, July 11, 2023.
[19] Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame, “Appropriations History,” June 7, 2022.
[20] Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame Income and Expense Statement – FY 2022, June 30, 2023.
[21] Ann Vrocher, interview by ADAH Records Management Section, July 11, 2023.
[22] Bas-relief, or “low relief,” refers to any work of sculpture in which the projection from a supporting background is shallow. The images on U.S. coins, for example, are in bas-relief (“Bas-relief,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed September 19, 2023, https://www.britannica.com/art/bas-relief).
[23] “History,” Men’s Hall of Fame website, accessed May 26, 2023, https://www.samford.edu/alabama-mens-hall-of-fame/history.
[24] Ann Vrocher, interview by ADAH Records Management Section, July 11, 2023.
- Representatives of the Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame
- Alabama Acts 1951-646, 1975-1061, 1983-674, 1986-202, and 1987-717
- Code of Alabama 1975 § 41-9-850 to § 41-9-853
- Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame Appropriations History
- Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame Financial Statements
- Holdings of the Alabama Department of Archives and History
- Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame Website (https://www.samford.edu/alabama-mens-hall-of-fame/)
- Women’s Committee of 100 for Birmingham Website (http://wc100bham.org/)
- “Bas-relief.” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/bas-relief.
- Bentley, Emily. “Senator calls Hall of Fame Bill ‘chauvinistic.’” Alabama Journal. June 5, 1987.
- Bentley, Emily and Virginia Martin. “Rowe says fund shuffling is OK.” Alabama Journal. August 5, 1987.
- Chapman, Michaelle. “Samford, Washington, Gorgas cited.” Birmingham Post-Herald. September 26, 1989.
- “Cherokee alphabet inventor to be honored.” The Montgomery Advertiser. September 4, 2000.
- “Editorial Notebook.” Birmingham Post-Herald. July 30, 1988.
- Flynt, Sean. “Samford University.” Encyclopedia of Alabama. March 27, 2023.
- https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/samford-university/.
- Green, Annette and Elouise Wilkins Williams. “Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame.” Encyclopedia of Alabama. March 27, 2023. https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/alabama-mens-hall-of-fame/.
- “In Praise of Endless Praise.” The Montgomery Advertiser. May 26, 2023.
- Matthews, Bill. “Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame.” Encyclopedia of Alabama. March 27, 2023. https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/alabama-womens-hall-of-fame/.
- McFadden, Joe. “What about Halls of Fame for Halls of Fame?” The Montgomery Advertiser. March 17, 1986.
- “Meeks Seeking Hall of Fame for Alabama.” Birmingham Post-Herald. August 16, 1951.
- “Men’s Hall of Fame.” The Montgomery Advertiser. October 17, 2009.
- “State’s Hall of Fame getting abolished.” The Selma Times-Journal. February 16, 1990.
For the Record 