Tuscaloosa Magazine Summer 2017

ALSO INSIDE: TUSCALOOSA MLB TEAMMATES

THE

PGA’s

PRIDE

HAL HUNT’S AUCTIONS THE HISTORIC HICKS HOUSE 6 INTRIGUING PEOPLE & SO MUCH MORE

AND T-TOWN’S

JOY www.tuscaloosamag.com $3.95

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editor’s letter

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Publisher James W. Rainey Editor-in-chief Becky Hopf Design Editor Lindi Daywalt-Feazel Photographers Gary Cosby Jr. Erin Nelson Copy Editors Amy Robinson Kelcey Sexton Edwin Stanton Operations Director Paul Hass Advertising Director Beau Laird Prepress Manager Chuck Jones Published by The Tuscaloosa News 315 28th Avenue Tuscaloosa, AL 35401 Executive Editor Michael James Controller Steve Hopper Magazine (205) 722-0232 To advertise (205) 722-0173 To subscribe (205) 722-0102

ummer is here! Three of our favorite words.

This issue of Tuscaloosa magazine celebrates summer and three local men who are starring at the highest level of two favorite summer sports, golf and baseball. There’s our cover story on Dicky Pride, a former Tuscaloosa Academy and University of Alabama golfer who plays — and wins — on the PGA Tour.

And how’s this for the “it’s a small world” category? Tuscaloosa’s David Robertson, who played at Central High School and Paul W. Bryant High School, and Hillcrest High graduate Tim Anderson are living the dream, together, as Major League Baseball teammates, and stars, for the Chicago White Sox. Jury duty. Two words that rank right up there with “age” and “weight” as far as dreaded vocabulary words go. But my first call to serve in January yielded a great discovery: my fellow potential juror, Bennie Deer. Neither of us was picked, but, as we sat next to each other awaiting our dismissal, I learned this Tuscaloosa transplant has lived a remarkable life, complete with co-workers — he’s a drummer — that have included Motown greats and gigs with the likes of Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and Ike Turner, among many others. And he’s faced death, square in the face, and escaped, three times. He’s one of our “6 Intriguing People,” a class that includes a worldclass professional tree climber, Tony Brown; a world-class hurdler, Winfield’s Trey Cunningham; an attorney, Dennis Steverson Sr., a black prosecutor whose earliest cases included one against a man accused of vandalizing a Ku Klux Klan building; a Tuscaloosa native, Christi Parsons, who covers the White House for the Los Angeles Times and was president of the White House Correspondents’ Association; and James Harrison Jr., who built a drugstore empire in Harco and another in auto parts in Carport.

We visit Hal Hunt Auctions, a business that could easily be a museum; the charming home of Mark and Rosalyn Hicks; and highlight the Sloan family, writers all, who gather hundreds to Tuscaloosa each summer for their Southern Christian Writers Conference.

And while you’re reading, try sipping on one of

Becky Hopf with Dicky Pride

the summer drinks our “Foodie” writer, Donna Cornelius, has gathered from local watering holes, or take a break and head to a casual and delicious dining experience, to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner — they’re all served simultaneously — at Metro Diner.

And, finally, with sadness we report the passing of Jim Hughes, the endearing and gifted woodcarver we featured in our Spring 2017 issue. When we visited the home he shared with his wife, Betty, they insisted that each one of us — Drew Taylor, who wrote the story, Gary Cosby Jr., who took the beautiful photos that accompanied the story, and I — leave with a memento of our visit, a tiny snuffbox he’d carved and signed. I treasured it then and regard it even more fondly now, as I will the photo that Gary captured, and the memory, with the sound etched in my heart, of Jim, standing on his back porch, sweetly playing one of the fiddles he carved.

Becky Hopf, editor Reach Becky Hopf at becky.hopf@tuscaloosanews.com.

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SUMMER 2017

VOLUME 15, NO. 2

CONTENTS

38

14

32

08 DINING OUT

20 EVENTS

32 AT HOME

14 DINING IN

25 FOODIE NEWS

38 COVER STORY

Featured on Food Network, Metro Diner has comfort food — and plenty of it.

Summertime sips — drinks just right for warm weather.

Places to go, things to see and do.

The latest in local food, trends, recipes and epicurean events.

ALSO INSIDELB:

THE

PGA’s

PRIDE

OSA M TUSCALOAMMATES TE T’S HAL HUN NS AUCTIO RIC O ST HI THE USE HICKS HO UING 6 INTRIG OPLE PE & SO MUCH MORE

From game day to every day, this University Circle home is a winner.

Dicky Pride is living his dream.

ON THE COVER Tuscaloosa native Dicky Pride has made a career out of playing professional golf and is still going strong more than three decades after he first made the PGA Tour.

Photo by: Gary Cosby Jr. See story: Page 38

WN’S AND T-TO

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JOY 95 g.com $3.

aloosama

www.tusc

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SUMMER

REIGN Rule the season with these great looks.

Page 66

44 LITERATURE

The Sloans have two generations of writers and host hundreds each year at the Southern Christian Writers Conference.

50 TREASURES

Hal Hunt is one of the nation’s leading authorities in the bidding business.

44

58 SPORTS

91 ON THE SCENE

77 6 INTRIGUING PEOPLE

106 LAST LOOK

Two kids from Tuscaloosa grew up to be Major League Baseball stars and teammates.

Meet six folks who are making a difference in the community.

58

The best bashes, parties and charity events of the season.

A snapshot that captures life in West Alabama.

50

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DINING OUT

Metro Diner is set up like an oldfashioned diner, with the open-style kitchen overlooking the dining area.

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DINING OUT

A

DINER Featured on Food Network, Metro Diner has comfort food — and plenty of it

Weekday midafternoons are usually times when even the busiest restaurants have a lull between lunch and dinner.

But on a Thursday at 2:30 p.m., a few days after Metro Diner opened in Tuscaloosa’s Midtown Village, there was no rest for the weary. Customers filled the booths and tables or perched on stools at the counter, with more folks waiting to get seats.

Tuscaloosa isn’t the only city that’s given the Florida-based fast-casual eatery a warm welcome.

Travis Grappo, the company’s joint venture partner for Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, said there were eight Metro Diners when he came on board a year ago.

“Now, there are 27 stores — with 35 more set to open this year,” Grappo said.

Metro Diner opened in 1992 in Jacksonville, Florida, in a building that was constructed in 1938.

“Mark Davoli and his dad bought it in 2000,” Grappo said.

“Mark is a trained chef.

He’s from Pittsburgh, so you’ll see a lot of Pittsburgh-inspired dishes and larger portions like they have there.”

David Charboneau, who’s lived in Tuscaloosa for 18 years, is managing partner at the Tuscaloosa store.

He and Grappo met when both did their training at Metro Diner’s Gainesville, Florida, restaurant — one of the company’s busiest stores, Grappo said.

Charboneau is the main reason the first Alabama Metro Diner opened in T-town instead of Birmingham.

“I wanted Birmingham to be our first Alabama market and was trying to find real estate there,” Grappo said. “David said, ‘I know Birmingham’s a bigger city, but there’s a site here in Tuscaloosa >> that’s phenomenal.’

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A chalkboard menu indicates daily specials.

“We had the opportunity to procure this spot in Midtown thanks to his lead. It’s important to have a local owner with skin in the game. And we liked that this is a college town; I saw what Gainesville had done.”

Grappo said a Birmingham store is in the works and should open on U.S. Highway 280 in August.

Metro Diner has a claim to fame that most multiple-location restaurants don’t: It’s been featured on one of Food Network’s most popular shows, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” The series, also known as “Triple D,” is hosted by spiky-haired chef Guy Fieri.

“In 2010, J.D. Davoli, Mark’s brother, was working and got a phone call from ‘Triple D,’ ” Grappo said. “He thought it was a joke; everybody knows Guy Fieri. But it was the real deal.”

On the show, Fieri watched as Mark Davoli made meatloaf. Metro Diner’s version is sliced and seared after it’s baked. Also filmed were the diner’s Pittsburgh steak salad — greens topped by a New York strip steak, French fries and blue cheese crumbles. The third star of the show was the Yo Hala on the Square: two thick slices of challah bread stuffed with bananas, brown sugar, cream cheese and hazelnut syrup. The concoction then is cooked like French toast,

topped with a blueberry and strawberry compote, and dusted with powdered sugar.

Evidently Guy Fieri is a good guy to have in your corner when you’re in the food biz.

“Being on his show just catapulted the business,” Charboneau said.

Metro Diner prides itself on serving real comfort food — and plenty of it.

“Everybody gets to-go boxes,” Grappo said.

“We have great value. The average price of a meal is $12.50, without alcohol.

“Our flavor profiles are important, and our portion sizes are important. When you think of ‘diner food,’ you think of Reuben sandwiches and patty melts. We have a fried pork tenderloin sandwich that is so big it hangs off the plate. You get thick Chicago-style bread, red onions, fried jalapenos and garlic aioli.”

The Bold City Burger is a hamburger patty with a sausage patty on top. This meat-lover’s dream comes with a big old steak knife stuck in the top. J.C.’s Vortex Burger is a patty topped with lettuce slaw — shredded lettuce, chopped pickles and mayo — between two grilled cheese sandwiches. It also has tomato and bacon, and you can add a fried egg for a buck.

One of the most frequently ordered dishes is the Fried Chicken and Waffle, with a generous

dollop of strawberry butter.

“We sold 45 of those the other day,” Grappo said.

Another favorite among diners is the Charleston Shrimp and Grits. Fried grit cakes are infused with cheese and come with shrimp, sausage, onions, peppers and bacon.

Grappo said the menu includes some lighter choices.

“I’m a healthy guy, but I can eat here seven days a week,” he said. “There are several salad options, and you can add fried, blackened or grilled chicken, or blackened or grilled mahimahi.”

The 95-item menu includes dishes designed for breakfast, lunch or dinner — but everything is available all day long. That means you can get a burger for breakfast or one of the diner’s many eggs Benedict variations for dinner, if you’re so inclined.

Metro Diner has several wine options, mimosas and beer.

“We have two local craft beers, Monk on the Radio from Band of Brothers and Black Warrior Brewing Co.’s apricot wheat,” Charboneau said.

“We also have Bud Light and Stella Artois.”

Metro Diner is housed in the former location of the MovieStop store in Midtown Village. >>

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DINING OUT

IF YOU GO: Metro Diner is at Tuscaloosa’s Midtown Village, 1800 McFarland Blvd. E. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. For more information, visit www.metrodiner.com.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Fried Chicken and Waffle with strawberry butter is a favorite at Metro Diner. • Wall decor at Metro Diner • Charleston Shrimp and Grits • David Charboneau, left, managing partner for Tuscaloosa, and Travis Grappo, the company’s joint venture partner for Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, at Metro Diner.

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Yo Hala on the Square features two slices of challah bread stuffed with bananas, brown sugar, cream cheese and hazelnut syrup.

“It took about a year to get this off the ground,” Grappo said. “We were putting in 14-hour days to get ready.”

He said the space was completely gutted. Brick walls were added and painted white. A counter as well as booths and tables have a traditional diner vibe, but you won’t see linoleum floors, dowdily dressed servers or any hint of tacky décor. The space is light, bright, modern and fun — and there’s nary a stained apron on any of the servers. Instead of carrying pads and pencils, servers use iPads for orders and payment.

Grappo said the Metro Diner company is now owned by Chris Sullivan, who founded Outback Steakhouse, and Hugh Connerty, president of Outback International.

“They purchased the company from Mark Davoli, although he’s still heavily involved,” Grappo said. “They fell in love with the food and the concept in general.

The way employees are treated from the top to the bottom is a reason for our success. Mark Davoli even lets managers stay at his home during their training.”

Davoli was in Tuscaloosa for the restaurant’s opening.

“He treated the entire management team to dinner and told them all about Metro Diner,” Grappo said.

The restaurant opened in Tuscaloosa with a “friends and family” event.

“We partner with local charities for these,” Charboneau said. “We donate the food, and guests can donate to the cause if they want to. We chose the Boys and Girls Clubs of West Alabama and also the DCH Foundation, raising money for cancer patients who can’t afford treatment.”

Charboneau was the general manager at Outback Steakhouse in Tuscaloosa before joining Metro Diner. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two sons: Blake, 14, who will attend Northridge High School this fall; and Austin, 10, who’s a student at Rock Quarry Middle School.

Grappo, who lives in Birmingham, said Metro Diner augments its already lengthy menu with specials, such as variations of its eggs Benedict dishes or its omelets.

“It’s important to be compelling and different when you’re in the restaurant business such that people can’t get enough of it,” he said.

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e m me t e i r m m u S p si s Downtown spots have drinks just right for warm weather

Not Your Grandma’s Pie from R. Davidson Chophouse

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DINING IN

S

BY DONNA CORNELIUS PHOTOS BY ERIN NELSON AND GARY COSBY JR. Seasonal menus aren’t just for food. Some of Tuscaloosa’s craftiest cocktail creators take advantage of fresh ingredients and come up with bright new concoctions for their summer drinks list.

The innovative folks at three downtown restaurants — Central Mesa, R. Davidson Chophouse and The Side by Side — shared the ingredients for some intriguing warm-weather beverages with us. In the spirit of inclusiveness, we’ve also got recipes for nonalcoholic drinks. More ideas of the liquid variety are from Mary Jane Partlow Moore of International Wine and Craft Beer, who gave us suggestions for the wine world’s current favorite child: rosé.

We think you’ll find lots of reasons to lift your glasses and make a toast to the good old summertime.

The South Boulevard • The Side by Side • 2410 University Blvd.

WHAT’S IN IT: • 2 ounces of Bulleit rye whiskey •.25 ounces of Campari •.5 ounces of house-made rich peach syrup • 2 dashes of house-made hibiscus bitters • Garnish with a hibiscus blossom Chris Hastings, who designed The Side

by Side, was one of the first Alabama chefs to promote a true farm-to-table philosophy. Bartender Bailey Goodman said drinks at the restaurant follow that concept.

“We focus on raw ingredients, local herbs and local fruits,” she said. “We want to keep our consistency to prove our dedication and passion toward good food and amazing service. We barrel-age cocktails to bring out the ingredients and to make a bold and well-rounded cocktail.”

Her South Boulevard drink is summercentric with its peach syrup, hibiscus bitters and garnish, and Campari, an Italian aperitif that’s infused with herbs and fruits in alcohol and water.

You also can stop in at The Side by Side for martini flights — you get to choose three flavors from the five offered — during happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Beer and wine flights are available, too.

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Style without spirits • The Side by Side • 2410 University Blvd.

Side by Side Peach Tea WHAT’S IN IT: • .5 ounces of house-made rich peach syrup • .5 ounces of fresh lemon juice • Fresh mint • 5 ounces unsweetened tea

Cucumber Sparkling Lemonade WHAT’S IN IT: • 2 ounces of house-made cucumber syrup • 2 ounces of fresh lemon juice • 2 fresh basil leaves • 2 ounces sparkling water Pour in a tall glass and garnish with a basil leaf and cucumber slice.

Nondrinkers, designated drivers and those who are underage sometimes have to settle for boring beverage choices when they go out to eat.

That needn’t be the case at The Side by Side, where bartender Bailey Goodman has come up with some pretty tasty nonalcoholic drinks.

While almost any cocktail can be turned into a mocktail by leaving out the booze, the resulting taste isn’t always the same. But two Southern favorites — iced tea and lemonade — easily can hold their own flavorwise without the addition of alcohol. Here, fresh herbs like basil and mint, sweet peaches, and crispy cucumbers turn these two treats from boring to bright.

Not Your Grandma’s Pie • R. Davidson Chophouse • 2330 Fourth St. WHAT’S IN IT: • Bombay Sapphire gin • Strawberry and rhubarb syrup • Lemon juice • Yellow chartreuse • Lillet Rose • Fresh basil You can count on R. Davidson Chophouse to come up with not just unusual drinks but unusual names for said drinks.

(Recently on the menu were cocktails dubbed Golden Fortune and Weather Permitting, for example.)

“Strawberry-rhubarb pie is a great summer dessert, and I thought it would be fun to relate the drink’s name to that,” said Devon Miller, the restaurant’s general manager, who’s also in charge of the cocktail and wine lists.

This drink has out-of-the-ordinary ingredients, too.

“We make the strawberry and rhubarb syrup from fresh ingredients, using a cold process,” Miller said. “We macerate the strawberries overnight to get a very concentrated strawberry flavor. For the rhubarb — we get fresh rhubarb — we use a hot process and cook the rhubarb down to get the final syrup. Those two syrups are mixed together to get the final product.”

He said yellow chartreuse, an herbal liqueur made by Carthusian monks, nicely complements gin and strawberries.

“Lillet Rose is an aperitif wine that brings some floral notes and a good balance,” Miller said.

“Basil is added to lift all the flavors of the cocktail. Basil is a great pairing with both gin and strawberries.”

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The Grapefruit Paloma • Central Mesa • 519 Greensboro Ave. WHAT’S IN IT: • 1.5 ounces Reposado tequila • .75 ounces of agave syrup • .5 ounces of fresh lime juice • Fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (to fill the glass) • Chili salt (to rim the glass) Central Mesa, which opened in May, isn’t your ordinary Mexican restaurant. Owner Craig Williams came up with a menu that’s decidedly different and fresh ingredientforward.

The drinks list at the cool new Greensboro Avenue eatery exceeds expectations, too.

Among Latin American beverages, the Paloma, a tequila-based cocktail, has long played a supporting role to the margarita and mojito — although some sources say that in Mexico, it’s the Paloma that wins popularity contests.

Central Mesa’s version of the drink has

not one but two fresh fruit juices plus agave syrup, which adds light sweetness. Rim the glass with chili salt, and you’ve got that hip sweet-and-spicy vibe going on. (You can buy chili salt from several online sources or make your own by pulsing sea salt and crushed dried peppers in a food processor.)

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Thinking pink • Choosing the right rosés Yes, yes, we know there are many of you who are going to keep your favorite Malbec, cab or pinot noir in your sweaty little hands no matter what the temperature.

But rest assured that if you try a rosé, the world won’t come crashing to an end. Lots of people — even the snobbiest of wine snobs — are thinking pink, particularly during the summertime.

Tuscaloosa’s Mary Jane Partlow Moore of International Wine and Craft Beer has several recommendations for those who love rosés and those who might — just might — be willing to give them a try: • Domaine de la Colombe. “It’s a great value from the south of France,” Moore said.

“This style is very popular right now.” Tuscaloosa restaurant Evangeline’s pours it by the glass, she said.

• Domaine Triennes. “This is one of my favorites this year — another one from Provence,” Moore said.

• Saintsbury Vin Gris, a pinot noir rosé made in vin gris style from Carneros, California. Vin gris traditionally refers to a wine made from red wine grapes but with white winemaking practices. Because the wine is made from the juice and not by fermenting the grapes with their skins, you get a pink tinge instead of a deeper color.

• Miraval. “This French rosé has a beautiful package and is very popular in Tuscaloosa,”

Moore said.

• Liquid Geography Rosado. Moore said this Spanish rosé has a charitable side: One hundred percent of its sales profits goes to charities that aid the TJ Martell Foundation in its search for cancer cures, the South Bronx Educational Foundation to help children

with challenging academic backgrounds, and Mary’s Meals for school meals in some of world’s poorest countries.

Want to learn more about rosés?

Moore suggested reading an article called “Many Different Shades of Rosés” on www.winefolly.com.

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EVENTS

summer fun Things to do for

Entertainment Live at the Plaza Summer Concert Series Fridays, 6-9 p.m.

• Government Plaza • Tuscaloosa Bring a blanket, a chair and your favorite people and enjoy the music. The price is as perfect and pleasing as the music: It’s free!

Gladys Knight June 17, 8 p.m.

• BJCC • Birmingham Go. But don’t take the midnight train. You’ll miss the concert. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.

Tyrese June 24 • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater He sings, acts (“The Fast and the Furious,” anyone?), writes and produces. But on June 24, just enjoy listening to Tyrese Gibson sing. Tickets are $79.50, $59.50, $49.50 and $25. Tickets can be purchased through the box office, the amphitheater’s website at www.tuscaloosaamphitheater.com, ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

“Mary Poppins” July 5-23 • Alabama Shakespeare Festival • Montgomery Take a “Jolly Holiday,” and bring the kids to Montgomery to see this classic, featuring the iconic, magical nanny.

Tickets are $40 and $35 and can be purchased online at www.asf. net. And, while you’re there, go next door and visit the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Admission is free and the exhibits include Old Masters, American art, African art, folk art, art glass, porcelain, photography and sculpture.

“Macbeth” June 28-July 1 • The Park at Manderson Landing • Tuscaloosa The 15th summer season of Tuscaloosa’s The Rude Mechanicals concludes with this theater in the park (moves to Allen Bales Theatre in case of rain). It’s free. It’s a bringyour-own-chairs-and-a-picnic kind of event. Live music begins at 7:30 p.m., and show starts at 8 p.m. For more information, call 205-310-5287 or visit The Rude Mechanicals Tuscaloosa page on Facebook.

Journey July 8, 7 p.m. • Oak Mountain Amphitheater Hear “Don’t Stop Believin’” live.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Rod Stewart, featuring Cyndi Lauper July 9 • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater • Tuscaloosa What better pairing for a hot summer night than the raspyvoiced hit-maker Stewart and the “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” anthem singer Cyndi Lauper? Tickets can be purchased through the box office, the amphitheater’s website at www. tuscaloosaamphitheater.com, ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000. Prices are $148, $89.50 or $69.50.

“Ragtime” July 14-23 • BeanBrown Theatre • Tuscaloosa Theatre Tuscaloosa’s performance of the Tony Award-winning musical. Ticket information is available online at www. theatretusc.com, and tickets also can be purchased at the box office, Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m.-noon (or at the door). Call 205-3912277 for details.

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EVENTS

W.C. Handy Music Festival July 21-30 • Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals It’s the 36th year Florence and the Shoals area have celebrated the native blues musician. For information, including this year’s acts and costs, go online to www. wchandymusicfestival.org or call 256-766-7642.

Idina Menzel Aug. 2, 8 p.m.

• BJCC • Birmingham Let it go … enough time has passed. Hear her sing her trademark Disney song and more. On the BJCC’s website, orchestra tickets are $177. They’re $66 in the balcony. Visit bjcc.concert-hall.net.

Kenny Chesney, with special guest Midland Aug. 4 • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater No shoes? No shirt? No problem.

No ticket? That’ll be a problem.

General Pit admission tickets are $125. Reserved seats are $125, $85 and $45. Tickets can be purchased through the box office, the amphitheater’s website at www. tuscaloosaamphitheater.com, ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

Matchbox Twenty and Counting Crows Aug. 9, 6:45 p.m. • Oak Mountain Amphitheater Tickets to the double-bill can be purchased through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.

Johnny Shines Blues Festival Aug. 19 • Band of Brothers Brewing Co. • Tuscaloosa Honors legendary blues artist Johnny Shines. The familyand pet-friendly event will feature musicians, food and vendors. For more information, email shynesbrightly@yahoo.com or go to the Johnny Shines Blues Festival page on Facebook.

This event requires tickets.

Lyle Lovett Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m.

• Alabama Theatre • Birmingham Perfect venue for a perfect night of music. Tickets are pricey, but worth it, and can be purchased through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.

Black Belt Folk Roots Festival Aug. 26-27 • Eutaw A four-decades-old event that brings together music, dance, storytelling, art and food. Held on the courthouse square in Eutaw, it’s free to attend. For details, check the Eutaw Area Chamber of Commerce Facebook page or call 205-372-0525.

Lady Antebellum with Kelsea Ballerini and Brett Young Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m.

• Oak Mountain Amphitheater The multiple Grammy Award winners headline the show. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.

Eric Church with special guests the Brothers Osborne and Ashley McBryde Sept. 15 • 7 p.m. • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater Country comes calling, several No. 1 hits in hand (or, in this case, voice). General admission tickets are $125. Reserved seats are $1,125, $85 and $45. Tickets can be purchased through the box office, the amphitheater’s website at www.tuscaloosaamphitheater.com, ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

Back Street Opry at Lamar Theatre Saturdays, 6:30-10:30 p.m.

• First Avenue Northeast • Vernon Advertises as a showcase for “entertainers, professional and amateur” and genres from country to gospel, blues and comedy. New shows every week with a variety of performers. Call before you go: 205-695-7029.

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EVENTS

Family fun Farmers markets Does it get any better than a fresh, homegrown tomato? Fresh is best, and you can find fresh produce at area farmers markets: • Tuscaloosa Farmers Market: 7 a.m.-noon Tuesdays and Saturdays at Tuscaloosa River Market, 1900 Jack Warner Parkway.

• Homegrown Alabama Farmers Market: 3-6 p.m. Thursdays at Canterbury Episcopal Church, 812 Fifth Ave., Tuscaloosa.

• Northport Farmers Market: 6 a.m.-noon Wednesdays and Saturdays at 4150 Fifth St., Northport.

Celebration on the River July 4 • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater Celebrate America with your family and friends. Details are pending, but the city of Tuscaloosa’s past two have included a kids’ play zone and the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. And it always ends in spectacular fireworks. There is usually a cost involved. Check www.visittuscaloosa.com or www.tourwestalabama.com for details.

Trade Days June 17-18 • Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park • 12632 Confederate Parkway, McCalla There’s no telling what you might find. Gate admission to the park is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors (62+), $3 children (6-11), and free to kids age 5 and under.

Fashion

Alabama All-Veterans and Family Reunion

World’s Longest Yard Sale • Aug. 3-6

Aug. 25-27 • Tuscaloosa River Market

A bargain hunter’s dream — starts in Gadsden and goes through six states: Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan, covering some 690 miles. For a map, visit www.127yardsale.com.

This event honors Alabama’s veterans and invites their families to join in honoring these heroes. For details, go to alabamaveteransreunion.com.

Southern Bridal Show Aug. 20, Noon-5 p.m. • BJCC • Birmingham

If bells will be ringing soon, head to Birmingham for this annual showcase. What to wear, what to serve, how to decorate, what pictures to take and who to take them, where to go — it’s all here for your wedding day plans. Tickets are $15 at the door, $12 in advance and free for ages 5 and younger. Try bhambridalshows on Facebook for more info.

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EVENTS

Food

Misc.

Alabama Restaurant Week • Aug. 11-20

Restaurants all around the state are participating by offering specials throughout the week, including Tuscaloosa and Birmingham eateries. Visit www.alabamarestaurantweek.com for the list.

Bama Belle Cruises Tuscaloosa Relax and take in the scenery along the Black Warrior River with a riverboat tour on the Bama Belle. The paddleboat offers barbecue cruises ($29 per person/$15 for non-eaters) and private parties. Cruise on over to its website at www.bamabelle.org or call 205-275-0560 for details. And, for the non-heat tolerant, it’s air conditioned inside the boat.

Sports West Alabama ASA Exposure Tournament June 23-24 • Bowers Park and Rhoads Stadium If you love softball, here’s your chance to get your fill. Teams will compete in divisions for 18 and under, 16 and under and 14 and under. Admission is $5 per day, $12 for a weekend pass (all games, all weekend), and kids age 10 and under get in free.

2nd Annual Dirt Sweat and Gears Trail Duathlon June 24 • Lake Lurleen State Park • Northport Gentlemen and gentlewomen, start your pedals. The duathlon starts with a 10-mile trail bike ride followed by a 5K trail run. Pre-registration is $45 for an individual/$80 for a team. Cost jumps to $55/$90 on the day of the race. Pre-race meeting at 6:30 a.m. Race begins at 7 a.m.

Event benefits the DCH Sports Medicine Fund.

Call 205-3438382 for details.

34th Annual World Deer Expo July 21-23 • BJCC • Birmingham Bills itself as for hunting, fishing and anyone who loves the great outdoors.

Features a Bow Hunters of Alabama archery competition, among other events. A major showcase for outdoor products and tips. Tickets per day are $10 for those 12 and older, $5 for ages 4-11 and free for ages 3 and younger. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance online at www.worlddeerexpo.com.

Gulf Coast Ducks Mobile The Duck Boats have made their way to Mobile, and they are a welcome sight. Ride in a vintage amphibious truck used by the U.S. military in World War II on land and by sea as this vacation treat takes riders from the Battleship Park into Mobile Bay, the Mobile River and through downtown Mobile. Visit the website or call for current prices, but prices advertised this spring are $27 for adults; $25 for seniors (65+), military and educators; $15 for kids (3-12); and free to ages 2 and younger. Visit www.gulfcoastducks.com or call 251-802-8687 for more information.

Puppy Kindergarten Tuesdays, June 6-July 25 • 6:30-7:30 p.m.

It’s time spent for good behavior. Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority (PARA) hosts the classes for pups from 2½ months old to 4½ months old. The lessons in puppy etiquette include learning to respond to their name, how to sit and most appreciated manners like not jumping on your friends upon greeting them — or, worse, biting them. Cost is $125. Register online at tcpara.org.

Aliceville POW Museum 104 Broad St. • Aliceville Yes, there really was a German POW camp in Aliceville, Alabama. Visit the museum and learn all about Camp Aliceville, established by the U.S. War Department during World War II, where around 6,100 prisoners were held between 1942 and 1945. The museum tells a story through the paintings of some of the prisoners as well as other artifacts from their encampment. While you’re in the area, drive by the Parks E. Ball House (no tours) that was featured in the Spring issue of Tuscaloosa magazine. It and the nearby Hugh Wilson Hill House (also drive-by only) in Carrollton are on the National Register of Historic Places.

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BY DONNA CORNELIUS, THE SNOOTY FOODIE | PHOTOS BY ERIN NELSON

To market, to market

EPICUREAN

ne of the frustrating things about traveling is when you visit interesting places and then don’t have enough time to explore them.

In London, my English history-loving self hated to leave Westminster Abbey. In New York, I wished for not just more hours but for more days at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Even when I’m at closer-to-home Destin, Florida, it’s tough to leave the beach on the final day of vacation.

Most of you probably can understand the appeal of history-rich buildings and beautiful beaches. But when I tell you the other places from which I must be forcibly dragged and that these places are in fact grocery stores, you’re likely to think, “That is one weird woman.”

True story: We were in France for a friend’s daughter’s wedding a few summers ago, and our little group made the mistake of stopping at a village supermarket on our way to Cannes.

For me, it was a whole new world of fruits, vegetables, breads, cheeses and especially wines. My friends had to chase me down the aisles because they had the odd notion that the Mediterranean was more interesting than the French version of Fresh Market.

When we planned a trip to the Napa Valley, I was told by Foodies Who Know that Oakville Grocery was a must-see. They weren’t lying.

Founded in 1881, it’s the oldest continually operating grocery store in California. I ate a ham and brie sandwich from the store’s deli on the spot and bought enough olive oils, jellies, tapenades and other edible delights to last a month. But my favorite purchase was a burlap shopping bag with the Oakville logo stenciled on it. I carry it proudly and use it as my work bag — much more fun than a briefcase.

In Birmingham, I usually make a stop at Whole Foods Market. I also am drawn as if by a supersized refrigerator magnet to The

OLLI BONUS PROGRAM: ‘ALABAMA SUNSHINE’ SPEAKER

O

Summit, the home of my favorite grocery store: Trader Joe’s. I love its sense of fun — its “Trader Giotto’s” Italian products and “Trader Jose’s” Mexican foods. I like that groceries are sacked in those handy brown paper bags instead of cheap plastic. I can’t do without TJ’s organic cornflakes, and my granddaughter is a big fan of its bacon-flavored popcorn. We won’t even go down the Two Buck Chuck road.

What I like best about Trader Joe’s is the people who work there. The cashiers chat with you about your purchases and recommend other things they think you might like.

Instead of communicating over PA systems, they ring the bells hanging near their stations to signal the need to open another register or to request a manager’s assistance.

And I’ve never yet seen a TJ’s employee yawn, look at his or her watch and say, “Man! Only one more hour till I can go home.”

I love grocery stores so much I even get a cheap thrill out of visiting the domestic varieties. I like to see what recipe the Publix lady is cooking up at the front of the store. I was thrilled to see that Winn-Dixie on McFarland Boulevard now has a special section with Alabama-made products like pepper jelly from Jennifer’s Kitchen in Homewood and G Momma Cookies, which are made in Selma.

If Trader Joe’s ever comes to T-Town, I’ll be almost as excited as I am when it’s time for Alabama’s first home football game of the season.

Almost, I said. I’m weird — but not that weird.

Donna Cornelius is a Tuscaloosa writer whose motto is: So much food, so little time.

Contact her to share recipes, restaurant news or anything food-related at donnawcornelius@ bellsouth.net. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @blonderavenous.

EVENTS

June 13 • Tuscaloosa Fayette natives Julie Madison and her brother, David Lee Smith, recently bought Alabama Sunshine, which makes hot sauces, pepper jellies and other food products. Hear Madison’s story at a bonus program by the University of Alabama’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute from noon to 1:15 p.m. at the Bryant Conference Center. There’s no charge to attend. For more information, visit www. olli.ua.edu.

ALABAMA BLUEBERRY FESTIVAL

June 17 • Brewton This 37th annual event is like a trip to blueberry heaven, with blueberry ice cream, fresh blueberries and blueberry bushes for sale. You also can buy a festival cookbook plus arts and crafts.

The festival, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Jennings Park, has a food court, entertainment and an antique car show. For more information, visit www.brewtonchamber.com.

OUR LADY OF SORROWS FOURTH OF JULY FESTIVAL

July 4 • Homewood Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church celebrates Independence Day with one of Birmingham’s longest-running and largest food festivals. Cooks prepare meals starring pulled pork, ribs, sausage, chicken and hot dogs. The event’s Trash and Treasures sale usually draws a crowd, too. For more information, visit www.ourladyofsorrows.com.

ALABAMA RESTAURANT WEEK

Aug. 11-20 Eateries in Tuscaloosa and other Alabama cities offer lunch and dinner specials during this 10-day dining-out extravaganza. In Birmingham, the event is so popular that the city has its own celebration. For more information and a list of participating cities and restaurants throughout the state, visit www. alabamarestaurantweek.com. For info about the Birmingham event, visit www. bhamrestaurantweek.com.

SOUTHERN GRACE DINNERS

Orange Beach Coastal Living magazine and Fisher’s at Orange Beach Marina team up to host a series of summer dinners featuring nationally known chefs. Culinary stars Justin Devillier, Nina Compton, Michael Gulotta, Bill Briand and Lisa Marie White will cook at Coastal Living’s 20th anniversary dinner on June 22. Other featured chefs are Ryan White on July 13, Katie Button and folks from Blackberry Farm Brewery on July 27, and Levon Wallace on Aug. 3. For more information, visit www.fishersobm.com.

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FOODIE NEWS

DIY

cookbook: S AVE A N D SHA R E YOUR FA MILY ’ S FAVOR ITE RECIP ES f you’ve ever played the lost recipe game (“Remember how good Granny Farbarker’s turkey and dressing was?

How the heck did she make it?”), then maybe it’s time to create a family cookbook.

Today’s online publishing options make this kind of project much easier than it would have been in Ye Olden Days. And your finished product can be not only a source of pride for you but also a great gift for the rest of the family.

I’ve thought about making a book like this for quite a while but have been too much of a slacker to actually do it. Thank goodness I know someone who has: Becky Hopf, our own Tuscaloosa magazine editor. After finding out how she made a family cookbook, I’m inspired to get started — and you may be, too.

Two years ago, Hopf put together “Footprints in the Sand,” a collection not just of family recipes but also of memories.

“I’d been wanting to do this for years,” she said.

“I have recipes from my mom’s side of the family and from my dad’s side. These are recipes that we’d make over and over.”

Hopf said she already had a big collection of recipes and also asked relatives which ones they’d like to see included in the book. The next step was deciding on a publishing website. She chose www. createmycookbook.com.

“I searched around, and this one looked easy to use,” she said. “The prices were great, too.”

She’d already done the most time-consuming part of the process: typing up her recipes and putting them into her computer.

“After that, you’re basically copying and pasting,” she said.

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Hopf knew she wanted to include recipes for dishes like two of her mother’s specialties: hollandaise sauce and West Indies salad. Other recipes are for holiday favorites, like an Easter bunny cake, caramel apples for Halloween, Thanksgiving cornbread turkeys baked in cake molds, and chocolate soldiers that Hopf has made for Christmas dinner favors.

In addition to recipes, most people want photos in their cookbook; you’ll need to upload those to your computer. Hopf used not only food photos but also pictures that had special meaning for her and her family. For example, there’s a photo of a lemon bush next to the recipe for lemon meringue pie.

“The bush was at my grandmother’s house,” Hopf said. “After she died, my mom replanted it in her own backyard.”

Since Hopf had been planning her project for a while, she kept her camera handy at family gettogethers.

“Mama’s famous for her shrimp Creole, so I’d take photos of it on the table or my family members eating it — or some other family favorite — when we got together,” she said.

She staged some photos, including one of her nephews holding M&M cookies she’d baked using her Grandma Hopf’s recipe — a favorite when she and her brothers and sister were kids. She put together a travel-themed photo to go with a recipe for cookies called Scotch fans, which she said her mother always made for long car trips to visit one set of Hopf’s grandparents in Indiana.

She dug up vintage photos, too, including the one that’s on the cover.

“My parents live on Mobile Bay, and the cover shows my grandmother, as a child, with her grandmother and her sister on their beach at Battles Wharf,” she said. “The photo was made in the 1920s.”

To connect her family’s past and present, the back cover has a more current photo of her niece playing in the sand in the same spot.

Hopf said Create My Cookbook lets you order as few or as many cookbooks as you want. Since the project is stored on the website, you can go back and order more later on. There are several options: Softcover books are $19.95, image-wrap hardcovers are $34.95, hardbacks with wire rings are $39.95 and ringed binders are $42.95.

“I ordered one paperback copy first so I could proofread it,” Hopf said. “It was money well spent.

I found some things I wanted to change, and my mom found an error in some of the family history.”

Hopf advised careful proofreading and editing.

“Hit the spellcheck button first, and read everything at least twice,” she said. “Make sure to spell

out words like ‘tablespoon’ and ‘teaspoon.’ ” She also recommended being specific with recipe ingredients and instructions. For example, don’t just say “1 cup of oil” — specify vegetable oil, olive oil or wildly expensive specialty oil — and give the exact steps for cooking processes.

“Go into detail,” she said. “Don’t assume everyone will know how to do certain things.”

Hopf said Create My Cookbook makes it easy to make changes.

“It’s set up so you can go in, after it’s made, and add pages or make edits,” she said. “I made my book in 2015, and I could still do that now, if I wanted. Also, they keep it available online for purchase, meaning if someone didn’t order it right away but decided a year or two later they wanted a copy, they can just click on the link and order it.”

While she found most of the project easy, there were a few things she didn’t like.

“With the table of contents, you pick the order of the recipes,” she said. “As soon as you put in the name of your recipe, it’s automatically put into the table of contents. But sometimes if the recipe had a long name, it would cut it off.

“Also, with the photos, you were limited either to using horizontal ones or really big vertical ones.”

But there were many more positives than negatives.

“When my book was completed, the company sent me a link that I could share with friends and family,” she said. “The link allowed them not only to see the finished product but to click on it and order their copies. That saves the creator from having to order for everybody, pay for everybody and sending books to each individual.”

She said this option would be especially useful for those creating group or church cookbooks.

Procrastinators will be relieved to know there’s no time limit for creating your cookbook.

“I did mine within a couple of days because I wanted it done, but you can do a page or two one day and wait and go back to it days or months or probably a year later,” Hopf said.

Her finished product arrived in about two weeks. The website provides estimates for delivery dates.

Hopf said she loved her family’s reaction to “Footprints in the Sand.”

“The most fun thing was seeing how delighted it made my mother and father,” she said.

— Want to start working on your own family cookbook? Hopf liked using www.createmycookbook.com. Other popular publishing options include www.blurb.com, www.copymethat.com and www.lulu.com. Most sites donʼt have a registration fee, but make sure to read the fine print before you get too far into your project.

“I’d been wanting to do this for years.

I have recipes from my mom’s side of the family and from my dad’s side. These are recipes that we’d make over and over.”

— BECKY HOPF

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Dinner AND A

CHEFS, DINERS INTERACT AT THE SIDE BY SIDE

BY DONNA CORNELIUS PHOTOS BY ERIN NELSON hef’s Table,” a Netflix TV series known mostly to card-carrying food nerds, takes viewers into the lives and kitchens of outstanding chefs.

Tuscaloosa diners now have the option of sitting in at a real live chef’s table — or chef’s counter. The Side by Side restaurant at Embassy Suites recently added this new experience for foodies with adventurous palates and inquisitive minds.

Those who reserve spots at the Wednesday night events can choose to eat at a counter with a full view of executive chef Tripp Mauldin and his staff at work. Another option is to eat in the restaurant’s small private dining room; although you won’t be up close and personal with the cooking process, the chef will come in and talk about each dish.

Unlike the chefs featured on the Netflix series, Mauldin isn’t promising to share his life with you — only his cooking know>> how. But he said he loves putting on dinner and a show.

Tripp Mauldin, The Side by Side’s chef de cuisine, serves guests at the bar at Embassy Suites in Tuscaloosa.

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“I’m most looking forward to creating the menus and the interaction with the guests,” he said. “You get to teach people about foods and wines and share your thought process with them.”

Mauldin said chef’s table diners can expect seasonal selections.

“The menu will develop based on what’s at the market,” he said.

Mauldin, a Montgomery native, earned a bachelor’s degree in finance at the University of Alabama before deciding to go to culinary school. After graduating from Johnson & Wales University in Colorado, he worked at restaurants in San Francisco and then in the Napa Valley and Southern California.

Back in Alabama, he connected with Chris Hastings, the James Beard Award-winning chef who created The Side by Side’s concept and menu.

“I was the chef at the Montgomery Country Club before I hooked up with Chris,”

Mauldin said. “We have similar pedigrees when it comes to food. We both have an understanding of the seasonality of food and of market-driven cooking.”

The Side by Side’s chef’s tables aren’t his first experiences with this kind of dining.

“When I was in Southern California working at the Resort at Pelican Hill, we did events similar to this,” Mauldin said. “Here, we’ll probably do four courses, each in smaller portions than a ‘regular’ meal.”

Nancy Perrine, The Side by Side’s business development manager, said wine pairings are optional.

“And you don’t have to do them for your entire group if someone would rather make his or her own choices or opt for cocktails,” she said.

Perrine said the restaurant needs 48 hours notice for the Wednesday night events. The chef’s counter is limited to six people, and the private dining room works

best for no more than 10 diners.

“But if you have a birthday or special event, you can book at a time other than Wednesday,” she said.

Perrine and Mauldin said they decided to offer the chef’s table and chef’s counter experiences in part because of the popularity of The Side by Side’s wine dinners. These dinners, usually held monthly, also feature a creative menu and interaction with a chef and a wine expert.

“Some customers who like the wine dinners started asking if we could do smaller, more intimate dinners,” Perrine said.

The chef’s table and chef’s counter cost per person is $65 for four courses. There are separate charges for wine pairings and other drinks.

For reservations or more information, visit www.thesidebysiderestaurant.com. The Side by Side is at 2410 University Blvd. in downtown Tuscaloosa.

“I’m most looking forward to creating the menus and the interaction with the guests. You get to teach people about foods and wines and share your thought process with them.” — TRIPP MAULDIN

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AT HOME

The circle of family life:

FROM GAME DAY

TO EVERY DAY Rosalyn and Mark Hicks love living full time at University Circle

BY DONNA CORNELIUS PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR. niversity Circle, a little neighborhood just off 12th Avenue at the edge of the University of Alabama campus, has a mix of homeowners. Some use their houses primarily for game days — it’s a short walk to Bryant-Denny Stadium — while

others are permanent residents.

Rosalyn and Mark Hicks have two University Circle houses — and a foot in both camps. They purchased the first house in 1993 when they were living in Birmingham and their children were UA students.

“We bought what’s now our guest house from Hattie Mae Hoole after her husband died,” Mark said.

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AT HOME

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: The main home was purchased in 1999, though the family didn’t move into it permanently until seven years later. • The formal living area was one of the rooms Rhoda Vaughn and Cindy Jensen of Oren Layne Designs updated with new paint on the walls and mantel as well as a new rug and furnishings. • Mark and Rosalyn Hicks sit at the new banquette built into the kitchen.

They bought the house next door in 1999 and moved into it permanently seven years later. The two houses share a garden that’s enthusiastically tended by Rosalyn.

“Rosalyn and I are both Alabama graduates,” Mark said.

“We lived and worked in Birmingham, but it was always the plan for us to retire here.”

The couple’s guest house is now “more of a game-day house,” he said.

Established in 1936, University Circle became a Tuscaloosa historic district in 2006. The quaint houses there — a mix of traditional styles such as Colonial, Craftsman and ranch — all are painted white.

Mark, who is president of the University Circle homeowners’ association, said the neighborhood has 14 houses along the main street and five more on an inner circle.

“The five on the inside at one time shared a park,” he said.

He said the house that’s now their primary residence was built in 1945 or 1946 by Col. Rufus Yarbrough. He and Rosalyn are only the second owners.

“In this house, the den was the master bedroom,” Mark said.

“We tore down walls, turned the master bedroom into a den and expanded the attic into a ‘dorm’ for our grandchildren.”

He said when they bought the house, the walls, doors and trim were painted lime green.

“Almost everything was green except for the bathrooms,” Rosalyn said. “One was pink, and the other was blue.”

The couple called in Rhoda Vaughn and Cindy Jensen of Tuscaloosa’s Oren Layne Designs to oversee interior updates. Before the two women joined forces, Jensen worked for Ken Harrison Designs; Vaughn was the ticket manager >> for the UA Athletics Department until 2006.

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AT HOME

“When I retired, I went to school at Alabama and studied design,” Vaughn said.

One of the biggest projects was transforming the kitchen. Mark had already started the work before the decorators came on board.

“He had to call for reinforcements,” said Rosalyn, laughing.

The project turned into a total gut job.

“I’m a cook, so I had strong feelings about the kitchen,” Mark said. “Everything was green, even the cabinets. I had already ordered the new cabinets, which are knotty alder wood. I like the look of the knots.

Some of the cabinets are painted, and some are left natural.”

A new banquette was one of Mark’s requirements for the room. The refrigerator and other appliances are paneled. Also added were a wine fridge and a Whitehaus Collection farmhouse sink with two compartments.

The Hickses were traveling that summer while the work was under way, so they communicated with the decorators via emails and texts. That system worked well, with one exception.

“We redid the powder room off the

kitchen, and Mark said, ‘I really didn’t mean to do that bathroom,’ ” Vaughn said.

While the kitchen was being transformed, the sunroom was getting a facelift, too.

Mark said Yarbrough added the sunroom in the 1950s and installed a special feature underneath it.

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AT HOME

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The sunroom, which also received a facelift, is a favorite spot for Rosalyn for quiet moments and for entertaining. The rectangle on the floor opens up to what was once the home’s bomb shelter. • The den features comfortable seating for watching television. • Mark had the bomb shelter underneath the sunroom converted into a wine cellar, using 100-year-old walnut from a farm in Greensboro. • The kitchen underwent complete renovation. The cabinets are knotty alder wood. Some were painted and others left natural. • The floor at the entry was stenciled and, at first glance, looks like a rug. • Rhoda Vaughn, left, and Cindy Jensen, of Tuscaloosa’s Oren Layne Designs, led the home’s renovations.

“He built a bomb shelter,” Mark said.

“It had air and survival kits with Army K-rations.”

The Hickses made the space into a 750-bottle wine cellar using, among other materials, 100-year-old walnut from a farm in Greensboro.

In the sunroom itself, the decorators incorporated teal, golden wheat and chocolate brown colors.

“We looked at things Rosalyn and Mark already had,” Vaughn said. “A hutch, which was painted pink, was in the guest house. We repainted it and

removed the scalloped trim.”

The room’s ceiling is low and Mark is tall, so the fan, encased in wrought iron, abuts the ceiling.

The curtains are sheer linen with tiny ribbons of twine running through the fabric.

“This room looks out onto the garden, so we wanted a floral, inside-outside feel here,” Jensen said. “Ros likes to have her garden club here.”

Two years ago, the Hickses asked the decorators to give their living room, dining room and entry new looks. >>

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AT HOME

TOP: The dining room’s ceiling is now painted a dull gold. The china cabinet also underwent a rejuvenation with a new coat of paint over dark wood. • BOTTOM RIGHT: The secretary is an inherited family piece as is the inkwell that is displayed on it.

“In the living room, we wanted to continue the bluesy-gray colors,” Vaughn said. “The furniture is from Gracefully Done. We repainted the mantel and the inside of the fireplace.”

The decorators stenciled a gray-andwhite design on the entry floor. They also removed a swinging door between the dining room and kitchen and made it the laundry room door. It’s painted in teal with a freeform floral design.

The dining room’s ceiling was painted dull gold. A china cabinet the Hickses already owned got a new paint job, too.

Mark has stories to tell about much of the artwork in the house, including several paintings by Irish artist Mark Dwyer.

“Bertie Ahern, the former prime minister of Ireland, gave President (Barack) Obama one of Dwyer’s paintings,” he said. “I met Mark through Peter Burke, an attorney in Birming-

ham who’s a friend of mine. Peter built a home in Ireland, and Mark was his neighbor.”

One painting, which Dwyer made from a photo Mark Hicks took while he was visiting Ireland, has a field in the foreground and Galway Bay in the background. Sailing on the bay is a traditional Galway fishing boat called a hooker, with the vessel’s trademark dark red sails.

A starkly different Dwyer painting is an abstract of a hooker in a storm.

The artist had donated it to a charity in Kinvara, the village where he lives, for a raffle.

“They held the drawing at a pub,” Mark Hicks said. “I had bought a ticket.

I wasn’t there, but I won. I was told all the Irish blokes there said, ‘Pick another name — that’s a Yank!’ ” The artist came to his defense, he said, and he got the painting.

Artist William Yeager, Mark Hicks’

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TOP LEFT: The guest house, located at 39 University Circle, was purchased first of the two homes, in 1993. The backs of both homes face each other with a courtyard in between. • BOTTOM: Window treatments accent the cabinet color as well as the backsplash.

cousin, also is represented throughout the house.

“He was a pretty famous Southern artist,” Mark said.

In the house’s entry is a pen-andink sketch by Yeager.

“Bill did this in 1948 when he was 10 years old,” Mark said. “It’s the view from his bedroom window at his childhood home in Ensley. It’s on the back of a calendar.”

Also in the entry is a secretary that was Mark’s grandmother’s. Her inkwell sits on the desk.

“There are love letters in a drawer that were written by my grandfather from 1905 to 1906, when he was a student at UA, to my grandmother,” Mark said.

The Hickses and other University Circle residents want the neighborhood to retain its charm but also to function for modern families. Mark

said the homeowners’ association recently installed new streetlights, put up a fence at the entrance and put up plaques saying “University Circle ca. 1936” on the white columns at the neighborhood’s entrance.

Rosalyn and Mark have a large family. Their daughter, Shelly Campbell, and her husband, Josh, have six children. Their older son, David Hicks, and his wife, Katie, have two sons.

Michael Hicks, the couple’s younger son, and his wife, Aurrie, have three dogs. All live in Birmingham but are frequent visitors — particularly when the Crimson Tide is playing.

Back in the 1930s, of course, “game day” wasn’t in most people’s vocabularies.

“Now, of 19 houses, nine are game-day homes,” Mark said. “But that’s a good thing; the owners keep them up.”

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COVER STORY

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COVER STORY

THE

PGA’s

PRIDE

OY J AND TUSCALOOSA’S

Dicky Pride has made a successful career as a professional golfer

olf is not just a way Dicky Pride chose to make a living. It’s a way he chose to live his life.

The sport has taken many shapes in the 47-year-old Tuscaloosa native’s life.

Golf is strolling down the fairway at Pebble Beach, laughing at comedic actor Bill Murray launching into a Carl Spackler monologue while also trying to figure out a way to stay focused enough to score well in a golf tournament. It’s launching an errant tee shot that struck his wife, Kim, in the leg and then joking with her that the least she could have done was direct the golf ball back into the fairway, >> instead of behind a big tree.

BY STEVE IRVINE | PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR., THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA 39

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COVER STORY

“I’ve had a lot of good things happen to me through golf.

And then I played.”

— DICKY PRIDE

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COVER STORY

Golf is having the perk, as a member at Bay Hill Club in Orlando, of enjoying the privilege of conversations about the sport, as well as working on his game, with the legendary Arnold Palmer. It’s the thrill of playing in the U.S. Open as a 23-year-old amateur, coupled with the bigger thrill of his father caddying for him during that event.

Golf is long-term friendships and weekend acquaintances. It’s sharing a Pro-Am foursome with one of his father’s favorite musicians — frontman Glenn Frey of the Eagles — and sharing the course with the best golfers in the world.

It’s a lifetime of memories with more yet to come.

“I’ve had a lot of good things happen to me through golf,” Pride said. “And then I played.”

Pride took a moment to laugh before continuing.

“You know, at the end of the day, you’re still playing a game for a living,” Pride said. “It’s got its ups and downs, like everything else, but there could be worse things.”

The simple version of Pride’s life story suggests that he was born into golf. His grandfather was one of the early members at Indian Hills Country Club. His father, Dick Pride, was the golf coach at the University of Alabama for a short time in the early 1960s and an accom-

plished amateur golfer.

Pride’s backyard was — literally — the sixth hole at Indian Hills. He could walk out the back door of his family’s home and immediately be on the golf course. In fact, that’s the way he spent most of his childhood summer days.

“We’d put on our shoes and carry our bags and start on 6, 7, 8, 9, and we’d be out here all day,” Pride said.

One of his early golf memories came when he was about 6 years old. He was at the driving range at Indian Hills when Joe Namath walked by. Someone mentioned to Namath that he should see how well the youngster hit a golf ball. The legendary quarterback stopped and motioned for Pride to hit the ball. Pride pulled out his driver and promptly popped a shot straight up into the air, forcing everyone nearby, including Namath, to dodge the golf ball as it fell.

Needless to say, his golf game got better.

Before that happened, however, he stopped playing. Pride walked away from the game for about 10 months, beginning in the latter part of his senior year at Tuscaloosa Academy. Golf had always filled the time until it was time to play basketball, especially when he was in high school.

“I finished my freshman year (at the University of Alabama), and I thought, ‘This is when I

usually play golf,’ ” Pride said. “I think it was the first time I ever wanted to go play golf because I really wanted to play golf. I had never not been around it. When I wasn’t around it, I figured out how much I loved it.”

His return, at least to competitive golf, didn’t come easily. Pride dropped several extracurricular activities, including UA’s SGA Senate and his fraternity, to concentrate solely on his studies and making the Crimson Tide golf team as a walk-on player. His first attempt at making the golf team, however, ended with his failing to make the roster. The next year, he walked on again and narrowly made the team.

“I look back at it now, I had a putt when I walked on the second time,” Pride said. “I had about a 15-footer on the last hole. If I make it, I’m on the team, and if I miss it, I’m transferring. I made it. I look back at that and go, ‘Good Lord, what would my life be if I didn’t make that putt?’ I wouldn’t have played college golf anymore. I would have never traveled on a college golf team. I would have never met my wife.”

Chances are he also wouldn’t have been a PGA Tour golfer. Pride’s first full season on the tour came in 1994. Overall, he’s played in 456 PGA Tour events with prize money earnings of more than $5.6 million. He’s also played in 156 Web. com Tour events with prize money earnings >>

FROM LEFT: On the PGA Tour • After a successful high school career at Tuscaloosa Academy, Pride initially quit golf when he went to college, then later walked on the Alabama golf team. • Pride’s PGA Pro-Am celebrity golf partners have included actor Bill Murray.

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COVER STORY

“I’ve always been a person that, in order to be good, I have to work at it.”

— DICKY PRIDE

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of nearly $800,000. He has a tournament victory on each tour — capturing the PGA Tour Federal Express St. Jude Classic in Memphis in July of 2004 and the Portland Open on the Web.com Tour in August of 2015.

He’s had the good fortune to do what he loves for a living. But good fortune doesn’t mean he skipped the hard work part.

“I’ve always been a person that, in order to be good, I have to work at it,” Pride said. “There are guys who have much more talent than me. They can do things with a golf ball that I can’t do. I’m very good at getting the most out of what I have. The old thing, ‘Are you a Ford or are you a Ferrari?’ Ferraris will outrace the Ford every time, but if the Ferrari goes 10 percent at what it can do and the Ford goes 90, then Ford has a chance to win.

That’s kind of what I am.”

Pride’s toughest battle came in 2002 when he underwent emergency surgery for gallstone pancreatitis. He was told he had a 50-50 chance of survival during the surgery. Words like that tend to slap one in the face, especially with young children. His daughter, Isabelle, was 2 at the time, and his son, Fletcher, was 6 months old.

Once he got through the surgery — and began the recovery process — he said his attitude toward life changed drastically.

“When I was younger, I was very brash and arrogant and cocky,” Pride said. “It was sheer out of ‘I had a difficult time believing in my game, so that’s the way I had to be.’ I chose the latter. I don’t have to go tell people I’m good now for me to believe that I’m good and know that I’m good. I really appreciate what I’m able to do and the opportunities to do a lot more.”

Tuscaloosa remains a big part of Pride’s life, even though he moved to Orlando, Florida, soon after graduating from UA. The move best fit his PGA Tour aspirations, but his roots remain firmly in Tuscaloosa. He hurried to Tuscaloosa with the PGA Charities Disaster Relief after the devastating tornado in April 2011 and

raised $175,000 with a Pro-Am fundraiser that included several other PGA players.

“Tuscaloosa is one of those things, it’s so close-knit,” Pride said while sitting at a small table outside the Indian Hills Country Club Pro Shop on an April morning. “We all know each other and our friends. We grew up together. It’s just a very comforting thing to be able to come here. I haven’t been here (at Indian Hills) in about two years. I’ve come (to Tuscaloosa) to see my mom but haven’t come over here. We come over here, and I see 15 people that I’ve known my entire life. It’s a very comforting and enjoyable thing.”

In some ways, Pride has reached an important crossroads in his golf career. He’s done several things in the media over the past few years and has proved to be very good. He’s worked with the Golf Channel and PGA Tour Live and has also done some radio work. All of those things have been enjoyable experiences, he said.

He turns 48 on July 15, which means he’s only two years away from being eligible to play on the PGA Champions Tour.

He jokes that, because he’s joined the PGA Tour so early, people have been asking him about joining the Champions Tour “since I was about 37.”

“It’s nice to have a couple different opportunities, but, at the end of the day, are you going to be in the media or are you going to be a golfer?” Pride said. “It is a difficult decision because I enjoy doing TV. I enjoy doing radio. But I also really love playing competition, and that’s what’s already driven me. But, if you’re not getting an opportunity (to play), it’s kind of hard. The networks and Tour Live and others are saying, ‘What are you going to do?’ They have a show to put on, whether it’s me or someone else. If I’m playing, they have to get someone else.”

Pride paused at that point, glancing out on the golf course where he first fell in love with the game.

“Bottom line,” Pride said, “is if I’m going to do (TV and radio), then I’ve got to stop playing golf. I’m not sure I’m there yet.”

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Pride returned for a visit in May to his home golf course in Tuscaloosa, Indian Hills Country Club. • Pride on the PGA Tour, competing in the Canadian Open. • He is shown competing in a collegiate tournament as a University of Alabama golfer.

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LITERATURE

r i a f f a y l i m a f A 44

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THE SLOANS HAVE PRODUCED TWO GENERATIONS OF PROLIFIC WRITERS AND AN ANNUAL CONFERENCE THAT DRAWS WRITERS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO TUSCALOOSA

BY TIFFANY STANTON PHOTOS BY ERIN NELSON t was one night many years ago that Tuscaloosa writer Joanne Sloan realized she and her husband, writer and retired University of Alabama professor David Sloan, might be raising a family of writers.

Their oldest child, Cheryl, was a voracious reader who had declared long ago that she wanted to write, so Joanne — a high school English teacher at the time — decided to replace family reading night with family writing night.

And right away, her youngest child, Christopher, shot off a cat-in-a-tree story — from the perspective of a dog that rescues the cat.

“I still have the story 6-year-old Christopher wrote at that first writing night we had,” she said. “The story ended this way: ‘That was the first time I ever saved a cat.’ ” Within the same period, Cheryl began expressing an interest in journalism and by ninth grade had become editor of her junior high school newspaper.

With Joanne and David established as writers of everything from parenting articles to textbooks, to newspaper columns and anthologies, writing became the family occupation. Later, the Southern Christian Writers Conference began as a way to fill a need Joanne saw in the writing workshop world.

Joanne’s first published work was “Lessons from the Classroom,” an article that ran in the publication Living with Teenagers (now called Parenting Teens) in 1984.

She now writes most regularly for The Alabama Baptist, in which she has a monthly historical biography called “Heroes of the Faith.”

David Sloan retired from the University of Alabama on April 27, 2011, after decades of teaching student journalists. He has since published six books, including “Writing: 2,100 Quotations,” “Self-Publishing and Selling Your Book” and “Letters to an Atheist Friend.”

Cheryl Sloan Wray, a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group, freelanced for newspapers and magazines for years, and she has also written six books. She coauthored three of those books — “College Nicknames,” “Faith Stories” and “Spiritual Disciplines” — with her mother, and another — “Great Editorials” — with both her father and mother.

Christopher moved on from cats in trees to fantasy novels, writing the first book in a Canadian series called “Forgotten Heroes” and strength-training articles. He now maintains a strength-training blog and writes on spiritual matters from an Eastern Orthodox perspective.

But an early interest in weightlifting is all that pushed him toward taking pen to paper, as far as Joanne and David could tell. For a while as a teenager, he showed so little interest in writing that David wondered if he knew to capitalize the first word of a sentence. So when he announced at age 17 that he had written a story for a magazine, both parents were skeptical. >>

Joanne Sloan, David Sloan, and their children, Cheryl Sloan Wray and Christopher Sloan, are photographed at David and Joanne’s home in Northport.

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“We immediately told him that there are certain procedures, such as submitting a query, et cetera, et cetera, that magazines expect and that, to publish an article, he had to do certain things,” David said, recalling that he and Joanne both offered to help edit Christopher’s work. But Christopher said no, he was doing it differently.

His parents shrugged him off as a hopeless case until a couple of months later when an issue of Ironman magazine and a check for $250 showed up in the mail.

“Were we surprised,” David said. “Then, when we read the article, we were even more surprised. Not only were Christopher’s writing mechanics — including punctuation — flawless, but the article was structured perfectly. It was developed well and displayed a genuine writing expertise.

Obviously, Christopher had, as he read countless articles, picked up on what Ironman expected.”

Christopher believes he simply learned the rhythm of the stories such magazines published.

“I knew my audience,” he said. “I voraciously read every single fitness and bodybuilding magazine that came out every single month, and I read every one of them from front to end, so I knew how they were done.”

Nowadays, Christopher Sloan presents regular writing workshops at the conference his parents and older sister started in 1992.

At that time, Joanne had returned from another conference that included a session — presented by a famous novelist the Sloans won’t name — that was so full of vulgarity, some in the audience walked out.

Up until then, Joanne and Cheryl had regularly attended writing workshops, and both found that many lectures were essentially boasts.

“The attitude of most of the authors seemed to be something like, ‘Look what an achievement I’ve made. None of you are as talented as I am,’ ” David said. “So the idea occurred to the three of us to start a conference, but one whose purpose was to help aspiring writers rather than merely to have speakers talk about their (own) achievements.”

Secular conferences were everywhere, and, as devout Baptists, David and Joanne decided the best way they could help budding writers was to start a Christian workshop.

“We also wanted to have speakers who had large enough vocabularies that they would be able to express their thoughts clearly without having to resort to crude language,” David said.

Their first conference, called the Alabama Christian Writers Conference, was held in June 1992 at First Baptist Church in downtown Tuscaloosa just months after planning began. It attracted about 30 attendees. The next year, 60 registered.

In 1994, they changed the name to Southern Christian Writers Conference and moved it to Samford University, where it remained until 2000. It attracted 120 attendees that first year in Birmingham. It returned to Tuscaloosa and First Baptist Church in 2001. >>

David Sloan

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Joanne Sloan “The attitude of most of the authors seemed to be something like, ‘Look what an achievement I’ve made. None of you are as talented as I am.’ So the idea occurred to the three of us

n

to start a conference, but one whose purpose was to help aspiring writers rather than merely to have speakers talk about their (own) achievements.” — DAVID SLOAN

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Cheryl Sloan Wray The two-day SCWC is held in early June and continues to grow, though the Sloans try to limit attendance to 200, a decision made after 221 showed up one year.

Its 2017 keynote speeches were presented by David Bennett, managing editor of HomeLife magazine, and award-winning Christian poet Austin Boyd. Workshop sessions include presentations by magazine and book editors, agents and published writers as well as professional advice on using social media, pitching story ideas, self-publishing, copyright and legal issues, among other topics.

The Sloans don’t leave their workshop in

n a o l S r e h p o t s i r h C

the hands of others. It’s a family affair.

“We have always approached the SCWC as a ministry rather than a business,” David said. “Our children and grandchildren are committed to being involved in all the work without expecting to be paid much. Each year, we have nine or 10 people doing staff work, and if they were getting regular pay, the costs for operating the conference would be quite a bit higher.”

All the professional writers in the Sloan family present workshops at the conference, and the grandchildren have been involved in one way or another since they could walk.

David said granddaughter McKenna

Watts, now 25 and the conference’s official registrar, has been at every conference since the year she was born.

Teenage grandsons Matthew and Garrett Sloan also enjoy writing and help with the conference by cleaning, toting supplies and transporting equipment. And Matthew, who now writes strength-training pieces for his father’s blog, admits he once called the conference his favorite holiday. It’s still one of his favorite events.

“I think the reason I like the writers conference so much is because of the community of people we get each year,” he said.

“They’re all just very welcoming, and

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“I think the reason I like the writers conference so much is because of the community of people we get each year.They’re all just very welcoming, and everyone feels comfortable even if it’s their first time there.”

everyone feels comfortable even if it’s their first time there.”

Nowadays, Joanne recalls the family’s early writing nights as casual occasions that required little effort on her part. But Cheryl remembers a childhood full of road-trip spelling bees and parents who took every opportunity to share their love of reading, writing and thinking.

She doesn’t remember a specific moment she realized that she was a writer, though.

“When you are surrounded by writers, I think you just always are a writer,” she

said. “I remember being maybe 9 or 10 and designing a ‘neighborhood newspaper’ that I wrote and designed and gave to people on our street. I was the editor of my junior high newspaper and then co-editor of my high school paper as well. I always just wrote stories and poems, and in my diary. It just was always comfortable for me.”

David now spends hours in his office writing, typically beginning at 7 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. But his days are flexible and include time relaxing in his sunroom, drinking coffee and listening to the outdoor

— MATTHEW SLOAN

birdsongs with Joanne. He thinks his grandchildren notice and admire the joy in such a life.

In fact, he says he’ll never forget the summer day, years ago, when he and Matthew drove by a construction crew working in downtown Tuscaloosa and Matthew noted it must be a strenuous, sweaty way to earn a living. “ ‘Granddad, you’ve got the greatest job in the world,’ ” David recalls his saying at that moment. “ ‘All you have to do is sit down all day — and do nothing.’ ”

n

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TREASURES

SOLD! Hal Hunt is one of the nation’s leading authorities in the bidding business

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BY BECKY HOPF PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR. t started with a horse trader.

It was the late 1800s, or very early 1900s, according to family lore, when Hal Hunt’s great-greatuncle in Louisiana would leave the house on one horse and come back on another — leading yet another horse.

That gentleman’s son, Allen Hunt, had a full-time job with Exxon but started selling furniture on the side. In the 1970s, Allen’s nephew, Harry, a rodeo rider and horseman, started buying and selling antiques, traveling from his home in Louisiana to places like New York and Pennsylvania. Before long, antiques became Harry’s full-time occupation.

Antique-buying was clearly in the family blood.

“In 1980, when I was 12 years old, we had a fire in our warehouse building,” remembers Harry’s son, Hal Hunt.

“We lost everything — everything was paid for, because that’s how it was in those days — but he lost something like $400,000-$500,000 worth of inventory. We had no insurance.”

The fire, the family believes, turned out to be somewhat of a blessing.

“After we lost everything, my dad sat down and reevaluated everything, and that’s when we went fullblown into the auction business,” Hal Hunt said. “You could sell everything faster. Me being 12, my brother (Rod) being 10 and my other brother (Billy Bob) — we were working with him every single day. As the business grew, we grew. So we learned the auction business from the ground up.” >>

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Hal Hunt Auctions features many sculptures, from animal to human figures, in all sizes. Many are in bronze. • Hal Hunt said Steinway & Sons pianos, such as this one in his warehouse, originally were designed to fit in New York townhouses. • Cherubs adorn the headrests of dining room chairs that are more than a century old. • Hunt and his wife, Bridget, work together in an office decorated with rare antiques.

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It was a business that thrived, with all of them working together, each with a different specialty — notes that harmonized well for their success and the business’ diversity.

“The first time I ever auctioneered on a podium, I was 10 years old,” Hal Hunt said. “It was near the end of an auction. I used to sit next to my dad on the podium when I was a kid, when I was 7, 8, 9. My dad would do an auction, and I’d just sit there for five or seven hours. One night, at the end of an auction, he was tired and he handed me the microphone and said, ‘Son, just sell that stuff.’ The first item I sold was a brilliant cut glass bowl. It went for like $30.

It was only worth about $10, but they bid because I was just a kid auctioning it. After that, it became a thing for me at the end of an auction. People would say, ‘Let Hal sell that.’

The crowd would go for it because I was a kid. Of course, by the time I turned about 15, that all changed.”

The charming child shtick may have worn off, but his magic never did. By the time he was 16, people were hiring him to do full auctions. Today, Hunt is nationally renowned for his collections and his ability to spot a true treasure.

Along the way, he married Bridget in 1990. They went to the same high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“My parents didn’t have any antiques,” Bridget Hunt said. “I always had a passion for antebellum homes and architecture. Getting introduced into the antique world was intriguing to me.”

ON THIS PAGE: Hunt’s collection for the annual museum auction includes items rarely found, drawing clients from all around the United States and abroad. The figural lamp, which originally would have been a gas lamp, dates to around the 1890s and came from a parlor in an Italian Renaissance-style home.

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She started working in the office when they were dating, juggling that with college and a nursing degree. She was a whiz in the office, particularly with accounting and organizing.

The family business took a little time to take flight. Bridget’s nursing job was a security blanket, but, by the time they had their first child, the auction house was on solid footing. She quit her nursing job but continued to work with the auctions.

Hal Hunt had been a major player in the auction game for 15 years before he and Bridget made a major life change and decided to move their business to Tuscaloosa and Northport in 2000.

“People just don’t know the quality we have right here, without having to go to New York or Atlanta,” Hal Hunt said. “We chose Tuscaloosa because I’ve got a lot of business in Atlanta. I did not want to live in Atlanta. In Nashville, I have a lot of business. In Memphis, I’ve got a lot of business. I didn’t want to live in any of those cities.

My brothers and my father were all in the same business, so, basically, there were three of us in Lafayette, Louisiana, all working under the same roof. I felt like it was good to expand, and this was the direction I wanted to expand to. This was a >> good central location for that.”

LEFT: The life-size fairy statue is made of white Italian marble. ABOVE: This clock, which stands more than 6 feet tall, is a style that was perhaps sold by New York retailer Tiffany & Co. Hal Hunt said only six are known to exist in the United States. The other five are in private collections.

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That was 17 years ago, when the Hunts bought a 3,500-square-foot building off U.S. Highway 43 and officially brought their auction house to Northport, where he is now closer to his Georgia and Tennessee contacts.

“I could do business in Atlanta or Nashville and be home by (5 p.m.),” Hal Hunt said of the move.

Their inventory is head-turning. One side of the building houses what could easily equate to a museum collection. Those items are held for a major annual auction that brings in hundreds of bidders from all over the world. The other side of the building impresses as well and is home to smaller, bi-monthly auctions.

Hal Hunt Auctions is also in demand for conducting auctions all over the country and many right here in West Alabama. Their stylish, printed fliers with photos of the inventory promoting those local auctions are sent to mailboxes all over the area.

“With the local auctions we hold here (at his business), the items typically range from $50 to $500 to $5,000,” Hal Hunt said.

Those lots include sterling silver, and English and French decorator-type items.

The specialty museum auctions are an entirely different matter. They consist of what Hal Hunt refers to as the “robberbaron”-type furniture, which would be found in the grand mansions, estates like the “cottages” in Newport, Rhode Island.

Invitations to those auctions are extended nationwide. They’ve been going on for 10 years and are usually held in February. The items will typically sell for anywhere from $500 to $200,000 (the price of one Victorian parlor suite). A bed went for $205,000 in 2009. Made by John Henry Belter in the 1850s, it came out of a collection in Georgia and, Hunt said, the only other known to be in existence is in a museum in Brooklyn, New York.

RIGHT: Bronze pelicans are among the lots in the auction house. BOTTOM: This bar is 25 feet long. The man who sold it to Hal Hunt said it came from a bar in Chicago where his mother once worked — and where his father met his mother. After his father died, the son bought the piece and built a special room in his home where it would fit.

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TOP: A collection of century-old chairs on the museum-auction side. LEFT: This Kochs barber chair dates to the late 1800s. The round seat and round back are a rarity, suggesting it came from a high-end barbershop. It is nickel-plated. Hunt said a similar chair sold for $9,000.

“We’ve sold quite a few $100,000 pieces,” Hal Hunt said.

Bidders from 30 states, many flying in on private planes, come for the annual auction.

“What’s unique about our specialty auctions is that there are other auctions that will have the high-end pieces, but they’ll only have maybe 10 pieces. We’ll have a collection of 300-400 pieces for a one-day event. That’s why they come. We won’t put it on the internet. We don’t take phone bids. We will take silent absentee bids,” Hal Hunt said. “It’s kind of made it the grand event for this product for the year, all around the United States. And it takes place right here in Tuscaloosa. We have more to offer in this one place in one day than anyone else in the country.”

The 2017 auction drew 300 attendees.

Usually there are 125-150 reserved seats before the auction date arrives.

The auctions he’s led around the country have drawn the likes of Country

Music Hall of Fame singer Randy Travis, who bought a fountain from Hunt at an auction in Las Vegas for his ranch in Texas. He sells to individuals, banks and restaurants. He buys from estates and places going through bankruptcies or going out of business. He’s had hauls that required 15 tractor-trailer loads from furniture liquidations.

Because he’s grown up in the business, he’s developed not only an eye for spotting and identifying treasures but also a knowledge for what still exists and where a similar item can be found — or whether no others are known to exist.

“I have a passion for it. I traded off auction pieces for my auction jobs,” Hal Hunt said. “Something very unusual we sold that we’ll probably never come across again was an art deco jukebox that we sold for $125,000. It was the world’s record for a jukebox sale. That was in 2009. There were only a couple known to exist.” >>

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He’s sold another jukebox, one of the first Wurlitzer jukeboxes built in the 1930s, that needed major restoration for $65,000 to a buyer who came from Belgium.

“That was my biggest surprise. We bought the collection in Houston, Texas,” Hal Hunt said. “I thought it was going to bring $1,000 or $2,000, and it brought $65,000.”

Like his buyers, Hunt travels to seek his collections. For about three weeks out of each month, he’s meeting with deceased collectors’ families or just collectors wanting to downsize. One haul in that category came from a woman in Missouri who called and told him she had a million dollars worth of picture frames. She was 74 and insistent that she couldn’t send him photos, he’d just have to come see for himself. Years of experience gave him a gut feeling that this one might be something, so he flew to Missouri. She lived in a tiny town, down a gravel road, in the middle of a cow pasture. Her home was a converted schoolhouse, 8,000 square feet. He ended up buying the lot of 2,000 Victorian-era frames, spending about

$500,000. It took several days and tractortrailers to move it all.

“You never know what the day will offer. Some days, nothing can be going on. You’re just sitting in the office, and the phone rings, then it’s all on go,” he said.

Some items, the Hunts sell themselves.

Some they ship to other businesses to sell. It takes about a four-week span to do one of the smaller auctions. The specialty auctions take months with catalogs and advertising.

Hal Hunt Auctions specializes in pieces from the 1850s to 1910, the gilded age of America. He is renowned for clocks.

There’s a $100,000 clock in his office. The pieces he collects for auction are the type of items that would have been found in homes of the Vanderbilts, Morgans and Rockefellers. His clients seek Americanmade ornate pieces. A walk through the museum side reveals a late-1800s nickelplated barber chair valued at around $9,000, figural statuary, fountains, lamps, urns and, dividing the two showrooms, a bar, 25 feet long, that came out of a tavern in Chicago.

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“What I really like about it is selling really nice and highquality things to people and then getting the feedback from them, how much they enjoy it. That has made me have a successful business because they come back for more. Satisfying a customer satisfies me at the end of the day,” Hal Hunt said. “And having my family, me working at this desk and my wife at the other — and me and my brothers being so close — it’s hard to find a family that can work so close without a fallout. And it’s exciting that our girls are part of the business, too. And I’ve never regretted this move to Tuscaloosa.

We didn’t know anybody when we came here. We did a lot of prayer, and God led us to Tuscaloosa.

Within the first six months, we felt at home.”

ON THESE TWO PAGES: The auction house specializes in American-made furniture, some items of which have sold for as much as $200,000. Many of

the items are pieces that are few of a kind.

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SPORTS

Tuscaloosa’s David Robertson, left, and Tim Anderson never played together in high school but are now teammates for the Chicago White Sox.

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FROM

T-TOWN TO

Tuscaloosa’s Tim Anderson and David Robertson are having big-league fun as Chicago White Sox teammates

STORY BY BEN JONES | PHOTOS BY THE TUSCALOOSA NEWS, RAY GARCIA, THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX, THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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im Anderson has always been a Dreamland guy.

“Their ribs are really good,” he said. “It’s a great place.”

David Robertson grew up going to Archibald’s in Northport.

“We used to drive over there to Northport and the little shack they had,” Robertson said. “We’d go in there and get a big ol’ hunk of meat in a Styrofoam container with that sauce they made, which was unbelievable.”

Perhaps their difference of opinion on Tuscaloosa barbecue is appropriate. Robertson and Anderson have taken two very different roads from Tuscaloosa to Chicago’s south side, where they’re now teammates with the White Sox. Robertson is a veteran reliever in his 10th year in the major leagues after playing for the University of Alabama in 2005 and 2006. Anderson is an ascendant young shortstop playing in his first full major league season. He was a first-round draft pick in 2013 from East Central Community College in Mississippi and has already worked his way to the big leagues.

“That’s pretty cool and neat to be on a team with a guy that’s from the same town as you,” Anderson said.

When Anderson reported for his first spring training with the White Sox in 2015, Robertson had just signed with the team.

Anderson and Robertson are eight years apart in age, so their paths had never crossed before then. But each already knew a little about the other.

Robertson was an established right-handed reliever who had been the Yankees’ closer in 2014, the first year after Mariano Rivera retired. Anderson was the White Sox top prospect. Robertson had heard some talk about Anderson from Todd Agee, who was Anderson’s coach at Hillcrest High School.

“I just knew (Robertson) was from the same city I was from,” Anderson said. “That’s really about it. We met, talked and got to know each other a lot better. We became teammates.”

Robertson played three years for Central High School, then played his senior year at Paul W. Bryant High School. Because their high school careers never overlapped, both players like to remind each other that their alma maters beat the other during their careers. >>

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Tim Anderson graduated from Hillcrest High School in 2011 and was chosen to The Tuscaloosa News’ Super 9 baseball team. • David Robertson was an ace pitcher for the Crimson Tide. • Anderson signed a $25 million, six-year contract with the White Sox in the spring of 2017.

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SPORTS

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SPORTS

Baseball fans in Tuscaloosa without a major league allegiance might want to pay attention to Chicago. The White Sox have had a heavy Alabama accent in recent seasons.

Robertson’s contract runs through the 2018 season, and Anderson recently signed a sixyear deal with the team. Catcher Alex Avila, a Florida native who played at Alabama from 2006-08, was also on the team in 2016.

“Alex and I played together 10 years ago and got to play together in the big leagues,” Robertson said. “It’s nice to see a friendly face all the time when you come to the clubhouse and you see somebody you’ve known from previous baseball experience.”

Robertson has maintained a presence in Tuscaloosa throughout his career. His foundation, High Socks for Hope, operates out of Tuscaloosa. It helped hundreds of families recover from the 2011 tornado that rocked

his hometown and has tackled several other projects in years since. The foundation has provided support to communities after other natural disasters around the country, including last year’s flooding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It’s also helped provide housing for several homeless veterans.

“Our biggest goal would be just to basically try and help those in need,” Robertson said. “Whether it’s veterans that come back and need housing, or traveling to somewhere like Louisiana and feeding people after the flood, trying to help out and get furniture for some of those people who lost everything in the flooding — we look at it as while we have the money and while we have the means, we’re going to try and help out whoever has come on hard times. It seems like those natural disasters just keep coming.”

Anderson didn’t know much about Robertson’s foundation before arriving with the White Sox but has learned through their time together. He said he might one day start a foundation of his own and could ask Robertson for some advice to help get started.

“He’s someone I definitely can lean on,” Anderson said. “If I have a question for him, he’s all ears. I feel like I can go to him with anything. Anything that pops up, he’ll listen and give me an answer. We’ve built that kind of relationship with each other. With him being a pitcher and me being a position player, they’re kind of on their own schedule, but we still get time to communicate throughout the day. No matter where he is, I know where his locker is, and he knows where mine is.”

The two Tuscaloosa natives never are far apart.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: White Sox pitcher David Robertson smiles after Minnesota Twins’ Byung Ho Park of South Korea grounded out to end the baseball game on April 14, 2016, in Minneapolis. The White Sox won, 3-1, with Robertson picking up the save. • Tuscaloosa teammates Robertson and Anderson pose on a road trip this spring. • Robertson throws against the Minnesota Twins on April 14, 2016, in Minneapolis. • Shortstop Anderson stands in the batter’s box during the fourth inning against the Kansas City Royals.

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FASHION

Caroline is wearing C/MEO Out-of-line mini dress, Sylvia Benson landscape earrings, Zenzii gold hexagon bangle [x2], Kristin Cavallari Latakia shoes.

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Sara Ashton is wearing Lovers & Friends Star Chaser dress, BCBG hammered hoop earrings, Sam Edelman Sheri shoes.

McLean is wearing Trina Turk Tamayo romper, T-drop hoop earrings, LK cube bracelet, Chinese Laundry Sitara Suede shoes.

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FASHION

Faith is wearing Lovers & Friends Brixton romper, Metal Bar earrings, Chinese Laundry Theresa shoes.

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Madison is wearing Cameo Second Thought playsuit, thread wrap circle and pom earrings, Chinese Laundry Matilda shoes.

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FASHION

McLean is wearing Karina Grimaldi Logan linen romper, BCBG metal bead ball earrings, Sylvia Benson P. Bloom cuff [x2], Chinese Laundry Sitara Suede shoes.

Madison is wearing Lovers & Friends 2-piece print suit, BCBG silver metal earrings, Sol Sana Legend mules.

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FASHION

Sara Ashton is wearing Karina Grimaldi Naira romper, BCBG Rhodium drop earrings, Kristin Cavallari Latakia suede wedges.

Faith is wearing Karina Grimaldi Avery lace romper, Sylvia Benson in motion hoop earrings, Sylvia Benson Porter bracelet, Sacha London Paola shoes.

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FASHION

Caroline is wearing Black Halo Joaquin jumpsuit, Abbey Glass Jane sweatshirt, Zenzii gold hoop with pearl earrings, Chinese Laundry Lalli shoes.

Madison is wearing Trina Turk Mirador dress, Sylvia Benson Layson earrings, Chinese Laundry Lalli sandals.

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FASHION

McLean is wearing Hunter Bell Sims top, Trina Turk Netti pant, BCBG hammered hoop earrings, Raye Blake one-strap heels.

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Madison is wearing BCBG Careen knit evening dress, BCBG shadow blush stone drop earrings, Chinese Laundry Lalli shoes.

Faith is wearing Black Halo Varla sheath off-shoulder, Zenzii Puppet crystal drop earrings, Sacha London Bruno heels.

Caroline is wearing C/MEO Flawless midi dress, Zenzii Out of the Box pearl earrings, Sam Edelman one-strap heels.

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FASHION

Sara Ashton is wearing Alberto Makali ruffle-back dress, silver teardrop earrings, BCBG pave rhinestone bracelet, Vince Camuto Im-Devin II shoes.

McLean is wearing Keepsake Awake dress, Pearl drop chain earrings, Raye Blake one-strap heels, DH shell contour clutch.

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FASHION

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FACING PAGE: Sara Ashton is wearing Finders Keepers Asher dress, black chandelier earrings, Zenzii beauty and bead bracelet, Raye Blake one-strap heels • Faith is wearing Halston strapless dress, Zenzii Time is Now earrings, Zenzii hematite black cuff, Sam Edelman one-strap heels.

McLean is wearing Alberto Makali off-shoulder ruffle gown, beaded post earrings, 9 row CZ bracelet [x2], Steve Madden Stecy heels.

Madison is wearing BCBG Juliana Woven long dress, T-Drop cluster earrings, Chinese Laundry Lalli heels.

Caroline is wearing Badgley Mischka Poly gown, Zenzii Blue Gemstone drop earrings, Vince Camuto Im-Devin II heels, Paved circle bracelet [x2].

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FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER: Gary Cosby Jr. | STYLING: Becky Hopf, Terry Davis and Gary Cosby Jr. HAIR AND MAKEUP: Chaney Boatright of Cherry Blow Dry Bar | CLOTHING AND MODELS PROVIDED BY: Effie’s The photo shoot was at Capitol Park in downtown Tuscaloosa.

SPECIAL THANKS to Terry Davis and Effie’s for supplying all the clothing and the models. Effie’s is located in the Downtown Shopping Plaza at 404 Queen City Ave. in Tuscaloosa. The phone number is 205-3451814.

The models’ hair and makeup was done

by Chaney Boatright, one of the partners of one of Tuscaloosa’s newest salons, Cherry Blow Dry Bar, located in the Shoppes at Legacy Park at 1451 Edward Hillard Drive. The salon is set to open in July 2017. Details can be found on its Facebook page.

Special thanks to Jackie Wuska and the United Way of West Alabama for allowing us to use space in their office for hair, makeup and wardrobe changes.

OUR MODELS, WITH TERRY DAVIS OF EFFIE’S: From left: Caroline Coker, Sara Ashton Lowe, Terry Davis, McLean Moore, Faith (Daisha) Dudley and Madison Ryan

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6

INTRIGUING

PEOPLE

Meet six folks who make a difference in our communities

BENNIE DEER Drummer

JAMES HARRISON

Drugstore chain founder

TONY BROWN Tree climber

TREY CUNNINGHAM World-class hurdler

CHRISTI PARSONS White House correspondent

DENNIS STEVERSON Attorney

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

Bennie DEER NO. 1

DRUMMER

BY BECKY HOPF PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

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hree times, death has stared Bennie Deer squarely in the face.

Three times, Bennie Deer has defied death.

Each time, Deer had a set of drumsticks nearby.

He credits a higher power for sparing his life and for placing in his hands the drumsticks that have powered his soul.

Deer speaks softly, deliberately, the antithesis of the thunderous voice his drums speak. Both his voice and that of his drums have much to say.

His drums have taken him all over the world, to hallowed music venues: the Apollo Theater in New York, New Jersey’s Asbury Park. The drums led him to England, Japan, Italy. Music icons like Tom Jones, Nancy Wilson, Ike and Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston all came to hear his bands play. He and his bandmates opened shows for Diana Ross and The Temptations. He was just a kid when he met and befriended comedian Richard Pryor, who lived across the street from a club where Deer performed.

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Deer got his first set of drums from his mother.

“They were dark blue sparkle with a silver ring around it. They were very pretty. I was about 13.” he said. “I had asked for a set of drums.”

His first standoff with death came when he was around 12 years old. He was staying with his grandmother in Mississippi. He left school one day, drumsticks in his back pocket, and went to help out in a cotton field, hopping on a tractor.

Someone else was driving and rounded a corner too fast. The tractor tipped over, throwing the driver off but trapping Deer underneath.

“Only two things were holding up the tractor, those two little rods (his drumsticks). They kept the pressure off my back,” Deer said.

More than 50 years later, he still gets overcome with emotion recounting the accident.

“It took about 20 minutes to move the tractor. I was dying,” Deer said, pausing to fight back tears.

“An old lady, Miss Sissy Gail, came running out of the house and got some men to lift the tractor off me. She sat down and prayed and said, ‘God, give me strength.’ She lifted me up in her arms and said, ‘Come on back to us, Bennie. Come back.’ I was headed to the light. I sure was. I was headed to the light, and she brought me back to reality. I’ll never forget it. It was October 26, 1964.”

He started performing when he was 13 at the Elks Club in Peoria, Illinois. He’d told his mother he had a job as a waiter at a hotel. She believed him.

Soon enough, he got caught.

“She was a member of the Eastern Star, and they had a tea at the Elks Club,” he said, laughing at the memory. “We were playing. They set the tables right in front of the band. I saw her and wanted to run and hide. One of her friends said, ‘Frankie, look who’s there.’ She let me finish. Then she took me aside and told me these words: ‘Why did you lie to me?’ I told her I wanted to play. She sat me down and said, ‘I better not catch you with a cigarette in your mouth or alcohol on your breath.’

And you better believe she monitored me. She was a great singer, a gospel singer. My brother, Sammie Cheatam, sang with Mahalia Jackson. She let me do it because she knew what it meant to me and realized I had a talent.”

Within a year, Deer hooked up with Ike and Tina Turner, playing drums in Ike Turner’s band. He was a 14-year-old playing in the Motown Review in front of packed venues for acts like Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.

“I was never starstruck. It was a job. I was making $25 a night. I saved as much as I could.”

He hit the road the same day he graduated from high school, touring with singer Sidney Scott. Deer was 16.

He was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, playing in

a club with the Bagdads, when singer Billy Stewart discovered him. Stewart was looking for a drummer. He found one in Deer.

His second face-off with death came soon after.

It was 1968. The band was traveling to South Carolina to do a TV show with Stevie Wonder.

Deer was with members of the band in a station wagon. The car flipped several times. Deer kicked out a window to escape. Seconds later the car exploded, killing all three of the others in the car.

Deer was the lone survivor.

Two years later, on Jan. 17, 1970, death made another attempt. Billy Stewart and the band were headed in two vehicles to a gig with The Spinners. Deer started out in Stewart’s Ford Thunderbird. Stewart was driving. They made a stop along the way and Deer got out to get some orange juice. When he came back to the car, one of the band members had taken his place. Deer was annoyed and reluctantly went to the van. Less than an hour down the road, with only Deer and the van driver awake, he witnessed Stewart’s car, driving ahead of them, veer off the road, strike a bridge and then plunge into a river. Everyone in the car died, including the band member who had taken Deer’s seat.

“Prayer. That’s what kept me going each time.

And music. Prayer and music still keep me going.

And my grandmother was such a great motivator.

She told me to believe in God. Trust in God and you’ll be all right.”

Music has always and, he says, will always be a great part of his life. Even when he got drafted by the Army, he played for 100 Percent Pure Poison.

He plays drums for his church in Tuscaloosa and met his wife at a gig in Montgomery. He still plays in the band The Crowd Pleasers.

Music has loved him as well. In the 500-pluspage coffee-table book, “The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music,” several pages are devoted to an interview with Deer.

He was there when his bandmate, singer Bobby Blue Bland, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One of their big hits, which Deer played on, was “Tit for Tat.” He’s a part of a video featured in the Smithsonian Institute with Johnny Tiller. With Billy Stewart, the hits included “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Cross My Heart.”

“We were a family,” Deer said. “I miss the life.

I loved it. All of it. I loved working with good bands. I miss those guys. I would do it all over again, even with the things that happened. I call it my flight from destiny because I was headed to the light, and God turned me around. I saw the great light when I was under that tractor. It was so peaceful, and I was headed toward it. God and that lady in Mississippi led me back.”

Name: Bennie Deer Age: 65 Hometown: Peoria, Illinois Personal: Wife, Rosa; mother, the late Frankie Dicus; father, the late Arthur Hall; his grandmother, Susie Gordon; children, Bennie Deer Jr., Nahamani Henderson, Shannon Deer, Nakia Deer and Chotasani Henderson.

Something most people don’t know about me: When I toured London, I met J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote “Lord of the Rings.”

When I was young, I used to visit historical places, and we went to Sherwood Forest.

He was teaching at Oxford University, and he showed me around Sherwood Forest. We had a long conversation.

My proudest achievement: Just meeting all those guys, playing with all those guys, playing at places like Asbury Park and having people like Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons come out and watch us play when I was with the Bagdads.

Why I do what I do: It is a gift God gave me.

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James HARRISON JR. NO. 2

SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

DRUGSTORE CHAIN FOUNDER

BY KELCEY SEXTON PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

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ome might say entrepreneurship courses through the veins of the Harrison family.

Growing up, James I. Harrison Jr. watched as his parents laid the groundwork for what would become a legacy and an award-winning drugstore corporation, Harco Drug Inc.

Whether his mother and father were selling homemade sandwiches to University of Alabama students or opening their first store, Harrison got a taste of what running a business was like at a young age.

“Mom and Dad set such a positive work ethic for me and my brother, Ben,” he said.

After graduating in 1925 with a pharmacy degree from Auburn University — whose pharmacy school now bears his name — Harrison’s father, James I. Harrison Sr., moved to

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Tuscaloosa, where he worked for independent pharmacy owners and met the woman who would become his wife, Elizabeth Doherty.

In 1929 — three years before Jim Harrison Jr. was born — the couple bought their first store.

However, the Great Depression forced its closure, driving Harrison’s father to work “relentlessly” during his childhood until the “creditors were paid in full.”

“In the beginning, Mom would make sandwiches during the day, and Dad would sell them on campus at night. There were no fastfood restaurants back then. They were truly entrepreneurs,” Harrison said.

In 1941, when Harrison was 9, his parents’ financial situation was such that they were able to purchase Central Drug in Tuscaloosa. It would become the first location in what would lead to their family-owned Harco Drug chain.

Harrison worked at the soda fountain and lunch counter at Central Drug growing up. He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pharmacist. He aspired to be just like his dad.

After high school, Harrison attended a year of school at Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then returned to his hometown to attend and play basketball as a freshman at the University of Alabama. His sophomore year, he decided to transfer to Howard College, now Samford University, in Birmingham to pursue a pharmacy degree and play basketball and baseball.

“I still hold the record for the most points scored in a basketball game (at Howard) — 48,” Harrison said. “But the best thing that happened to me there was meeting the love of my life, my sweet Peg!” Once he earned his degree, he and Peggy headed back to Tuscaloosa.

“Tuscaloosa is my place. I have always considered it home. When I proposed to Peggy, I told her that I hoped she liked Tuscaloosa because I would never live anywhere else. I like everything about (it) — the people, the weather, the university, the friendliness and the lifelong friends.”

Back in his hometown, he and his brother began managing a second store bought by his father. That store, Druid Drug, was located on the UA campus and helped kickstart Harrison’s career when he was about 24. From then on, what would become Harco Inc. continued expanding.

“The two stores in Tuscaloosa grew into a chain that we named Harco Inc.,” Harrison said. “Harco grew to be the second largest privately owned drug chain in America — with over 150 stores employing 2,500 people.”

Eventually, an auto parts chain called Carport, with 50 stores, and a home health care chain named Totalcare, with 12 locations, was added to the company.

Harrison’s five children were also involved in the family business, he said, working with Harco to gain experience before becoming part of various other local businesses.

They were family businesses, but, in Harrison’s heart, the “family” in his businesses went far beyond his blood relatives.

“All our companies were more like family than anything else, certainly in my eyes and, I believe, in the eyes of our people, our leaders and our pharmacists,” he said.

After more than 50 years of award-winning service, the Tuscaloosa-based Harco Drug merged with Rite Aid Corp. in 1997, giving the Harrisons the resources to form the James Harrison Family Foundation.

“The philanthropic work from the foundation is probably the best thing the family ever did,” Harrison said. “We have, I believe and pray, had a substantial effect in a variety of areas in this state.”

Before the merger in 1997, Harco was regularly named “America’s Best Regional Drug Chain” in annual reviews by Chain Drug Review, and in the 1980s, Harrison was named “Chain Drug Store Executive of the Decade.”

He also served as chairman of the Board of National Association of Chain Drug Stores from 1985-86.

“Not too bad for a country boy from Alabama,” Harrison said. “I and Harco have been blessed to receive numerous awards and titles.

All are dear to me because of the people that made those awards possible.”

His mark and accolades can be seen all over the state of Alabama. In Tuscaloosa, a main thoroughfare is the James I. Harrison Jr. Parkway. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Alabama Pharmacy Hall of Fame.

He is a member of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame, and he’s won a Samford University Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife received the Nick’s Kids Lifetime Achievement Award, a charity run by Alabama football coach Nick Saban and his wife, Terry.

Harrison is now the grandfather of 15 and will soon celebrate the birth of his fourth great-grandchild. He says they are the center of his and Peggy’s life. It’s a life that includes “attending Mass each day, enjoying lunch with my friends, chauffeuring my dog, T.J., and being where my sweet Peg tells me to be.

“When I think back (on my life and career), it all feels wonderful,” Harrison said. “I am so grateful to our Heavenly Father.”

Name: James I. Harrison Jr. (Jim) Age: 84 Hometown: Tuscaloosa Personal: Wife, Peggy Thomas Harrison; sons, Jim Harrison III, Ronnie Harrison and Kie Harrison; daughters, Cissy Fuhrman and Cheri Sisson; father, James I. Harrison Sr.; mother, Elizabeth Doherty Harrison; brother, Ben Harrison; 15 grandchildren; and three (soon to be four) greatgrandchildren.

People who have influenced my life: My father and mother.

Something people don’t know about me: I own the Doherty family cottage of my mother’s grandfather in Carrick, Ireland, where her father was born and grew up.

My proudest achievement: Raising a successful family alongside my wife, Peggy; being able to build a regional drug chain from my father’s and mother’s family-owned Central Drug; and being able to name the pharmacy school at Auburn University the Harrison School of Pharmacy, in memory of my father.

Why I do what I do: To show respect and love to my God, my family and my community.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

NO. 3

TonyBROWN PROFESSIONAL TREE CLIMBER

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BY DREW TAYLOR PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

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rees have been a big part of Tony Brown’s life for a long time.

Like many boys growing up in the South, Brown would climb small trees in his yard or in the woods to pass the day. As he grew older, he found ways to turn that boyhood passion into a career.

Brown, a Centreville native and owner of Brown’s Tree Service, has spent years climbing trees for his business, but he has also traveled across the country — and internationally, in England — as a competitive tree climber.

For 12 years in a row, Brown won the International Society of Arboriculture Tree Climbing Championship for the Southern Chapter, even making an appearance in an international competition.

“It’s like a drug,” Brown said of climbing. “I just love to get out there on those limbs, and I have a lot of passion for what I do.”

Brown’s love of tree climbing started when he was 17 years old and studying forestry at a vocational school in Bibb County. After learning how to climb trees in order to prune them, he knew he had found his calling.

“When I graduated, I filled out an application to Asplundh Tree Expert Company,” he said.

“They called me while I was on my senior trip to come up, and then I started work in Mountain Brook.”

The first year of work was the most difficult for Brown, who worked to clear branches from power lines. Often being 60 to 70 feet up in the air, Brown saw the dangers of his new career, but that did little to deter his passion for climbing.

“I never thought about quitting,” he said. “I was going to master it.”

In 1990, Brown got his big break when a co-

Name: Tony Brown Age: 48 Hometown: Centreville Personal: Spouse of 26 years, Jan Brown; children, Jacob Brown, 20, and Anna Brown, 18.

People who have influenced my life: Roger Brothers, Bibb County Vocational School forestry teacher; Herschel Hale, Alabama Power Co. (retired); Rickey Bailey, Asplundh tree expert.

My proudest achievements:

worker encouraged him to climb competitively after watching him at work. Not long after, he won his first Southern chapter competition in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Through climbing, Brown has traveled across the Southeast and the country in competitions.

One of his signature events is the work climb, where climbers ring bells on different parts of the tree as they work their way down.

In 1999, he had the opportunity to compete in the ISA’s international competition in Stamford, Connecticut, narrowly losing to German competitor Bernd Strasser.

“Since 1999, Strasser has won nine international tree climbing competitions,” he said. “No American has ever won more than three.”

After the loss, Brown lessened his competition schedule to raise a family and start his own business, but he still takes climbing as seriously as ever.

“I’m just going to try and make one more run and see if I can make it to the international competition,” he said. “If I can make it to the master’s challenge, I have a chance.”

Brown said his love of tree climbing has always centered on the work it takes to ascend great heights and the exhilaration that follows. However, he is aware of the dangers the job entails.

“I’ve never been worried about anybody taking my job,” he said. “I don’t think anybody wants to do what I do because it’s just dangerous work.

You have to take risks out there, and you really have to know what you’re doing.”

However, tree climbing is also a meditation for Brown.

“Getting up there and being away from everything, you’re in your own little world,” he said.

Over the years, Brown has had the opportunity to pass on his expertise to the younger generation, but he has no plan of giving up his climbing gear anytime soon.

“The day I have to hang it up, it’s going to be rough on me,” he said. “I don’t know how I’m going to handle it.”

Winning the International Society of Arboriculture, Southern Chapter Tree Climbing Competition nine consecutive times and placing second overall internationally in 1999 at the International Society of Arboriculture

Competition.

Why I do what I do: I love climbing, love moving around in the tree canopy, love the physical aspect of climbing, love the everchanging climbing gear and techniques.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

Trey CUNNINGHAM NO. 4

WORLD-CLASS HURDLER

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BY CECIL HURT PHOTO BY ERIN NELSON

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is father was a football player and coach. His mother was one of the most prominent basketball players ever, both in the Alabama girls’ high school ranks and in the SEC. But as a youngster, Trey Cunningham decided he would march — or, more precisely, run — to the beat of his own drummer.

“It was the summer before my fourth-grade year,” Cunningham recalled when asked about his earliest days in track and field. “Everyone was playing baseball. I never liked baseball. But I had a cousin who ran cross country, so I would just go running along with a couple of our other cousins.”

Before long, something became apparent — Cunningham was faster than his cousins, especially when sprinting. A career was born.

Cunningham, who graduated from Winfield High School in May 2017, has dominated the sprinting and hurdles events in the Alabama High School Athletic Association for the past three years. Counting relays and team titles, Cunningham won 24 AHSAA championships in his four years at Winfield.

He recently broke his own national high school 60-meter hurdles record and Under-20 world record with a time of 7.40 seconds to win the New Balance Nationals. His 55-meter time of 6.871 seconds was also a national high school record.

Cunningham holds the overall state record in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 13.42 seconds, and the Class 4A state record in 13.97 seconds.

The 2016 Alabama Gatorade Boys Track Athlete of the Year also holds indoor state records in the Class 1A-3A 60-meter dash (6.98), the 400-meter dash (50.30) and the long jump (23-4). He is the all-time, all-class record holder in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.79 seconds. Outdoors, he also holds the Class 3A, 300-meter intermediate hurdles record (38.34).

“He is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete,” Winfield High School track coach Steve Reaves told The Tuscaloosa News in May. “I would be hardpressed, if I stayed here another 20 years, if I found another kid that could do what he does. He is truly a once-in-a-lifetime athlete.”

The genetics were already in place. Cunning-

ham is a third-generation standout in northwest Alabama. His mother, Shelly Pyles Cunningham, set school records in assists and steals while she played point guard on the University of Alabama women’s basketball team from 1985-88. Brad Cunningham, who is a teacher at Winfield, has a coaching background in football and basketball.

Brad’s sister, Susan Cunningham, played women’s basketball at both Alabama and Auburn. Trey’s grandfather, Olan Cunningham, played football at Auburn. Olan’s brothers also played college football, Jim Cunningham at Alabama and Donald Cunningham at Tennessee.

There is a chance that Trey could surpass them all — and nearly everyone in state track and field history, with the exception of the great Jesse Owens — before he is done.

“The Olympics are a dream, definitely,” Cunningham said. “Maybe by 2020, maybe 2024, but hopefully by 2020,” Cunningham said. “You start thinking about it when you’re younger, but it gets here in a hurry. I never thought about (the Olympics) until my sophomore year. That’s when I started thinking, ‘This is something I can do.’

“I think I will be concentrating more and more on the shorter races. You have to specialize, but I will still jump in in some of the other events in college.”

Cunningham had his first taste of international competition in late 2016 as he traveled to Cuba for the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational. He won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.56 seconds.

“It was a great trip, my first time to go outside the country and compete,” Cunningham said. “We stayed in Havana and met athletes from all over the world. I did stay close to the team. I don’t speak Spanish, except for some Spanish slang I learned.”

This summer, Cunningham will compete in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in North Carolina in early June. From there, he will travel to California for the USA Junior Pan-American Games trials before heading off to college.

Cunningham, a 4.0 student, will attend Florida State.

“My parents let me make my own decision,” Cunningham said. “I felt like, all-around, it was the place for me to be. They’ve had a lot of success in track and field, plus it’s a little bit warmer there.”

For Trey Cunningham, the stage will soon be bigger than West Alabama — and it might become worldwide.

Name: Trey Cunningham Age: 18 Hometown: Winfield Personal: Parents, Brad and Shelly Cunningham People who have influenced my life: My parents, friends, coaches, and fellow track athletes I have met along the way.

My proudest achievement: My 20U World Record I set in the 60m Hurdles.

Why I do what I do: I do what I do because I genuinely love to hurdle.

I do not know exactly why I find them so interesting but they keep me coming back for more.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

Christi NO. 5

PARSONS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT

BY MEREDITH CUMMINGS PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTI PARSONS

C

hristi Parsons has interviewed many celebrities and politicians in her career, a path paved by her deep, Southern, storytelling roots.

The Tuscaloosa native and former president of the White House Correspondents’ Associa-

tion is drawing from those roots — and her experience covering the day-to-day events of former President Barack Obama’s presidency — to take a break to write a memoir.

“It’s the story of a white girl from Alabama who covers the first black president,” says the University of Alabama and Yale Law School graduate. “I think people from the South can relate to the idea that race relations are complicated in this country, and people who say otherwise are just out of touch.”

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Parsons, White House correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, says she has a unique perspective as a member of the White House press corps, which she says is composed heavily of reporters from the Northeast.

“I grew up in the South and went to a public university in the South. I’m really different from a lot of people in the Washington press corps in that way. I always felt like I was processing the story of the first black president differently than everyone else.”

White House reporter Michael Memoli partnered with Parsons the last two years of the Obama administration, and he says that reporters can be extremely competitive in Washington, even within their own news organizations, but that Parsons was always willing to help a fellow reporter.

“Her Southernness definitely emerges from time to time, sometimes in more conspicuous ways than others,” he said with a laugh. “The closest she will come to saying something negative about someone? She’ll just say, “Well, bless their heart.” Whereas someone who grew up like I did, in New Jersey, we might use a four-letter word.”

Parsons said the trajectory of her career was shaped by Alabamians, particularly her mother, a journalist, Marie Parsons, who retired from teaching journalism at the University of Alabama, and her late father, Joe. “They raised me in a household where I was really exposed to a wide range of views about the world,” she says. “My mother is a journalist who comes at the world with a notebook and questions, and my father was a polite Southern gentleman who loved to tell stories, and he liked to listen to stories, so that’s sort of an Alabama way of growing up. I think a lot of Southerners can relate to that.”

Parsons credits her UA German professors, as well as journalism professors Frank Deaver, the late Marian Huttenstine and Jim Oakley, a retired

newspaper publisher.

“Every single publisher in the Alabama Press Association was an influence on me. They are brave people who believe in telling the stories about the places where they live,” she said.

Parsons, a former reporter for The Tuscaloosa News, said her father could sit on their porch for hours regaling the neighborhood with stories.

“If you poured some iced tea or whiskey in a jar, you knew if you sat down near his rocking chair he would start telling a story. I was always aware of the impact of my storytelling. You can hurt people and you can help people, and sometimes people don’t like what you write, but if you have to face those people at the Piggly Wiggly or church or whatever, then you learn the importance of getting it right. The town of Tuscaloosa taught me how to be a journalist.”

Memoli said that when Parsons was elected president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, no one ran against her because “they knew she was going to beat everybody because of the respect people have for her.”

And sometimes, he pointed out, the politicians she covered learned from her.

“She happened to be on Air Force One the day after she was elected president, and it was the same year Obama was running for re-election.

He came back to congratulate her and asked for her advice,” Memoli said.

“He was kidding, of course,” said Parsons, who holds a note in history as being the reporter to ask the last question at Obama’s final presidential press briefing. “He knew a journalist like me would never actually give advice. But when you cover someone for 20 years, you do develop a strong reporter-source relationship in which you can joke around a little bit. The important thing to me is that he would always take my questions.

No matter where were traveling in the world or what the subject matter was, if he saw my hand up or heard me shouting out a question, he would usually stop and answer.”

“My mother is a journalist who comes at the world with a notebook and questions, and my father was a polite Southern gentleman who loved to tell stories, and he liked to listen to stories, so that’s sort of an Alabama way of growing up. I think a lot of Southerners can relate to that.”

Name: Christi Parsons Age: 49 Hometown: Tuscaloosa Personal: Husband, Cody Moser (a Tuscaloosa native); children, Paul, 17, and Mandy, 13, of Washington, D.C.; parents, Marie and the late Joe Parsons, and parents-in-law Frank and the late Dusti Deaver (all of Tuscaloosa).

People who have influenced my life: My mother and father, above all others. My mother taught me to ask questions. My father taught me that telling stories was always the best way to explain the answers.

Something people don’t know about me: I am trying to live up to the standards of my English teachers from Central High School — Judy Boozer, Janice Winokur, Bill McBride and the late and beautiful Phyllis Ward.

My proudest achievement: Serving my outstanding, talented, butt-kicking peers as president of the White House press corps.

Why I do what I do: Because somebody’s got to get some answers around here.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

NO. 6

Dennis

STEVERSON SR. ATTORNEY

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BY STEPHEN DETHRAGE PHOTO BY ERIN NELSON

W

hen his grandparents were raising him in Aliceville, Dennis Steverson Sr. did not expect to amount to much. His mother left him in Aliceville while she sought work in Gary, Indiana. His grandfather was an illiterate sharecropper. His grandmother could read but had only an 11th-grade education.

In this environment, Steverson couldn’t imagine that he would eventually hold two degrees, or that he’d be an attorney, marry another attorney and raise two children who will soon both have doctorate degrees. Back then, he thought he’d do what pretty much everyone did.

“Where I came from, you basically just find a job, you work and you stay in Aliceville. I liked chickens, so I thought one day I might be a chicken farmer,” Steverson said. “While I was in school, my counselors asked me if I was going to college, but that was a foreign idea to me.”

But Steverson was the salutatorian of his class at Aliceville High School, and the staff there challenged him to apply to Stillman College and the University of Alabama. When he was accepted to both, he chose to study chemistry at Stillman because the idea of living in Tuscaloosa and attending the Capstone was just too daunting for him at the time.

Steverson still didn’t really know where he wanted to end up, but after a year on the pre-med track, he had two things figured out: He was too squeamish to be-

Name: Dennis Steverson Sr. Age: 59 Hometown: Aliceville Personal: Wife, Carolyn W. Steverson; children, Dennis Steverson Jr. and Delia D. Steverson.

People who have influenced

come a doctor, and eventually he wanted to answer only to himself.

“I did know that I wanted to do something where, eventually, I could control my own destiny,” Steverson said. “I wanted to be my own boss.”

So Steverson graduated from Stillman in 1979 and was accepted into the University of Alabama’s law school. He earned his degree there in three years, although he said that when he first began taking classes, he’d never even met an attorney and knew nothing about practicing law.

Steverson beat the odds again and was hired to prosecute juvenile offenders as an assistant district attorney in Tuscaloosa County, which he said may have been the highest position ever held by a black man at that time.

It wasn’t a road without obstacles, though. Steverson said a few suspects and victims did not want to work with a black prosecutor, and during one of his earliest cases, Steverson prosecuted a young man accused of vandalizing a Ku Klux Klan building. Steverson said treating the KKK as a victim was strange but made for an early, hands-on lesson in impartiality.

“I was really focused on doing the right thing, and that helped me a lot. It shaped where I was going to be in the law,” Steverson said. “I was able to block out those kinds of thoughts and follow the law, to treat everyone with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

After almost a decade at the DA’s office, Steverson left public practice to open his own firm and realize his dream of being self-employed and self-sufficient. Other than a brief appointment to be a circuit court judge from 1999 until 2001 and an unsuccessful run at the district attorney’s

my life: My grandmother, Lueanna Steverson, and my grandfather, Walter Steverson; my first full-time employer, Charley Freeman, Tuscaloosa County district attorney.

Something people don’t know about me: I wanted to be a chicken farmer until I

office in 2016, Steverson has focused on private practice since.

He said he wanted to become DA to see that office prioritize crime prevention. He recalled prosecuting a man convicted of raping, robbing and murdering a Tuscaloosa woman and said even though the man is now on death row, the best outcome would have been preventing the slaying in the first place.

“I wanted to transform the DA’s office from a prosecutorial office into one that actually seeks to make a difference, that tries to change the lives of people,” he said. “I wanted to be proactive in trying to prevent crimes. It’s a lot better to spare a family the kind of hurt and grief I’ve seen than to go back later and say, ‘Oh well, at least we got the person that did this.’ ” Now, Steverson’s wife, Carolyn, is retired from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Birmingham. His 31-year-old son, Dennis Jr., has a Ph.D. in pathology and works for David Lipscomb University in Nashville.

His 29-year-old daughter, Delia, soon will earn a doctorate degree in English from the University of Alabama and has already accepted a job teaching at the University of Florida.

Steverson takes no credit for his own unlikely story and the success his family enjoys. Instead, he attributes all to the grace of God. “There’s no way that any smarts or any connections in my life would have allowed me to be where I am now,” Steverson said. “That helps keep me rooted and grounded, because you can’t script what has happened to me. I have seen the hand of God move in my life, and if the hand of God is in your life, success will follow you.”

learned that I probably could not make a living in that vocation. But I did not abandon my dream entirely. I now have three chickens that I am proud of. I get excited each day when I visit the coop to find the eggs that have been laid that day.

My proudest achievement:

Becoming a Christian.

Why I do what I do: Jesus defines a true Christian as one who loves his neighbor and is a servant to mankind.

The practice of law provides a unique opportunity to serve both the needs of an individual client as well the community as a whole.

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ON THE SCENE

CULTURED PEARLS ALPHA KAPPA ALPHA SCHOLARSHIP BALL APRIL 28, 2017 EMBASSY SUITES PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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Lori Irene Byrd and Shae Byrd David Grant and Erica Grant Samory Pruitt and Pam Pruitt Kirk Ingram and Calondra Ingram Dr. Gary Walton and Charmaine Walton Sheila Holland, Donna Winn, Takesha Shannon and Joyce Grant Derrick Cobb, Kiana Bryant, Troy Douglas

and Kendra Mims Andrea Black, Antonius Mills and Maresha Watts 9. Lynda Cooper, Dr. Caryl Cooper and Janine Calvin 10. Kenyatta Holifield, Alex Taylor and Dedric Moss 11. Latina Williams, Donnie Carter, Lance Strother, Shonta Ezell, Dr. Denise Arrington and Kiera Ezell 8.

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ON THE SCENE

NINTH ANNUAL EASTERFEST APRIL 15, 2017 SNOW HINTON PARK PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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Carlie Snider and Julia Cain 3.

Katherine Niu and Mo Tong 4.

Benny Hernandez, Alexa Hernandez and Jessy Hernandez 5.

Jax Carter, David Carter and Michelle Carter Emma Allen, Kallie Jolly, Ruthie Allen 6. and Kensley Jolly 7.

Kayla George, Morgan George, Taleigha Dean, Josiah Haywood, front, and Brooklynn Dean 8.

Charles Bester, Christy Breuner, and daughters Ciara Bester and MaKenna Bester 9.

Athena Garner, Ava Felthoff, Thaila Felthoff and Jaeleigh Mahan 10. Daveion Owens and Dorian Gaines, with Elaine Gaines (back) 11. Edna Vaughn, holding Janyah Pattyway, and Nevaeh Pickens 12. Yan Lin (back), Mary Zhang and Bryan Zhang

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ON THE SCENE

JEWISH FOOD FESTIVAL APRIL 2, 2017 TEMPLE EMANU–EL PHOTOS | SAM MacDONALD

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Denis Johnson, Craig Hunter and Juanita Jackson Pamela Hughes and Hughes Deschner Courtney Parker and Erin Hildebrand Sue Ethridge, Jean Channel and Harey Rosen Wayne Dennis, Jacqueline Dennis, Madeline Dennis and Janine McGee Vicki Turnage, Roberta Hess and Keith Hess Jonesy Musgrove, Michael Musgrove, Hallie Musgrove and Macready Musgrove Laura Hebert and Gabriella Merriman

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ON THE SCENE

BELLE ARTS STUDY CLUB 60TH ANNIVERSARY APRIL 13, 2017 UNIVERSITY CLUB PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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4 Millie Pate, Sandra Dockery, Virginia Brazil and Lee Haubein Rosemary Ingram, Pat Jessup, Peggy Harrison, Virginia Brazil, Lee Haubein, Delores Cole and Jenni Cowart Jo Ann Zeanah, Rosemary Ingram, Sue Paul and Virginia Joiner Joyce Whetstone, Pat Briggs, Sandee Witt and Bonnie Jones Betty John, Susan Halliday, Elaine Higgins and Toni Ingram Fleta Edwards, Delores Cole, Leslie Faucett and Patt Devitt

EASTER SEALS TOUR APRIL 20, 2017 EASTER SEALS TUSCALOOSA

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Sandra Ray and Michele Minor Susan Bell, Ryan Stallings, Elizabeth Higdon, Libby Cochrane and Brooke Frazier Sabrina Thomas and Carrie Turner Dawonna Sanders and Dante Gentry Anda Allen and Delshonda Thomas

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ON THE SCENE

CARING DAYS 20TH ANNIVERSARY APRIL 23, 2017 TUSCALOOSA

PHOTOS | KARLEY FERNANDEZ

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Melissa Flanigan, Mary Wells-Porter and Charlotte Green Mike Spearing, Karen Spearing and Billy Sivley Suzanne Ward and Pat Clements Laurie Bonnici and Lynne Watson Linda Selby and Beverly White Richard Ahlquist, Taylor Lee, Corey Seale and Joe May Charles Stover, Jayden Carter and April Rencher Connie Bennett, Marie Johnson and Mary Margaret Strickland Linda Horn, Dorothy Thomas, Jalynn Horn and Dazja Campos Lois Lewis, Rufus Lewis and Rhys Greene

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ON THE SCENE

EAGLES’ WINGS ANNUAL DINNER AND AUCTION APRIL 21, 2017 BRYANT CONFERENCE CENTER PHOTOS | SHELBY AKIN

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Judy Rice and Gary Rice Rebecca Kelley and Trey Kelley 3.

Christie McLendon, Hardy McCollum and Sandra Pike 4.

Kimberly Hillman and Javier Repetto 5.

Hunter Stevens and Jo Stevens 6.

Inez Rushing, Jerry Pike and Gary White 7.

Mayberry tribute artists (far left and far right), with Megan Zecher, Sarah Beverly, Cole Wagenhals and Josh Hunt 8.

Russ Furney and Deb Furney 9.

Jeff Branch and Phil Quigley 10. Renee Robertson, Barbara Malone and Louise Green 11. Abby Alger and Nick Rivers

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APRIL 6, 2017 DINAH WASHINGTON CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

ON THE SCENE

WIND DOWN WITH ROTARY PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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ON THE SCENE

2ND ANNUAL DRUID ARTS AWARDS MARCH 30, 2017 THE BAMA THEATRE PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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Anne Witt and Bettie Anne Cleino Don Noble and Rebecca Minder Lucy Rogers, Fiona Dorr and Leslie Brogden Rob Alley and Stacy Alley

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APRIL 17, 2017 THE CYPRESS INN PAVILION PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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Dana Wade, Monica Barton, Miranda Hallman and Penney Wright Sheila Baker and Susan Poole Whitnee Sandlin, Randi Quizon and Alicia Rudolph Tanya Nero and Lisa Riley Jennifer Naves, Beth Bonhaus and Gigi Goldstein Donna O’Connor and Melissia Davis

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ON THE SCENE

PULLIN’ FOR THE ARC

APRIL 1, 2017 BRUNO’S PARKING LOT

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ON THE SCENE

LOONEY LEGACY GALA APRIL 8, 2017 DINAH WASHINGTON CULTURAL ARTS CENTER PHOTOS | PORFIRIO SOLORZANO

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APRIL 22, 2017 GOVERNMENT PLAZA IN DOWNTOWN TUSCALOOSA

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2ND ANNUAL VOLKSFEST FOR MERCEDES-BENZ

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Sebastian Kaiser, Julia Kaiser, Roxanne Kutzer and Ingo Kutzer Rahzyia Champion and Subrina Champion Nora Gomez and Pat Swayne April Causey and Luke Hewett Crystal Riter and Jeremy Riter Front; Bella Galinat, Allie Galinat, back; Dave Galinat and Ingrid Galinat Front; Cameron Harbison. back; Matt Harbison and Jennifer Harbison Constance Perkins and Toushawn Bridges Stephen Womack, Olivia Womack and Christina Womack Ester Scheeff, Dieter Scheeff and Britta Roller Helen Hall and Elizabeth Hall

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ON THE SCENE

CENTURY CLUB PARTY FOR PRESERVATION SOCIETY APRIL 25, 2017 JACK WARNER’S HOME PHOTOS | JAKE ARTHUR

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Luther Richardson, Sandra Dockery and Adrienne Richardson Julie Vaughn, Nancy McCain 2. and Ross Vaughn 3.

Claire Friday and Ian Crawford 4.

Kathy Hayes and Ray Hayes 5.

Harriet Cabell Walker and Rosemarie Childress 6.

Betty Pike, Cal Wilson and Lee Pike 7.

Ian Crawford, Sandra Ray and Denise Hayes 8.

Michael Stilson, Meredith Bradt and Elizabeth Bradt John Murdock, Margaret Murdock 9. and Sandra Ray 10. Anne Trawick, Ginnye Capps and Joanne Hawthorne 11. Peggy Roberts and Bob Roberts

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APRIL 20, 2017 TUSCALOOSA RIVER MARKET

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DEATH BY CHOCOLATE TOURNAMENT

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Jonathan Guin, Erin Guin and Kirk Cornelius Radhika DeLaire and Meredith Wagner Steve Swofford, Dusti Monk and Brandi McKinney Lynsey Dill and Lindsey Johnson Jonie Threatt and Danny Threatt Krystle White and Trevia Wilkerson Melissa Spencer, Belinda Townsend and Rick Townsend Rachel Schmitt and Katelyn Roper

TA-NAAC69381

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ON THE SCENE

ANNUAL FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL APRIL 27, 2017 TUSCALOOSA RIVER MARKET PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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Matt Keeth, Lacey Keeth and Haley Lay Chip Culp, Chris Howard, Jerry Swindle, and Caroline Strawbridge 3. Michael Matthews and Trenton White 4. Tori Hayes and Haley Sharp 5. Alex Smith, Cheryl Buchanan, Steve Webb and Leslie Buchanan 6. Caroline Glass and Zade Shamsi-Basha 7. Subrina Champion, Robert Pieroni, Dorothy Pieroni and Marilyn Williams 8. Harley Roberts and David Roberts 9. Leah Peckham, Lisa Peckham and Babe Peckham 10. Jessica McCrackin, Ciara Daniel and Stephenie Dagnan 11. Robbie Naves and Jennifer Naves

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ON THE SCENE

8TH ANNUAL DRUID CITY ARTS FESTIVAL PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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1. Martin Roberts, Sarah O’Mary, Ginnie Duncan and Rebecca Roberts 2. Ashley McNeill and Donna Xia 3. Taylor Rayburn, Ross Rayburn, Connor Rayburn and Allison Rayburn 4. Finley Kate Owens, Brianna Owens and

6 Jaimie Owens 5. Courtney Lorenz and Maddie Lorenz 6. Kathy Jones and Mike Jones 7, Ashlie Bowman, Anneliese Bolland and Rebecca Ballard 8. Stephanie Parker and Matthew Wells

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LAST LOOK

SOFT LANDINGS PHOTO BY ERIN NELSON A butterfly lands for a short rest on a lantana bush at Government Plaza in Tuscaloosa.

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