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Alabama’s sports heroes live on in downtown Birmingham
By Tom Adkinson
April 29, 2022
Bear Bryant and Shug Jordan statue; Image by Tom Adkinson |
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – With honored names such as Bear Bryant, Shug Jordan, Bo Jackson and Pat Sullivan, football commands a great deal of attention at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in downtown Birmingham, but an eye-catching piece of sculpture from track and field draws you to an important corner on the first floor of the multi-level attraction.
It’s the depiction of an airborne Jesse Owens competing in the long jump at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Owens, a Black man born in Oakville, Alabama, put the lie to Adolph Hitler’s belief in Aryan racial superiority by winning the gold medal in that event and three others (the 100-meter sprint, the 200-meter sprint and the 4x100-meter relay). As a prelude, the spectacular athlete had set world records in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash and the long jump – while still in high school.
Jesse Owens. Image by Tom Adkinson |
The hall of fame recognizes almost 400 athletes, coaches, broadcasters, sportscasters and others from the sporting world. The 2022 honorees will be recognized in May. They include Philip Rivers (nine-time NFL Pro Bowl player), Rusty Greer (15 years with the Texas Rangers, where he accumulated a .305 career batting average) and Jake Peavy (National League Cy Young Award winner in 2007 and twice a player on World Series championship teams). Admission to the hall of fame is free.
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