Florence, Alabama - Notable People

Notable People

Florence is the birthplace of W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues," as well as of pioneering record producer Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley. T.S. Stribling, a 20th-century novelist who was a student in Florence as a young man, wrote a prose trilogy about the city consisting of The Forge, The Store (which won the Pulitzer Prize), and Unfinished Cathedral. Stribling also spent his final months in the city, dying in 1965. Florence is where the 2009 British Open winner Stewart Cink was raised. Florence is the birthplace of one-half of The Midnight Express, "Loverboy" Dennis Condrey. Dred Scott also once resided in Florence, where, as a slave, he worked as a hostler at the Peter Blow Inn on Tennessee Street. A plaque at the former site commemorates his time there. Bobby W. Miller, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Selma, Alabama in 1965, was credited later with ending segregated locker rooms at the Ford Motor Company Die Cast Plant in Sheffield, Alabama, where he was employed from 1962-1974. Miller was shot down twice in Vietnam and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. Tom York grew up in Florence, graduated from Florence State Teachers' College, now the University of North Alabama, and spent eight years in radio in Florence (WLAY). In 1957, he joined WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama as their sports director. He also originated the Tom York Morning Show (one of America's longest running one-hour local talk shows) on the air for 32 years. He was awarded an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1995.

• W.C. Handy, trumpeter, Father of the Blues
• Stewart Cink, PGA golfer, 2009 British Open Champion
• Sam Phillips, record producer, discovered Elvis Presley
• Donna Jean Godchaux, singer, The Grateful Dead
• George W. Goethals, chief engineer on the Panama Canal
• Kelvin Holly, musician, guitarist for Little Richard, The Amazing Rhythm Aces
• Patterson Hood, guitarist, singer and songwriter for Drive-By Truckers
• John Paul White,guitarist, singer and songwriter for Grammy Award winning duo The Civil Wars
• Charles Moore, civil rights photographer
• Billy Reid, fashion designer
• Dred Scott, of the Dred Scott vs. Sanford case
• Whitney Boddie, WNBA basketball player
• Josh Willingham, major league baseball player, Minnesota Twins
• John Coffee, General during the War of 1812
• Mary Phagan, a 13-year old girl murdered by Leo Frank in Atlanta, Georgia, April 26, 1913, Confederate Memorial Day.