1985

1985 was the 114th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• The Redmont Hotel celebrated its grand re-opening after extensive renovations,
• The Birmingham Museum of Art opened its first crowd-drawing exhibit, Armand Hammer Collection
• The Magic City Art Connection's festival jurors were Harvey K. Littleton and Elaine Horwitch.
• Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q was founded by Jim Pihakas and his son Nick.
• The first Function in the Junction is held in Ensley.
• Hugo Black Park was dedicated.
• The annual Southside reunion began.
• Birmingham AIDS Outreach was founded
• First Commercial Bank was founded by Birmingham businessmen Richard E. Anthony and John T. Oliver, Jr.
• The Linn-Henley Research Library opened.
• The Mark and Brian radio show debuted on I-95 (WAPI-FM)
• Morefu, a giraffe brought to the Birmingham Zoo in 1987, was born.
• May: Birmingham AIDS Outreach was founded.
• May: The original banks that made up First Alabama Bank formally merged. They had been under the same holding company as separate banks since 1971.
• June 6: President Ronald Reagan appeared at the BJCC for a fundraising luncheon for Senator Jeremiah Denton.
• August 11: The Heaviest Corner on Earth was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Sports

• Bo Jackson won the Hiesman trophy for the Auburn Tigers.
• The final Hall of Fame Classic college football bowl game was played at Legion Field; Georgia Tech defeated Michigan State 17-14, finishing at #19 in the AP Poll.
• The Birmingham Stallions played their final season at Legion Field.
• The Birmingham Barons changed affiliations to the Chicago White Sox.
• July: Davey Allison started his first NASCAR Cup race.

Awards

• Robert R. McCammon won the Alabama Library Association Author Award.
• Arthur Stewart was inducted into the Portrait Painters' Hall of Fame.
• Tobias Wolff's 1984 novella The Barracks Thief won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
• Bo Berry, Edward A. Brown, Henry Caffey, Andrew Fair, Howard Funderburg, W. C. Handy, Jerome Hopkins, Everett Lawler, James Lowe, Willie Richardson, Lee Stanfield, Jonny Williams were inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Honorary inductees were Richard Arrington, Jr, Gloria Curry, J. Garrick Hardy, C. W. Hayes, David Vann and Lewis White.
• Blanche Dean was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame

Works

• A monument of Bear Bryant was erected outside Legion Field
• Blonde Heat, film produced by David F. Friedman
• I-459 was completed.
• The final segment of I-65 in northern Jefferson County, near Morris and Kimberly, was completed.
• April 15: A bare-bones revival of the Cousin Cliff Show debuted on the Alabama Cable Network.

Books

• Back in the World, a collection of short stories by Tobias Wolff
• Violence Against Women and the Ongoing Challenge to Racism by Angela Davis ISBN 0913175110

Buildings

• Birmingham Turf Club
• Chase Corporate Center Building One
• Funtime Skate Center in Fultondale
• Hoover Municipal Complex

People

• Long-time City Councilor Nina Miglionico retired from electoral politics.
• Robert F. Bumpus replaced Michael Gross as Homewood Schools Superintendent. Gross became the principal at Vestavia Hills High School.
• Mary Smith joined the Birmingham Police Department.
• Paul Bailey, Academic Dean of Birmingham-Southern College, retired.
• Bert Bank retired from the Alabama Football Network, which he founded in 1953.

Births

• April 9: David Robertson, baseball pitcher
• May 8: Jamie, Birmingham Zoo gorilla
• September 19: Gio Gonzalez, Birmingham Barons pitcher
• Dan Puckett, bodybuilder (found dead in 2007)
• Jessica Tinney, 2006 Miss Alabama USA

Graduations

• Kamau Afrika, Birmingham-Southern College
• Eli Capilouto (current UAB Provost), Masters in Public Health from Harvard University
• Murry Bartow, UAB
• Chris Dupont, Birmingham-Southern College
• John Hallum, Auburn University
• Steven Hoyt, Miles College

Deaths

• Rucker Agee, investment banker and map collector
• Neal Hemphill, record producer and plumber
• Willie Perry (Birmingham's Batman)
• August 8: Myron Massey, Fairfield Police officer shot in the line of duty
• September 3: Jazz drummer Jo Jones

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 1985

See Also

• 1985 Birmingham Barons
• 1985 Iron Bowl

Context

World events included Mikhail Gorbachev becoming head of the Soviet Union after Konstantin Chernenko's death, the discovery of a whole in the ozone layer, an earthquake near Mexico City which killed tens of thousands, the hijacking of the Italian liner, Achille Lauro, and the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in Columbia. Popular culture saw Howard Cosell retire, the recording of "We Are the World," the debut of New Coke followed by the return of the original Coca-Cola formula, and the debut of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.

1980s

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