1984

1984 was the 113th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

"Portrait of Lady Helen Vincent", acquired in 1984 by the Birmingham Museum of Art

• The former Hollywood Country Club / Brothers Music Hall was destroyed by fire
• Angela Davis ran a second time for Vice President of the United States on the Communist Party ticket
• Courteney Cox appeared in Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" video.
• Lonnie Holley purchased land around his Airport Hills home.
• Roy C. Allen became pastor of 32nd Street Baptist Church.
• The Primitons were founded.
• Richard Donohoe, rector of St Paul's Cathedral, was ordained.
• The Rosedale Community Development Corporation was founded.
• Bobby Hayes first elected mayor of Pelham
• The first Titusville Community Reunion and Festival was held at Memorial Park
• The Avon Building in Lakeview was damaged by flooding caused by frozen pipes.
• The Seasoned Performers theater group was formed.
• Freddie C. Rogers left the office of Mayor of Roosevelt City.
• Kathryn Scott became the director of the Million Dollar Band.
• The Birmingham Museum of Art acquired the "Portrait of Lady Helen Vincent" by John Singer Sargent.
• Michael Jackson and his brothers rehearsed in Birmingham for the "Victory" tour.
• Birmingham Zoo director Bob Truett accidentally listed the zoo's telephone number in a classified ad for his nudist camp, Gymno-Vita Park.
• January 20–March 17: "Sculpture by John Rhoden" at the Birmingham Museum of Art.
• April 12-15: The 9th Annual Southeastern Conference for Lesbians & Gay Men was held at the Holiday Inn Medical Center.
• June 3: Edgar Arendall retired from Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.
• August: The maiden flight of the Discovery was piloted by astronaut Hank Hartsfield.
• October 1: Sara Wuska was sworn in as Mayor of Vestavia Hills.
• November 15: The University of Alabama in Birmingham was officially renamed the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
• December: The Downtown Action Committee sponsored a Parking Meter Santa Claus.
• December: Hitachi, Japan's Ibaraki University and UAB became "sister universities".
• St Bernard Preparatory School opened in Cullman.
• Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve and the City of Birmingham purchased a second 120 acre parcel from the Jim Walter Company for expansion of the preserve.
• Birmingham received a $400,000 Urban Development Action Grant to help redevelop the McAdory Building as offices.
• The Woman's Missionary Union moved their offices from the Family Reserve Insurance building downtown to Brook Highland.

Business

• January 1: South Central Bell and six other regional companies were split off from AT&T.
• February 29: Apple Books at Five Points South closed.
• April 10: Stegall Metal Industries was incorporated.
• September 9: Double "LL" Bar-B-Q was dissolved.
• October 16: WTWG-AM was relicensed as WAYE-AM.
• December 26: The Sheraton Perimeter Park South Hotel opened.
• Continental Bakery opened in English Village.
• Skip Elliott's parents retired, making him sole owner of The Briary.
• Richard Scrushy founded HealthSouth in Little Rock, Arkansas
• WAPI-FM switched from "95 Rock" (album rock) to "I-95" (top 40)
• WQMS-AM became WGTT-AM.
• Mark Whitson began managing the shopping center anchored by his Mark's Outdoor Sports.
• Citizens Bank of Alexander City became Aliant Bank.
• Rowland Scherman sold Joe Bar.
• Jack Prater opened SouthPoint An American Cafe in the Munger Building at Five Points South.
• Charles Denaburg and Tom Najjar merged their law practices into the firm of Najjar Denaburg.
• The Wisely Group purchased controlling interest in the Birmingham Stove & Range Company.
• Doug's Coin & Jewelry opened in Homewood.
• Bettie Bell founded the Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs for the Service Guild of Birmingham.
• George Wheelock III succeeded his father as president of the George F. Wheelock Co.

Sports

• March: The BJCC hosted 1st and 2nd round games of the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament.
• The 1984 Birmingham Stallions went 15-5 and lost to Philadelphia in the 2nd round of the USFL playoffs.
• Carl Lewis won four gold medals, and Rowdy Gaines won three, at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
• Watson Brown became the head football coach at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
• The Winston 500 set a record with 75 lead changes.
• The UAB Blazers played the Auburn Tigers in basketball in front of 17,025 fans at the BJCC
• Davey Allison was ARCA Rookie of the Year.
• February 26: The UAB baseball field was opened with a Blazers victory over Vanderbilt.
• October: Alabama A&M defeated Alabama State 28-12 in the Magic City Classic at Legion Field.
• December 1: Alabama won 1984 Iron Bowl, 17-15 with Mike Shula in his first season at quarterback
• December: Kentucky defeated Wisconsin 20-19 in the 8th Hall of Fame Classic at Legion Field.
• December: Bo Jackson was named the Most Valuable Player in the Liberty Bowl.

Works

• Nuclear War and Cosmo Sun Connection, jazz albums by the Sun Ra Arkestra
• Reclining Nude, sculpture by Fernando Botero at the Birmingham Museum of Art
• Matinee Idol, film produced by David F. Friedman
• "Always a Chance" music video by Split the Dark
• Feature film The River, shot in Birmingham
• Feature film The Bear, depicting the life of Bear Bryant
• Joe Theo Waldrop's sculpture "The Reader" was dedicated at the Parke Memorial Branch Library.

Books

• The Barracks Thief, novella by Tobias Wolff
• Biophilia, book by E. O. Wilson
• Clinical Electromyography: Nerve Condition Studies by Shin Oh
• Homegirls and Handgrenades, poems by Sonia Sanchez
• Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army, by Condoleezza Rice
• Usher's Passing, novel by Robert R. McCammon
• A World Made of Fire, novel by Mark Childress

Buildings

• Birmingham Central Library
• Downtown YMCA
• Sheraton Perimeter Park South Hotel
• Young Memorial Field (as the UAB baseball field)

Individuals

• Edgar Arendall retired after 36 years in the pulpit of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.
• Annetta Verin joined the legal staff for the City of Birmingham.
• Jack Shannon was named president, CEO and chairman of the Alabama Federal Savings & Loan Association.
• Rena Hudson was elected Mayor of Warrior

Births

Cortland Finnegan, born in 1984

• January 15: Julia von Samson, tennis player
• February 2: Samford Bulldogs star Cortland Finnegan in Fayetteville, North Carolina
• February 7: Jamie Langley, Miss Alabama 2007
• February 9: Jason DiSalvo, motorcycle racer
• February 17: Cliff Sims, Yellowhammer News publisher
• April 1: Johnny Baldwin, professional football player
• April 5: Floyd Franks Jr, professional soccer player
• August 3: Greg Paiml, professional baseball player
• August 25: Siberian tigers Mischa and Alexei were born at the Birmingham Zoo.
• September 25: Justin Cassell, baseball player
• October 3: Britt Rentschler, actor
• October 15: Abby Beam, Jacksonville State volleyball coach
• December 3: Jonathan Tucker, chef and restaurateur
• December 8: Sam Hunt, country singer-songwriter and former UAB Blazers quarterback
• December 27: Le'Ron McClain, Alabama Crimson Tide and professional football fullback
• Handsome, Birmingham Zoo Asian black bear
• Aaron Miller, rabbi
• Melinda Toole, Miss Alabama 2006
• Matt Pitt, evangelist and founder of The Basement

Graduations

• Guitarist Tim Boykin from Berry High School
• Attorney Michael Choy, Juris Doctorate from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law
• Pastor Lawrence Conaway from Athens State College
• Baseball pitcher Chris Hammond from Vestavia Hills High School
• Historian Tim Hollis from UAB
• Writer Mark Kelly from Samford University
• Architect Susan Swider from SUNY-Binghamton
• Mark Wilson, bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology

Marriages

• UAB administrator Gloria Goldstein to William Howton
• September 21: Writer Fred Bonnie to Wendy Watts.

Awards

• Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame: Doris Adams, Carl Atkins, Lucius Daniels, Ella Fitzgerald, Shelton Gary, James McDaniels, Robert Moore, H. T. Raleigh Randolph, Johnny Smith, Arthur Stringer, Sam Taylor
• Birmingham Woman of the Year: Marie Ingalls
• University of Montevallo "Outstanding Commitment to Teaching": Angela Hernández

Deaths

• March 2: Geneva Mercer, assistant to Giuseppe Moretti
• July 27: C. L. Franklin, Baptist minister
• August 14: Spud Davis, baseball player
• December 29: P. H. Polk, photographer
• Mary Bryant, widow of Bear Bryant

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 1984

See Also

• 1984 Birmingham Barons

Context

1984 was a leap year. Brunei became an independent state. Michael Jackson was injured filming a Pepsi commercial. Clara Peller turned "Where's the Beef?" into a national catch phrase. The first Apple Macintosh was introduced. The Winter Olympics were held in Sarajevo, with the summer games in Los Angeles. Konstantin Chenenko became head of the Soviet Union. The World's Fair was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Reagan and Bush won the presidential election. Bernhard Goetz shot four teenagers on a train in New York City. Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister of India. Crack cocaine first appeared in Los Angeles and famine struck Ethiopia. Notable births in 1984 include actresses Mandy Moore and Scarlett Johansson, basketball players Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, Prince Harry of Wales, and singers Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson, Notable 1984 deaths include Ray Kroc, Johnny Weissmuller, Yuri Andropov, Ethel Merman, Marvin Gaye, Ansel Adams, Count Basie, Andy Kaufman, Michel Foucault, Indira Gandhi, and Sam Peckinpah. Bishop Desmond Tutu won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. Notable films of 1984 include Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, Amadeus, The Terminator, and A Passage to India. William Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Ironweed.

1980s

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