1990

1990 was the 119th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• April: Magic City Art Connection at Linn Park.
• 1990 U.S. Census counted 265,968 persons living in the city of Birmingham, a 6.5% drop from the previous decade.
• An engineering study determined that the Vulcan statue was in danger of collapse.
• Matilda, who lived to become the "World's Oldest Chicken", was born.
• Ken Mullinax donated a marble headstone for the graves of Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley at Greenwood Cemetery.
• The first Cahaba Thunder drumline competition was held at Hewitt-Trussville High School.
• A bid to incorporate Center Point failed.
• The Friends of Crestwood Park were formed by Pride Forney.
• April 20: President George H. W. Bush visited Birmingham-Southern College to proclaim National Recycling Month and attended a fundraising lunch for Bill Cabaniss at the BJCC.
• August: the 117th Tactical Reconnaisance Group deployed to the United Arab Emirates in support of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm
• October 16: The town of Indian Springs Village filed for incorporation.
• The 1990 elections brought Gary White and Jim Carns onto the Jefferson County Commission and Mark Gaines into the Alabama Legislature.
• November 22: Homewood High School's marching band appeared in the New York Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for the fourth time.
• The AmSouth-Sonat Tower displayed a huge American flag across its facade to honor troops returning from Operation Desert Storm.
• Guard William E. Donaldson was stabbed to death at the West Jefferson Correctional Facility.
• LaVondia Bryant-Square founded the Nathifa Dance Company.
• A bond issue for the City of Hoover provided funds for a new Hoover Public Library.
• The Birmingham Construction Industry Authority was created.
• Friends of Magic City Children held its first annual charity wine auction at Bottega.

Business

• Auntie Litter Inc. was founded.
• Bradford Building Company was founded.
• The Eastwood Mall Theater and the Pitcher Show both closed.
• Millard Deason bought 25 restaurants in the Pasquale's Pizza & Pasta chain.
• Billy Braden bought Braden's Furniture from his father, Vernon Braden.
• Metalplate expanded into Houston, Texas.
• Jimmy's Hot Dogs and Burgers opened in Lakeview.
• The Florida Grille opened on Oxmoor Road.
• Forstall Art Center opened at Pickwick Plaza.
• Krypton Broadcasting bought WCAJ and changed the call letters to WABM.
• Ty Nguyen opened the Texaco Super Deli in East Lake.
• Mark Whitson purchased the shopping center anchored by his Mark's Outdoor Sports.
• Garrick Stotser joined Timothy Massey in the law firm of Massey & Stotser.
• Supreme Super Market in Smithfield closed.
• September 22: Highland Booksmith was founded.
• Babe's Hot Dogs closed.
• The first trees were planted at Beavers Christmas Tree Farm
• WKXX-FM became WBMH-FM and switched from Top-40 to Country.
• Larry Rocks took over ownership of Art Sign Co. when his father, Tim Rocks retired.

Media

• Origins of Dance, voice recording by Timothy Leary.
• June 16: A revived "Cousin Cliff's Clubhouse" starring Cliff Holman debuted on WBRC-TV.

Religions

• West End Church of Christ and Central Church of Christ merged to form Palisades Church of Christ.
• The Church at Brook Hills was established.

Sports

• Ramsay High School won the AHSAA volleyball championship.
• Gerry DiNardo replaced Watson Brown as head coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores.
• Jeff Brantley made the National League All-Star team.
• January 23: Patty Moise set a record 217.498 mph run at the Talladega Superspeedway.
• April 1: Neil Bonnett suffered a life-threatening crash at Darlington, South Carolina.
• April 18: The World League of American Football selected Birmingham as a host city.
• April 19: Terry Francona made his last Major League appearance as a player.
• June 16: Sam "The Great Kaiser" Tenenbaum defeated Bullet Bob Armstrong to claim the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship at Birmingham International Raceway.
• July 29: The Birmingham Barons Cesar Bernhardt tied a record with 3 triples in a game at Columbus, Georgia
• Wayne Grady won the 1990 PGA Championship at the Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club amidst a firestorm of controversy over the club's all-white membership.
• August 16: Former UAB Blazers center Alan Ogg signed with the Miami Heat.
• August 28: Hall of Fame hitter Frank Thomas knocked his first Major League home run in Minneapolis.
• November 11: Linebacker Derrick Thomas set an NFL record with 7 sacks against Seattle.
• November 17: Ashley Johnson won the men's title and Christine Pfitzinger of Massachusetts set a women's course record with her winning time of 32:33 in the Vulcan Run
• December 1: Gene Stallings capped his first season as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide with a win in the 1990 Iron Bowl.
• December: Alabama State University won the 1990 Magic City Classic at Legion Field, 24-20 over Alabama A&M.
• December 21: Chan Gailey was announced as head coach of the Birmingham Fire.
• December 28: North Carolina State defeated Brett Favre's Southern Mississippi 31-27 in the last All-American Bowl at Legion Field

Works

• Mr Destiny starring Courteney Cox
• "Who Cleans Up After You've Reached Your Goal in the Athletic Effort", sculpture by Lonnie Holley
• "Concert Piece", orchestral composition by Ezra Sims
• Meet the Applegates starring Glenn Shadix
• The Long Walk Home starring Dorothy Love Coates
• Bird on a Wire, directed by John Badham
• Eating, starring Frances Bergen
• "Steelworker", sculpture by Luis Jiménez

Books

• Early Barefootz, collected comic strips by Howard Cruse.
• Tender, novel by Mark Childress
• History of the Shelby Iron Company 1862-1868 by Joyce Jackson (reprint of her 1948 master's thesis)
• MINE by Robert R. McCammon
• Hugo L. Black and the Dilemma of American Liberalism by Tony Allen Freyer
• srebmun by Mary Ann Sampson

Buildings

• 6th Street Peace Baptist Church
• Alabama Power Building
• Bessemer Medical Building
• Gardendale-Martha Moore Public Library
• Elton B. Stephens Science Center at Birmingham-Southern College
• Merchant's Walk
• Office Building 1200 at Liberty Park
• Rast Hall, a residence hall at UAB
• Sun Valley Elementary School
• The Federal Courthouse Building on 5th Avenue North was rededicated in memory of Robert Vance.
• The City of Birmingham purchased the Carver Theatre.
• The disc golf course at George Ward Park was completed.
• Construction began on a new John Carroll Catholic High School in Wildwood.
• Pepper Place was redeveloped by Sloss Real Estate.
• Coldwater Bridge was moved to Oxford Lake Park.
• Hueytown Public Library moved to the renovated Foodland at Knight Triangle in Hueytown.

Music

• The 2nd annual City Stages music festival was held downtown with headliners Bo Diddley and the Commodores.
• Rock band Brother Cane was founded as Chyld.
• Rock band Every Alice on Earth was formed in Montevallo.
• Brand New Dance and Duets, albums by Emmylou Harris

Individuals

• Ron Blankenship served 7 months for 3rd degree assault.
• Gayle Cunningham became executive director of the JCCEO.
• Guitarist Eric Essix entered the Berklee School of Music.
• Hank Hartsfield became Deputy Manager for Operations in the Space Station Projects Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
• Jack Fields joined the staff of the BJCC.
• Karen Graffeo began teaching at the University of Montevallo.
• Ralph Langley served as interim pastor at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church following the retirement of James A. Newell.
• Ken Lass became sports anchor for WVTM.
• Tom Owen resigned as director of The King's Ranch after admitting to an extra-marital affair.
• Edward Partridge was named director of the UAB Division of Gynecologic Oncology.
• Stephen Rolfe Powell became an instructor at the Muhkina Glass Institute in Leningrad.
• Samford University debate coach William Slagle was convicted of murdering a student, Rex Copeland.
• Bill West succeeded Jerry Haynes as Chief of the Homewood Police Department.
• Annetta Verin joined the Jefferson County District Attorney's office as a prosecutor.
• Louis Willie became the first black member of the Shoal Creek Golf Club.
• Paul Cordes Wilm and his brother Peter entered the University of Montevallo.

Births

• March 1: Ronald Nored Jr, basketball player
• March 8: Yvonne Anderson, basketball player
• June: Triton, sea lion
• June 2: Eddie Lacy, NFL running back
• July 10: Trent Richardson, former NFL running back
• August 17: Chandler Hoffman, Major League Soccer player
• September 17: Marcus Semien, Birmingham Barons infielder
• October 11: Love Moor, R&B singer-songwriter
• November 12: Cameron Moore, UAB Blazers basketball player
• December 18: Micah Johnson, Birmingham Barons infielder
• Marcell Dareus, Alabama Crimson Tide football player
• DeMarcus Cousins, NBA basketball player
• L. T. Goon Life, rapper
• Geronimo, Birmingham Police Mounted Patrol horse
• Gina Grayson, DJ
• Ashley Jones, poet and creative writing teacher
• Ulugbek Kodirov, convicted terrorist
• Kindred Motes, communications consultant
• Janae Pierre, public radio host
• Allison Sanders, operatic mezzo-soprano
• Tori Wolfe-Sisson, community organizer and activist

Awards

• Resha Riggins was crowned Miss Alabama.
• Hank Ballard was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
• Biologist E. O. Wilson won the Crafoord Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
• James Reese Europe, Joseph Giattina, William W. Handy, J. Earl Hensley, Nuncie LeBerte, William Lee, Irene Monroe, William Nappi, Jimmy Randolph, and Evelyn Wallace were inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
• David Brower won the Gold Award for Cinematography from the Broadcast Promotion and Marketing Executives.
• Polly Holliday was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
• Sandra Storm was Birmingham Woman of the Year.
• Quilter Nora Ezell was given the Folk Heritage Award by the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
• Lloyd Noland was inducted into the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame
• John Godbold was named Leslie S. Wright Distinguished Professor at the Cumberland School of Law.
• Vaughn Mancha was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
• Miss Shelby County: Amy Jennings
• Pell City Citizen of the Year: Wayne Spradley

Graduations

• Frank Adams, Jr from the Alabama School of Fine Arts
• Tracey Morant Adams earned her M.B.A. at Samford University.
• Quarterback Jay Barker from Hewitt-Trussville High School
• Entrepreneur John Cassimus from the University of Alabama
• Police Chief Mike Coppage from UAB
• Congressman Artur Davis from Harvard University
• Mike Froning earned a doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
• Attorney Abdul Kallon from Dartmouth College
• Attorney Antonio Spurling from Ensley High School
• Ken Ward earned a B.A. in communications at Hampton University.

Retirements

• November 3: Bob Truett retired from being director of the Birmingham Zoo.
• Joseph Raya retired from the Archdiocese of Paneas in Marjayoun, Lebanon.
• Gloria Howton retired from UAB.

Deaths

• January 24: G. Reid Doster, Alabama Air National Guard commander
• March 6: Baseball player Joe Sewell
• April 27: Architect Albion Knight
• May 10: Novelist Walker Percy
• May 29: Arts activist Cecil Roberts
• July 13: William Norrell Thomas was executed for the 1976 murder of Quenette Shehane.
• July 15: Edgar Mims, architect
• December 12: William Hoole, librarian and historian
• December 14: Theron Houlditch, Mountain Brook Police officer.
• Art collector Eugenia Woodward Hitt

See also List of Jefferson County homicides in 1990

See also

• 1990 Birmingham Barons
• 1990 UAB Blazers
• 1990 Iron Bowl

Context

In 1990 Time Inc. and Warner Communications merged to form Time Warner. Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry was arrested in a drug sting. The San Francisco 49ers won Super Bowl XXIV. The first McDonald's in Russia opened. Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched. West Germany won the FIFA World Cup. The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed. Iraq invaded Kuwait and triggered the Gulf War. Mikhail Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series. The first World Wide Web page was authored.

Notable films of 1990 included Best Picture Dances With Wolves and top grosser Home Alone. Other notable films included Ghost, Pretty Woman, Goodfellas and The Bonfire of the Vanities.

Actress Emma Watson and murder victim JonBenét Ramsey were born. Notable deaths included those of Ava Gardner, Keith Haring, Sarah Vaughan, Greta Garbo, Ralph Abernathy, Sammy Davis, Jr, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Leonard Bernstein, Roald Dahl, and Aaron Copland.

1990s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works