2006

2006 was the 135th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• January 10: Bernard Kincaid delivered the 2006 State of the City address.
• February 3: Three Birmingham college students set fire to 9 rural Alabama churches.
• February 20: 16th Street Baptist Church was designated a National Historic Landmark.
• March 15: BhamWiki was launched.
• March 30: Cirque du Soleil made its Birmingham debut with "Delirium".
• May 13: 5th annual Buck Creek Festival was held.
• May 24: Taylor Hicks won American Idol.
• May-June: The Siegelman Scrushy corruption case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
• June 2-9: Home Builders Blitz 2006
• June 6: Statewide primary elections and referendum were held
• June 15-22: 217th Presbyterian General Assembly was held in Birmingham.
• June 16-18: 2006 City Stages
• June 17: 1906 Shelby County time capsule was opened.
• June 29: Demolition of Eastwood Mall officially began.
• July 16-19: 2006 National Association of Free Will Baptists convention
• July 18: Statewide primary election runoffs were held.
• August 23: Premiere of Two-A-Days
• September 22-24: LOL won "Best Feature" at the 2006 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
• September 23: 2006 Calera plane crash at the Wings and Wheels Air Show
• September 28: President Bush discussed energy policy in Hoover and hosted a fundraiser for Bob Riley.
• October 1: Miss Alabama USA Haleigh Stidham gave her crown to Rebecca Moore.
• October 4: Operation "Taking It to the Streets", part I
• October 6: Ground was ceremonially broken for the Railroad Reservation Park.
• November 4: Operation "Taking It to the Streets", part II
• November 7: 2006 general election
• November 12: Dedrick Griham was convicted on three federal counts.
• December: List of Christmas parades
• Gage Bush Englund donated nearly 1,000 books on dance to the Amelia Gorgas Library at the University of Alabama.
• The Five Points South YMCA closed.

Business

• March 1: Rob Henrikson was appointed CEO of MetLife, Inc.
• March 20: Torchmark announced their move to Texas.
• May: BioHorizons was incorporated.
• May 22: Avondale Mills announced plans to sell or close all its mills.
• May 24: Regions Bank and AmSouth Bank announced plans for a merger.
• August 2: Saks, Inc. sold its Parisian division to Belk, Inc.
• August 10: The Birmingham News moved into its new building.
• December 4: Kairos Kafe opened in the former Ollie's Bar-B-Q building on University Boulevard.
• December 29: BellSouth was reacquired by AT&T.
• Zia Ahsan opened a second Carnaggio's location in Vestavia Hills.
• Silver Coin Indian Grill opened on Lorna Road in Hoover.
• Bessemer Dodge Chrysler Jeep opened on Academy Lane in Bessemer.
• Sonia Tutuwan opened the Changes Salon Spa & Wellness Center in the J. R. Copeland residence in Norwood.
• C&M Food Distributing bought Big Sky Bread Company of Mountain Brook.
• Slade LLC was founded by L’Tryce Slade.
• Paul Bryant Jr's Greene Group, Inc. reorganized the Alabama Reassurance Company as the Alabama Life Reinsurance Company.
• James Finley opened Steel 1st & 23rd in the Loft District.

Religion

• September: Shades Valley Community Church held its first service in the former Alpine Ice Arena.

Sports

• February 26: ESPN Classic televised a re-created Negro League game from Rickwood Field.
• March 26: Mike Anderson accepted an offer to become Missouri's head basketball coach.
• April 7: Mike Davis was named UAB's new men's basketball coach.
• May 12: The first annual Birmingham Zoo Run was held.
• May 24-28: 2006 SEC Baseball Tournament
• June: BSC Panthers announced they would move from NCAA Division I to Division III in all sports.
• June 12: Brian Shoop announced he was moving from BSC to be UAB's baseball coach.
• June 16-18: 2006 North America Cup, paralympic competition
• June 22: Birmingham Barons 3 - Tennessee Smokes 2 at the 2006 Rickwood Classic
• July 13-16: AVP Hoover Open beach volleyball tournament
• September 5: Jeremy Brown made his MLB debut with the Oakland A's.
• November 25: The UAB Blazers football team finished the season 3-9 with a loss at Central Florida in Watson Brown's final game as head coach.
• December: Neil Callaway was named head coach of the UAB Blazers football team.
• December 23: South Florida defeated East Carolina 24-7 in the inaugural PapaJohns.com Bowl.
• A staph infection kept Bob Newton from coaching the Homewood football team; Dickey Wright became interim coach.

Works

Buildings

• Avondale Villa was restored.
• Alpine Ice Lodge converted to Shades Valley Community Church
• Berry Middle School
• Birmingham News building (2006)
• Blazer Hall (2006)
• Bloom
• Bristol Southside
• Brown Springs Ecoscape
• Center Point Fire Station No. 1 (2006)
• Clay Community Center
• Doubletree Hotel Birmingham (renovated Radisson Hotel of Birmingham)
• Garden of Hope
• Hilltop Montessori School
• Holy Infant of Prague Catholic Church
• P. D. Jackson-Olin High School
• Jenkins Brick William M. Jordan, Jr Plant in Moody
• M. Miller Gorrie Center at Auburn University
• Mountain Brook School System headquarters
• Plaza Fiesta
• Shelby Biomedical Research Building
• Shoppes at River Run
• St John Missionary Baptist Church Powderly
• Veterans Skate Park
• Park Place (Hope VI project), phase II

Demolitions

• May 23: The Newfound Creek Trestle was destroyed by fire.

Books

• Birmingham's Highland Park
• The Moretti Code
• The Olmsted Vision: Parks for Birmingham

Other

• Borat, film with scenes set in Birmingham
• Two-A-Days, television series, 2nd season
• Piece of Cake, short film
• Light Overture, orchestral work commissioned by Alabama Power and premiered by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra

Individuals

• UAB's Dale Benos served as president of the American Physiological Society.
• Pulmonologist Ben Branscomb retired from UAB.
• Kevin Higgs succeeded his father, Lawton Higgs, as pastor of the Church of the Reconciler.
• Edward Partridge succeeded Peter Emanuel as acting director of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.
• Leadership Birmingham: Jann Blitz, Joseph Bluestein, Frank Brocato, Russ Carothers, Tom Carruthers, Richard Dickerson, David Donaldson, Kristi Lamont Ellis, James Ephraim, Charlie Faulkner, Tyrone Fenderson, Jr, Tom Garrett, Suzy Harris, Carol Herrmann-Steckel, Elaine Hill, Trisha Hill, Sandral Hullett, Michele Jenkins-Utomi, Merrill Johnston, Jr, Bryan Jordan, Bruce Key, Bobbie Knight, Holley Lagrone, Cindy Martin, Joy Martin, Joseph Mays, Deborah McGill, Kimberly Moore, Michael Mungenast, Tim Parker, Ray Perez, Marianne Prime, Webb Robertson, Lyndy Rogers, William Smith III, Fred Spicer, Janet Petty Stewart, Glennon Threatt, Mac Underwood, Paulette Van Matre, Deborah Vance-Bowie, Scott Walton, Tyrone Webb, William Wells, Kathrine Wilburn, April Williams
• Gil Wideman was appointed to the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority.
• John Lee Armstrong retired from Samford University.
• Cory Provus succeeded Gary Sanders as play-by-play voice of the UAB Blazers.
• James Kirklin succeeded Albert Pacifico retired as Director of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at UAB Hospital.

Births

• May 9: Jalil, a male reticulated giraffe, born at the San Francisco Zoo
• July 4: Star, Spangle, and Banner, African red river hogs, born at the Birmingham Zoo
• August 7: Rowan, a male reticulated giraffe, born at the Birmingham Zoo

Awards

• Alabama Academy of Honor: Miller Gorrie
• Alabama Lawyers' Hall of Fame: William King, Thomas Peters, John Sparkman, Robert Vance
• Robert P. Bynum Award: Colonel Stone Johnson
• Leadership Birmingham: 46 graduates
• Miss Alabama: Melinda Toole
• Miss Shelby County: Melissa Harbison
• Southern Golf Association Hall of Fame: Hubert Green
• UAB President's Award for Excellence in Teaching: Dale Benos
• WWE Hall of Fame: Sherri Martel

Marriages

• December 9: Jeff Adams to Tracey Morant

Deaths

• January 11: Joe Farmer, Special Forces Vietnam veteran
• January 19: Reverend Willie Spencer of Hueytown
• January 23: Murray Sokol, sales clerk
• January 30: Coretta Scott King
• February: Matilda, world's oldest chicken
• February 11: James F. Sulzby IV, real estate agent
• February 15: John Porter, pastor of 6th Avenue Baptist Church
• February 23: Earl Stallings, pastor of First Baptist Church of Birmingham
• February 23: Alvin Hudson, Heart of Dixie Railroad Club co-founder
• March 6: Anne Braden, Civil Rights activist
• March 12: Richard N. Murray, former director of the Birmingham Museum of Art
• March 22: Alan Potts, owner of Silvertron Café
• March 23: Tom Blosser, bass player
• April 4: Shirley Crumley, casting director
• April 9: Billy Hitchcock, ASHOF inductee
• April 23: John Hallum, actor
• May 19: William D. Sulzby, executive with Hayes Corporation
• May 25: Audis Williams, Clay building inspector
• June: Bill Bryant, orthopedist
• June 9: Walter Hill, former Sardis Missionary Baptist Church deacon, murdered
• June 13: John and Evelyn Martin and Ryan Evans, murder victims
• June 16: Joseph Braswell, interior designer
• June 29: Joe Dentici, radio engineer and DJ
• June 29: Wallace Potts, filmmaker and archivist
• July 5: Hugh Stubbins, Jr, architect
• July 14: George M. Murray, former Episcopal Bishop of Alabama
• July 15: Marion Bradford, architect
• July 17: Bill Morgan Freeman, artist
• July 21: Harry Lipson Jr, former University of Alabama marketing professor
• July 30: Billy Thompson, Shelby County Commission
• August 3: Terrence West, Woodlawn High School girls basketball coach, murdered
• August 7: Buster, Birmingham Zoo cheetah
• August 14: Robert Davis III, adventurer
• August 24: William Bridgers, founder of UAB School of Public Health
• September 10: Nelson H. Smith, Baptist minister and Civil Rights leader
• September 23: Tim Rooney, actor and Mouseketeer
• October 2: Frances Bergen, actress and model
• October 5: Hal Lynch, actor
• October 23: Mary Smith, Fairfield police officer, shot in line of duty
• October 29: Benjamin Greene, former HABD commissioner
• November: Bernice Shepherd, Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve benefactor
• November 4: Edward Gardner, former president of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
• November 26: Maxie Bryant, environmental activist
• November 29: Herman Spivey, toy store owner
• December 4: Alice Bettencourt, wife of bandleader Frank Bettencourt
• December 9: Wendell Givens, writer and newspaper editor
• Leo M. Bashinsky, pediatrician
• Akiva Ostrovsky, cantor and mohel at Temple Beth-El

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 2006 and List of Jefferson County homicides in 2006

See Also

• 2006 City Stages
• 2006 Birmingham Barons
• 2006 SEC Baseball Tournament
• 2006 Birmingham Steeldogs
• 2006 UAB Blazers
• 2006 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival

2000s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works