1976

1976 was the 105th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham and the U.S. Bicentennial.

Events

American Freedom Train

• Special lighting depicted the American flag on the First National-Southern Natural Building the entire year.
• Glenn Messer formed the Southern Museum of Flight Foundation.
• Lakeview Elementary School adopted an "Arts in Education" curriculum.
• Riverchase Country Club opened.
• January: The Cavaliers gospel quartet formed.
• February 17: The Jefferson County Commission enacted a moratorium on new connections to the Patton Creek and Cahaba River sanitary sewer lines.
• April: A Moon Tree was planted at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
• May 3: President Gerald Ford delivered a campaign speech at Woodrow Wilson Park.
• May 27-31: The American Freedom Train stopped in Birmingham and changed locomotives.
• June 19: The Jefferson County Historical Commission dedicated a historical marker on Morris Avenue.
• July 4: Trieu Duong and his family arrived in the United States from Viet Nam.
• July 6: Vulcan was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• July 16: Black Creek Bridge in Fultondale was placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.
• July 23: KISS played Rickwood Field during their "Destroyer" tour.
• September 19: A crowd of over 15,000 watched as the Tannehill Ironworks produced pig iron again after 111 years out of commission.
• October 4: Jack Grace was sworn in as Mayor of Vestavia Hills.
• December 29: Elvis Presley performed his only concert in Birmingham.

Business

• A. G. Gaston bought WENN-FM.
• The Burly Earl opened on 7th Avenue South.
• Rose Goldner opened Jewels by Rose in Vestavia Hills
• Motion Industries was bought by the Genuine Parts Company of Atlanta, Georgia
• Dick and Anita Craig founded Birmingham Air Freight.
• Fred Elsas founded Alabama Ophthalmology Associates.
• Marshall Durbin Companies closed their Birmingham hatchery.
• December 6: Progressive album-oriented rock station WVOK-FM ("K-99") went on the air.

Sports

• June 30: The Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association relocated to Birmingham as the Birmingham Bulls.
• Elbert Jemison won the Alabama State Senior Amateur golf title.
• Dude Hennessey left the coaching staff of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.

Individuals

• Ralph Cook was elected a district court judge.
• William Maddox began leading the Alabama Breast Cancer Project.
• Edward Partridge joined the UAB faculty as an instructor.
• Cecil and Linda Whitmire moved to Birmingham from Tennessee.

Births

• January Philip Davis, Pelham Police Department, killed in the line of duty
• January 6: Lonnie Hannon III, sociologist
• January 17: Matt Fridy, Alabama Court of Civil Appeals
• February 18: Scott Tucker, swimmer
• February 23: Kira Fonteneau, attorney
• February 24: Julie Smith, Miss Alabama 1999
• April 19: Scott Padgett, Samford Bulldogs mens' basketball team head coach
• April 29: Salaam Green, Poet Laureate of Birmingham
• June: Robert Davis III, mountain climber
• June 18: Jeremy Harper, million counter
• June 30: Jun Ebersole, paleontologist
• July 25: Ronald Presley, singer and guitarist
• August 6: Camille Spratling, Railroad Park director
• August 19: Chris England, state representative
• October 4: Audra Bean, publicist
• October 6: Brian Toone, computer engineer and cyclist
• October 7: Taylor Hicks, singer/songwriter
• October 19: Jason Barnette, baseball player
• October 27: Eric Lathan, security guard
• December 31: Glenny Brock, newspaper editor
• Kellie Camp, schoolteacher
• Clayton Colvin, artist
• Christy Daniel, artist
• Earnest Lumpkin, bank manager
• Faris Malki, retail chain operational manager
• Alisha Ruffin May, domestic relations court judge
• Clay Ryan, attorney and vice chancellor of the UA System
• Chris Sign, television news anchor
• Maria Taylor, singer/songwriter
• Amy Vickers, environmentalist
• Stephen Wallace, circuit court judge
• Oni Williams, insurance analyst and community activist
• Tupi, a tapir, was born to Barbra at the Birmingham Zoo.

Awards

• E. O. Wilson won the U.S. National Medal of Science.

Graduations

• Dale Benos completed his PhD in physiology and pharmacology at Duke University.
• Michael Choy graduated from Holy Family Catholic High School.
• Moody Duff graduated from Wenonah High School.
• Joey Kennedy graduated from Nicholls State University in Thibodeaux, Louisiana.
• Tommy Nail graduated from the Birmingham School of Law.
• Kim Price completed a bachelor's at the University of Alabama.
• Annetta Verin earned a bachelor's in business administration at Howard University.
• Ray Watts earned a bachelor's degree in engineering at UAB, of which he would later become president.

Retirements

• Willie Clark retired from the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

Deaths

Dan Bankhead

• February 28: Rosalie Leventritt, music patron
• April 22: Joe David Brown, novelist
• April 28: Master Sergeant John Robertson, missing in action since 1968, was declared dead.
• May 2: Dan Bankhead, first black Major League pitcher
• May 17: John Buchanan Sr, Baptist minister
• August 8: Herman Long, social scientist, Talladega College president, and UNCF president
• September 6: Walter Holmquist, architect
• November 1: James Esdale , bail bondsman and former Klan Grand Dragon
• November 16: Lottie Blake, physician
• December 20: Quenette Shehane, Birmingham-Southern College student
• Georges Bridges, sculptor
• Lawrence Kwong, Chinese air force officer

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 1976

Works

• Cosmos, album by Sun Ra
• Backwater, album by Backwater
• "Disco Duck", #1 single by Rick Dees
• "Resurgence", sculpture by Branko Medenica at Lakeview School
• "Untitled". sculpture by Michael Frohock at UAB Mini Park

Books

• Century Plus: A Bicentennial Portrait of Birmingham, Alabama 1976, published by the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce
• "Twenty Pages and Twenty Minutes – Effective Advocacy on Appeal" by John Godbold first appeared in the Southwestern Law Journal
• Hudson, Alvin W. & Harold E. Cox (1976) Street Railways of Birmingham. Forty Fort, Pennsylvania: Harold E. Cox

Buildings

BJCC

• May 12: Holy Rosary Catholic Church was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.
• The Owen Plantation house was donated to the West Jefferson County Historical Society.
• Sibyl Temple was moved from George Ward's Vestavia estate to its current location on Shades Mountain.
• Bragg Middle School opened for classes in Gardendale.
• Olympia Village Apartments in West Homewood

Completed

• BellSouth Birmingham Data Center in Hoover
• Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center
• BTNB BJCC branch
• Birmingham Parking Authority Deck 2
• Birmingham Parking Authority Deck 3
• Protective Life building (1976)
• Regions Plaza
• Valspar Coatings

Films and TV

• Stay Hungry film, based on the novel
• Polly Holliday began her part as Flo on Alice

See Also

• 1976 UAB Blazers
• 1976 Iron Bowl

Context

In 1976 the Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, was released by Cray Research. The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21–17 in Super Bowl X at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. The first commercial Concorde flight took off. Live from Lincoln Center debuted on PBS. Patty Hearst was found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank. Apple Computer Company was formed. The National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association agreed on the ABA-NBA merger. Viking 1 and Viking 2 successfully landed on Mars. The "Son of Sam" killings began in New York City.

Notable births in 1976 included actor Freddie Prinze, Jr.; singer Blu Cantrell; actress Reese Witherspoon; football player Peyton Manning; actress Melissa Joan Hart; actor Joey Lawrence; tennis player Lindsay Davenport; actor Fred Savage; and Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes. Notable deaths included author Agatha Christie, musician Percy Faith, artist Max Ernst, business magnate and aviator Howard Hughes, filmmaker Fritz Lang, and Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

Notable novels of 1976 included Judy Blume's Blubber, Judith Guest's Ordinary People, Alex Haley's, Roots, and Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Non-fiction works included Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein's The Final Days.

Top box office hits included Rocky, A Star Is Born, All the President's Men, The Omen, and King Kong. Rocky took Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director (John G. Avildsen).

Albums released in 1976 included Desire by Bob Dylan, Frampton Comes Alive! by Peter Frampton, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) by the Eagles, Wings at the Speed of Sound by Wings, and Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder. The Grammy Award for Album of the Year went to TITLE by ARTIST. Hit singles included Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)", Paul McCartney & Wings' "Silly Love Songs", Elton John & Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", and Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady".

1970s

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