1983

1983 was the 112th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• April 27: Evangelist Lee Roberson preached his final sermon at Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve and the City of Birmingham purchased 120 acres from the Jim Walter Company for expansion of the preserve.
• The first Magic City Art Connection was held at Linn Park.
• Mountain Brook High School, Homewood High School and Homewood Middle School were named Blue Ribbon Schools by the US Department of Education.
• Isaac Stern joined the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for their 50th anniversary celebration.
• The Brother Bryan statue was returned to Five Points South from Vulcan Park.
• Frozen pipes forced a tenant evacuation of the Avon Building in Lakeview.
• Birmingham Festival of Arts Salute to India.
• Geneva Mercer donated Giuseppe Moretti's scrapbooks to the Julia Tutwiler Library at the University of West Alabama.
• Summerfest presented The Music Man, Annie, and Barbary Coast.
• The Interfaith Hospitality House was founded by Grace Episcopal Church.

Government

• Richard Arrington was re-elected as Mayor of Birmingham. William Bell, Jeff Germany, David Herring and Russell Yarbrough were re-elected to four-year terms in the Birmingham City Council. Eddie Blankenship won the two-year seat. Herring succeeded John Katopodis as Council President. (See 1983 Birmingham mayoral election)
• Ben Erdreich succeeded Albert L. Smith, Jr as Representative of the 6th Congressional District of Alabama.
• Gary White and George Perdue joined the Alabama House of Representatives.
• George Wallace succeeded Fob James as Governor of Alabama.
• Jim Bennett was elected to the Alabama State Senate.
• A federal lawsuit was filed which eventually forced Bessemer to switch from a City Commission to Mayor-Council form of government.

Business

• Richard Scrushy left Lifemark Corporation in Houston to plan for the founding of HealthSouth.
• The Redmont Hotel was purchased by an investment group made up of NBA players, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Ralph Sampson.
• The Lincoln Theater in Bessemer closed.
• Parisian became a publicly-traded company.
• First National Bank of Birmingham began operating as AmSouth Bank.
• Joel's Restaurant opened in downtown Trussville.
• The first franchise location of Milo's Hamburgers opened on Southside.
• Arlington Broadcasting bought independent TV station WTTO.
• Brantley Homes was founded.
• The Cabana Hotel closed.
• SMI Steel purchased the Connors Steel plant.
• The Birmingham Large Users Group was organized.
• Symbol of Excellence Publishers was founded.
• Bruno's celebrated its 50th anniversary.
• Mike Warren left Bradley, Arant, Rose & White to become general counsel for Alagasco.
• Bill Edmonds became chair of BE&K.
• The Collegiate Licensing Company was formed by Bill Battle III.
• The Jaguar Club was opened by Walter Earl Garfield and Ulysses and Linda Smoot.
• Bruce Ayers opened The Comedy Club.
• Raymond Josof sold Raymond's Five Points Market to his son, Raymond, Jr.

Sports

• The 1983 Birmingham Barons won their first Southern League title since resuming play in 1981.
• The 1983 Birmingham Stallions played their inaugural season at Legion Field, finishing with a 9-9 record.
• Bo Jackson rushed for 256 yards to help Auburn to a 23-20 victory over Alabama in the 1983 Iron Bowl at Legion Field.
• West Virginia defeated Kentucky 20-16 in the 1983 Hall of Fame Classic at Legion Field.
• Alabama's Mike Davis was drafted by the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.
• The Birmingham South Stars finished their sole season, losing in the final championship series.
• A new Birmingham Bulls played three games in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League before folding.
• Jack Wood became head football coach at Auburn High School.
• Carl Lewis set a personal best of 19.75 seconds in the 200 meter sprint.
• Bobby Allison won the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship.
• Alabama A&M University beat Alabama State University 27-14 in the Magic City Classic.
• Watson Brown served one season as head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats.
• Rafael Santana played a season for the St Louis Cardinals.
• Vida Blue was released by the Kansas City Royals.
• David Branch and Linda McLennan won the men's and women's titles at the Vulcan Run.
• Jerome Mincy joined the Puerto Rican national basketball team.
• Lamar Johnson was released by the Texas Rangers.
• Rod Foster was drafted by the Phoenix Suns.
• Ennis Whatley was drafted by the Kansas City Kings.
• Bart Starr coached his final season for the Green Bay Packers, going 8-8.
• Bobby Bowden's Florida State Seminoles went 8-4 and won the Peach Bowl.
• Art Clarkson suggested the idea of Birmingham building a domed stadium.
• Steve Sloan became the head coach at Duke University.
• Wide receiver Mike Jones became an Atlanta Falcon.
• Preston Goldfarb became head coach of the BSC Panthers men's soccer team.
• Ray Perkins led his first Alabama Crimson Tide football team to an 8-4 record.

Works

• "Swordfishtrombone", song by Tom Waits which mentions Birmingham
• Kate Jackson starred in the television drama The Scarecrow and Mrs. King.
• Alexandra, feature film produced by David F. Friedman.
• "The Heaven That I Look For Up Above Had a Hole and I Fell Back to Earth" and "The Mystery of the White in Me", sculptures by Lonnie Holley
• "Wendel", a gay-themed comic strip by Howard Cruse, debuted in the Advocate.
• From the One That Cut You, novelty album featuring T. R. Reed.
• Coming Out, jazz album by pianist Johnny O'Neal.
• Love and Dance and Raw "Live Jazz" Featuring Miss Funky Lu albums by Cleveland Eaton
• Blue Thunder and WarGames, feature films directed by John Badham
• Shadow Waltz, feature film shot in Birmingham
• White Shoes, album by Emmylou Harris

Books

• Birmingham Inside Out by Glory Clark Angell
• Winning Isn't Everything (But it beats anything that comes in second). by Wendell Givens
• Mr Bedford and the Muses by Gail Godwin
• Ninety Years and Counting by Nolan Harmon
• Flashbacks: An Autobiography by Timothy Leary
• Mystery Walk by Robert R. McCammon
• Vampires Unearthed, edited by J. Gordon Melton
• Táticas do signo: semiótica e ideologia by Eduardo Neiva
• Escape the Night, by Richard North Patterson
• Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker Percy
• Birmingham Bottlers: 1883-1983 by Dennis I. Smith
• True of False? Amazing Art Forgeries by Ann Waldron
• October Journey by Margaret Walker
• Promethean fire: reflections on the origin of mind," by E. O. Wilson
• The University of Alabama: A Pictorial History by Suzanne Wolfe

Buildings

• Bama 6 cinema
• Birmingham Parking Authority Deck 5
• Center Point 6 cinema
• Hoover Public Library (inside the Hoover Municipal Complex)
• Hoover Square 6 cinema
• Interstate 359 was completed.
• Ski Lodge Apartments III
• UAB University Center
• Expansion of Midfield Theater
• Expansion of Southern Museum of Flight
• Refurbishing of the Jewish Community Center
• Improvements to Watercress Darter National Wildlife Refuge
• Acquisition of the Ramsay-McCormack building by the City of Birmingham.
• National Register of Historic Places: John A. Hand Building, Woodward Building, Cathedral Church of the Advent, Five Points South Historic District, Redmont Hotel, Loveman, Joseph & Loeb Department Store, Leeds Southern Railroad Depot

Individuals

• Douglas K. S. Hyland succeeded Richard N. Murray as curator of the Birmingham Museum of Art
• Jim Bob & the Leisure Suits broke up.
• The Calton Phillips Group changed its name to Split the Dark.
• Thomas E. Corts succeeded Leslie Wright as President of Samford University.
• Thomas Hearn was appointed President of Wake Forest University.
• Scholar Roland Frye retired from full-time teaching.
• Ray Melick began covering the Auburn Tigers for the Birmingham Post-Herald.
• Charles W. Ireland retired from the chairmanship of Vulcan Materials.
• Richard Shahan was ordained as a minister at Wedgwood Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Texas.

Births

• March 6: Virgil Griffith, computer programmer and reality show contestant
• March 24: Eric West, baseball player
• April 13: Michael Warren, musician
• April 21: Tarvaris Jackson, football player
• April 24: Taylor Hollingsworth, musician
• May 9: Tyler Lumsden, Birmingham Barons pitcher
• May 31: Anthony Cupps, baseball player
• August 7: Darell Hackney, UAB Blazers quarterback
• August 24: Alan Johnson, baseball player
• August 30: Christ Getz, Birmingham Barons infielder
• August 31: Martez Seay, multiple murder suspect
• October 17: James Lang, basketball player
• Haleigh Stidham, 2006 Miss Alabama USA
• Jamie Langley, 2007 Miss Alabama

Awards

• Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame: Hooper T. Abrams, Leroy Allen, Leatha Bell, Frank Carpenter, Paul B. Coman, LaVergne Comer, Dolly Brown Gibson, Marcellus Green, Frank Greer, Monroe Kennedy, Robert McCoy, Neal McLean, Bull Simpson, and Jesse Taylor.
• Alabama Sports Hall of Fame: Maxie Baughan, Tom Jenkins, George Lindsey, Billy Neighbors, Gabby Street and Billy Williams.
• Alabama Academy of Honor: Charley Boswell and Harry Brock, Jr
• Miss Alabama: Pam Battles
• Miss UAB: Phyllis Pope
• Russ Fine earned tenure as a professor at UAB.
• Pat Dye was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year.
• Hugh Martin was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Graduations

• Howard Bayless and Jeff Herrod graduated from Banks High School.
• Running back Cornelius Bennett graduated from Ensley High School.
• Greg Canfield completed his B.S. in finance at UAB.
• Career police officer Moody Duff graduated from UAB and joined the UAB Police Department.
• Football player Curt Jarvis graduated from Gardendale High School.
• Rica Lewis-Payton graduated from UAB with a master's in health care management.
• Allan Lowe graduated from Shelby County High School
• Football coach Jim McElwain earned his degree in education from Eastern Washington University.
• Actor Michael Papajohn graduated from Vestavia Hills High School.
• Tim Ritchie completed his undergraduate degree at Davidson College.
• Samford athletic director Bob Roller graduated from Virginia Tech.
• Jimbo Wood graduated from the University of Montevallo.

Deaths

• January 26: Bear Bryant, University of Alabama football coach
• May 27: John Rountree, Jr, former Director of the Alabama Department of Aeronautics
• October 27: R. Hugh Daniel, businessman
• Warren Carlile, restauranteur
• Tom Stevens, founder and CEO of the Home Baking Company

See also: List of Birmingham homicides in 1983

Context

In 1983 Annie closed on Broadway after 2,377 performances. Kilauea began erupting on Hawai'i. Björn Borg retired from tennis. The Redskins beat the Dolphins 27-17 in Super Bowl XVII. Seatbelts became mandatory. Iran invaded southeastern Iraq. The first Swatch watches hit the market. President Reagan called the USSR an "evil empire". Michael Jackson performed his first moonwalk. Gandhi won the Best Picture Oscar. Tokyo Disneyland opened. Sally Ride broke the astronaut gender barrier. A Soviet jet shot down Korean Air Flight 007 over Soviet airspace. Tom Brokaw took over the NBC Nightly News anchor desk. Vanessa Williams won the Miss America pageant. The Baltimore Orioles won the World Series. The US Embassy and two Marine barracks were damaged by terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon. The United States invaded Grenada. Microsoft released its "Word" word-processor. Martin Luther King Day became a national holiday. Argentina returned to civilian rule. The Detroit Pistons won a record high-scoring game against the Denver Nuggets, 186-184. Brunei won its independence from the UK. The internet debuted with ARPANET's change to IP addressing.

Notable 1983 births include Kate Bosworth, Carrie Underwood, Jay Cutler, and Vince Young. Deaths in 1983 include those of Karen Carpenter, Tennessee Williams, Hergé, Gloria Swanson, Buckminster Fuller, David Niven, Ira Gershwin, Lépold III of Belgium, Slim Pickens, and Joan Miró. Lech Wałęsa won the Nobel Peace Prize. The top-grossing films of 1983 were The Return of the Jedi, Terms of Endearment, Flashdance, Trading Places, WarGames and Octopussy. Terms of Endearment dominated the Oscars. Notable books of 1983 included Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives, Stephen King's Christine and Pet Sematary, and James Michener's Poland. Alice Walker's The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

1980s

<< 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 >>

Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works