List of people from Demopolis, Alabama explained

The people listed below were all born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Demopolis, Alabama:

Art

• Geneva Mercer, sculptor and painter^[1]

Athletics

• Richard Basil, former head football coach at Savannah State University
• Tommy Brooker, professional football player
• Robbie Jones, football player, NY Giants, Alabama Crimson Tide
• Andy Phillips, major league baseball player^{[2] [3] [4]}
• Paul Phillips, major league baseball player^[5]
• Theo Ratliff, professional basketball player
• Spencer Turnbull, professional baseball player for The Detroit Tigers
• Emanuel Zanders, football player, New Orleans Saints, Jackson State

Business

• Arthur George Gaston, businessman, real estate tycoon, civil rights leader
• Jim Rogers, financier and co-founder of the Quantum Fund^[6]

Literature

• Wyatt Rainey Blassingame, author of more than 600 short stories and articles for national magazines, four adult novels and dozens of juvenile nonfiction books
• James Haskins (1941-2005), author (Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher, The Cotton Club, Black Music in America, Outward Dreams: Black Inventors and Their Inventions, The March on Washington, Black Eagles: African Americans in Aviation)^[7]
• Michelle Richmond (born 1970), fiction writer and essayist (The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress, Dream of the Blue Room)
• Hudson Strode (1892-1976), teacher of creative writing at the University of Alabama from 1924-1964, honored by King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden for contributions strengthening cultural relations between the United States and Sweden^[8]

Politics

• Richard Henry Clarke, U.S. Representative from 1889 to 1897
• Lacey A. Collier, lawyer and judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
• James T. Jones, U.S. Representative from 1877 to 1879 and 1883 to 1889
• Francis Strother Lyon, member of United States Congress and Confederate States Congress
• Bill Owens, Massachusetts businessman and politician, born in Demopolis^[9]
• Benjamin Glover Shields, U.S Representative, 1841-1943, and United States Ambassador to Venezuela, 1845-1850

Science

• Waldo Semon, inductee of the Inventor Hall of Fame, inventor of vinyl, holder of over a hundred patents, born in Demopolis^[10]

Notes and References

1. Book: The Heritage of Marengo County, Alabama . Marengo County Heritage Book Committee . 2000 . Heritage Pub. Consultants . Clanton, Alabama . 978-1-891647-58-1 . 263 .
2. News: Ex-Yankee Andy Phillips joins Mets for Subway Series . . Rubin . Adam . 2008-06-26 . 2008-06-26.
3. Web site: Mets Transactions July 2008 . 2008-07-01.
4. http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20101223/NEWS/101229875/1011?p=1&tc=pg Phillips ‘back home’ with Crimson Tide
5. News: http://blogs.denverpost.com/rockies/2009/11/20/rockies-bring-back-catcher-paul-phillips/ . Denver Post.
6. Vetter, Jason (January 18, 1998). "Adventurer from Marengo Wanders into the Big Money: Jim Rogers started out selling peanuts at Little League games, then made a bonanza on Wall Street". Mobile Register.
7. Watkins, Mel. "James Haskins, an Author on Black History, Dies at 63," New York Times (July 11, 2005). Accessed Apr. 28, 2009.
8. Web site: Alabama Academy of Honor: Hudson Strode . www.archives.state.al.us . 2010-08-05 .
9. 'Public Officials of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1991-1992,' Massachusetts General Court: 1991, Biographical Sketch of Bill Owens, pg. 70
10. Web site: WALDO SEMON (1898-1999). Inventor of the Week. Michigan Institute of Technology. November 1999. https://web.archive.org/web/20030302045327/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/semon.html. dead. 2003-03-02. 2007-12-13.