Uniquely Alabama: Who Is On The State's Mount Rushmore?

"Uniquely Alabama" is an occasional series where Patch tries to find the answers to questions about life in Alabama. Have a question about the Yellowhammer State that needs answering? Send it to michael.seale@patch.com

BIRMINGHAM, AL — One of my favorite discussion starters has always been putting together a "Mt. Rushmore" of a specific category. A former co-worker of mine and I used to spend downtime at work coming up with "Mt. Rushmores" for anything from great guitarists to fast food french fries to Rodney Dangerfield movies.

So I pose the question. If Alabama were to construct a Mt. Rushmore for Alabamians, whose faces would appear on the rock?

When the 2017 U.S. Senate elections were going on, the nation's eyes became focused on Alabama and the people with whom I interacted who came from elsewhere to cover it made me realize how little people actually know about Alabama — outside of the Civil War, civil rights movement, college football and Forrest Gump.

A journalist from Massachusetts asked me how it must feel that Roy Moore was the most famous person from my state. I said to him that there were plenty of famous and influential people from Alabama, and my snark kicked in and I said, "Get on your iPhone — manufactured by Apple, whose CEO is Tim Cook, a Mobile native and Auburn University graduate — and look it up on Wikipedia — created by Huntsville native Jimmy Wales, an alumnus of Auburn and the University of Alabama."

The snark didn't go over well and I unfortunately just left him and his colleagues to keep assuming that Alabama is a wasteland, devoid of culture and progress.

But I digress.

First, I suppose I would need to establish some parameters. I would limit the choices to people born in the state, but that would exclude people who might have been born elsewhere but lived most of their lives in the state or contributed positively to the state despite not being a native. Or, on the other end, I wouldn't want to include someone who maybe was born here but lived most of their life outside of Alabama (goys like boxer Joe Louis or Olympian Carl Lewis, who were both born in Alabama but moved from the state as children).

So I will say that the people I would choose would have to have lived a decent amount of their lives in Alabama

Also, I am not looking at just "the best" people from Alabama, just as the actual Mt. Rushmore is not necessarily the four best presidents in U.S. history. Rather, they are presidents who each contributed something unique to the country. So I am going with that guideline for Alabama's monument.

We would of course include civil rights icons and humanitarians, from which there are plenty of Alabamians to choose. Rosa Parks is perhaps one of the most famous, and Helen Keller (although she was not only a humanitarian, but an author, diplomat and world-changer) would have to be included. Fred Shuttleworth should get some consideration as well, along with Coretta Scott King or Juliette Morgan among others.

When considering sports figures, I already highlighted in the column previously the wealth of baseball talent from Alabama. And Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige or Willie McCovey would all be fine representations on the rock.

Olympian Jesse Owens (Oakville, Ala.) comes to mind of course. And if I made a Mt. Rushmore of Alabama sports figures, he would be a no-brainer. Bo Jackson (Bessemer) was THE cultural icon from the sports world in the late 80s and early 90s and was arguably the most famous person in the world during that time. Charles Barkley (Leeds) is one of the most recognizable faces in the country, and I would listen to the argument for his inclusion as well.

But If I have to pick a sports figure, I would have to go with Paul "Bear" Bryant, perhaps to the chagrin of my Auburn friends. Bryant is largely considered to be one the greatest coaches of ANY sport, not just football, where he was the face of college football for more than two decades.

In the entertainment category, Alabama could put together multiple Mt. Rushmores. Actors Jim Nabors (Sylacauga), Courtney Cox (Mountain Brook), Kate Jackson (Mountain Brook), musicians Nat King Cole and Hank Williams from Montgomery, Lionel Richie from Tuskegee and Jimmy Buffett from Mobile are all fine choices.

But I feel like if I have to just choose four people — the ultimate caveat to the Mt. Rushmore question — I don't think any entertainers make the monument.

In literature and academia, Harper Lee, Truman Capote, Zelda Fitgerald, Booker T. Washington, Fannie Flagg, Rick Bragg and Kathryn Tucker Windham come to mind.

So my choices would have to be Helen Keller, Bear Bryant, Rosa Parks and Booker T. Washington. Ask me tomorrow, and I may have four completely different people. But I feel like these four people accurately and impressively depict Alabama history and did the most to shape what Alabama is today.

Disagree? Of course you do. That's the fun of the question.