2004 Inductees

Don Logan (1944- )

There are two Don Logans.  One sits high atop Manhattan in a shiny glass tower, making executive decisions for the largest publishing corporation in media history, Time Warner Inc.  The other one balances in a skiff, casting for bass while whiffing gnats and slapping away Alabama mosquitoes. (more)

F. David Mathews (1935- )

David Mathews cannot help championing democracy.  It is in his blood. When Mathews’s grandfather served as Clarke County school superintendent during the 1920s, public education was suffering from funding woes that resulted in sharp disparities.  The elder Mathews swore an oath to equalize all schools in the county because there was no question that such disparities were “un-American, undemocratic and not Christian.” (more)

Howell H. Raines (1943- )

Where else but in Alabama can the genesis of a Pulitzer Prize begin on a football field?  When The Birmingham Post Herald offered free tickets to whoever would cover The University of Alabama’s game against Auburn on Thanksgiving Day 1964 (Alabama 21, Auburn 14), copy desk rookie Howell Raines was ready. He hit the field, ran the sidelines with the Bear, almost lost his pad and his story-line when he went airborne to cheer a breakaway halfback, then wrote what editor Clarke Stallworth says is the best story ever to come from a starter.  It was indeed the start of a monumental career in journalism. (more)