2013

2013 is the 142nd year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

50 Years Forward logo

• The City of Birmingham observed the 50th anniversary of the 1963 Birmingham campaign and church bombing under the banner of "50 Years Forward".
• January 1: Cooper Green Mercy Hospital reopened as a primary and urgent care clinic.
• January 1: Three teens were killed in the 2013 Jasper plane crash.
• January 17: A rare thundersnow brought 2" to the Birmingham area.
• January 22: Paul Finebaum hosted his last show on WJOX-FM.
• February 4: A BJCTA "DART" trolley, fueled by compressed natural gas, caught fire downtown.
• February 13: Alabama Power ended service from the Powell Avenue Steam Plant to UAB.
• March 22: A flight information display at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport fell over, killing a 10-year-old boy and injuring his mother and siblings.
• March 29: A fire in the vacant S. J. Bennett Professional Building resulted in a structural collapse.
• March 30: Activist Angela Davis addressed the Birmingham NAACP at 6th Avenue Baptist Church.
• June 16: Birmingham was selected as an "All-America City" by the National Civic League.
• August 14: 2013 Airport Highlands plane crash.
• August 23-25: 2013 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
• September 11-15: Empowerment Week.
• September 13–15: 2013 U. S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting.

Business

• January 1: Warren Averett LLC acquired accounting offices in Tampa, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia.
• January 2: WJOX-FM became a CBS Sports Radio affiliate.
• January 2: ProAssurance acquired the Medmarc Insurance Group of Chantilly, Virginia.
• January: Daxko acquired North Carolina-based Active Life Apps.
• January: Kyung Chung purchased Max's Delicatessen from Steve Dubrinsky.
• January: Choice Hotels rebranded its Alabama Jameson Inns as Quality Inns.
• January 20: Weld entered into a partnership with The Tuscaloosa News to share resources.
• January 22: The Alabama Media Group put the 6-year-old Birmingham News building up for sale.
• Express Oil Change acquired Tire Engineers.
• April: Urban Cookhouse opened a third location in Crestline Village.
• July 29: Russell Athletic closed its Alexander City mill.
• Two North Twentieth was sold for $19 million.
• White Arnold & Dowd merged with Stockham & Stockham attorneys.

Establishments

• February: The Alabama Biscuit Company was founded.
• May 1: Krewe on First opened.
• May 20: Cahaba Beach Dog Park opened in Inverness.
• July 2: Birmingham Mountain Radio began broadcasting over the air on FM 107.3.
• August 1: Carrigan's Public House opened on Morris Avenue.
• September: McEnally's Mercantile opened in Clay.
• September 7: Dixie Fish Co. opened on U.S. Highway 280.

Disestablishments

• January: Thorpe-Sunbelt Inc. of Houston, Texas purchased Empire Refractory Specialists.
• April: Paramount yogurt shop closed.
• The Barking Kudu closed.
• May 4: Bessemer police shut down Gip's Place for operating illegally.
• Colonial Properties Trust was acquired by Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc. of Memphis, Tennessee.
• July: Café de Paris closed.
• August 8: Judge Joseph Boohaker ordered the closure of New Woman All Women Health Care.
• August 31: Marty's closed.
• December 15: The Eastwood K-Mart closed.

Education

• July 1: Alabaster City Schools formally split from Shelby County Schools.

Government

• January 15: 2013 State of the City address.
• May 14: The Birmingham City Council passed the "Kevin Felder ordinance" establishing stiff security and reporting requirements for nightclubs.
• The Jefferson Rehabilitation and Health Center in Ketona was sold to Tara Jane, LLC, of Orchard Park, New York
• August 27: 2013 Birmingham municipal election
• October 8: 2013 Birmingham municipal election runoffs

Nonprofits

• January 24: The Shades Valley Family YMCA renovations had their official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Sports

• January 5: BBVA Compass Bowl: The Ole Miss Rebels defeated the Pitt Panthers 38-17.
• January 7: The 2012 Alabama Crimson Tide football team defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to claim a 15th National Championship.
• February 17: Mercedes Marathon: Mario Macias of Colorado won with a record time of 2:18:48. Camille Heron of West Lafayette, Indiana led female runners with a time of 2:44:25.
• March 3-9: NCAA Division II track & field, swimming, diving and wrestling championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex
• April 10: 2013 Birmingham Barons opened the new Regions Field in downtown Birmingham with a game against the Mississippi Braves.
• May 26: LSU beat Vanderbilt 5-4 in 11 innings to win the 2013 SEC Baseball Tournament at the Hoover Met. The tournament reportedly drew a record 134,496 total fans.
• May 29: The Barons won the 2013 Rickwood Classic
• June 6-9: David Frost won the Regions Tradition at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club.
• October 6: UAB Blazers football coach Garrick McGee promoted Jimmy Williams to defensive coordinator and demoted Reggie Johnson to outside linebackers coach.
• November 30: 2013 Iron Bowl.

Individuals

• Andrew Glaze succeeded Sue Brannan Walker as Poet Laureate of Alabama.
• Bob Dickerson was elected chair of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
• January 2: Stephen Nowlin succeeded Phil Hammonds as Superintendent of Jefferson County Schools.
• January 14: Jeremy Littleton was appointed chief of Montevallo Police Department.
• February 8: Ray Watts succeeded Richard Marchase as President of UAB.
• May 6: Attorney Jim Porter became president of the National Rifle Association.
• August 2: Former JCCEO director Gayle Cunningham and her daughter, Kelli Caulfield, pleaded guilty to theft from JCCEO accounts.
• Selwyn Vickers succeeded interim dean Anupam Agarwal as head of the UAB School of Medicine.

Awards

• Alabama Women's Hall of Fame:
• Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame:
• Alabama Men's Hall of Fame: Thomas Corts, Emory Cunningham & Eugene Sledge
• Alabama Sports Hall of Fame: Ronnie Baynes, Forrest Blue, Eric Davis, Bill Jones, Bill Oliver, Vickie Orr, Nick Saban & Dannette Stone
• Alabama State Teacher of the Year: Alison Grizzle, P. D. Jackson-Olin High School
• Birmingham Barons Hall of Fame: Bert Campaneris, Jimmy Piersall, Ben Cook & Curt Bloom
• Birmingham Business Hall of Fame: Mike Goodrich, J. R. McWane, William McWane, Jim McWane, Arthur Shores, and Herb Sklenar
• Birmingham Gallery of Distinguished Citizens: Bill Ricker, Johnny Robinson, Fred Shuttlesworth, Yvonne Turner & Virgil Ware
• Bobby Bowden Collegiate Coach of the Year Award: Nick Saban
• Mr Football: Jeremy Johnson, Carver-Montgomery
• Primetime Emmy for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series": Tony Hale

Marriages

• January 15: Actor Jim Nabors to Stan Cadwallader
• September 14: Rep. Patricia Todd to Jennifer Clarke

Retirements

• John L. Carroll, dean of the Cumberland School of Law
• Scott Vowell, presiding judge, 10th Judicial Circuit of Alabama
• March: Mal Moore, Director of Athletics at the University of Alabama
• May: Herman Hinton, Deputy Chief for the Birmingham Police Department
• May 17: Moody Duff, Deputy Chief for the Birmingham Police Department
• December 31: Samuetta Drew, Chief of Operations for Birmingham City Schools

Deaths

Marty Eagle (1941-2013)

Hardrock Gunter (1925-2013)

• January 17: James Hood, integrated the University of Alabama
• January 19: Russell Yarbrough, Birmingham City Council member
• January 23: Doug Waits, Birmingham-Southern College biology professor
• February 1: Marty Eagle, owner of Marty's bar
• February 15: Bill Steltemeier, attorney and EWTN CEO
• February 20: Sara Finley, medical geneticist
• March 9: Helen Cockrell, secretary
• March 15: Cam Langley, glass artist
• March 15: Hardrock Gunter, rockabilly pioneer
• March 17: Ted Hallmark, owner of Hallmark Farm
• March 22: Luke Bresette, victim in the 2013 Birmingham airport fatality.
• March 23: Virgil Trucks, pitcher
• March 30: Mal Moore, Alabama Crimson Tide football player, coach and athletic director
• April 7: James Lewis, publisher of the Birmingham Times
• April 7: Reuben Davis, one-term Jefferson County Commissioner
• April 23: Marvin Engel, real estate executive and philanthropist
• May 1: Mike Froning, founding director of the Birmingham Education Foundation
• June 1: Dorothy Porter, singer, educator and widow of John Porter
• June 5: Jim Parsons, former Birmingham police chief
• June 29: Jack Gotta, former Birmingham Americans head coach and general manager
• July 4: Errol Milliard, Army combat engineer, killed by rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan
• July 29: Ed Sprague, building supplier
• August 2: Bill Tant, diving instructor and promoter
• August 4: Jim Beckham, Alabama Power Company executive
• August: Pete Clifford, Methodist minister and former Birmingham City Council member
• September 2: Wayne Wallace, host of the "Dixie Gospel Caravan"
• September 5: Richard Vigneulle, banker and Shades Mountain Independent Church pastor
• September 6: Les Longshore, tennis pro and coach
• September 11: Demetrius Newton, Alabama State Representative
• September: Chuck Geiss, publisher of Black & White
• September 12: Sheldon Hackney, historian, educator and chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities
• September 15: John Ritchie, US Air Force veteran and Chelsea founder
• September 27: Caldwell Marks, co-founder of Motion Industries
• September 29: W. L. Williams, Jr, attorney

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 2013 and List of homicides in 2013

Works

Regions Field

• April 12: 42, a feature film based on Jackie Robinson, premiered.
• May 29: The Charles Linn statue was dedicated at Linn Park.
• June 27: Light Rails was unveiled at the 18th Street underpass.
• "Little Music Manchild: The Malik Kofi Story", documentary by Malena Cunningham about cellist Malik Kofi
• September 12: Premiere of The Watsons Go to Birmingham at the Alabama Theatre.
• September 15: Four Spirits (memorial) by Elizabeth MacQueen at Kelly Ingram Park
• September 21: World premiere of "A More Convenient Season" at the Alys Stephens Center
• September 21: Bobby Bowden statue at Samford University's Seibert Stadium.

Buildings

• Uptown and Westin-Birmingham
• March 13: Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport Terminal Modernization
• April 10: Regions Field at Railroad Park
• June 25: Tom and Gean Cleckler Teen Center for Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Alabama in Hueytown
• Target at Brookwood Village
• Dollar General on 5th Avenue South
• Champions Plaza at the University of Alabama
• Mountain Brook Municipal Complex in Crestline Village
• Birmingham Fire Station No. 18 in Pratt City
• August 19: Concord Elementary School, Oxmoor Valley Elementary School, Tuggle Elementary School and Woodlawn High School addition

Demolitions

• The Charles Kilgore residence in Tuscaloosa was demolished.
• The Noojin Building in Gadsden was demolished.
• The Hill University Center was demolished.

Books

• The Disinherited, novel by Abe Fawal
• Mickey and Willie: Mantle and Mays, the Parallel Lives of Baseball’s Golden Age, by Allen Barra

See Also

• 2013 Birmingham Barons
• 2013 Iron Bowl
• 2013 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
• 2013 UAB Blazers football

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