An induction ceremony celebrating the lives of the late Albert Preston Brewer and the late Harry Blackwell Brock Jr. was held Sept. 17 at The Club as both men were added to the Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame.
The ceremony was co-hosted by the Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame and the Women’s Committee of 100 for Birmingham.
A prelude was provided by Women’s Committee music chair Anna Williams, followed by a welcome from President Carla Roberson.
Mountain Brook Baptist Church’s senior minister, the Rev. John Douglas Dortch, then gave an invocation, with Women’s Committee patriotic chair Nancy Jones leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame’s chairman, Dr. Richard Bailey, led the ceremony, recognizing special guests and introducing the program’s speakers.
Dr. Wayne Flint, distinguished university professor emeritus at Auburn University, presented inductee Albert Preston Brewer.
Brewer served as governor of Alabama from 1968 to 1971 and taught at Samford’s Cumberland School of Law for more than 20 years.
He joined the Cumberland faculty in 1987 and, during his tenure, worked to establish the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization devoted to studying issues of public interest effecting state and local government in Alabama.
Dr. Howard Finch, Samford University’s associate provost, presented inductee Harry Brock Jr., an innovative banker and civic leader who was instrumental in the passage of the Statewide Bank Merger bill in 1980, allowing bank branching across county lines.
When Brock led the founding of his bank Central Bancshares in 1964, it was Birmingham’s first new bank in 18 years. He later led Central Bancshares efforts to purchase a Texas bank, making it the first bank in Alabama to own a bank in another state.
The Alabama Men’s Hall of Fame is permanently housed at Samford University in the Harwell Goodwin Davis Library. It recognizes men native to or closely identified with the state of Alabama who have made significant contributions on a state, national or international scale.
—Emily Williams