Agricultural Leaders Inducted into Auburn’s
Hall of Honor
Five men who have made significant contributions to Alabama agriculture
were honored by the Auburn University (AU) Agricultural Alumni Association
during its annual banquet and awards program in February.
 |
|
Three
of the honorees— Tom Beaty, Cecil Lane and Bryson James—were
inducted into the association’s Agricultural Hall of Honor,
while Benjamin Duggar and Troy Patterson
were honored posthumously with the association’s 2004
Pioneer Awards. |
Ag Alumni President
Tim Wood, with Hall of Honor winners Beaty, Lane James and
CoAg Internim Dean John Jensen
|
Beaty,
a Coosa County native who now lives in Auburn, founded Universal Blanchers
in Blakely, Ga., in 1978. The company,
which preparespeanuts for further processing into candy and other
food products, has been a key influence in the development of the
peanut industry in the Southeast. Beaty’s more than 40 years
of work in the industry have led to improved profits for peanut farmers
and to safer, more affordable peanut-based foodstuffs for consumers.
Lane,
a resident of Benton in Lowndes County, is a charter member
of the Alabama Livestock Hall of Fame and a long-time member
of the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, where he has held
numerous positions. Lane, who owned Lane Cattle Company
until his retirement in 2002, has devoted
much of his life to the study, development and growth of the
beef cattle industry.
James,
a Florence native and now a resident of McMinnville, Tenn.,
has been active in the nursery industry for many years. James
is a former professor and director of the University of Florida’s
Agricultural Research Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and is |
|
Mrs.
Troy Patterson accepts her late husband's Pioneer Award.
|
former co-owner
of Cardwell Orchards in Tennessee. Currently, he is a consulting horticulturist
and also serves as director of horticultural research for the Southern
Nursery Association.
Patterson,
a native of Mississippi who joined the AU animal science faculty in
1957, was a much-revered professor and scientist who pioneered research
on crossbred beef cattle for Alabama and the Southeast. He also helped
establish the Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association and statewide
performance testing programs for beef bulls and was a member of the
Alabama Livestock Hall of Fame. Patterson retired from Auburn University
in 1986 but remained active in the Auburn community until his death
in 2002.
Duggar,
a native of Hale County’s Gallion community, was a botanist
who earned his master’s degree from Auburn in 1892. During his
career, Duggar taught at Harvard, Radcliffe and Cornell universities
and at the University of Wisconsin and worked for the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and the State of Illinois. Nationally recognized as
an exceptional plant pathologist, Duggar retired from academia in
1943 and went on to work for Lederle Laboratories, a division of American
Cyanamid Company, where he helped isolate an organism that produced
the antibiotic aureomycin. He died in 1956.
<< top
Early Deadline
Set for Hall of Honor/Pioneer Nominations
Information
and forms used to nominate individuals for the 2005 Agriculture Hall
of Honor and Pioneer awards will be mailed June 23, with a July 14
deadline for submissions.
Robert
Hensarling, director of Alumni Relations, notes that this is a much
earlier deadline than previous years, but it is necessary to provide
adequate time for planning the presentation.
The
forms also will be available at the Ag Alumni Web site later this
spring at www.ag.auburn.edu/alumni.html. For more information, contact
Hensarling at 334-844-3596 or hensara@auburn.edu
<< top
Ag Classic Set for May 5-6
Spring
is here and that means the CoAg’s Seventh Annual Ag Classic
is fast approaching! Plans are in place for an exciting event on May
5-6 that will include a wide range of events.
Ag
Classic provides an informal setting for CoAg friends to return to
Auburn for fun and fellowship with other alums, faculty and administrators.
The central mission remains to strengthen support for the College
and
continue
to build comradery.
 |
As
usual, Ag Classic features three tournaments—sporting
clays, golf and fishing—as well as a skills competition
for golf. The schedule for each is listed below. Team and/or
individual prizes will be awarded for each of the three tournaments
and for the golf skills game. The
fishing tournament, which is normally held on the same day as
the golf tournament, has been changed to Wednesday morning,
May 5, to avoid a timing conflict with those who want to |
participate
in other
events. Also new this year, anglers have the option to keep any bass
over six pounds and any bass over nine pounds will be mounted!
April
27 is the deadline for registration. Teams will be accepted in order
as registration is received and a waiting list started as each event
fills. Note that credit card payments are now being accepted. So,
complete the registration form and reserve your place now!
For
more information contact Robert Hensarling at 334-844-3596 or hensara@
auburn.edu, or Katie Hardy at 334-844-1475 or katie@auburn.edu.
To register online visit www.ag.auburn.edu/Ag_classic/.
<< top
Ag
Classic Schedule
| |
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
FISHING
| North
Auburn Pavilion, Auburn |
| |
7:00
a.m. Check-in
7:30 a.m. Tournament begins |
SPORTING CLAYS
White Oak Plantation, Tuskegee, Ala. |
| |
11:30 a.m. Check-in
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Tournament begins |
| SOCIAL |
| North Auburn Pavilion, Auburn |
| |
5:30 p.m. Social
6:30 p.m. Dinner
7:15 p.m. Fishing and Clay Awards
7:30 p.m. Auction |
Thursday, May 6, 2004
| GOLF |
| Moore’s Mill Golf Club, Auburn |
| |
7:00 a.m. Check-in
8:00 a.m. Tournament begins
1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Golf Awards Presentation |
|
<< top
ALUMNI
UPDATES
McKinney
Leonard Thomas, ’39, a vocational ag major, died in
Huntsville, Ala., on Feb. 4, 2004. Thomas was from New Hope, Ala.,
and after graduating from Auburn went on to be the agriculture teacher
at Princeton, Ala., until he entered the Army in World War II. After
service, Thomas worked with the USDA Soil Conservation Service (now
Natural Resource Conservation Service) before going into a career
in sales and interior decoration. He is survived by his wife, Lois
Maples Thomas; daughter, Annewhite Fuller (’68), and stepchildren
Dave Haskell and Nan Novotka.
Jerry
Sibley, ’61, recently retired from private business
as Grassland Nursery, Inc., in Muscle Shoals, Ala., and lives part-time
in Auburn and part-time in Mt. Hope, Ala.
<< top
|