SP ('95): War Eagle, I do say...

We often refer to ourselves as Auburn Men and Women and, thanks to the guiding words of the venerable George Petrie, feel like we can do so with confidence. We know that if we adhere to the principles of the Auburn Creed, we’ll be able to (accurately) represent our alma mater, and our brother and sisters. In the same regard, we can spot an impostor from a mile away. We know The Creed and we know how to live it.

And many mooooooore: William H. Holley, Auburn's oldest living alumnus, celebrated his 105th birthday yesterday. Here he is as an Auburn freshman in the 1927 Glomerata. Carpe Diem.

When he walked at graduation William H. Holley, like many before and since, shook the hand of the university’s president, Dr. Bradford Knapp. At that time the president lived in Cater Hall. The governor was Bibb Graves. Know those names?

The oaks at Toomer’s hadn’t been planted yet. Toomer’s Drugs was still competing with Homer Wright as the local top druggist. (Wright’s phone number: Nine.) S.L. Toomer simply referred to his place as The Store On The Corner.

Screen cap from a WDHN story on Holley's birthday party.

Obligatory sports references: George Bohler was coaching both the football and basketball teams that year. The football team was 1-8, beating only Howard College. Snitz Snider — Olympic track star and future high school football coach — was hurt much of the season.  Another key player Babe Taylor — who, as a tackle, dressed at 6-feet-2 and “around two hundred pounds” as a tackle (Auburn’s current punter is bigger) — also had nagging injuries during the down year. Bohler’s basketball team went 3-13. At least the baseball team was posting winning records! Cliff Hare Stadium? Hardly.

The Bank of Auburn, in the back of Holley’s senior Glomerata, advertised four percent on savings. Burton’s Book Store was the place to get your dusty tomes. J&M was decades away. Samford Hall, Comer, Mary Martin, Smith and Langdon Halls were all a part of campus. Ramsay Hall was brand new. Perhaps you’ll have heard of Holley’s dean: Bennett Battle Ross of Ross Hall fame. That building was still being erected when Holley graduated.

Holley's Auburn offspring: Elizabeth ('59) and Bill Jr ('71).

If those things don’t sound familiar don’t worry. Auburn’s oldest living alum has a few years on you. Holley celebrated his 105th birthday Wednesday at the Henry County Nursing Home in Dothan (Auburn stuff was everywhere).

His walk into the real world coincided with the beginning of the Great Depression. The 1929 graduate would work as a pharmacist in Abbeville and soon after helped soldiers get their prescriptions in France during World War II. When the Army let him go he settled with his wife and family in Headland, Ala. He became a pillar of that community where he handed out medication until he retired in 1973. His son Bill, a 1971 Auburn graduate, took over the druggist desk. His son has since retired.

But the elder Holley refused to slow down long after retirement. He has maintained two farms, one in his hometown of Samson, Ala. and another in Headland. He was famously building fence lines by hand well into his 90s. He has four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren in his life. He maintained his driver’s license well beyond his centennial, “just in case.”

His API diploma, which is made of sheepskin, still proudly adorns a wall in his bedroom.

As he told Auburn Magazine, learning about Newton’s first law in a physics class has played a big role in his long life. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Living Right, he said simply, is the key. He’d know.

For video from Holley’s party, visit DothanFirst.com; h/t @migueltrivino.

Kenny graduated from Auburn at the turn of the century. He worked in newsrooms across the region and then earned a master’s degree at UAB. He met and married a Yankee, who declared her Auburn allegiance at her first home game. She’s now on the faculty at Auburn. He’s finishing his PhD at Alabama and teaches at Samford University. And he’s an assistant editor at The War Eagle Reader. See him online at www.kennysmith.org and @kennysmith.

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Essence Magazine recently named the Cam Newton of Auburn-claimed actors it’s Breakthrough Award winner for her role in the Oscar-nominated film “The Help.” She’ll be honored at Essence’s 5th Annual Black Women in Hollywood on Feb. 23. You can watch a live stream of the event on Essence.com at 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PST.

Earlier this month, Spencer won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (watch her acceptance speech here) and was this week nominated for an Academy Award in the same category.

h/t @FearlessandTrue; photo via.

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Our chances of landing that TWER interview grow slimmer by the day.

The Oscar nod for “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” was kind of fait accompli given recent award season trends; Spencer won a Golden Globes Award for “Best Supporting Actress” just last week (watch her acceptance speech here). She’ll be going up against Melissa McCarthy (“Bridesmaids”—Gilmore Girls represent), Janet McTeerand (“Albert Nobs”), Berenice Bejo (“The Artist”) and her co-star in “The Help,” Jessica Chastain.

The 84th Academy Awards show will be presented Sunday, Feb. 26 at Hollywood’s Kodak Theater.

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What's the over-under on philanthropy?

Two former Auburn track and fielders are betting that folks will really be into gambling for a good cause.

In November, Dave Maloney (’01) and Marc Hodulich (’02) started Charity Bets, a non-profit allowing donors to wager on an athlete’s performance in a particular sporting event. At their first big event last weekend, long distance runner Meb Keflezighi scored his Meb Foundation a solid grand by winning the U.S Olympic marathon trials. Here’s ESPN last week explaining how it all works:

Walt Thompson, a filmmaker living in Atlanta, asked Nealey Dozier, a food writer and 2006 Auburn grad, to become his wife by creating a stop motion video that tells the story of their courtship… in LEGOs.

It took several days and 2,600 photos—and at least one orange and blue outfitted LEGO figure representing Dozier.

And it worked.

The story has made the “Video of The Day” rounds on the internet for a week, including yes, a post on the UK’s Daily Mail titled: “I could never LEGO of you.”

You’re move, Eric Harshbarger!

Via AJC.com, h/t Auburn Elvis.

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Baribeau Knows: 2003 Auburn grad Rachel Baribeau wants to put the sports back into Birmingham sports talk.

Cox Media Group’s 97.3 The Zone might not be able to get Paul Finebaum away from WJOX, but they are trying something different in sports talk radio in Birmingham, with an Auburn alum sharing the helm.

Rachel Baribeau, Class of 2003, joins Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News for four hours of sports talk starting at 2 p.m.  They call themselves “Baribeau & Scarbo.”  (It rhymes.  Some might Southernize the pronunciation of her name to rhyme with “caribou,” but the former is the preferred pronunciation.)

First, a little background. When Cox revamped the station to a sports format last year, company reps made a conditional offer to Finebaum, according to the Birmingham Business Journal.  And Finebaum’s attorneys went to court to try to get him released from his contract with Citadel Broadcasting, which was recently purchased by Cumulus Media.

For the first few months, The Zone ran a rerun of the morning show “Rick & Bubba” in the 2 to 6 p.m. time slot.  It appeared that the station was keeping the slot open for Finebaum, should he be released from his contract with Citadel/Cumulus, which runs until 2013.

But the emergence of Baribeau and Scarbo would indicate that, for at least the short term, The Zone is going in a different direction.

According to Baribeau, the show is also going in a different direction.  “We are more interview-driven,” she said.  “It is a true sports talk program.”  Translation: No trash talk, no cast of characters, and no rumors.  In fact, The Zone, in its promos, proclaims, “Sports radio. Not trash radio.”

“Kevin Scarbinsky has been a journalist for 27 years,” she said.  “We double-check sources, we get statements from them.”

(Disclaimer: My listening experience for The Zone comprises less than an hour online, to get a sense of the content.  Reviews in comments would be appreciated.)

John Olsen, program director for The Zone, noted that the afternoon show, like the morning show with Eli Gold and Stan White (radio game announcers for Alabama and Auburn, respectively), stresses inside information.

“Eli and Stan have Coach Saban’s and Coach Chizik’s numbers on their cell phones,” Olsen said of the morning show.  In the afternoon, “We have the people who write the blogs and the articles.  These aren’t guys who go from home to station and tell you what they read in the paper that day.  They wrote it.”

Baribeau expressed a “large distaste for negative content.”  She pointed proudly to the show’s “Pay It Forward” segment on Fridays at 5 p.m., which presents positive stories such as Eric LeGrand, the paralyzed Rutgers football player; former Alabama football player John Croyle, who runs Big Oak Ranch, a Christian home for children; and former Auburn player Steven Wallace, who runs a foundation that reaches out to underprivileged children.

For Baribeau, the radio show is the latest challenge.  After graduating from Auburn, where the RTVF major worked for Eagle Eye News and the baseball team, she spent her first five years in a variety of media gigs in Columbus, Ga., including sports talk, Friday night sideline reporting and local broadcast freelancing.

In 2008, she went to work for the Tuscaloosa News, as a multimedia producer for the newspaper’s TideSports site.  (Talk about paying your dues.)  In 2011, she joined FoxSports and Scout.com as a field reporter covering the SEC West and recruiting.  The Baribeau and Scarbo opportunity emerged in late November.

She is encouraged by the initial response to the program.  “The feedback has been tremendous,” she said.  “People appreciate a choice, an alternative.”  The program is also broadcast in Montgomery on 107.5 The Ticket.

Olsen added, “They have developed a pretty quick chemistry.  It’s a good alternative for sports fans in the area.”

So what is the long-term prognosis for the program?  A medium like radio can be unforgiving and unstable.  Olsen is pleased with the content and the feedback so far, at the same time admitting that others above him make the decisions for the program’s future.

Baribeau has been in broadcasting long enough to know the same, but she says, “I appreciate the commitment by Cox Media to do this, and we are doing the best we can.”

Still, Cox Media obviously feels that the Birmingham market can serve as the headquarters for two sports talk shows.  Baribeau and Scarbo have tried to set themselves apart with a show that is heavier on the information and lighter on the inter-caller drama.

The brief time that I listened included an MLK Day-based discussion of the “Rooney Rule” (which encourages minority hiring in the NFL), with a sports attorney as the guest.

It’s an extension of Baribeau’s personality.  She is open about her Christian faith, and it’s reflected in her attitude and her approach, though not overtly on the program.

How that plays in the rough and tumble of sports talk radio is yet to be determined, of course.  Here is hoping she doesn’t catch the ill treatment fans wish they could heap on Tim Tebow.

Fans wanting to judge for themselves can check out 97.3 in Birmingham and 107.5 in Montgomery, or can stream theshow at 973thezone.com.  The “Listen” button is at the top.

Photos via.

John Carvalho, associate professor of journalism at Auburn, blogs about the sports media at johncarvalhoau.tumblr.com. (He had nothing to do with this story’s headline.) Find him on Twitter at @johncarvalhoau. Read his previous columns here.

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More like Air Tiger, am I right Justin?

Via our friends at AUFamily.

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If anyone holds the record for War Eagle Moments in New York City, it's probably Lisa Weldon, who frequently wore an Auburn shirt during a 30-day exploration across every square mile of Manhattan last spring

Lisa Weldon, ’74, decided last year she needed something different in her career. A lifelong advertising executive based in Atlanta, she felt she was missing out on the newest trends in the business, primarily social media. She set out to change that by enrolling in a course at Parsons in New York City. She found an apartment, budgeted for food and started a blog. But 10 days before she was to leave for her 30-day city adventure, the class was canceled.

“I already had my apartment and my ticket, so I designed my own curriculum, found short classes around the city and implemented the classes as I walked the city,” Weldon said.

She spent 30 days learning about social media and walking every square mile of Manhattan.

“I divided up the miles between the 30 days, then I blogged about it, Facebooked it, Tweeted it and put it on YouTube,” she said. “I believe I learned more the way I did it than being in a classroom all day.”

Weldon's first time in NYC, 1977.

Weldon walked anywhere from 4-10 miles a day while not in class, ending the day in her apartment downloading photos, researching and writing. Some days, she added her work from Atlanta into the mix. As exhausted as she felt some days, New York gave her an energy unlike any other place she’s been.

“When I step off the plane in New York, my body becomes electrified,” she said. “No other city in the world affects me like that.”

Some days, Weldon said she’d wake up and 6 a.m. and have to make herself stay inside until it was light outside.

“It was the most glorious 30 days of my life,” she said.

But what started out for Weldon as a social media jump start for her career quickly turned into something entirely different.

“Instead of just going to learn and figure out the second half of my life, I began to motivate others with my life,” she said.

Not long after the journey began, she realized many of her followers were women in her same age group.

“I had a lot of women log on with sad stories, and they started sharing them with me,” she said. “One woman wanted to go back to school and after reading my blog, signed up for classes.”

Other women shared similar stories about how life happened and their dreams were cast aside.

“I started building relationships with these women,” Weldon said. On her website, Weldon shared a story about a woman battling cancer with a dream of going to Ireland. “What I’d really love is to open Facebook one day and see my friend in a photo in Ireland,” she writes. “That’s what I’d really love.”

Weldon, who has three children in college – two at Auburn – has set her sights on two more cities to navigate by foot. She hopes to make it to New Orleans in March and Paris in September. The New Orleans experience could be an all-expenses paid trip courtesy of several organizations. The organizations are footing the bill for 25 people to spend a month in the “Big Easy” walking and enjoying the city with the agreement to share the experience through social media.

“They got a grant to do this,” Weldon said. “It’s a great idea. I don’t know why more cities don’t do it.”

Weldon leaving Atlanta for New York last June.

September’s trip across the ocean will be a bit trickier. Through websites and the help of friends, Weldon has started navigating the hunt for an apartment and is slowly beginning the planning for the month-long move.

“If you can live in Manhattan, you can live in Paris,” she said. “You run into people, and you just get to know people; the grocer, the people next door.

“Part of the beauty of going by yourself is you are forced to talk to people,” she said. “I’m kind of shy when it comes to meeting people, but this forces you to talk to others.”

Aside from seeing sights off the beaten path, learning new things, discovering new foods and seeing the underbelly of a city, Weldon said the freedom is truly liberating.

“You can wake up every single morning and decide what to do,” she said. “There’s a freedom to that. You can think, and plan and evaluate your life – it’s healthy.”

Before leaving Atlanta for the “Big Apple,” she asked her daughter to buy her an Auburn T-shirt to wear in New York.

“I wanted to try and plug out some Auburn folks,” she said. “Sure enough, the first day I wore it, a guy walked out of a coffee shop and said, ‘War Eagle.’ It’s so cool to hear.”

She plans on taking the same Auburn shirt to Paris.

You find Weldon online at http://blog.lisaweldon.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/LisaWeldonNYC. Follower her on Twitter: @lisaweldon.

Victoria Cumbow is a 2008 Auburn graduate. She’s a Communications Specialist with HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville and a freelance journalist. Find her online at victoriacumbow.com  and follow her on Twitter @victoriacumbow.

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Montgomery native and 1994 Auburn graduate Octavia Spencer won the Hollywood Foreign Press’ award for Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A Supporting Role for her critically acclaimed performance as a maid in Civil Rights-era Mississippi in the 2011 film “The Help.”

Fittingly, Spencer quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in her acceptance speech.

“The narrative (of “The Help”) itself is part of our fabric,” Spencer told CNN backstage “It’s important to keep the younger generation abreast of how far we’ve come, because this is really foreign to them.”

h/t  Caroline Harrell; video services once again provided by Jeff Poor.

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