Florence

Tom Braly Municipal Stadium is a stadium in Florence, Alabama. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the University of... North Alabama Lions and the Florence High School Falcons. It also hosts the NCAA Division II national football championship game which is broadcast on ESPN. The 14,215-seat stadium, home field of the University of North Alabama, was chosen as the host stadium for the Division II National Championship game in 1986. The stadium is a block east of the university campus and adjacent to the Florence Middle School/Freshman Center. The middle school was formerly Coffee High School, but was transformed in 2004 when Florence's two public high schools merged. The city of Florence, rather than the university, owns the stadium. Braly is named for Thomas Braly, Jr., a Coffee High School coach who was principal of the school from 1945 until his death in 1963. Seating capacity has increased by 6,200 seats since 1980 . The original playing surface featured a sand foundation that enabled the field to withstand six inches of rain at one time without altering the footing.
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Wesleyan Hall, constructed in 1856, is one of the oldest structures on the University of North Alabama campus, located in Florence, Alabama. With its... distinctive towers, Wesleyan Hall also is considered one of the most eminent landmarks in North Alabama. The Gothic Revival structure was designed to serve LaGrange College when this Methodist institution relocated from Franklin to Lauderdale county and subsequently was renamed and rechartered as Florence Wesleyan University. In 1856, the year the structure was completed, a President's Report showed an enrollment of 180 students. The fledgling university peaked at 225 students in the early 1860s, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. During the war, Wesleyan Hall was occupied by both Union and Confederate armies. General William Tecumseh Sherman is considered the most famous Union occupant of Wesleyan Hall during the war. In late 1864, shortly before his ill-fated involvement in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Confederate General John Bell Hood occupied the building. The surrounding grounds were occupied by his troops and served as a meeting place for military personnel and townspeople for parties, dances and concerts.
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Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an... important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s. He was a producer, label owner, and talent scout throughout the '40s and '50s. He most notably founded Sun Studios and Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Through Sun, Phillips discovered such recording talent as Howlin' Wolf, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. The height of his success culminated in his launching of Elvis Presley's career in 1954. He is also associated with several other noteworthy rhythm and blues and rock and roll stars of the period. Phillips sold Sun in 1969. He was an early investor in the Holiday Inn chain of hotels. Phillips was the youngest of eight children, born on a farm near Florence, Alabama to poor tenant farmers. As a child he picked cotton in the fields with his parents alongside black laborers. The experience of the workers singing in the fields left a big impression on the young Phillips.
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Angela Hacker is an American country music singer. In 2007, she was the winner of the USA Network talent show Nashville Star. Her brother Zac... finished second the same year. She released an album via Warner Bros. Records in 2007, although it did not chart and produced no singles. Angela Hacker and her brother, Zac, are natives of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. She lives in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with her son, Bay Simpson. Her first musical interests came at age thirteen after she won a local talent competition at her high school, in Hatton, AL. In 2007, she and Zac both entered the television competition Nashville Star, in which she was the fifth season's winner and Zac was second-place. Hacker's debut album, The Winner Is Angela Hacker, was released on April 3, 2007 via Warner Bros. Records. It was only available at Wal-Mart stores, and was composed largely of cover songs that she first sang on Nashville Star. She also made appearances on the tracks "Hick Chick" and "Lock Me Up" on Cowboy Troy's 2008 album Black in the Saddle, but was soon dropped from Warner Bros.' roster. In 2008 Angela signed a record deal with FAME Records.
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Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an... important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s. He was a producer, label owner, and talent scout throughout the '40s and '50s. He most notably founded Sun Studios and Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Through Sun, Phillips discovered such recording talent as Howlin' Wolf, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. The height of his success culminated in his launching of Elvis Presley's career in 1954. He is also associated with several other noteworthy rhythm and blues and rock and roll stars of the period. Phillips sold Sun in 1969. He was an early investor in the Holiday Inn chain of hotels. Phillips was the youngest of eight children, born on a farm near Florence, Alabama to poor tenant farmers. As a child he picked cotton in the fields with his parents alongside black laborers. The experience of the workers singing in the fields left a big impression on the young Phillips.
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Arthur Alexander was an American country soul singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for Allmusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and... though largely unknown, "his music is the stuff of genius, a poignant and deeply intimate body of work on par with the best of his contemporaries." Alexander was born in Sheffield, Alabama. Working with Spar Music in Florence, Alabama, Alexander recorded his first single, "Sally Sue Brown", under the name of June Alexander , which was released in 1960 on Jud Phillips' Judd Records. . A year later, Alexander cut "You Better Move On" at a former tobacco warehouse-turned-recording studio in Muscle Shoals. Released on Nashville's Dot Records, the song became a soul/R&B chart hit, and laid the foundation for the modern recording studio FAME. "You Better Move On" is perhaps Alexander's best-known song, covered by the Rolling Stones, the Hollies, George Jones & Johnny Paycheck and Mink DeVille. "Anna ", a U.S. R&B Top Ten Hit, was covered by the Beatles and Humble Pie.
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Dennis Condrey is an American professional wrestler, best known as being one half of the tag team Midnight Express. He is currently signed to World... Wrestling Entertainment as a trainer for Florida Championship Wrestling. Dennis Condrey started wrestling in 1973 in the Tennessee area. He moved on to Alabama's Southeast Championship Wrestling and formed the Midnight Express in 1981 with Randy Rose and Norvell Austin. They dominated the tag team scene there until Condrey left for Mid-South wrestling in 1984. Once there, he formed a new version of the Midnight Express with Bobby Eaton with Jim Cornette as their manager. They also started a legendary feud with the Rock 'n' Roll Express that carried over into the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985. In early 1986, Condrey and Eaton won the NWA World Tag Team Titles from the Rock 'n' Roll Express and feuded with them until Condrey left the promotion in early 1987. He literally left overnight, giving no notice to Cornette, Eaton, or the NWA. Condrey would reunite with former partner Randy Rose in the AWA under manager Paul E. Dangerously.
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Robert Autry Inman , was an American country and rockabilly musician. Inman was born in Florence, Alabama, and was performing on local radio station... WLAY by age 14. He used his middle name "Autry" as his stage name. After completing school he worked as a reporter for the Lauderdale Co. Law & Equity Court. Shortly thereafter he was tapped to join Cowboy Copas's band, the Oklahoma Cowboys, as a bassist. Aside from this he also played in George Morgan's Candy Kids until 1952. He released his first solo singles on the small label Bullet Records; in 1952 he signed with Decca Records, for whom he recorded over 40 country songs. However, service in the Army interrupted his career. After his dismissal he switched to playing rockabilly music in 1956, then at the height of its popularity. His first single in the style, "Be Bop Baby" b/w "It Would Be a Doggone Lie", became the best-known of his rockabilly titles. He changed to RCA Records in 1958, releasing further rockabilly singles but to limited success.
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Cedric Pendleton is an actor.