Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2006-09-27

Sarah Rogers of Hoover won first place in the 2006 Alabama Governor's School Essay and Alabama Hero award contest. The competition is sponsored annually by the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame and Vulcan Materials Company.

Rogers, whose winning essay was on the late Birmingham businessman A.G. Gaston, is a senior at Hoover High School.

Wilson Franklin of Montgomery won second place for his essay on the late U.S. Army surgeon general William Crawford Gorgas. Franklin is a senior at Lyman Ward Military Academy.

Ted Gillespie of Madison won third place for his essay on the late U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Hugo Black. Gillespie is a senior at Catholic High School.

The essays were written while the students were attending Alabama Governor's School at Samford University in June. They were enrolled in a class entitled "In Search of the Great Alabama Hero."

The winners were recognized Tuesday (Sept. 26) at The Club during the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame induction ceremony luncheon sponsored by the Women's Committee of 100 for Birmingham.

The late U.S. Senator John J. Sparkman was inducted into the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame during the ceremony. The Hall of Fame is housed in Samford's Harwell G. Davis Library.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.