02/06/1992

Hall of Honor Inductees Announced

AUBURN, Ala., - Three leaders in Alabama agriculture were inducted into the Alabama Agriculture Hall of Honor Jan. 28 during the annual Hall of Honor Banquet and the annual meeting of the Auburn University Agricultural Alumni Association.

Joe Hood, a long-time faculty member in Auburn University's Department of Agronomy and Soils; Goodwin Myrick, president of the Alabama Farmers Federation and Alfa Insurance Company; and Walter B. Shaw, Sr., a well-known cotton farmer from Limestone County, all were inducted into the Hall of Honor. The Hall of Honor is located in Comer Hall on the Auburn Campus and was started in 1985 to honor Alabamians who have made outstanding contributions to the State's agricultural industry.

Hood, a native of Georgia, joined the Auburn teaching faculty in 1949 and has taught soil science to more than 9,000 Auburn students during his tenure at Auburn. Though he retired in 1986, he continues to teach part-time in the Department.

Myrick, a native of Etowah County, has been a successful dairy farmer for many years and was elected president of the Farmers Federation in 1978. Since his election, Federation membership has grown from 223,000 to 340,000.

Shaw, a native of Limestone County, began his farming career as a sharecropper in 1935. He has since built a farming operation that now covers 645 acres of owned land and some 2,500 acres of leased land. He produces cotton and soybeans and, through the years, has also produced vetch for seed, corn, peonies, hogs, registered and grade cattle, and alfalfa.

Some 350 people were on hand for the banquet to see the men inducted. The three join 21 other Alabamians who have been previously inducted into the Hall of Honor.

During the annual meeting and banquet, the Ag Alumni Association, an organization of alumni and friends of Auburn University agriculture, also elected new officers. They include Dr. Joe Yeager of Auburn, president; Steve Musser of New Brockton, vice president; Bill Alverson of Auburn, secretary-treasurer; and John Spence of Birmingham, assistant treasurer.

New members also were elected to the Board of Directors. They include: W.B. "Dub" Webster of Decatur; Tinsley Gregg of Gadsden; Greg Whitis of Greensboro; Ron Jernigan of Dothan; and Doug Rigney of Montgomery.

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
Contact Katie Jackson, 334-844-5886 or smithcl@auburn.edu

February 6, 1992