04/20/1999

1999 AU Ag Alumni Association Hall of Honor Inductees Announced

AUBURN, Ala. - Three Alabamians who represent diverse areas of agriculture, but all share the common thread of excellence and service to their industry and community, were inducted recently into the Auburn University Agricultural Alumni Association's Hall of Honor.

The 1999 inductees include Wayne Shell, a pioneer in commercial production of food fish; Wyndol Murrah, a financial leader who helped untold numbers of Alabama farmers succeed in business; and Lawrence Crawford, a veterinarian and cattle producer who helped improve the state's livestock industry.

Shell was born and reared in rural Butler County. After graduating from high school he came to Auburn University to study forestry, but found agriculture -- more specifically the new fisheries program at Auburn -- more to his liking. He graduated from Auburn in 1952 with a bachelor's degree in fish management and went on to earn a master's degree in fish management from Auburn. At the urging of his Auburn mentor, Homer Swingle, Shell went to Cornell University where he earned the Ph.D. in fish biology.

When Shell returned to Auburn in 1959, the university had no commercial fisheries program. In fact, fisheries was a program within the Department of Zoology and Entomology. When the Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures was founded in 1970, Shell unofficially served as the first department head, filling in for Swingle who was working abroad. Shell became the permanent department head in 1973.

Though trained as a fish biologist, Shell found that he had a great talent for working with people and he used those skills to develop Auburn's international fisheries program, which became one of the world's largest and best under Shell's leadership. During his tenure at Auburn, Shell worked with students from five continents and more than 60 countries. He also traveled and worked in many foreign countries.

Despite his keen interest in international development, Shell also shared Swingle's dream of establishing a food fish industry in Alabama. Shell sustained that dream and played a key role in the implementation and development of the catfish industry in Alabama in the late 1960s. Many of the production and nutrition programs established for catfish production and still used by the industry today were spawned by Shell and his staff.

Though he is technically retired, Shell continues to work in the area of fish production and international development and is writing a history of Alabama agriculture. He and his wife, Jean, live in Auburn. The Shells have two sons, Ben, who lives in Auburn, and Dan, who lives in Montgomery.

Wyndol Murrah grew up on a small farm in Chilton County. He and his wife, Betty, still spend time on the 24-acre farm where his family grew cotton and truck crops during Murrah's youth. After graduating from Chilton County High School, Murrah worked in a drug store in Clanton to save money to attend Auburn University. With the help of his family and a $100 Sears and Roebuck Scholarship, Murrah made it to Auburn, but World War II interceded and his education was delayed for several years.

During the war, Murrah fought in the Battle of the Huertgen Forest and suffered severe frostbite to his feet. As evidence of his future perseverance, he struggled to recover from his injuries and came home in 1945 to marry the former Betty Brown.

Murrah returned to college in 1946 and earned a degree in agricultural education in 1947. In 1950, he joined the staff of the Production Credit Association (PCA) as an assistant county supervisor and moved to Bay Minette as a county supervisor in 1952. In 1959, he was selected to head the PCA office in Bay Minette, and in 1964 Murrah was named president of PCA in Ozark, where he worked until 1984. Murrah then worked two years in Montgomery before he retired in 1986.

During Murrah's 20-year stint as president of PCA, loans increased from $2 million in 1964 to more than $60 million in 1984. Through his leadership role with PCA, Murrah played a key role in development of a thriving poultry industry in South Alabama and was a staunch supporter of Auburn University's Farm Analysis, Feeder CW and Crossroads programs.

He and Betty continue to reside in Ozark. They have four children: Rick Murrah of Ozark, Gayle Homer of Montgomery, Donna Robbins of Langley, Va. and Sara Ivey of Denver, Colo.

Lawrence Crawford was born near Morgan Springs in Marion County and continues to live and operate a successful cattle operation on his family's farm. During the Depression, Crawford's father recognized the potential for cattle production on the prairie land of south Perry County, and moved his family there.

Though he received most of his early education in Perry County schools, Crawford moved to Auburn to live with his brother and graduated from Auburn High School. Having spent his early years working with livestock, Murrah decided to major in veterinary medicine, and he graduated from Auburn's Veterinary School in 1942. Shortly after graduation, in 1943, he married the former Gloria Huey.

Crawford first practiced veterinary medicine in Mobile from 1942 until 1946, then moved back to Perry County where he practiced for 30 years until his retirement. During his years as a veterinarian, he never refused treatment to any animal, no matter how large or small, though his specialty was large animals. Throughout much of his career, Crawford was the only veterinarian in Perry and surrounding counties, and he worked tirelessly to help Black Belt cattle and dairy producers maintain the health and productivity of their herds.

While working as a veterinarian, Crawford also built one of the state's top beef cattle operations. Among his many contributions to Alabama agriculture are stints as president of the Alabama Cattleman's Association, Alabama Angus Association and Alabama Veterinary Medicine Association. He has held virtually every county office and served on state boards for the Alabama Farmers Federation and he is a charter member of the National Cattlemen's Association. In addition to his livestock work, Crawford has won numerous awards for forest excellence, including a Treasure Forest Certificate in 1986. He also was a founding member of the AU Agricultural Alumni Association.

Lawrence and Gloria Crawford have two children: George, who manages the family livestock operation and lives in Marion, and Shirley Dorrough, who lives in 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
by Roy Roberson

04/20/99