03/02/2001

Agricultural Leaders Inducted into Auburn's Hall of Honor

AUBURN, Ala.—Three living legends and two posthumous ones were inducted into the Auburn University Agricultural Alumni Association's Hall of Honor, held recently.

Senator Howell Heflin of Tuscumbia, Albert F. Caley, Jr., of Marion Junction and Watt Andy Ellis, Jr., of Centre will be honored during the Ag Alumni's annual meeting and will formally become the 49th, 50th and 51st inductees into the elite group of leaders of Alabama's agricultural industry.

Receiving Pioneer Awards posthumously will be Joseph Allison Kyser, a beef and cattle producer from Greensboro, and Alexander Nunn, former editor executive vice-president of Progressive Farmer magazine.

Recipients of these awards are nominated by the membership of the Ag Alumni Association, then selected by the board of directors of the organization. Plaques recognizing the members are displayed in the main hall of Comer Hall, the main agricultural building on the AU campus.

Howell Heflin grew up in rural Alabama the son of Methodist minister. He is a war hero, having fought in key campaigns in the Pacific theater of war in WWII. He established and built a successful law career and later served as the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. However, his 16 years in the U.S. Senate established him as a true friend of agriculture. Through his leadership and support the agricultural remained the leading industry in Alabama.

Sen. Heflin was instrumental in opening up markets for U.S. beef in Japan. He initiated legislation to move aquaculture from the Department of Interior to the Department of Agriculture, providing tremendous assistance to the development of Alabama's catfish industry. His efforts were largely responsible for maintaining a government supported peanut program, and his contributions to agriculture and rural development have led to a better way of life for many Alabamians.

Though he never planted a crop or sold a head of livestock, Howell Heflin has had a tremendous impact on Alabama's agricultural industry.

Albert F. Caley, better known to legions in Alabama's agricultural industry as Sonny, grew up on a dairy farm in Marion Junction. Though the dairy closed in 1995, Sonny still raises cattle and hay near his birthplace in Marion Junction.

Like Sen. Heflin, Caley is a true war hero. He fought through Burma and in China, over much of the same territory made famous by Merrill's Marauders. His college education was interrupted by the War, but he returned to Auburn to earn a degree in agricultural administration.

Always a steward of the land, Caley became active in soil and water conservation measures and has held state and national leadership environmental-related positions. He was awarded the prestigious W. Kelly Mosely Environmental Award in 1995 in recognition of his many years of both preaching and practicing soil and water conservation.

Watt Andy Ellis, known all over the world as Dub, sold his first crop of cotton when he was 13 years old, and he's never looked back during his distinguished career in agriculture.

Like his fellow inductees, Ellis's education and career were interrupted by WWII. In addition his career was interrupted by service in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

After returning to Auburn and earning a degree in Ag Science from Auburn University, Ellis returned to Cherokee County to work for the family farming operation, which consisted of livestock, row crop and timber production. In 1951, he and his brother Jim built a small chemical de-linting operation, primarily to remove cocklebur from cotton fiber. Later the built mechanical de-linting operations in Mississippi and Arizona. From their small operation in Ellisville, Ala., they built a cotton seed processing and sales operation that still ships seed all over the world.

Always a leader and innovator, Dub helped establish the Alabama Crop Improvement Association and served as its early leader. He has held leadership roles in numerous professional organizations, and in 1977 became the first Alabamian to win the Watershed Man of the Year Award.

Ellis continues his pioneering spirit today. He recently joined with the World Bank and other investors to rebuild a cotton industry in Uzbekistan, which was a part of the Soviet Union. His new company, Central Asia Seed Company, played a key role in the harvest and ginning of over 40,000 tons of cotton in the first year of production, which was last year.

In addition to living legends, the Ag Alumni Association also honors past pioneers of agriculture. This year's recipients, Alex Nunn and Joe Kaiser, are true representatives of the pioneering spirit of Alabama's farmers.

Kaiser was a dairyman and beef cattle producer who got involved in catfish production in the late 1960s. Little did he know at the time that his four 10-acre ponds-the first built in Alabama for catfish production-- would be the catalyst to spawn Alabama's $100 million a year catfish industry.

He developed his original four ponds into one of the largest catfish production operations in the nation. He retired from catfish production in the 1980s, turning that part of the farming operation over to his son, Bill Kaiser. Until his death in 1995, Kaiser continued to raise beef cattle.

During his career Kaiser helped organize and was a charter member of Alabama Farmers Federation Catfish Commodity Division. He was instrumental in establishing Federal Land Banks Associations and Federal Production Credit Banks to benefit catfish and beef cattle producers. He served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Land Bank Associations and was appointed by President Reagan to serve on the Federal Farm Credit Board.

Nunn grew up in Loachapoka, a stone's throw from Auburn University. He earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural education from Auburn, and upon graduation joined the staff of Progressive Farmer magazine. Under his leadership, Progressive Farmer grew into the top agricultural production periodical in the nation. He was also instrumental in establishing Southern Living magazine prior to his retirement in 1967.

Nunn was an avid supporter of agriculture and of rural life as a spokesman for agriculture. He served as served during the Kennedy administration on the National Cotton Advisory Committee and as National Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Vocational Agriculture.

Equally active in business and civic affairs, Nunn served on the board of directors of Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Agriculture Hall of Fame and the Farm Foundation. He was longtime civic leader with the Downtown Birmingham Lions Club and later with the Auburn Lions Club.

Collectively, the 2001 inductees into the Hall of Honor and the Pioneer Award winners personify the excellence, innovation, and pioneering spirit that has made agriculture the state's leading industry.

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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 Roy Roberson, rroberson@farmpress.com

Roy Roberson

03/02/01