Per my subjective list, either DeMarcus Ware or “Sister Schubert” Barnes are the most famous people who once lived in Troy. Douglas Edwards held this honor for many decades.
I was just surfing Facebook and saw a post from Tonya Terry, who is from Troy and became central Alabama's version of Oprah Winfrey at WSFA. Tonya became quite famous in our quadrant of Alabama.
... Check that: Bubba Trotman is no longer our state's "most famous Bubba." I forgot about Bubba of "Rick and Bubba" fame. Still, Bubba Trotman was known by an awful lot of people.
My husband is a big country music fan. When I tried to persuade him that we should keep some hens in our back garden, I said that he could name them. Our first two hens were called Miss Audrey after Hank Williams’s wife & June (Carter Cash).
The most interesting person I met while attending T-Roy Tech [lol] was my history prof. Dr. Jack Carroll. He was one of a kind. I remember one night late after the bars closed my roommate and I went to have late night snack. We ended sharing a table with him and he told my roommate she looked like Veronica Lake. We didn't have a clue who that was. https://www.troymessenger.com/2014/08/13/looking-back-carroll-tsu-professor-or-rhett-butler/
I need to do a feature story on Dr. Carroll. He was one of Troy's all-time great characters. He shared in a Pulitzer prize for history writing for his work on a biography of George Washington. I had him for a class. I don't ever remember him giving a lecture on anything. We/he just shot the bull for 50 minutes ... but it was always interesting.
You should. I enjoyed his class and seeing him walk around the campus in his white suits, boots and hat was awesome. He looked so much like Rhett Butler but if my memory from 1977 is correct he had a Clint Eastwood like mouth snarl too. LOL
Thanks, Bonnie. I'm sure every small town is proud of their history. Troy has produced a fascinating roster of colorful characters, some of whom became famous or semi-famous.
What a treat to read about truly decent people! on the eve of an election that is going to leave a nasty taste in everyone’s mouth no matter what happens. I love the South for its character. My own city was incorporated in 1977, is led by a corrupt team assembled by our ambulance-chasing mayor who actually lives 100 miles away, and hates anything built more than 30 years ago.
Here's a link to my 6-13 story on best-selling crime novelist Ace Atkins, who was born in Troy and also was a defensive end on Auburn's undefeated 1993 football team.
I should have added Steve Flowers to my list of famous Trojans. Steve, who became well-known as a state representative for many years, became well-known throughout Alabama when he started writing a newspaper column on state politics. That column eventually was syndicated state-wide with most newspapers and news organizations in the state running Steve's weekly columns.
He was also hired as WAKA's TV political analyst, replacing the late Bob Ingram as central Alabama's best-known TV political analyst.
Steve, who lives across the street from my Grandmother's former house on Murphree Street, has very high "name ID" across Alabama.
His column is excellent and he does a great job on TV.
Other names - thanks to a reader for adding these worthy names (These people were mentioned in Dad's book):
Others in history from Troy: Admiral Henry A Wiley who was US Secretary of the Navy, William J Dyess who was US Ambassador to the Netherlands, Lucien Gardner who was chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Ct, Oliver C Wiley who was a US Congressman.
Several other former Troy University athletes became well-known outside of Troy. In addition to DeMarcus Ware, the best known former Troy football player is Osi Umenyiora (who, like Ware, is originally from Auburn.) Osi, who made All-Pro several times, played for the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons and married a former Miss Universe.
Danny Cox, a standout pitcher for Chase Riddle’s Trojans, had a solid career as a starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Several other former Trojans made it to the NFL and the Major Leagues.
Former Troy All-American quarterbacks Sim Byrd, yet another ASHOF member, and Mike Turk, a long-time Troy assistant coach who is now well-known as Huntingdon’s head football coach, are also very well known.
As is Tracy Rocker, who won the Outland and Lombardi Trophies while an All-American defensive lineman at Auburn and got his coaching start at Troy under Coach Blakeney. Rocker, now an assistant coach in the NFL, is in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
Ron Ingram, from Brundidge, became our state’s best-known sports journalist covering high school sports and is now director of media affairs for the AHSAA.
The fact Sister Schubert Barnes is known as “Sister” (and not Patricia) probably explains why so many people remember this name.
Aside: In the future, I”m going to re-run one of my late mother’s columns on local people who were known only by their nicknames - not their birth certificate name. For example, “Sister” Wood, “Brother” Chapman, “Baba” Head Hendricks and “Toot” Green, etc. I bet many people think Sister is/was a nun! Certainly, Sister’s unique family nickname explains why millions of Americans are familiar with this name.
Regarding the influence of Troy’s most “influential” former citizen, Urban Jones … Basically, if the railroad had not come through Troy, most of the historically-significant events that later happened … wouldn’t have happened. Also, many people - famous or otherwise - who later lived in Troy and made significant contributions to our community would have never settled in our town.
FWIW, as I learned from Dad’s history books, Mr. Jones went broke bringing the railroad to Troy.
I was just surfing Facebook and saw a post from Tonya Terry, who is from Troy and became central Alabama's version of Oprah Winfrey at WSFA. Tonya became quite famous in our quadrant of Alabama.
... Check that: Bubba Trotman is no longer our state's "most famous Bubba." I forgot about Bubba of "Rick and Bubba" fame. Still, Bubba Trotman was known by an awful lot of people.
Quick Correction: I made an error in the first paragraph! The railroad that "Urban Jones brought to Troy" was finished in 1870 ... not 1844.
My husband is a big country music fan. When I tried to persuade him that we should keep some hens in our back garden, I said that he could name them. Our first two hens were called Miss Audrey after Hank Williams’s wife & June (Carter Cash).
The most interesting person I met while attending T-Roy Tech [lol] was my history prof. Dr. Jack Carroll. He was one of a kind. I remember one night late after the bars closed my roommate and I went to have late night snack. We ended sharing a table with him and he told my roommate she looked like Veronica Lake. We didn't have a clue who that was. https://www.troymessenger.com/2014/08/13/looking-back-carroll-tsu-professor-or-rhett-butler/
And he has a Wikipedia page as well!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Alexander_Carroll
I need to do a feature story on Dr. Carroll. He was one of Troy's all-time great characters. He shared in a Pulitzer prize for history writing for his work on a biography of George Washington. I had him for a class. I don't ever remember him giving a lecture on anything. We/he just shot the bull for 50 minutes ... but it was always interesting.
You should. I enjoyed his class and seeing him walk around the campus in his white suits, boots and hat was awesome. He looked so much like Rhett Butler but if my memory from 1977 is correct he had a Clint Eastwood like mouth snarl too. LOL
I’m from Michigan .. but Troy sure has an interesting history!
Thanks, Bonnie. I'm sure every small town is proud of their history. Troy has produced a fascinating roster of colorful characters, some of whom became famous or semi-famous.
What a treat to read about truly decent people! on the eve of an election that is going to leave a nasty taste in everyone’s mouth no matter what happens. I love the South for its character. My own city was incorporated in 1977, is led by a corrupt team assembled by our ambulance-chasing mayor who actually lives 100 miles away, and hates anything built more than 30 years ago.
there's a 1871 locomotive in the pioneer museum of alabama that was driven by hank williams' dad
so it had to be pretty old by the time he got his hands on the throttle!
https://www.pioneer-museum.org/events/
Really enjoyed this article Bill, but there was an error. Stewart was known as "Rug". LOL
AKA "The Rug Doctor!"
Sister Schubert is very influential in our home!!
Yep, she is. The Wood sister that gave Sister her name lives in my parents' previous house. I sold it to her and tried to later buy it back!
Here's a link to my 6-13 story on best-selling crime novelist Ace Atkins, who was born in Troy and also was a defensive end on Auburn's undefeated 1993 football team.
https://thetroycitizen.substack.com/p/i-didnt-know-best-selling-novelist
I should have added Steve Flowers to my list of famous Trojans. Steve, who became well-known as a state representative for many years, became well-known throughout Alabama when he started writing a newspaper column on state politics. That column eventually was syndicated state-wide with most newspapers and news organizations in the state running Steve's weekly columns.
He was also hired as WAKA's TV political analyst, replacing the late Bob Ingram as central Alabama's best-known TV political analyst.
Steve, who lives across the street from my Grandmother's former house on Murphree Street, has very high "name ID" across Alabama.
His column is excellent and he does a great job on TV.
Other names - thanks to a reader for adding these worthy names (These people were mentioned in Dad's book):
Others in history from Troy: Admiral Henry A Wiley who was US Secretary of the Navy, William J Dyess who was US Ambassador to the Netherlands, Lucien Gardner who was chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Ct, Oliver C Wiley who was a US Congressman.
Several other former Troy University athletes became well-known outside of Troy. In addition to DeMarcus Ware, the best known former Troy football player is Osi Umenyiora (who, like Ware, is originally from Auburn.) Osi, who made All-Pro several times, played for the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons and married a former Miss Universe.
Danny Cox, a standout pitcher for Chase Riddle’s Trojans, had a solid career as a starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Several other former Trojans made it to the NFL and the Major Leagues.
Former Troy All-American quarterbacks Sim Byrd, yet another ASHOF member, and Mike Turk, a long-time Troy assistant coach who is now well-known as Huntingdon’s head football coach, are also very well known.
As is Tracy Rocker, who won the Outland and Lombardi Trophies while an All-American defensive lineman at Auburn and got his coaching start at Troy under Coach Blakeney. Rocker, now an assistant coach in the NFL, is in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
Ron Ingram, from Brundidge, became our state’s best-known sports journalist covering high school sports and is now director of media affairs for the AHSAA.
The fact Sister Schubert Barnes is known as “Sister” (and not Patricia) probably explains why so many people remember this name.
Aside: In the future, I”m going to re-run one of my late mother’s columns on local people who were known only by their nicknames - not their birth certificate name. For example, “Sister” Wood, “Brother” Chapman, “Baba” Head Hendricks and “Toot” Green, etc. I bet many people think Sister is/was a nun! Certainly, Sister’s unique family nickname explains why millions of Americans are familiar with this name.
Regarding the influence of Troy’s most “influential” former citizen, Urban Jones … Basically, if the railroad had not come through Troy, most of the historically-significant events that later happened … wouldn’t have happened. Also, many people - famous or otherwise - who later lived in Troy and made significant contributions to our community would have never settled in our town.
FWIW, as I learned from Dad’s history books, Mr. Jones went broke bringing the railroad to Troy.