Lewis Grizzard

Through thousands of newspaper columns and twenty books, the Georgia-born humorist forged a bond with Southern readers—whether he wrote about football-carrying Dawgs in Athens, the chili variety at the Varsity, or his beloved black Lab, Catfish. At twenty-three the UGA alum became the youngest sports editor in the history of the Atlanta Journal, where he worked alongside his idol Furman Bisher. But when the Atlanta Constitution assigned him to write a column in 1977, Grizzard became a star, syndicated in 450 newspapers and with recurring visits to Johnny Carson’s couch on The Tonight Show. He died from heart failure at age forty-seven. A portion of his ashes was scattered on the fifty-yard line at Sanford Stadium.

Interview with Pat Conroy

In his interview with Teresa Weaver, Pat Conroy says: "The great thing about all my siblings is we all agree we had a horrendous childhood. It’s not like it doesn’t affect us now; it affects us every day, in everything we do. We were all beaten, ruined children. And we’ve made the best deal we can with that."
Plague of Politics May 1994

A plague of politics

Can meddling politicians and idealistic medicine mix without an explosion in the labs of the CDC?

Billy Payne

When Payne, a no-name former UGA defensive lineman and real estate lawyer, started pitching Atlanta for the 1996 Olympic bid, the city’s bold-faced businessmen presumably had the same reaction as the Atlanta Constitution: This man is a “screwball with a harebrained scheme.” Thanks to that screwball and unrelenting city booster—who strategically recruited former mayor and UN ambassador Andrew Young to charm International Olympic Committee members—Atlanta shocked the world by securing those centennial games in September 1990. Payne became president and CEO of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, which sparked not only $3.5 billion in tourism and new construction but also massive repairs to infrastructure, a population boom, and a giant leap toward the laurel Atlanta had so long desired: true international city. In 2006 Payne took over as chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, where he grabbed headlines last year for criticizing a disgraced Tiger Woods.

State of Independents: The Orange Duffel Bag Initiative

It all starts with the kids’ stories: Sammy’s biological mom, a crack addict, gave him up when he was 10 months old. He later ended up selling drugs to help his adoptive family avoid eviction, again.

Coretta Scott King

Her husband grew up in the heart of Auburn Avenue, the center of black America. She grew up on a cotton farm in rural Alabama. That made all the difference.
Behind Georgia’s Covid-19 dashboard disaster

Behind Georgia’s Covid-19 dashboard disaster

The Georgia Department of Public Health saw its reputation scorched as a result of the state’s ridiculed Covid-19 dashboard. But as it turns out, the health department had little control over the troubled site.

50 Who Made Atlanta: Martin Luther King Jr.

The greatest orator of the twentieth century inspired seismic changes at home that reverberated around the world.

Sam Williams

In 1980 we first referred to Williams as a “Tennessee stud.” From the tiny town of Obion (population 1,083), Williams in the late 1960s was student body president at Georgia Tech and an intern for Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. He worked for John Portman for more than twenty years, eventually becoming chief operating officer, though the two had a mysterious falling-out in 1994—which ended in an out-of-court settlement. Williams has proved a strong consensus builder and nimble visionary, serving as president of Central Atlanta Progress during the Olympic era and as head of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce since 1997.

RuPaul

Long before becoming host of the LogoTV reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race the drag performer strutted the stage at Atlanta nightclubs 688, Tokyo Beach, Colorbox, and Weekends throughout the 1980s.

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