Hank Aaron
Hammerin' Hank was born in a section of Mobile referred to as "Down the Bay," but he spent most of his youth in Toulminville, an historic neighborhood of Mobile. He went on to become one of Major League Baseball's greatest baseball players ever and held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years. He still holds several MLB offensive records.
Jimmy Buffet
Buffett spent most of his childhood in Mobile. In grade school years, he attended St. Ignatius School, where he played the trombone in the school band and then later attended McGill Institute for Boys. He began playing guitar in the late 60s, performing at the Admiral's Corner at the Admiral Semmes Hotel in downtown Mobile.
Joe Cain
Joe Cain is considered the founder of Mobile's modern-day Mardi Gras. In 1866, he paraded through downtown Mobile dressed as Indian chief, Chief Slackabamarinico, a small celebration that rejuvenated the city's Carnival tradition after the Civil War. Today, folks from all walks of life commemorate Joe Cain's role in reviving Mardi Gras with a large ‘people's' parade, which was first held in the early sixties.
Winston Groom
Born in Washington DC in 1943 but raised in Mobile, Groom is a southern novelist best known for his book Forrest Gump, which was adapted into an award-winning film by Robert Zemeckis in 1994. In 1985, Groom moved back to Mobile, where he began work on Forrest Gump, published in 1986 but not making best-seller status until adaptation into this film. The novel eventually sold 1.7 million copies worldwide.
Octavia Walton Le Vert
She was an American socialite and writer born in Augusta, Georgia. She moved with her parents to Mobile, Alabama in 1835, where she married Dr. Henry Strachey Le Vert in 1836. She became one of the first female southern writers to achieve national recognition. She was a well-known figure during her own time, known for hosting gatherings of prominent politicians, noted literary figures, and professionals of all types throughout the 1830s - 1850s.
Eugene Walter
Known as Mobile's ‘Renaissance Man', Eugene Walter, Jr. was an American screenwriter, poet, short-story author, set designer, actor, puppeteer, gourmet chef, cryptographer and translator born in Mobile in the early 1920's. He lived, worked and played in New York, Paris and Rome before returning to Mobile to share stories about his travels. The city of Mobile gave special permission for his remains to be buried in historic Church Street Graveyard next to Joe Cain.