Andalusia will be forever linked to Paul Finebaum, Harvey Updyke case

If you ever get the chance to hear Paul Finebaum speak, you shouldn’t pass it up.

Finebaum, whose syndicated radio show can be heard on 101.1 FM here in Evergreen, was the keynote speaker last Thursday night at the Lurleen B. Wallace Community College Foundation’s annual scholarship fundraising event.

He spoke for about 30 minutes, and his speech was entertaining and insightful. Finebaum poked fun at himself, noting that he’s often voted as one of the most unsavory people in the sports world, especially in the southeast. He told the crowd that the sports website, DixieFriedSports.com, recently ranked him No. 1 on its list of “10 Most Hated Men in the SEC,” ahead of such figures as Houston Nutt, Harvey Updyke and Cam Newton. He joked that he was surprised that despite that dubious honor, the foundation still wanted him to speak.

Finebaum is a native of Memphis, Tenn. and graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1978. Growing up, he and his family had a negative opinion of former Alabama governor, George Wallace. After Finebaum moved to Alabama, where he worked as a reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald and launched his career in radio, he learned more about the things the Wallace family had done to improve the education system in the state. He said that he now considered it an honor to speak at a fundraiser for a school that bears the name of George Wallace’s wife, Lurleen Wallace, who also served as the state’s governor.

For over 20 years, Finebaum has been at the center of a number of huge sports stories, especially controversies involving Alabama and Auburn football. He covered the death of Paul Bear Bryant. He broke the Antonio Langham-sports agent story. He was the first to report the firing of Auburn head coach Terry Bowden, etc., etc.

Last Thursday night he said that none of that compares to what he’s seen during the past three years. During that time, Alabama and Auburn have won three national championships in football and have brought home two Heisman Trophies. Then factor in the April 27, 2011 tornadoes across Alabama, his central roll in the ESPN documentary “Roll Tide, War Eagle” and a call to his show that resulted in the Harvey Updyke-Toomer’s Corner tree poisoning case.

Another noteworthy thing about last Thursday’s event is that it will forever link Finebaum and the Harvey Updyke case to Andalusia.

As Finebaum walked into Andalusia’s Kiwanis Community Center last Thursday evening, a Covington County Sheriff’s deputy served him a gag order regarding the Harvey Updyke trial. It seemed to pain the deputy to have to serve the famous radioman with the gag order, but Finebaum was pleasant to the deputy, saying that he knew he was only doing his job. On his radio show the day before, Finebaum remarked that he had heard that there was a gag order out there, but that he hadn’t been officially notified of it. He said later that he’d expected to eventually be served with the gag order, but that he didn’t expect to receive it in Andalusia.

In the end, if you ever get the chance to hear Finebaum speak, take advantage of it. In the meantime, you can continue to tune in to the local radio station to hear his show, which airs from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.