Author and journalist Paul Hemphill, 73, died Saturday, July 11, at Hospice Atlanta, after a two-year bout with cancer. Paul was the author of 16 books, including works of fiction and nonfiction. His last book, A Tiger Walk Through History, a history of Auburn football, was published in 2008. Paul was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on Feb.18, 1936, to the late Paul Hemphill, Sr. and Velma Nelson Hemphill. He graduated from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, and had a short stint playing minor league baseball for the Class D Graceville, Florida Oilers before he was cut from the team. His experiences formed the basis of his first novel, Long Gone, published in 1979 and later made into an HBO movie. Paul graduated from Auburn University, where he played baseball, which he gave up to become the sports editor of the school newspaper, the Plainsman. It was an Auburn professor, the late Walter D. Jones, who first encouraged him to become a writer. Paul served in the Alabama Air National Guard and spent a year in France when his unit was called to active duty in the early 1960s. He started his career at the Birmingham News sports department, was briefly a sports information director at Florida State University, and wrote for newspapers in Augusta and Tampa before coming to Atlanta to become a daily columnist – ultimately for the Atlanta Journal. He won a Nieman Fellowship in 1968, and spent a year studying at Harvard. Paul wrote for numerous magazines, including The Atlantic and the New York Times Magazine; for several years he was a regular contributor to Sport Magazine and did commentary for NPR’s All Things Considered. He received numerous awards and honors for his writing and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his 1993 memoir, Leaving Birmingham. Paul is survived by his wife of 32 years, Susan Farran Percy of Atlanta; four children: Martha Hemphill of Decatur; Lisa Shadrach of Franklin, TN; David Hemphill and Molly Knudsen of Birmingham; and a sister, Joyce Lott of Birmingham. Funeral arrangements are being handled by A.S. Turner & Sons in Decatur. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider donations to the Auburn Foundation, 321 Biggin Hall, Auburn, AL 36849, attention Mary Baird; the Atlanta Community Food Bank, 732 Jospeh E. Lowery Blvd. NW, Atlanta, GA 30318; or Hospice Atlanta, 1244 Park Vista Drive NE, Atlanta, GA 30319.
