Leah Marie Rawls Atkins (April 24, 1935 – October 4, 2024) was an American historian and
water ski
Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...
ing champion. She served as Director of the
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
Center for the Arts and Humanities.
Career
Atkins won the 1953
World water skiing champions
List of Water Ski World Championships champions in International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation and Cable Wakeboard World Council (CWWC) events. Styles
Source:http://www.iwsf.com/history/getMedals.php
10 Type and 8 Styles = 80 Competition form ...
hips in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. After a career in water skiing, she earned a Ph.D. in history from
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
in 1974.
Atkins was the first woman in the
Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fam ...
. The Leah Rawls Atkins Award, Auburn University’s highest award for athletics, is named in her honor.
Personal life and death
In 1954, Atkins married American football player
George Atkins.
Atkins died at an assisted living facility in
Homewood, Alabama
Homewood is a city in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is a suburb of Birmingham, located on the other side of Red Mountain due south of the city center. The population was 26,414 at the 2020 census.
History
Earl ...
, on October 4, 2024, at the age of 89.
Leah Atkins obituary
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Publications
Select book
* ''A manual for writing Alabama State and local history'', 1976
* ''The romantic ideal : Alabama's plantation eden'', 1978
* ''The valley and the hills : an illustrated history of Birmingham & Jefferson County'', 1981
* ''The Jones family of Huntsville Road'', 1981
* ''An Alabama legacy : images of a state'', 1994
* ''The building of Brasfield & Gorrie'', 2002
* ''"Developed for the service of Alabama" : the centennial history of the Alabama Power Company, 1906-2006'', 2006
See also
*List of Auburn University people
This list of notable Auburn University people includes alumni, faculty, and former students of Auburn University.
Each of the following alumni, faculty, and former students of Auburn University is presumed to be notable, receiving significant ...
References
1935 births
2024 deaths
Auburn University alumni
Auburn University faculty
American women historians
21st-century American historians
21st-century American women writers
American water skiers
Female water skiers
Sportspeople from Birmingham, Alabama
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