The Tallahassee City Commission will be voting Wednesday to rename two streets — one of which will be in honor of a local College Football Hall of Famer — and approve a street dedication in the south side.
Each of the streets are near the outskirts of Florida A&M University’s campus and bottom out into Althea Gibson Way, which was formerly known as Wahnish Way before it too changed last April.
If approved, Osceola Street (from South Adams Street to Althea Gibson Way) will become Rudy Hubbard Street; Okaloosa Street (from Keith Street to Althea Gibson Way) will become Dr. Carolyn Ryals Lane; and Campbell Street (from St. Marks Street to Althea Gibson Way) will be “honorarily” designated as E. Lilyan Spencer Memorial Way.
According to city agenda materials, “honorary designations are a tool to honor and recognize individuals who have had an impact on the community, without any impacts to property owners or changes to property addresses,” meaning the road’s official name will remain Campbell Street.
Tallahassee has seen a spate of road renamings after commissioners OK’d an ordinance that changed the Tallahassee Land Development code in their favor. The ordinance makes it so the city directs road name changes within the incorporated areas of Leon County to the city manager, instead of the county administrator.
Over the last year, roads or portions of them have been named after the late Leon County Commissioner Anita Davis, the late Leon Sheriff’s Major James Morgan Jr., Tallahassee native and trendsetting recording artist T-Pain and the late FAMU grad and worldwide tennis star Althea Gibson.
Former FAMU football coach Rudy Hubbard receives his award as an inductee in the College Football Hall of Fame during the 63 Annual National Football Foundation Awards Dinner in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021.
Who is Rudy Hubbard?
Hubbard is an accomplished athlete who made his mark on and off the field.
In 1974, he became FAMU’s head football coach where he served in that role until 1985, leading the Rattlers to back-to-back Black College Football National Championships in 1977 and 1978.
In his tenure he built a winning record of 83-48-3 across 12 seasons with FAMU, including a win at the inaugural NCAA Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) Football Championship in 1978, which FAMU remains the only historically black college to win, according to agenda materials.
Before he moved to Tallahassee to coach the FAMU Rattlers, the now 78-year-old played as a running back at Ohio State University from 1965 to 1967 and served six seasons as OSU’s first Black assistant coach.
Hubbard took a coaching hiatus after working for FAMU and then brought his expertise to younger athletes at James S. Rickards High School where he served as the head football coach from 2008 to 2011, according to agenda materials.
Recognizing his successful career, the university inducted him into the FAMU Hall of Fame in 1990, became a College Football Hall of Fame inductee in 2021 and was presented Tallahassee’s Key to the City that same year.
Who was Dr. Carolyn Ryals?
Ryals was a Boca Grande native before she moved to Tallahassee in 1953 to get a business degree from FAMU.
Making Tallahassee her home, she earned three “Teacher of the Year” awards, owned and ran a small business called KopyKat Copy Center and volunteered with Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, according to agenda materials.
Ryals also served on the boards of the C. K. Steele Sr. Foundation and the Tallahassee Shelter, and with the Tallahassee Mayor’s Task Force to End Homelessness and the Coalition for Homelessness.
“Dr. Carolyn Ryals passed on Sept. 17, 2024, leaving a legacy of educational excellence in the community and dedication to helping others,” agenda materials say.
Who was E. Lilyan Spencer?
Spencer was a lifelong Tallahassee native, Lincoln High School and FAMU graduate. She dedicated her efforts to her community and children’s education.
In 1941, she became the second principal of Bond Junior High School — now known as Bond Elementary School — and served in that role for 10 years while also working as the athletic director and coach for the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams.
“Spencer was remembered by her colleagues as a brilliant, no-nonsense, highly capable educator who set high standards for her staff and her students,” agenda materials say.
“Her diligence and no excuses approach to student absenteeism is considered to be a driving factor for many of her students staying in school and for tripling Bond’s enrollment during her tenure.”
Spencer passed away in Tallahassee Jan. 24, 1957, and her “legacy lives on in her community at the Speed-Spencer-Stephens Park on Saxon Street, named in 1996 for Spencer and two fellow neighborhood activists,” agenda materials say.
Previously published material was used in this report. Local government watchdog reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee voting to rename three streets after FAMU alumni