1: Pioneers in a red convertible

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In the fall of 1948, a newly married couple turned into the gates at Alabama College. Summoned by new college president John Caldwell to teach speech and radio, Ralph Sears and his bride Marcia Mockett Sears arrived in an eye-catching Hudson convertible. Their arrival stirred up the faculty. Montevallo dentist Mike Mahan recalled in his 2014 memoir No Hill Too High for a Stepper that college dean T.H. Napier was not sure how the college would accept a new faculty member driving a red Hudson. The dean did not need to wait long. Ralph’s fascination with new cars meant one Hudson was traded for another, and then for a 1950 Packard. Everyone seemed to want a ride. Ralph quickly began teaching classes and setting up the campus radio station. He included his initials in the call sign. WRSD went on the air from Reynolds Hall with a modest range of a few feet beyond the campus.

The Hudson convertible ranged more widely, taking the couple to the beach at Gulf Shores and other explorations across their new home state. Marcia and Ralph enrolled in summer classes at the University of California in Los Angeles in 1949 and 1950. Montevallo High School hired Marcia to teach English and history. Soon, however, academic life in Montevallo absorbed all their energies. Before long, Ralph began a radio program that would spread the name Montevallo around the world.

Ralph conveyed the excitement of College Night in a 1954 letter to his parents. The couple hosted visiting alumnae for the weekend, even as the Sears family added son Steve in 1952, Sally in 1953, and Randie in 1956.