Hibbett Sports Inc. Day
By the Governor of the State of Alabama
A Proclamation
September 16, 2009

WHEREAS, since its founding in 1945 by high school coach Rufus Hibbett as Dixie Supply Co. Inc. in Florence, Alabama, Hibbett Sports Inc. has maintained its legacy as a neighborhood sporting goods store; and

WHEREAS, as of Aug. 1, this rapidly-growing operator of sporting goods stores in small to mid-sized markets had 759 stores in 24 states; and

WHEREAS, among those almost 760 stores, Hibbett Sports operates 79 stores in 64 cities in its home state of Alabama; and

WHEREAS, since 1981, the company’s corporate headquarters has been in Birmingham, Alabama; and

WHEREAS, among its other community involvement, Hibbett’s Operation Sports Renovation helps school’s athletic programs, which have been affected by natural disasters or are in need because of economic conditions; and

WHEREAS, Hibbett Sports and its partners through Operation Sports Renovation have provided five schools with apparel and equipment plus $3,000 each toward renovation supplies; and

WHEREAS, two of those assisted schools – Enterprise High School, which was destroyed by a March 2007 tornado that rocked the city of Enterprise, and Peter F. Alba Elementary and Middle School in Bayou La Batre, which was flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – are in Alabama; and

WHEREAS, Hibbett Superstars, another program that gives back to communities, has since its conception honored more than 100 young athletes and made donations to charities in their communities; and

WHEREAS, Mickey Newsome, chief executive officer and chairman of the board for Hibbett Sports Inc., is the keynote speaker for the Fourth Annual UAB Retail Day on September 29, 2009, at The Club in Birmingham, and

WHEREAS, Newsome has brought national recognition to our state, by serving seven years on the National Sporting Goods Association board of directors, one year as its chairman; and

WHEREAS, Newsome served for eight years, from 1998 to 2006, as chairman of the National Sporting Goods Association Hall of Fame Committee; and

WHEREAS, Newsome himself was inducted into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame in 2007:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bob Riley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby proclaim September 29, 2009, as

Hibbett Sports Inc. Day

in the State of Alabama.

Given Under My Hand and the Great Seal of the Office of the Governor at the State Capitol in the City of Montgomery on the 16th day of September 2009.

Governor Bob Riley