Lubbock's 'builders' to be featured

Welcome to the first of 57 Centennial pages you'll find here every Sunday through the end of March, 2009.

I detailed what you'll find on this page in my column on last Sunday's opinion page. If you missed, it's on our Web site here.

Anyway, I wrote that this space would be used to count down the 100 most influential people in Lubbock's history and would offer more details today.

Here goes.

Next week we'll run a list of people who have had a role in building Lubbock, but are not on the final 100.

The following week, we'll do two a week until the last Sunday in January, when we'll do our top ten one by one.

Our criteria? Any or all of the following ... lasting impact, brought attention to Lubbock and conspicuous service.

I appreciate all who sent us names for consideration. Some will be on the final 100. Some won't. But all 200-plus names have played an important role.

We consulted with local history experts, but it is a subjective process.
So if someone is on next week's list and you feel they're more important than number 100 on the final list ... you may be right. When you get to that part of any list, the differences between 100 and 101 are minute. We had to make a cutoff somewhere.

Also, some people on next week's list and the final 100 will also pop up in the A-J Remembers feature to the right over these 57 weeks, too.

By the end of March, 2009, a lot of history will be told and a lot of people's roles will be celebrated.

Finally, this page also gives you a sneak peek at a new look for the A-J coming later this year.