Leah Marie Rawls Atkins (born April 24, 1935) is an American
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
and former
water skiing champion. She served as Director of the
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
Center for the Arts and Humanities.
Atkins won the 1953
World water skiing champions
List of Water Ski World Championships champions.
Results
List of Ski Racing World champions
List of Cable Ski World champions - Men & Women
See also
* Water skiing
* List of Water Skiing European Champions
* List of Water Skiing Under ...
hips in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
. After a career in water skiing, she earned a Ph.D. in history from
Auburn University
Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
in 1974.
Atkins was the first woman in the
Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. The Leah Rawls Atkins Award, Auburn University’s highest award for athletics, is named in her honor.
Personal life
In 1954, Atkins married American football player
George Atkins.
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
Living people
Auburn University alumni
Auburn University faculty
American women historians
21st-century American historians
21st-century American women writers
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