If not for a new folklife marker in Gadsden, Alabamians may have forgotten our state’s connection to the Popeye comic strip. Not only was Popeye written by Alabamian Tom Sims (1896-1972) for two decades, but he based the hero’s antics during that time on sailing on the Coosa River.
The marker, funded with a grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, was erected at Jack L. Ray Park at 129 River Road. It lists Sims as a “legend.”
Sims was born in Cave Spring, Ga., but came to Ohatchie, Ala., with his family at age 2, according to a 1941 article in The Coosa River News…