The Alabama politician who ended the career of Eugene “Bull” Connor died October 22 in his hometown of Valley Head.
Kenneth Hammond, Sr. had represented DeKalb, Cherokee, and Jackson Counties in the State Senate before defeating Connor for PSC President in 1972. He later served two terms as Mayor of Valley Head.
Services for Hammond will be Monday, October 24. Visitation is at Burt Chapel in Valley Head at 11 a.m. Graveside service is 1:30 p.m. at Valley Head Cemetery. His death at his home followed a long illness.
Hammond was elected to the state senate in 1962. In 1965, he was part of a team of senators who engineered the defeat of a constitutional amendment proposed by then-Gov. George Wallace. It would have removed the ban on Alabama governors succeeding themselves, allowing Wallace to run in the 1966 gubernatorial race. After the amendment failed to pass the senate, the Wallace team ran his wife, Lurleen Wallace, in the 1966 gubernatorial race. She won the Democratic primary, defeating nine candidates without a runoff. She won the governorship in the November general election, defeating Congressman Jim Martin (R) of Gadsden.
None of the State Senators who opposed the Wallace amendment were re-elected. Hammond was the only anti-Wallace senator who later achieved a comeback, winning his seat back in the 1970 election.
In 1972, Hammond ran in a six-way race for President of the Public Service Commission. He came in second but forced a runoff with incumbent Connor.
Connor gained notoriety in the 1960s as Public Safety Commission of Birmingham. He ordered dogs and fire hoses to repel civil rights protesters, including women and children. Video and still photos of the event were covered extensively by national and international news media.
In the 1972 race against Connor, Hammond won the support of Black voters, including the Alabama Democratic Conference.
In 1975, Hammond was indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury on a felony charge of misusing his office. He was convicted by a jury and automatically removed from office. He served a year in the DeKalb County jail.
In the 1990s, Hammond made a comeback and was twice elected Mayor of Valley Head, Alabama.
Hammond is survived by Ken Hammond, Jr., who starred as a lineman at Vanderbilt and played two years for the Dallas Cowboys before being injured.
Other survivors are his wife, Carol Payne Hammond, children Tonni, Tina, and Byron Armstrong, and Pam Hartline; sister Patsy LaJean Mathews; numerous grand and great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
Jim Zeigler is the current State Auditor for the State of Alabama. He was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. Zeigler previously served on the Public Service Commission.
