Civic fundraiser Tom Cosby named Vulcans Awards’ ‘Game Changer’

It’s likely Birmingham has no bigger fan than Tom Cosby, longtime civic booster and fundraiser. 

“I think Birmingham is earning great city status,” the Forest Park resident said. “It’s always been a great place to live and a great place to be from.”

If Birmingham is a great city, Cosby has certainly played a part in making it so.

In recent years, he helped raise almost $12 million to restore the Lyric Theatre downtown after decades of neglect.

In the 1990s, while working as an executive and fundraiser with the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Cosby helped save Rickwood Field, bring Olympic soccer to town and even make sure the new Interstate 22 freeway would run through Birmingham, not Huntsville. 

It’s therefore no surprise that when Vulcan Park and Museum announced the winners of The Vulcans Community Awards for 2016, Cosby was tapped to receive the Game Changer award.

Citing the Lyric and other civic projects Cosby has pushed since the 1970s, the committee said: “There is no question Birmingham’s game has changed at his hands.”

And it’s particularly appropriate that Cosby receive a Vulcan award, since he played a huge role in saving Vulcan in 1999 when damage to the aging iron man forced the city to close the park due to safety concerns.

The Vulcans committee calls Cosby a “hard-charging, plainspoken guy who still manages to exude Southern style and charm,” and it was he who forcefully reminded chamber board members of Vulcan’s history: The chamber’s predecessor, the old Commercial Club, had Vulcan cast in 1904 as Birmingham’s prize-winning entry in the St. Louis World’s Fair.

“‘This is our project. Who else would do this?’” I told them,” Cosby said.

The chamber created a volunteer fundraising committee that ultimately became the Vulcan Park Foundation. That makes his receipt of this award especially gratifying, according to Cosby.

“That’s very important to me,” he said.

Cosby now works for Birmingham Landmarks, the nonprofit that owns the Lyric and the Alabama Theatre and is raising money to replace the Alabama’s air-conditioning system.

He’s also raising money to help sustain Birmingham’s Veterans Day parade, the oldest in the U.S., and is working to extend the world-famous Appalachian Trail to Alabama.

Cosby said he would love to get more people involved in making Birmingham, currently undergoing a renaissance, even better.

“I would like to use this award as a way to challenge more people to do things for the city,” Cosby said. 

And though he turns 70 next year, Cosby has no intention of retiring from fundraising.

“Work is more fun than fun,” he said. “Why would I stop?”

Cosby and his wife, Gail, have lived in Forest Park for 40 years. Gail, a retired advertising executive, now devotes her time primarily to making visual art, including watercolors and mixed media, and playing guitar and banjo.

The Vulcans, given in five categories, honor people in Birmingham who “exemplify civic pride, leadership and progress,” according to a news release.

Recipients were chosen by a citizen panel and will be honored at a dinner at The Club Nov. 3.