Mid-South Magic - Lucite International

Spotlight: Justin
Timberlake page 104
From elvis to
al green page 118
hot spots
for foodies
page 120
PROFILE:
Memphis
Mid-South
Magic
Southern hospitality meets
big business in Bluff City
deltaskymag.com December 2011
1
PROFILE:
MEMPHIS
The
photos: (page 99) Jack Kenner / Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau; page 100, clockwise from top left: (Researchers) Peter Barta / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; (Elvis) Charles Nicholas / The
Commercial Appeal; (seal) A.J. Wolf / CommercialAppeal; (Memphis) Steven Frame; (FedEx) Joe McNally; (Food) Justin Fox Burks / Courtesy of Felicia Suzannes; (Stax) Courtesy Stax Museum of American Soul Music;
(Museum) Lisa Waddell Buser / National Civil Rights Museum; (BB King’s) Vasha Hunt / Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau; (Cheerleader) University of Memphis; (page 101, Wharton) Michael Cardwell.
MemphisWAY
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Incredible infrastructure, a low cost of living and one-of-a-kind cultural
assets make Memphis a business city with a twist. By Myatt Murphy
M
emphis may be the most harmonious
place in the nation. In the home of the
blues and the birthplace of rock ’n’ roll,
corporations, city hall and the community all
work together to make Memphis a place where
good ideas can quickly become world-changing
enterprises.
“If you want a case study on the history of
innovation in America, then come to Memphis,”
says Mayor A C Wharton Jr. “There has always
been, and still remains, an innovational drive
here—a need to discover and leap-frog toward
better ways of doing things.”
Greyhound and Continental Trailways bus
lines, Piggly Wiggly (the world’s first self-service
supermarket), Holiday Inn (the first modern
hotel chain) and logistics giant FedEx all revolutionized their industries directly from Memphis.
This pioneering history and spirit isn’t lost on
businesses today.
Entrepreneur magazine named Memphis one
of the top 10 cities in which to start and grow a
company, and Inc. magazine anointed it one of
the best places for doing business in America. No
wonder the largest city in Tennessee is the world
headquarters for three Fortune 500 firms and
for leading companies such as Hunter Fan, Lucite
International, Wright Medical Technologies and
Thomas & Betts.
International Paper, a leader in the paper,
packaging and distribution industry, appreciates
Memphis’ many assets. The firm has roughly
59,000 employees in more than 24 countries,
but it has never doubted its decision to move its
global headquarters to Memphis in 1987.
“We were headquartered in New York City at
the corner of 45th and Sixth before moving to
Memphis,” says Paul Karre, International Paper’s
senior vice president of human resources and
communications. “We selected the region for its
attractive cost of living and central location—two
assets we continue to appreciate 25 years later.”
Few other cities can compete with Memphis’ affordability. “Our cost of living—and cost
of doing business—is lower than a lot of cities
throughout the nation,” says John Moore, president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber.
The region has low utility rates, inexpensive
warehouse lease rates (25 to 65 percent less than
in cities such as Atlanta and Indianapolis) and
corporate real estate rates that are among the lowest in the country. There’s also a desire to remove
the financial hurdles businesses typically face.
Companies that consider moving into
downtown Memphis may qualify for substantial incentives from the Downtown Memphis
Commission. The city has provided Memphisbound businesses with everything from start-up
capital to additional parking. Recently, the city
lured several graduate schools, including the
SPOTLIGHT:
Mayor A C Wharton Jr.
What’s most surprising about Memphis?
Wharton: Even in the midst of the action, there are so many places to
escape. Right in the middle of Memphis, we’ve got the 342-acre Overton Park,
along with one of the country’s largest urban parks, Shelby Farms. In
a matter of minutes, you can go from the hustle and bustle of
business to being in touch with nature. That diversity is perhaps one
of Memphis’ most overlooked and most enjoyable features.
How would you describe the vibe?
Wharton: It ranges from the funky to the sophisticated.
We have our blues side and our art galleries, but we are
also known for our institutions of higher learning and our
research. Any cultural offering is easy to find right here.
Why do business in Memphis?
Wharton: We may be a big city, but we can quickly
get everyone from both the private and public sector in
the same place to make the types of decisions that move
projects forward.
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M ilesto n es :
making history from memphis
A few of the trailblazing firsts that came from Bluff City.
Justin Timberlake
What makes Memphis unique?
1916
1943
1951
1952
Piggly
Wiggly,
the first
self-service grocery store,
opens in Memphis.
Memphis Belle is the
first U.S. Army Air
Forces heavy bomber to
complete 25
missions over
Europe during
WWII.
Music producer Sam
Phillips releases
the first rock ’n’ roll
record, “Rocket 88.”
Holiday Inn,
the first
modern
hotel chain,
is built in
Memphis.
Timberlake: Maybe there’s something in the water here, but it’s just a very
soulful place. From gospel and rhythm and blues to country and rock ’n’ roll,
Memphis is the melting pot of style and the crossroads of culture.
Do you credit Memphis for making you a superstar?
Timberlake: Absolutely. One thing I learned a long time ago about Memphians
is that they’re honest. If we don’t like you, we’re not afraid to tell you. Memphians
have always been my toughest critics, but it’s an honesty I’ve always appreciated
and always grown from.
What’s Memphis’ special connection with music?
Timberlake: The music industry may be built on genres,
1973
1954
AutoZone Park
opens—home of the
Memphis Redbirds,
the first nonprofit
professional sports
team.
FedEx, the first company dedicated
to overnight package delivery,
begins operations from the
Memphis
International
Airport.
WDIA, the first African
American–formatted radio
station, reaches listeners
in Memphis and throughout
the Mississippi Delta.
University of Memphis Law School, into downtown Memphis as another business-friendly
incentive. “By creating a better environment for
companies, we give businesses better access to an
atmosphere that induces creativity and naturally
attracts the kind of people that a company would
want to employ,” says Paul Morris, president of
the Downtown Memphis Commission.
Access to Anywhere
road and river, Memphis truly is a global access
point,” says attorney Arnold E. Perl, chairman
of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority. “Memphis is also an airport city on steroids.
Leaders from more than 50 nations came to
Memphis this year to attend the Airport Cities
World Conference, to tour FedEx’s SuperHub and
to witness the newly opened FAA Airport Traffic Control Tower, the fifth tallest in the world.
Companies increasingly choose Memphis for the
flexibility of speed, cost and environment.”
World-class transportation infrastructure
and supply chain superiority recently wooed
businesses Electrolux and Mitsubishi Electrical to
build manufacturing plants in Memphis. “When
you tell a company your city ranks among the
top four nationally in every mode of transportation, it makes a huge impression,” Moore says.
Businesses also flock to Memphis for all the
logistics advantages it offers. “We have the four
R’s—road, riverway, rail and runway—and companies from all around the globe do their distribution here as a direct result of that unparalleled
convenience,” Moore says.
Memphis has the third-busiest trucking
corridor in the nation and is also the midpoint
along I-69, the newly constructed
2,600-mile superhighway that will
Memphis International
soon connect Canada to Mexico. The
Airport
Port of Memphis is the second-largest
inland port on the Mississippi River
and the fourth-largest inland port in
the United States. Memphis is one of
four cities in the United States with
five class 1 railroads (carriers with at
least $250 million in annual revenue),
making it the third-largest rail center
in the country. It’s also home to
FedEx’s SuperHub (its largest facility)
and Memphis International Airport,
one of the world’s leading cargo
airports. “With Delta’s passenger hub
and Memphis’ preeminence in rail,
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December 2011 deltaskymag.com
but I just don’t think genres really exist here. Memphians
simply look at music and see it as two kinds: good or bad.
And we don’t know how to make bad music in Memphis.
What do you enjoy most about Memphis?
Timberlake: It’s where I grew up, so it obviously feels
like home. Not only are there good people, great
food, amazing music and hospitality—but all of
those great things stay consistent. It’s what
makes Memphis the type of place you can
always count on.
—Justin Timberlake, Memphis-born
singer, songwriter, producer and actor
and co-owner of Mirimichi, a Memphis
golf course that’s considered one of
the most eco-friendly in the world
photos, Sidebar: (Sam PHillips) Phillips Family / Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum; (Memphis Belle) U.S. Air Force; (AutoZone Ballpark) Sophorn McRae.
2000
Southern Hospitality
Memphis’ diverse economy spans a variety of
industries from bioscience to manufacturing to
music and film production.
Tourism also remains a big part of the economic pie, supporting more than 50,000 jobs in
the county and contributing $3.1 billion to the
region’s economy. More than 10 million visitors
come to Memphis every year for Elvis Presley’s
Graceland, the National Civil Rights Museum and
Beale Street, the second-most-popular entertainment street in the nation after Bourbon Street.
“We’re not just Another City, USA, with a few
nice amenities,” says Kevin Kane, president and
CEO of the Memphis Convention and Visitors
Bureau. “We have unique, one-of-a-kind attractions and a deep, vibrant history in Memphis
that cannot be found or manufactured any other
place in the world.”
Memphis’ individualism gives businesses a
competitive edge. “From a tourism and a conventions and meetings perspective, Memphis’ ability
to bring clients in from anywhere in the world
is convenient, but it’s how the city connects with
them once they arrive that’s key,” says Kane.
“Because music is a universal language, business
clients from all over the globe—English-speaking
and non-English-speaking alike—identify with
Memphis. Being here makes them feel good, as
if they’re a part of
something bigger.”
It doesn’t hurt
to have one of the
leading hospitality
companies right in
your own backyard.
First Tennessee
Hilton Worldwide has 10
Bank
brands and more than 3,750
hotels and time-share properties in 85 countries. Its four focus-service brands
(Hampton Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood
Suites and Home2), the quartet behind 2,900 of
the hotels in that impressive tally, are all based in
Memphis, along with the support infrastructure
for Hilton Worldwide.
“One reason we stay successful is the strong
work ethic that’s ingrained within the community,” says Phil Cordell of Hilton Worldwide. “The
soul of hospitality is alive here, and that spirit
is very strong, powerful and positive. I believe
that’s the reason many companies choose to
come here, stay and grow.”
The positive energy that permeates Memphis
is fueled by the high quality of life residents
enjoy—a standard that makes it easy to recruit
top out-of-town talent and also retain the homegrown talent it cultivates. The city has an enviable low cost of living (consistently 12 percent
lower than the national average) and a palpable
sense of pride (it is the only five-time recipient of
the nation’s cleanest city award). Ask native businesses if the quality of life in Memphis is responsible for allowing them to launch, leap forward
and lead, and the answer is a resounding yes.
It has certainly been the case with First
Horizon National Corporation and its two core
subsidiaries (First Tennessee and FTN Financial), both headquartered in Memphis. Founded
in 1864, the company and its 4,800 employees
offer financial services through nearly 180 bank
branches in and around Tennessee and capital
markets via 18 offices throughout the United
States and abroad. Its banking arm, First TennesMedtronic Spinal
technicians observe
a wear test on a
cervical disk.
deltaskymag.com December 2011
103
photos: (Timberlake) Carter Smith; (medtronic) Courtesy Medtronic; (Map, Opposite page) Randall Nelson.
Q+A:
Sam Phillips
(right) with
Jerry Lee
Lewis
40
40
69
6
240
24
40
see, has one of the highest customer retention rates of any
banking institution in the country.
“Our roots run long and deep here. Memphis is a community that has been extraordinarily good to us for more
than 147 years,” says Bryan Jordan, president and CEO
of First Horizon National Corporation. “There’s a strong
working relationship between business and government at
the city and county level. Everyone works together to meet
whatever needs are necessary to grow economically and
allow our community to thrive.”
Memphis is a city proud of its individuality and a city
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with its eye squarely on the future. “Memphis isn’t like
most Southern cities. Instead, we’re creating what will one
day be defined as a new Southern city, and it’s all about
how we approach life here,” Moore says. “As we continue
to develop, refine and improve upon what we have, every
decision must meet three criteria for our community: It has
to be economically advantageous, aesthetically beautiful
and socially and environmentally acceptable.” Those guiding principles keep the character and charm of Memphis’
“can-do” entrepreneurial past in synch with its “can’t miss”
economic future.
MEMPHIS
Airport
City
Memphis International Airport is the hub
of America’s Aerotropolis. By Myatt Murphy
M
Did You
Know?
Business Facilities
magazine ranked
Memphis the top
logistics, shipping
and distribution hub
in the United States.
105
more experienced logistics workers per capita
than any other metropolitan area in the country,
and the airport alone is directly or indirectly responsible for one of every three jobs in Memphis.
“Only a handful of airports in the nation can say
that they have that amount of impact,” Cox says.
A variety of businesses in addition to Delta
fuel the airport’s ability to meet the needs of individuals and of industry, including regional Pinnacle Airlines, which moved to Memphis in 1997.
The biggest logistics player is global giant FedEx.
Memphis is the headquarters of FedEx Corporation, FedEx Express, FedEx Freight and FedEx
Trade Networks. With more than 30,000 team
members in metro Memphis, the Fortune 500
company is the city’s largest private employer.
“Our Memphis location has provided us with
outstanding employees in the local area for
40 years,” says Dave J. Bronczek, president and
CEO of FedEx Express, which operates its global
SuperHub (the oldest and largest facility in its
network) from the airport.
The SuperHub is open 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, 365 days a year. “It sorts more than
3 million packages daily and connects customers
to more than 220 countries and territories on six
continents, making it the largest air cargo hub in
the global FedEx network,” Bronczek says.
For that convenience alone, many companies
will base themselves in Memphis. “We’re the
only place in the nation where you can drop a
package off at midnight and have it delivered
anywhere in the country by 8:30 the next morning,” says John Moore, president and CEO of the
Greater Memphis Chamber. “That kind of access
is our currency and that’s why businesses based
here are always one step ahead.”
emphis is America’s distribution center
for the expansive access provided by its
many highways, railways and waterways. Yet it’s the city’s airport that has earned it
another title: America’s Aerotropolis.
Handling more than 10 million passengers
a year, Memphis International Airport already
has a sterling reputation among travelers for its
safety standards (Travel + Leisure magazine ranked
it the second-safest airport in
the nation) and for its unflagging reliability (the odds of bad
SPOTLIGHT:
weather affecting its operations
is a mere 5.5 percent). But it’s
the airport’s logistics advantage
that businesses have come to
treasure.
“We’re the largest air cargo
airport in the United States and
second-largest in the world,”
says Larry Cox, president and
CEO of the Memphis-Shelby
County Airport Authority.
Prior to this year, Memphis
International Airport was
the largest cargo airport in
the world for 18 consecutive
years—a title that it looks well
— F rederick W. Smith, founder, chairman,
under way to reclaiming from
president and CEO of FedEx
its current holder, Hong Kong.
America’s Aerotropolis has
December 2011 deltaskymag.com
Fred Smith
What I personally enjoy about Memphis are
its friendly people, beautiful trees and
attractive amenities: Beale Street
and the Mississippi River, Shelby
Farms Park and the Green Line,
FedExForum and the world-class
Memphis Zoo.
photos: (Top) Marc Burford.
PROFILE:
PROFILE:
MEMPHIS
SPOTLIGHT:
J. R. “Pitt” Hyde III
thesia and reduce postsurgery hospitalization and
is also creating surgical instruments designed
from a patient’s own MRI and X-ray images.
This type of innovation takes bright minds
with big goals, the kind of people who are naturally drawn to the Memphis lifestyle. “Being in
Memphis allows us to immediately get products
out to patients as quickly as possible,” Whitsitt
says. “But it’s also a very family-friendly place
and that makes it easy to retain the talented individuals we need to stay ahead.”
Medtronic Spinal, the second-largest
division of the world’s largest medical technology company, also has no trouble retaining talented workers in Memphis. As a global
leader in treating patients with spine disorders,
—J. R. “Pitt” Hyde III, chairman of GTx,
Medtronic employs 5,600 people worldwide in
founder of AutoZone and chairman of
its spinal division; 1,500 of those workers are
Hyde Family Foundations
based in Memphis.
The Memphis team devises instruments and
implants used for a variety of procedures, including spinal deformity correction in children and
Nephew is Memphis’ largest manufacturer and a
treating spine fractures caused by osteoporosis
leader in reconstruction, trauma, endoscopy and
and cancer. The company’s Memphis distribuadvanced wound management. The company’s
tion center delivered more than 150,000 surgical
more than 1,000 products are used by
sets to operating rooms around the country
surgeons, patients and hospitals in
last year, a feat that it accomplished
more than 90 countries.
instantly thanks to Memphis’ enviable
“More than 2,100 of our 10,000-plus
location and its logistics advantage.
Bragging Rights:
employees worldwide are based here
“The ability to hear about a
American Scientist
named Memphis the
and responsible for manufacturing
critical spinal surgery in the late affourth-kindest city
and distributing more than 6 million
ternoon and get our technologies into
in America, perhaps
implantable devices, surgical instrusurgery the next morning to meet a
another reason why
ments and other products,” says Laura
patient’s needs is critical for us,” says
the city is a magnet for
Whitsitt, senior vice president for
Doug King, senior vice president of
scientists.
research and emerging technologies at
Medtronic Spinal. “Also vital to us is
Smith & Nephew.
the region’s attractive talent base, the
The company created the Legion knee with
superior quality of life offered here and the fact
VERILAST technology, the first FDA-approved
that it’s a community that supports business. It’s
knee implant lab-tested for 30 years of wear
a combination of all of those things and many
(twice as long as other knee implants). It’s workothers that make Memphis an ideal location not
ing on products that will help speed up the healonly for our business, but also for any business
ing process, shorten the time spent under anesthat comes here.”
Memphis has a long and interesting history
of entrepreneurship. It’s a city that enjoys
newcomers, especially if you’re an
individual who wants to make a
difference. There are no barriers,
only people who welcome you
and applaud your efforts when
you succeed.
GTx scientist
Yali He
ScienceMAGNET
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December 2011 deltaskymag.com
Hub, which allows for time-critical delivery of
medical devices to points around the world.
Public, private, academic and government
entities in Memphis combine their ideas and
resources to make it easy to accelerate a single
bioscience innovation into a thriving business. The
city’s innovation facilitators include the Memphis
Bioworks Foundation, FedEx Institute of Technology and UT-Baptist Research Park, the new 1.2million-square-foot bioscience research, incubator
and commercial complex that is due to be completed in 2017.
As a leader in orthopedic and spinal implants
and the fourth-largest center for orthopedic
device manufacturing, the Memphis region
commands about one-fifth of the global orthopedic market, estimated at roughly $6.5 billion in
revenue. No wonder game-changing companies
such as Wright Medical and Smith & Nephew are
based in the area. Ranked as one of the world’s
fastest-growing orthopedic businesses, Smith &
From left: Medtronic
Spinal test labs;
Maria GomesSolecki, a tenant
of the Memphis
Bioworks Incubator;
the FedEx Institute
of Technology at
the University of
Memphis.
photo: (Memphis Bioworks) Trey Clark.
S
hake hands with someone from Memphis
and the odds are very good (1 in 7, to be
precise) that the person works in some area
of science.
Memphis is home to a diverse network of life
sciences, biomedical and health care companies.
In fact, bioscience represents almost 30 percent
of the city’s gross metro product and supports
nearly 40,000 jobs in more than 300 enterprises.
Several top pharmaceutical companies operate out of the area, including GlaxoSmithKline,
Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Schering-Plough and
the full-service biopharmaceutical company GTx,
the company behind SARMs, a new class of drugs
that prevents and treats muscle loss in cancer
patients and others who fight muscle wasting.
Why do these businesses come to Memphis?
For starters, it’s the least expensive city in the
southeastern United States in which to run a
biomed company—and one of the ten most affordable nationwide. It also has the FedEx Super-
By Myatt Murphy
photo: Trey Clark.
The next great scientific discoveries could come from Memphis.
deltaskymag.com December 2011
107
PROFILE:
MEMPHIS
&
Native
Newcomer
The Native:
The Newcomer:
(autozone.com)
(servicemaster.com)
Location: AutoZone’s global
Location: The privately held Fortune 500 company
ServiceMaster
headquarters (or store support
center, as the company calls it)
is based in Memphis.
is headquartered in Memphis.
What It Does: Through iconic brands TruGreen,
What It Does: “We’re the
nation’s leading retailer and
distributor of auto parts,”
says Bill Rhodes 1 , chairman, president and CEO of
AutoZone, Inc. Every store carries an extensive product line that
includes new and remanufactured automotive hard
parts, maintenance items and accessories for cars,
SUVs, vans and light trucks.
Did You
Know?
Before every
AutoZone meeting,
the company’s
employees (called
AutoZoners) say a
pledge and shout a
cheer, spelling out
A-U-T-O-Z-O-N-E.
1
How It’s Grown: When it opened its first store
on July 4, 1979, AutoZone recorded a modest $300 in
sales that first day. AutoZone’s 2010 fiscal year sales
were $8.1 billion. The company now operates more
than 4,500 stores in the continental United States
(and in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico)
and 279 stores in Mexico. “In the foreseeable
future, our expansion plans are around 150
stores a year for the U.S., 40 to 50 stores in
Mexico and we’re now expanding into Brazil,”
Rhodes says.
Why It Stays: The automotive giant could
base itself anywhere, but it remains in Memphis
to stay true to its heritage, but also because of
the city’s famed logistics infrastructure. “Memphis
has a tremendous amount of resources and we have
operations throughout North America. To be able to
get to each and every one in a timely manner is very
important to our business,” Rhodes says.
What It’s Learned from the Newcomers:
“When they see how engaged the business community is in the economic prosperity of our city and in
improving the overall quality of life here and then tell
us how they don’t see that in other cities, we are reminded of what we sometimes take for granted and
how fortunate we are to be right here in Memphis,”
Rhodes says.
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December 2011 deltaskymag.com
Terminix, American Home Shield, ServiceMaster
Clean, Merry Maids, Furniture Medic and AmeriSpec,
ServiceMaster is one of the world’s largest residential
and commercial networks, holding market-leading
positions in a variety of categories, including lawn, tree
and shrub care; termite and pest control; home warranties, furniture repair; home inspections; residential and
commercial cleaning and disaster restoration.
Did You
Know?
Merry Maids is the
world’s largest homecleaning franchise
network and Terminix
is the largest pest and
termite company in
the world.
How It’s Grown: ServiceMaster started as a
moth-proofing company in 1929. “More than 80 years
later, we have expanded into a global network of more
than 6,900 company-owned and franchise locations
that serve more than 8.2 million customers every year
in the U.S.,” says CEO Hank Mullany 2 .
Why It Stays: Various
ServiceMaster divisions have been
in Memphis for some time, but the
company only moved its corporate
headquarters from Illinois to Memphis
in 2007. The move has made it even
easier for the $3.4 billion company
to hire the best and the brightest.
“Our greatest recruiting tool is getting
people to visit us because once they
do they simply fall in love with the area,”
2
Mullany says. “Memphis’ historic, culturally
diverse and vibrant community really has something
for everyone.”
What It’s Learned From the NaTives:
ServiceMaster has learned that being successful
doesn’t always mean being based in the biggest city.
“Companies such as FedEx, International Paper and
AutoZone have shown us that you can easily grow your
business from a best-of-both-worlds city like Memphis—one with the convenience, culture and academic
advantages of a large city combined with the affordability and sensibilities of a smaller city,” Mullany says.
photos: (Servicemaster top, Mullany) Lance Murphey.
AutoZone, Inc.
PROFILE:
MEMPHIS
Walking IN
Memphis
Essential stops on your tour of the city.
By Chris Herrington
M
oving west to east in Memphis, one passes
from the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River to downtown’s historic mansions
and converted lofts to the shaded bungalows of
Midtown to the ranch houses of East Memphis
and on to the modern, sculpted neighborhoods
of the eastern suburbs. Here’s a peek at the many
points of interest along the way.
Downtown
Downtown runs primarily north to south along
the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi. At the center is historic Beale Street, a three-block stretch
of nightclubs (including stalwarts B.B. King’s
and Rum Boogie Café) where music, primarily
blues, can be heard into the wee hours seven
nights week. On either side of Beale Street are
the city’s sports hubs: FedExForum and AutoZone
Park. The NBA Memphis Grizzlies, the city’s only
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December 2011 deltaskymag.com
Pat Kerr Tigrett
One of Memphis’ most amazing strong suits
is the importance it puts on family and tradition. There’s a sense of belonging in the
community that’s always been
here—a grace and a charm that
we cherish. That spirit continues
from generation to generation.
—Pat Kerr Tigrett, philanthropist, fashion
designer and founder of Memphis’ Blues
Ball, the largest annual ball in the nation
Did You
Know?
Memphis is mentioned in more song
lyrics than any other
city in the world.
photos: (Ducks) Ann-Margaret Hedges / The Peabody Memphis; (Elvis) Loe Beerens.
Peabody Hotel ducks;
Elvis statue
major-league franchise,
play at FedExForum, while
Autozone Park, one of the
country’s best minor-league
baseball stadiums, is home
to the St. Louis Cardinals’
AAA affiliate, the Memphis
Redbirds.
Other downtown landmarks include the restored
Peabody Hotel, with its
grand lobby and trademark
parading ducks, and the lavish Orpheum Theatre, where
touring Broadway shows,
operas, concerts and classic films are presented.
Down the road is the historic Sun Studio,
where Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash launched
their careers. Few places pack as much history
into as small a space as this one-room recording
studio where blues legends made their mark and
what many claim to be the first rock ’n’ roll song
(“Rocket 88,” sung by Jackie Brenston) was recorded. At Sun Studio, which still moonlights as
a recording studio after-hours, tour guides typically drawn from the ranks of current Memphis
musicians show visitors Elvis’ microphone and
explain how producer Sam Phillips got the right
sound on so many hit records.
The National Civil Rights Museum is at the
south end of downtown in the former Lorraine
Motel, the site of the assassination of Martin
Luther King Jr. in 1968. Taking visitors on a
journey from the antebellum South through the
major events of the civil rights movement, tours
include a visit to the balcony where King was
killed and where moving excerpts from his “I’ve
Been to the Mountaintop” speech are played.
Farther south is the South Main Arts District,
which runs along Main Street several blocks
south of Beale Street. A destination for art
galleries, restaurants and the city’s best farmers market, this area is also where you’ll find
the city’s most-filmed intersection: the corner
of Main and G.E. Patterson. Bracketed by The
Arcade (the city’s oldest restaurant), Central Station and Earnestine & Hazel’s (a former brothel
converted into one of the most popular bars and
afterhours clubs), the intersection is the primary
setting for Jim Jarmusch’s film Mystery Train and
also has been captured on film in Great Balls of
Fire, Walk the Line, 21 Grams and other movies.
The Main Street Trolley connects all of
downtown and loops along the riverfront for
a terrific view of the Mississippi River, with a
two-mile extension running east along Madison
Avenue through the medical district to the edge
of Midtown. On the last Friday of every month,
galleries stay open late in the South Main Arts
District for “Trolley Night,” a popular neighborhood block party.
Along the river is Tom Lee Park, a great spot
for waterfront views. It’s also the site of some
of the city’s most popular events, including the
World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest
and the Beale Street Music Festival. Down on
Mud Island (which is actually a large peninsula
surrounded by the Mississippi and Wolf rivers) is
Mud Island Park, a hot spot for concerts and family activities. Here, you’ll also find Harbor Town,
a new urbanist residential community that is
unlike anything else in Memphis.
Finally, on the north end of downtown,
there’s the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra
performs here when it’s not branching
out into nontraditional venues as part
of its innovative Opus One program.
tic Memphis restaurants and has been the subject
of redevelopment negotiations for some time. The
area is set to be tranformed into a theater district
that will include current anchors Playhouse on
the Square (the city’s most prominent venue for
live theater) and Studio on the Square (a boutique
movie theater), plus the smaller theaters Circuit
Playhouse and TheatreWorks. The African-American theater company Hattiloo Theatre plans to
build a new home in the area, where it will join
new restaurant and retail development and outdoor arts spaces.
Down the road is the pedestrian-friendly
Cooper-Young district, one of the best places in
the city to have dinner and walk around. Full of
locally owned shops and restaurants, it’s where
you’ll find Goner Records (named by Rolling Stone
magazine as one of the best independent record
stores in the country) and also many interesting
restaurants both casual (Soul Fish Cafe, Young
Avenue Deli) and upscale (Tsunami, Sweet Grass).
Midtown is also the nexus of the city’s most
vibrant live music scene outside of Beale Street.
Some of the best local and touring bands can
be found performing at The Hi-Tone Cafe and
at Minglewood Hall. For an authentic juke joint
experience, head to Wild Bill’s on Midtown’s
northern edge.
East Memphis
Student bars and clubs line the “Highland Strip”
adjacent to the University of Memphis campus in
East Memphis, but the area surrounding campus also has several family-oriented attractions,
including the city’s Central Library, Children’s
Museum of Memphis and the Pink Palace. The
Cannon Center
for the
Performing Arts
Midtown
Overton Park is the jewel of Midtown,
an older, arboreal section of the city.
The 300-plus-acre expanse has three
anchor attractions: Brooks Museum of
Art (Tennessee’s largest and oldest fine
arts museum), the recently refurbished Levitt Shell (the site of Elvis
Presley’s first concert and today the
venue for a year-round concert series)
and the Memphis Zoo. The zoo, one of
only four in the United States with
giant panda bears, is easily navigated
and has undergone extensive renovations in recent years.
Overton Square, three blocks south
of the park, has a collection of authen-
Shelby Farms Park
Peabody Hotel
Mud Island Park
AutoZone Park
Orpheum
pheu
um Theatre
h
e
Sun Studio
Tom Lee Park
DOW
D
OWN
WNTO
OWN
O
WN
W
N
DOWNTOWN
National
Civil Rights
Museum
Overton Park
Beale Street
FedExForum
Memphis
Rock ‘N’ Soul
Museum
MIDTOWN
M
Overton Square
Pink Palace Museum
Stax Museum of American Soul Music
Graceland
photos: (tigrett) MICHAEL DONAHUE / Commercial Appeal; (Music Festival) Lisa Waddell Buser / Tennessee Dept. of Tourist Development; (Map) Randall Nelson; (Following page, Buffalo) Sean Davis.
SPOTLIGHT:
C omi n g soo n :
Pink Palace is actually three attractions in one:
the Pink Palace Museum, which traces the history
of the Mid-South region from the prehistoric to
the present, the CTI IMAX Theater and the Sharpe
Planetarium. The Pink Palace mansion itself dates
to the 1920s when it was built from pink marble
for Clarence Saunders, the founder of the Piggly
Wiggly grocery chain.
A little farther east from the Pink Palace,
visitors will find some of the city’s best shopping
and restaurants, plus a battery of sites for nature
lovers: the Memphis Botanic Garden, Lichterman
Nature Center and the Dixon Gallery & Gardens.
AMERICAN QUEEN
Memphis welcomes a blast from the past this spring when the American Queen, the
world’s largest paddlewheel steamboat, begins overnight inland trips on the Mississippi
and Ohio Rivers from its new home port on Beale Street Landing. The majestic 418-foot
steamboat will hit ports of call across
a 13-state area. Docked since 2008, it
holds 436 passengers and a crew of
160 and was given a multimillion-dollar
renovation by Memphis-based Great
American Steamboat Co. Passengers on
the inaugral comeback voyage this April
will get a taste of the pace and charm of
an earlier era on Old Man River—with all
the modern comforts, including gourmet
regional cuisine, opulent antebellum
design and a two-deck-tall Grand Saloon
showplace. —C. H.
Eastern Suburbs
The gateway from East Memphis to the city’s
eastern suburbs is Shelby Farms, the nation’s
largest urban park. This 4,500-acre expanse is a
destination for hiking,
biking, horseback riding, fishing and for its
bison range and
playgrounds.
The eastern
suburbs are
also the city’s
Shelby Farms
shopping
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December 2011 deltaskymag.com
hubs, highlighted by Wolfchase Galleria in
Cordova, the Shops of Saddle Creek in Germantown and The Avenue at Carriage Crossing in
Collierville. The cultural highlights of the eastern suburbs include the Germantown Performing
Arts Centre for concerts, events and performances by the IRIS Orchestra. There’s also the Clark
Opera Memphis Center (on the border between
Memphis proper and Germantown), where
Opera Memphis has its headquarters and stages
smaller events.
PROFILE:
MEMPHIS
The
BEATGoes On
By Chris Herrington
The birthplace of blues and rock ‘n’ roll has always marched to its own beat.
E
lvis Presley may have seemed like an
anomaly to many Americans when he first
burst through television sets and jukeboxes
in the mid-1950s. Yet the young man with the
startling voice and overactive hips didn’t come
from nowhere. He came from Memphis, a city
that proudly calls itself “The Home of the Blues
and the Birthplace of Rock ’n’ Roll.”
The rock ’n’ roll revolution began, in large
part, in Memphis’ tiny Sun Studio when Presley
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and producer Sam Phillips mixed blues, country
and gospel into a new sound that would quickly
sweep the world. This birth had a long gestation:
The city had been preparing for this moment for
at least 50 years.
As de facto capital of the Mississippi Delta
during the Great Migration, Memphis was where
cultures clashed and creative sparks flew, bringing together black and white, rural and urban,
north and south. Blues came to Beale Street
photos, Previous page, Clockwise from top left: (Beale St) Tennessee Dept. of Tourist Development; (Thomas, Stax, Staple Singers, Haayes)
Courtesy Stax Museum of American Soul Music; (Timberlake) DFree / Shutterstock.com; (Lewis) Michael Ochs Archives; (This page, The Hi Tone) Don
Perry.
Clockwise from
far top left: Beale
Street; Carla
Thomas; Stax Museum of American
Soul Music; Justin
Timberlake; the
Staple Singers;
Isaac Hayes; Jerry
Lee Lewis.
and then went national via the compositions
of Memphis bandleader W. C. Handy. Elvis’ rise
was presaged by Memphis-connected blues titans
such as Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf and B. B.
King. In fact, King began his career on-air at the
city’s WDIA, the nation’s first African-Americanoperated radio station.
Elvis was followed to Sun Studio by several
regional rock ’n’ rollers who would soon become
legends, including piano-pounding Jerry Lee
Lewis and Johnny Cash. Sun Studio’s 1950s boom
was matched by a Memphis soul explosion in the
1960s and 1970s that would make stars of Stax
Records’ Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes and Hi
Records’ Al Green.
Memphis’ midcentury cultural eruption is
captured today in the city’s network of museums
and attractions, including Elvis’ Graceland, Sun
Studio, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music
and the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum, which
attempts to pull together the different threads to
tell the complete story of Memphis music.
From television’s Memphis Beat to Broadway’s
Tony-winning musical Memphis, the city’s music
cool is still in the national spotlight and modern
Memphis has turned its heritage into a living
history. The city is home to the International
Blues Foundation and the International Folk
Alliance, both of which draw roots-schooled musicians from around the world to the city for annual events. Memphis showcases regional heroes
alongside national stars at the annual Memphis
in May Beale Street Music Festival and celebrates
SPOTLIGHT:
Al Green
M u st - S ee :
Graceland
Every year hundreds of thousands of visitors make the pilgrimage to Graceland,
Elvis Presley’s white-column mansion that sits on 14 acres of land about 10 miles
from downtown Memphis. Those in search of eye-popping Americana aren’t disappointed. Graceland is 1977 suspended in amber, a study in shag carpeting, mirrors and “exotic” furnishings. Novelties almost certain to have been soon altered
by its owner (the infamous Jungle Room) are preserved unchanged. Visitors can
see Elvis’ most iconic accessories—the bejeweled jumpsuits, pink Cadillac and
black-leather 1968 comeback outfit.
Yet if Graceland’s moment-in-time quality may at first glance seem like classic
kitsch, first-time visitors are likely to be surprised by the warmth they encounter.
Graceland is smaller and homier than many expect, and encounters with home
movies of Elvis driving his daughter around
the grounds in a golf cart or a fresh-fromthe-Army Presley insisting he will never leave
his Memphis home serve as reminders of the
real lives that were lived
here. So does the Meditation Garden, where Elvis
is laid to rest and where
every August thousands
of visitors pay their
respects at a candlelight
vigil. —C. H.
its own musical melting pot at the Memphis
Music & Heritage Festival.
Justin Timberlake, from the Memphis suburb
of Millington, is the city’s most celebrated
contemporary music export, but the city’s
modern music scene has been making grassroots waves in garage-rock, hip-hop, blues,
gospel and alt-country. It continues to draw
national and international
acts to its battery of
first-class recording
studios, most notably
Midtown’s Ardent
Studios. No wonder.
Memphis is a city
where a funky beat
and a soulful groove
are considered defining civic attributes.
From the all-local
soundtrack visitors
hear at
Memphis International Airport to
the work of active
support organizations such as the
Memphis Music
Foundation and the
Stax Music Academy,
homegrown sounds
are nurtured and
celebrated.
I came to Memphis in 1970. I’ve grown to love its
diversity, not just in its musical roots but its culture
and its people. It’s a place where everyone has
their own unique interests. What makes Memphis
truly special is how all of that
comes together to become
a community unlike any
place else.
— Al Green, legendary gospel and
soul music singer and nine-time
Grammy winner
The Hi-Tone Cafe, a
Midtown hot spot
for live music.
deltaskymag.com December 2011
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PROFILE:
MEMPHIS
BREAKFAST
Trolley Stop Market
704 Madison Ave.
Taste
Makers
What to order: Locally sourced breakfast plate with two
eggs, bacon or sausage and house-made whole-wheat bread; veggie supreme
omelet and cheesy grits; Jillbilly pimento cheese sandwich with a side of fresh fruit;
any one of four 16-inch breakfast pizzas. (trolleystopmarket.com)
LUNCH
Three Angels Diner
From far left:
Chef Wally
Joe of Acre;
Acre’s tomato
tartare; Charlie Vergos’
Rendezvous.
2617 Broad Ave.
What to order: Adult grilled cheese made with Gouda, goat
and cheddar; griddle-steamed burger served with house-made
condiments and a deviled egg; daily chalkboard specials that include
vegan dishes and seasonal veggie plates. (threeangelsdiner.com)
Memphis chefs are putting a delicious new spin on Southern cooking.
DINNER
By Pamela Denney
H ot d ish :
newman farm pork
Farmers Mark and Rita Newman have provided heritage Berkshire pork to
renowned chefs from California to New York since 1998, and they’ve eaten with
plenty of chefs, too. Simply put, they know their food. It carries extra weight then
when Mark declares that “Memphis is one of the fastest-growing foodie cities in
America. The young chefs are doing some fantastic and crazy things.”
In the city where the pulled-pork sandwich is sacrosanct, the Newmans’
heritage pigs, responsibly raised in the southern Ozarks, are invigorating menus
with bold new flavors thanks to the pork’s higher fat content. At The Grove
Grill, a longtime East Memphis favorite, chef Joshua Perkins has started Italian
specials, Sundays through Tuesday nights, that include Newman Farm pork belly
carbonara. Lunch at Mac Edwards’ farm-to-table restaurant The Elegant Farmer
near the University of Memphis campus features a boneless leg cooked all night
and served with cornbread pudding. For
The Grove Grill
dinner, it’s Newman pork chops, brined and
oven roasted and plated with mushroom,
pepper and sweet potato hash.
Maybe the most satisfying combination
is the pork tacos at Las Tortugas, a family
owned restaurant in a suburban strip mall
in Germantown. The 20-minute drive from
downtown is well worth it to order this:
four soft, homemade corn tortillas filled
with plump chopped pork so good you
won’t want to share it. —P. D.
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80 Monroe Ave.
Collierville, barbecue pizza at Coletta’s in Midtown and the Elvis kitsch and ribs of Marlowe’s
Restaurant, a few blocks from the home of the
King. While Elvis and ribs are still cultural and
culinary bookends, the Memphis dining scene
has evolved, a transition that is mirrored in the
city’s growth from a regional river town to an
international hub for transportation and tourism.
Tapping into their own intuitive feel for the
full-flavored food of the South, a handful of
young chefs have updated the popular palate
by using local providers and seasonal produce,
jumpstarting Southern favorites such as duck,
grits and greens with sass and sophistication.
They’re tossing in international flavors as well, a
nod to the city’s growing diversity.
At Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen in East
Memphis, boyhood friends Andy Ticer and
Michael Hudman serve a family favorite called
Maw Maw’s ravioli, but they shape the rest of
their menu with sous vide cooking and the fresh
food focus of Italy. The result? Unique handmade
pastas (corn tortellini stuffed with chanterelles
and duck confit) and responsibly raised lamb
with saffron risotto, peas, artichoke and fennel.
If you’re visiting after the holidays, check out the
blue house across the street, where the duo plans
to open a lunch-to-late-night pizzeria called Hog
& Hominy, a tribute to the chefs’ unabashed love
for pork and a nod to the 1830s nickname for
their home state of Tennessee.
A few miles away, nationally acclaimed
chefs Wally Joe and Andrew Adams have pulled
together remarkable kitchen talent following a
meticulous two-year renovation of a midcentury
home now called Acre. Look for the restaurant’s
bright yellow door, a charming invitation to food
What to order: BLFGT salad layered with crispy
Newman bacon, baby greens, Tennessee cheddar and
fried green tomatoes; sweet onion tart with Delta pecan pesto; pepper-crusted
salmon with corn étouffée and a scoop of tomato jam; BBB greens, an inventive spin
on a Southern classic cooked with brown sugar and several bottles of Budweiser
beer. (feliciasuzanne.com)
photo: (Rendezvous) Justin Fox Burks.
M
emphis will always be the home of great
barbecue. Hundreds of cooking teams
converge on the banks of the Mississippi
River every spring to decide the best barbecue in
the world, and established Memphis restaurants
have long tempted visitors with mind-blowing
barbecue prepared in myriad ways. There’s
the city’s trademark dry ribs at Charlie Vergos’
Rendezvous near the historic Peabody Hotel, wet
ribs at Corky’s in East Memphis, Cordova and
Felicia Suzanne’s
Chef Felicia
Willett
that Joe describes as modern Americana, a
melting pot of influences much like his own
upbringing in Cleveland, Mississippi.
With world flavors and local fare, they turn
casual fine dining into a surprise vacation of flavor and fun. Snake River sturgeon is grilled and
plated with fingerling potatoes and duck confit.
For chicken Galantine, quinoa and mushrooms
join crawfish ragu. The seasonal focus extends to
the bar menu (truffle potato chips with malted
bacon!) and to hand-mixed cocktails such as the
gumbo martini, a mix of Tanqueray, pickled okra
brine and a dash of white pepper.
In the heart of Cooper-Young, Sweet Grass
brings the low-country cuisine of South Carolina
to the neighborhood’s mix of restaurants, galleries and 1930s bungalows. The bistro’s chef, Ryan
Trimm, was nominated by Food & Wine as the
people’s best new chef. With seafood, pork, game
and local produce purchased from a weekend
farmers market located a block away, Sweet Grass
draws an eclectic mix of hipsters and professionals who appreciate Trimm’s interpretations of
traditional favorites, including Frogmore stew
(replaced this winter with an oyster stew) and
shrimp and grits served with scallops, housemade sausage and country ham.
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115
photos: (trolley Stop, 3 Angels) Justin Fox
Burks.
3 TO TRY:
PROFILE:
MEMPHIS
University of Memphis (left);
Science class at Christian
Brothers University (right).
photo: (Rhodes Libraray) Jason Jones.
Rust Hall at the
Memphis College
of Art (inset);
Rhodes College
library (right); MCA
student (below).
Gain
Brain
“Memphis is
the city of the
blues, but at
MCA we talk
about blue
from a pigment
perspective.”
— Ron Jones, president of
Memphis College of Art
and other physiological data. Students in turn benefit from the university’s relationships with successful
businesses in the region. “A graduate of
U of M comes with his or her briefcase packed,”
says University of Memphis president Shirley
Raines. “What that means is that the majority
of our students have internships, interact with
professionals in their fields and are given challenging opportunities both in class and out in
the community. We take advantage of everything
that’s available in Memphis, and that effort shows
in our students’ successes.”
In turn, students give right back to the region
as they fill positions in area businesses, particularly in health services and bioscience. Thirty
percent of all graduates from Memphis colleges
graduate with bioscience-related degrees from
places such as Baptist Memorial College of Health
Sciences, the Southern College of Optometry
(one of the largest and most clinically advanced
optometry schools in the nation) and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
UTHSC’s Memphis campus offers bachelor’s,
master’s and doctorate degrees through six colleges, including its College of Nursing (consistently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as
one of America’s best graduate schools), College
of Pharmacy (where more than 96 percent of its
graduates pass the national boards on their first
try) and College of Dentistry (home to the Dental
Simulation Center, the world’s largest and most
advanced preclinical lab of its kind).
In the last century, UTHSC educated more
than 49,000 health care professionals. Nearly
half of Tennessee’s medical doctors, 75 percent of
its dentists and 40 percent of its pharmacists are
UTHSC-trained.
“No one comes close to the number of graduates we have each year,” says UTHSC chancellor
Steve J. Schwab. “We are never satisfied with
where we are, and we always expect to be better
tomorrow than we are today. To achieve that, we
look for people who continuously help us move
forward. Memphis makes finding those type of
candidates much easier to do.”
Memphis higher education institutions are
grooming the region’s work force. By Myatt Murphy
M
emphis colleges and universities have
no trouble persuading the world’s best
students to study here, then stay for the
career opportunities.
The region’s diverse collection of higher
education providers includes LeMoyne-Owen
College (one of the nation’s oldest historically
black colleges), Christian Brothers University
(whose graduates have a medical school acceptance rate 33 points higher than the national average) and Rhodes College, a four-year residential
liberal arts institution founded in 1848.
For the second year in a row, Rhodes College
was named by Newsweek magazine as America’s
most service-oriented school. Its 100-acre
wooded campus located in Midtown Memphis
has made The Princeton Review’s ranking of most
beautiful campuses, but the college has a lot
more to offer than eye-pleasing amenities.
“Our 9-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio provides
the very best a liberal arts college has to offer,
but it’s also the partnerships we have here in
Memphis that provide one-of-a-kind learning
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December 2011 deltaskymag.com
opportunities that are unmatched,” says Rhodes
College president William Troutt.
Another area leader is the Memphis College
of Art, the only independent, regionally and
nationally accredited art college in the South to
offer a master’s degree. It, too, has benefited from
Memphis’ unique history. “This city’s rich and
diverse history, particularly in music, has created
an appreciation for—and commitment to—the
arts and the economic power of the arts that’s
unheard of in most cities around the nation,”
says Memphis College of Art president Ron Jones.
At the University of Memphis, a doctorategranting metropolitan research university,
23,000 students seek undergraduate, graduate
and professional degrees through a network of
10 colleges and schools, including the nationally
ranked Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and
the Fogelman College of Business and Economics.
U of M faculty are also creating tomorrow’s technology, including a device called “AutoSense,”
the first inconspicuous sensor that retrieves the
wearer’s respiration patterns, blood-alcohol levels
deltaskymag.com December 2011
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PROFILE:
MEMPHIS
Baptist Memorial
Health Center
First-class health care
keeps Memphis—and
the world—healthy.
By Myatt Murphy
Healthy
Pride
the American College of Surgeons. Le Bonheur’s
most impressive quality though may be how it
listens to its Mid-South community and is truly
committed to serving its patients.
“We don’t have set visiting hours and family is
allowed to spend the night with their loved ones.
We even invite family to sit on board subcommittees to offer advice on making improvements
to the system,” Shorb says. “Our culture is all
about patient- and family-centered care, which
means partnering with parents, patients and
their families to provide the best possible care for
their loved ones.”
Memphis is perhaps best known as the
home of the internationally recognized St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital. Founded by the
late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude is one
of the world’s top institutions specializing in
the research and treatment of deadly childhood
diseases, particularly cancer. It has pioneered
research, treatments and cures that have helped
raise the overall childhood cancer survival rate
from 20 percent to 80 percent since 1962.
St. Jude’s latest life-saving venture is the
Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, the world’s
largest attempt at sequencing complete genomes
of pediatric cancer cells. “We’re now learning
things such as why white blood cells become
leukemia cells and why a brain cell becomes a
brain tumor,” says St. Jude director and CEO Dr.
William E. Evans. “It’s information that’s allowing us to turn mutating genes into targets—targets that will help us find new drugs to inhibit
these abnormal genes and more selectively treat a
child’s cancer.”
Once completed, all 100 trillion pieces of data
from St. Jude’s Genome Project will be placed in
the public domain for others to analyze—something that St. Jude does with all of its research
efforts.
“We view our job as handling what isn’t possible for others, then sharing our discoveries
with scientific and medical communities around
the world,” Evans says. “That allows us to touch
the lives of thousands of children who will never
come to Memphis. It’s just part of the culture
here—a culture rich in collaboration, compassion and innovation.”
St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital
st . j u d e :
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December 2011 deltaskymag.com
Culture of Giving
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is the only
pediatric cancer research center that covers the costs
of treatments not paid for by insurance. It also pays
for transportation, lodging and meals for patients
and a parent or guardian. This generosity costs the
institution $1.7 million a day
and is paid for through public
contributions and the money
raised by ALSAC, St. Jude’s
fundraising organization. In
the last fiscal year, ALSAC
raised $735 million through
34,000-plus activities and
events with the help of 1 million-plus volunteers. “We’re
the nation’s 15th-largest
charity and the second-largest health care charity in
the United States,” says ALSAC CEO Richard Shadyac
Jr. The only larger health care charity is the American
Cancer Society. “The most touching experience is
watching a former St. Jude patient become a parent,”
Shadyac says. “We get to celebrate a new life made
possible by the treatment they were able to receive
due to the continual efforts and kindness of millions.”
Clockwise from far left:
Researchers Dr. Richard
Gilbertson and Dr. Paul
Gibson; Dr. Alberto Broniscer
and a patient; St. Jude Memphis
Marathon; Chili’s Care Center;
Danny Thomas statue.
deltaskymag.com December 2011
124
photos: (Doctors) Peter Barta / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital;
(Statue, Care Center, Race) Seth Dixon / St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital.
and area residents consistently name our
hospitals the best in Memphis,” says Stephen
C. Reynolds, president and CEO of the Baptist
Memorial Health Care Corporation. “But we’ve
never been in this for awards. We’re in this to
make care better for the patients we serve.”
Methodist Le Bonheur also plays a vital role
in giving Memphis its medical edge. Founded
in 1918, Methodist operates seven hospitals that
serve the region, including Methodist University
Hospital, which is nationally recognized for its
Transplant Institute (it’s where Steve Jobs received his liver transplant in 2009). “We have one
of the top 12 transplant programs, as well as the
highest liver transplant one-year graft survival
rate in the nation,” says Gary Shorb, president
and CEO of Methodist Healthcare.
Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, the
system’s freestanding children’s hospital, was
named to U.S. News and World Report’s best
children’s hospitals list in four specialties and
is designated a national level 1 trauma center by
photo: Peter Barta / St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
M
emphis is rightly admired for its music,
but it’s equally applauded for its medicine.
The University of Tennessee Health
Science Center educates many of the nation’s
health care professionals, and the city is home to
a network of lifesaving biomedical companies.
Memphis residents also receive great health
care thanks to two not-for-profit health care
systems: Baptist Memorial and Methodist Le
Bonheur. Baptist operates 14 hospitals throughout Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. It offers
a full spectrum of care through more than 4,000
affiliated physicians and its flagship hospital is
Baptist Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital
in Memphis. Consistently ranked in the top 5
percent for cardiac surgery (and in the top 10
percent in several additional services), Baptist
Memorial over the last four years has earned
HealthGrades’ Distinguished Hospital Award for
Clinical Excellence.
“We are recognized for our heart, orthopedic
and neurosciences care, among other specialties,