Loftin, Luna to Receive UA’s Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama National Alumni Association has announced that the late James D. “Jim” Loftin Sr. and Robert “Bobby” Kendall Luna are the 2006 recipients of the Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award.

The award recognizes two former athletes whose accomplishments since leaving the University are outstanding based on character, contributions to society, professional achievement and service.

The award will be presented to Luna and the family of Loftin during the Sept. 2 Alabama vs. Hawaii football game in Tuscaloosa.

Loftin began his career at the University as a letterman on the Alabama football team in 1955, playing under Coach Brian “Ears” Whitworth. He was captain as well as Most Valuable Player of the 1957 team. After a brief stint playing professional football for the Detroit Lions, Loftin returned to Alabama and pursued a career in the trucking business.

Loftin was active in the Dothan business community, serving an unprecedented two-year term as chairman of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce. He was also active in the City of Dothan Leisure Services, serving as Recreation Board chairman for 11 years.

Loftin was a member and inductee to the Wiregrass Sports Hall of Fame, was one of the original inductees into the Kappa Sigma Hall of fame and was awarded the national Kappa Sigma Businessman Award in 2004. In 1978, he and his wife, Marian, were honored with the Henry and Julia Tutwiler Award, the highest award given by UA for loyalty and service, and in 1990, he was named to the UA Board of Trustees.

As an active member of the Houston-Henry County Chapter of the UA Alumni Association, Loftin began a local scholarship fund-raising program called “Bama Day in Dothan,” which has raised nearly $500,000 in scholarships and $300,000 in endowments since it began in 1982. Loftin was also a member of the St. Columba Catholic Church in Dothan. He passed away on Dec. 16, 2004.

Luna had an impressive athletic career at the University of Alabama, lettering in Alabama baseball in 1951 and in Alabama football in 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1954. He held five records at the University, including longest pass at 87 yards. In 1955, after he graduated from UA, Luna was drafted by the San Francisco Forty-Niners where he started each game as a defensive back and punter.

In 1958, Luna served as assistant coach under head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. He went on to play for the Pittsburg Steelers in 1959 and the Dallas Cowboys in 1960 before retiring from his football career. Luna was inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame for Madison County in 1990.

He is the founder and president of Luna Construction. He began his career in the construction business in Tuscaloosa in 1961, relocated to Huntsville in 1964 and moved his company and family to Franklin, Tenn., in 1968, where they still reside.

Past recipients of the Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award include: John Croyle, Young Boozer, Charlie Boswell, Fred Sington, Hoyt “Wu” Winslett, Holt Rast, Tom Rast, Bart Starr, Bud Moore, Ozzie Newsome, Jerry Duncan, Dwight Stephenson, Lee Roy Jordan, Joe Kelley, Wendell Hudson, Dr. Andrew Burch, Jack McKewen, Harry Lee, I.L. “Pat” O’Sullivan Jr., Harry Gilmer, Don Salls, Jeremiah Castille, William E. Sexton, Bill Battle and Noah Langdale Jr.