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Rocky, Ronda and the coach intrigued us
© St. Petersburg Times The challenge was to take Tampa's most significant newsmakers and engaging personalities of 2002 and craft a list of the city's 10 most intriguing people. I started with 35, and with a little help from my colleagues, pared it down. On another day, I may have picked 10 others. So with apologies to Judy Genshaft, Dick Greco, Robin Guess and Don and Erika Wallace for not including them this time around, here is my top 10. Rocky Rodriguez: Is there anyone with a more appropriate nickname than the beleaguered major of the Sheriff's Office? Rodriguez made news first as a target of a federal investigation gone awry, and then for making a stopover at a Biloxi, Miss., gambling hotel during an official business trip. Whether he was a just target of the feds or out of line for his casino visit depends largely on who you ask in this city. The bet here is we'll have another Rodriguez controversy to debate in 2003. Aj Jemison: Whenever she meets people, she explains her two-letter name is not a pair of initials, though it's pronounced like initials. "It's just Aj," she says. That simple statement doesn't fully describe the general manager of the ultra successful International Plaza. With a biographical book due out this spring and a children's book in the works, she's not just a general manager. With plans to start giving motivational speeches, she's not just an author, either. Monsignor Laurence Higgins: The omnipresent pastor of St. Lawrence Catholic Church gives the invocation at nearly every major fundraising luncheon and dinner. His ministry helps build low-income housing, and how many American priests can say they recently blessed Fidel Castro? Most impressive is Higgins' embrace of Tampa. It's been his home for 45 years, and he made a few eyes well up at the Chamber's annual luncheon when he said he'll be buried here. Gen. Tommy Franks: He has an annual salary of $138,000, a home overlooking Tampa Bay and a penchant for eating Tex-Mex at Tia's. He also may end up with the most daunting task in the world: leading the United States into a war against unpredictable Iraq. A history-maker in the making resides right here in Tampa. Ronda Storms: Here's a rival to Rodriguez in the name game because something always seems to be brewing when Storms, the county's most vocal commissioner, is involved. She's a political enigma. Her campaign against public access made her a target of ridicule and more popular at the same time. Her rants and raves make you think she's a loose cannon, yet her easy re-election makes you wonder if Storms is more calculating than we realize. Don Connolly: The controversial land speculator became one of the area's most despised business people when he tried to use his acquisitions to make a profit off unsuspecting homeowners. One of my friends called him "slime personified," but the fact Connolly had friends willing to step up and defend him continues to amaze me. Gwen Stephenson: In her five-year tenure, the Hillsborough Community College president has cleansed Tampa's biggest institution of higher learning (40,000 students gives HCC a bigger enrollment than USF) of scandal, created successful new programs and initiated a plan to put a new campus in South Hillsborough. Yet her low-profile approach makes her the community's quietest leader. Jon Gruden: No one has done a better job of combining Hollywood-handsome looks with hot-poker motivation. First-year coach Gruden extended the Bucs' success to a franchise-best 12-4 mark by inspiring the defense and infusing the offense. They may not reach the Super Bowl, but the foundation for a string of great Bucs seasons has been set, and the problems of woebegone Bill Parcells belong to someone else. Pam Iorio: The supervisor of elections made a community beam with pride by deftly handling the county's first touch-screen system while problems plagued Broward and Dade counties. Her almost-certain mayoral bid will define the 2003 race to replace popular Dick Greco. And for heaven's sake, the woman's accounting acumen is so good she never has to use an ATM card. Nina Marie Ballard: Of all the people I've interviewed this year, Ballard's story may have been the most intriguing. Anyone who managed to make a marriage last for 77 years surely holds more answers to life than most. Anyone 92 years young who can recall with uncanny detail how she met her beloved Arthur in 1922 holds more treasured memories than a stack of yearbooks. And anyone who continues to persevere after losing her husband in February holds more strength than a weightlifter. Plus, out of all the people I've interviewed this year, she's the only one who told me, "I love you." That's all I'm saying.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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