Ward 2 City Councilman Ron Anders Jr. fondly remembers spending time at his parents' store on football game days.
“To be a face in that store, in a town that you love, near a university that you love, it was just a great experience,” Anders said.
Anders is the son of Ron and Rosemary Anders, founders of Anders Bookstore, which still sits on Magnolia Avenue.
“Football weekends were just so fun," Anders said. "You know, my brother and I would go to Anders, and we would just mingle in and out. We’d go across the street, get lemonade, go to Samford Park, meet our friends and play football. We’d go back to Anders and kind of hang out. It was just a great experience and a great time to be in Auburn.”
After high school, Anders knew he wanted to stay in Auburn for college.
“I was going to Auburn," Anders said. "I never thought about another place to go to.”
At Auburn he became a member of Phi Gamma Delta. The whole Anders family became very involved in the fraternity. His younger brother Kirk became a Fiji later on, and his mother became the president of the Mothers Club. Currently Anders’ son is a member of the fraternity.
“For a child to grow up in Auburn, on its own level, it’s like an amusement park,” Anders said.
It was through the fraternity that Anders became interested in cheerleading.
Though he played football, baseball and basketball at Auburn High School, Anders knew he could not continue these physical pursuits at the University. With support from brothers at Fiji who were on the team, Anders decided to try out for cheerleading.
“As with a lot of things in college, you have encouragement to pursue things, and through that pursuit, if you have enough courage to go do it, then you put yourself out here," Anders said. "You can try to do things.”
Anders made it on the team, where he soon became interested in the Mic Man position. At the time, the Mic Man was chosen by the cheerleaders and was not a separate tryout. Anders cheered his junior year and was appointed head cheerleader his senior year in 1986. After becoming head cheerleader, his fellow teammates decided he was also worthy of the Mic Man position.
Anders began as Mic Man in a time period when Auburn sports teams were especially successful. The basketball team won the SEC Championship, went to the Elite 8 and almost made it to the Final Four in 1986. Bo Jackson won his Heisman Trophy that year in a time when Auburn football was becoming great.
“I will never forget the pep rally for him at Sewell Hall when he got back from New York after winning the Heisman Trophy," Anders said. "You know, me and Bo shared the microphone as he was telling everybody, ‘Thank you for your support.’ What a great memory.”
After college, Anders moved to Birmingham, becoming involved in the banking business. He lived there for two and a half years before returning to his home to go into business with his father at the bookstore.
Anders would continue to work at the bookstore even after his parents sold the store in 2005, though he soon knew he had to move on.
“The way that my family ran the operation was extremely different than the way corporate America wanted to run our operations, so it just wasn’t a good fit based on my past experiences,”Anders said.
After leaving the store in 2007, Anders became interested in becoming a member of the Auburn City Council. Though it was some time before he ran for a position on the council, Anders was glad to finally be able to support the community he grew up in.
“It’s just caring and wanting to do things for an institution that’s done so much for you,” Anders said.
A recent issue involving the Auburn City Council has been the “Keep Auburn Lovely,” movement which intends to prevent certain developments in Auburn that they suggest would take away from the appeal of the city. They advocate for community involvement in growth that would lead to smarter housing developments that would protect downtown Auburn.
When discussing the movement, Anders praises their passion for Auburn, and he also appreciates that they provide alternative ideas for development.
“To this group’s credit, they’re offering solutions and not just pointing out where there are deficiencies,” Anders said.
When development plans for downtown come up in the city council, Anders does not vote on these issues because of his involvement with family who own property downtown as well as his work with a commercial contractor.
“I cannot make a vote on anything that directly affects these projects,” Anders said.
One of Anders' main concerns as a member of the Council is the Auburn downtown area and how the bars affect not only students, but also the community as a whole.
"The challenge we have in Auburn is to make sure our downtown remains a place where all of us can have a good time, and it doesn't become a place that is perceived to be just for one generation of citizens," Anders said.
Working with the City Council is not the only way Anders has impacted the community for the better.
Anders was directly responsible with organizing the Super 7, which is the Alabama High School Athletic Association football state championships. The championships are held every year at either Auburn or the University of Alabama, depending on which school hosted the Iron Bowl that year. Anders worked closely with the city of Tuscaloosa and both universities to make the event happen.
Beth Witten, Ward 3 city councilwoman, said what Anders did with the Super 7 was no easy feat.
“Being in the business of running events as I currently am, I can see the work that goes into bringing the community … and Ron has done a great job of uniting two communities,” Witten said.
But for Anders, former Mic Man, former president of the Auburn Boys Club, former president of the Auburn Chamber of Commerce and current city councilman, it was all in a day’s work.
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