TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - Dr. Alexander D. Brickler has delivered more than 30,000 babies since moving to Tallahassee in the late 1950s. Throughout his more than 40 years of practicing, he has taught and influenced thousands of doctors and nurses.
But it wasn't always an easy ride for Dr. Brickler.
If you ask him, Dr. A.D. Brickler will tell you he didn't choose to become an obstetrician...rather, he was forced into it.
"Well, of course I went to medical school and I had all the aspirations young men who go to medical school have, then I went into the service and reported for duty, and the hospital commander was in great need of an obstetrician and he looked at me and said - 'you're my obstetrician'," said Dr. Brickler. "That's how I became an obstetrician."
But it's a job he quickly discovered he enjoyed. You can even say, it was his calling.
"My father-in-law who was practicing here, asked me to come down and spend a year with him and I've been here ever since," Dr. Brickler said.
In 1971, Dr. Brickler and his father-in-law Dr. Anderson became the first African American physicians to practice at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH).
Years and 30,000 babies later, Dr. Brickler recalls some of his most famous deliveries.
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Tallahassee Doctor Has Delivered Over 30,000 Babies and a Heisman Winner
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But it was a career that was tough to tackle, especially being an African American male during the civil rights movement.
"Well I had all the obstacles that people that lived in Tallahassee had," said Dr. Brickler. "When I first came here, the town was very segregated town when I came here and it's grown tremendously since I've been here, thank Heavens."
But it's the work of Dr. Brickler and others that have helped pave the way for change in Tallahassee. And it's why he's one of the 2015 Martin Luther King, Jr. award winners in Leon County.
Recently, TMH named their women's pavilion after Dr. Brickler, saying it's because he has touched so many lives there and in the community.
WTXL ABC27 will feature a different African American icon every Tuesday night at 6 and 11 p.m. now through the month of February.
