This 1975 Chattanooga News-Free Press photo was shot at the Highway 27 bridge over Big Opossum Creek near Bakewell in north Hamilton County. It was shot by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Robin Hood. / Chattanooga News-Free Press photo via ChattanoogaHistory.com.It’s rare that a news photo contains irony. And for that matter, it’s rare that a news photo features an opossum.
But, lo and behold, this 1975 photo of a small animal stuck on Big Opossum Creek amid flooding in north Hamilton County is a bit of a head-scratcher.
That is, until you comb the archives of the Chattanooga News-Free Press. Then, sure enough, you’ll see this photo was splashed on Page 1 of the newspaper under the headline: “2.5-Inch Rain Brings Flash Floods.”
The date was Oct. 18, 1975, and the news of the day in Chattanooga involved area flooding caused by persistent rain showers in the previous 24 hours.
Lest anyone think this photo was a fluke, the photographer, Robin Hood, had a good eye for interesting images. Two years later he would win the Pulitzer Prize for a feature photo of a Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair holding a baby in his lap at the Armed Forces Day Parade in downtown Chattanooga.