Gainesville native Iverson D. Hudgins was characterized “a miracle man” because he survived the 1936 tornado despite being caught in the vortex of the twister, thrown high above his house, landing midst all manner of debris and leaving him with 17 fractures and nails in one eye and his jaw. Doctors deemed he would die before the day was done, declared it a miracle when he hung on and still another miracle when he walked despite his battered bones. Yet Hudgins had been called a “miracle man” long before the tornado tossed him around.