Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Vernon and Gladys (Love) Presley. He was an influential singer, musician and actor. He was inducted into the United States Army in 1958 and met his future wife, Priscilla Beaulieu, while serving in Germany. They were married on May 1, 1967, and had Lisa-Marie in 1968. Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Aaron John (usually called Jack) Sharp was born to Prentice Daniel and Maude Katharine (Herriott) Sharp in Plain City, Ohio on July 29, 1904. He earned his A.B. from Ohio Wesleyan University (1927), his M.S. from the University of Oklahoma (1929), and his Ph.D. from Ohio State University (1938). He later returned to Ohio Wesleyan, where he completed his DSc in 1952. Sharp spent the majority of his professional career at the University of Tennessee, where he began working as an Instructor in 1929. He later held posts as an Assistant Professor (1937-1940), an Associate Professor (1940-1946), a Professor (1946-1965), and a Distinguished Service Professor (1965-1974). Sharp also worked with the UT Herbarium as curator (1949-1968) and as associate curator (1968-1980) and served as the Head of the Department of Botany (1951-1961). Sharp retired from the University in 1974 and died in Knoxville, Tennessee on November 16, 1997.