FRANKLIN—The late Clifford A. “Cliff” Cutchins, a prominent banker and farmer, was among eight Virginia Tech alumni inducted into the Virginia Livestock Hall of Fame on Oct. 7.

Cutchins, a Franklin native and 1947 Virginia Tech graduate, was one of the frontrunners in area dairy and hog farming, said lifelong friend Sol Rawls.

When he wasn’t performing his job as president of Virginia National Bank, Cutchins was a dairy farmer on more than 600 acres of land on Clay Street in Franklin, Rawls said.

“Not only was he a big-time banker, but he was a really big farmer,” Rawls said. “He was one of the top two bankers in Virginia and one of the area’s top farmers.”

Cutchins’ grandfather, C.A. Cutchins, ran a feed store in downtown Franklin, and his uncle, Cecil Vaughan, ran Vaughan & Co. Bank, Rawls said.

“Both sides of his family were in banking, business and farming,” Rawls said.

Cutchins, who died in 2002, received his bachelor’s degree in business from Tech and served on the university’s Board of Visitors for 14 years.

Ernest Rogers of Waverly was also inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Virginia State Fair in Doswell. Rogers, who died in 1977, was a 1966 graduate of the university.

The Virginia Livestock Hall of Fame was established in 2009 and recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the state’s livestock industry and its people.