A Tennessee Metro councilwoman has proposed renaming the Nashville International Airport after Oprah Winfrey, who got her start in television four decades ago in Music City after graduating from Tennessee State University and East High School.

But Sharon Hurt, the at-large councilwoman who is pushing the name change, has received resistance from airport officials who say the move would violate their naming policy for facilities.

Hurt fired back this week in a letter to Mayor David Briley that questioned the airport's record in employing minority workers and contractors, particularly African-Americans.

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Hurt – who earlier this year was successful in getting the Metro Council to rename a stretch of Charlotte Avenue after Martin Luther King Jr. — approached the Nashville Airport Authority with the proposal in a Nov. 5 letter to the airport board's chairman, Dexter Samuels.

The airport would be called The Oprah G. Winfrey Nashville International Airport under her plan.

"It's Oprah," Hurt said in an interview. "Nashville is in a very unique position to be able to offer that type of recognition to someone that's very deserving."

"I think it's a grand opportunity for us to recognize someone of Oprah's stature," she said, calling it an especially fitting gesture as the airport undertakes a multi-billion-dollar renovation.

Naming policy says individuals must be deceased two years

The 10-member Nashville Airport Authority board, not the council, has the final say over the airport's name.

But in a Nov. 21 letter in response, Samuels and Nashville International Airport President and CEO Doug Kreulen said Winfrey does not meet the airport's naming criteria.

The airport has a policy dating back to 2010 that individuals honored through the naming of a building or facility be deceased for at least two years and must have made a "substantial contribution" to the Nashville International Airport or the field of aviation.

"Both the president/CEO of the authority and I agree that Ms. Winfrey's achievements and accolades are too numerous to recite," the joint letter reads, "however, renaming the airport after Ms. Winfrey does not meet the criteria established by the (airport authority)."

The airport authority board has the ability to overturn that policy, but there is no proposal to do so.

Nashville has 'an opportunity to immediately honor' Oprah

Briley spokesman Thomas Mulgrew said the mayor had no comment on the name change proposal and encouraged Hurt to take her proposal directly to the airport authority.

African-American leaders in Nashville have long said the city has done a poor job recognizing the contributions of minorities. The city has taken recent steps to correct that, including the recent street renaming to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

Hurt said she understands why the airport has rules and guidelines for naming buildings, singling out Pete Rose, the former Major League Baseball player who was found to be gambling on games.

"However, I think that Oprah has accomplished and achieved greatness that we will never see in our lifetime," Hurt said. "She's that and all of that. Because of that and the ties that we have, I think this is an opportunity we have to immediately honor her and recognize here.

"When I was growing up, and even now, my mother always talked about giving flowers while they live. Why do we have to wait until people are deceased until we can truly honor or recognize them?"

Winfrey is the daughter Vernon Winfrey, a former Metro councilman who has operated a barbershop in East Nashville for more than 50 years.

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Hurt pointed out that Metro has named city-owned facilities after people who were living at the time the name change took place, including the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, the Karl F. Dean Grand Ballroom inside Music City Center and the Richard Fulton Campus, named several years ago for the former Nashville mayor who died last month.

But unlike with these facilities, Hurt would need approval from the airport authority to honor Winfrey the way she envisions.

She said she just wants a chance to make her case to the board.

"I hope I have an opportunity," she said.