What U.S. coin was the first to portray a living person on it? By Bob Whalen on February 1, 2015 in Trivia A. The 1921 Alabama Centennial commemorative half-dollar. The coin was designed by Laura Gardin Fraser. It portrays William Wyatt Bibb, first governor of Alabama, and Thomas E. Kilby, who was the governor in 1919. Continue Reading