Alabama-Auburn Rivalry: In Dead Period, Political Football Takes Center Stage

1908-1948 can be referred to as the dead period regarding the in-state rivalry game but by no means was the rivalry dead. In fact, there was as much, if not more, back-and-forth banter during this time. So much so that it fueled the so-called hatred between the schools such that when the rivalry game resumed, anticipation was peaked to a level of excitement that is unmatched in sports history.

Part of what initiated the discontinuation of the Alabama-Auburn game dated back to games played in 1905 and1906.

The Beginning of the End

In 1905, Jack Leavenworth was head coach of the Alabama Crimson White. Mike Donahue had just taken over as Auburn head coach, one year after graduation from Yale. While at Yale he played for two years as backup behind two time All-American quarterback, Foster Rockwell.

Leavenworth led his Crimson Cadets to a record of 6-4, which included a victory over the Auburn Blue and Orange by a score of 30-0. The game was played in front of the largest crowd ever gathered for a game in Alabama, reportedly 4,600 spectators.

Auburn had only threatened to score once in the game, following a blocked punt. With the ball on the four-yard line, Alabama held the Blue and Orange and never allowed Auburn in Alabama territory for the remainder of the game. It was an embarrassing loss for Donahue and his team.

Following the game, Donahue accused Alabama of playing an ineligible player. A complaint was levied but the accusation was false. The game result was validated and the season completed without incident. Leavenworth, for whatever reason, finished the season as head coach for Alabama and never coached again.

John W. H. "Doc" Pollard became head coach of the Crimson White "varsity" Football team in 1906. Pollard, a Dartmouth graduate, having played in the Ivy League was exposed to some of  the best innovators in the sport.  He coached one season at LeHigh before coming to Alabama. His record during his first stint as head coach was horrendous, finishing at 1-11.

When he came to Alabama as head coach, he installed formations and shifts on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball that confused and frustrated the southern opponents. The southern schools had not played against the Ivy League programs, and were a little behind on the newer innovations in the sport.

The coach that became most frustrated was none other than "Iron Mike" Donahue. Following a 10-0 defeat at the same Birmingham venue from the year before, Donahue once again accused Alabama of cheating by the use of illegal formations and defensive maneuvers.

After accusing Pollard, Donahue threatened to end the series after the 1906 game. Instead, he chose to take a one year sabbatical, leaving the Auburn team in the capable hands of Willis Keinholtz.

In 1907, Keinholtz led the Blue and Orange on a 6-1 tear through the Southern Conference prior to the meet with Alabama. The only loss was to Sewanee by a score of 6-12. Auburn had outscored their opponents 167-18. Four of the games were lopsided shutout victories.

With regard to Alabama's season, it was on or off from game to game. Sewanee had defeated the Crimson Cadets 54-4 The Tigers (dubbed as such due to their fierce play) came into the game a 3-1 favorite.

Pollard implemented the forward pass on the first play from scrimmage in this contest, a play that Auburn was unprepared to defend. The "trick" play went for a 30-yard gain. Alabama held onto the ball for almost the entire first half.

Auburn took over deep in their own territory and put together a relentless drive to the Alabama goal. Each play gained 5-10 yards, Auburn had a size advantage against the right side of the Alabama line. With 30-seconds remaining, Auburn had a third and goal on the Alabama one-yard line and was called for offsides.

Alabama's team captain had miscalculated, accepting rather than declining the penalty, which would have given Alabama the ball, according to the rules of the time (loss of down). Accepting the penalty gave Auburn another chance to score. And score they did, by a fullback handoff directly over left tackle for the only points posted in the first half. In the end, it was an extremely costly mistake.

In the first minutes of the second half, Pollard introduced a formation referred to as the "Varsity-two-step". It was a controversial formation with motion before the snap. Linemen were in motion and the quarterback called the play based on the defensive scheme. Alabama scored on the first drive of the second half, tying the game at 6-6 with only five minutes elapsed from the game clock.

Auburn also used trick plays and a variety of new formations, gaining 75-yards on their last drive of the second half. But as Zipp Newman recorded for the Birmingham News, "the Alabama thin red line held their ground, exhausted from the exertions, they made a magnificent last stand, held for downs, took possession of the ball and punted out of danger as the game ended."

The tie contributed to Auburn finishing second in the conference behind Vanderbilt.

Hugh Roberts from the Brimingham Herald added: "The game was played in a sea of red mud, the Alabama line held off the determined Auburn Tigers like a Crimson Tide." Interestingly enough, Newman used the term "Crimson Tide" more frequently following the 1907 battle on the gridiron, and is credited with popularizing the name.

When Donahue returned from his sabbatical, he was furious at the outcome of the game and once again launched protest against Pollard's innovations to no avail. He demanded that northern referees be used for future games or Auburn would refuse to play. Soon afterwards, arguments included what the Universities should be reimbursed for expenses to board the athletes and provide meals.

The dispute was a smoke screen for troubles that ran much deeper and have never been fully explained. One thing for certain is that the cross-state institutions were losing respect for eachother and the degree of distain one had for the other had been taken to a new level.

Rather than sort out the differences, the programs decided to discontinue the annual contest.

The Rise of Auburn Football from Mediocrity to Greatness in the Southern Conference

From 1895 through 1920, Alabama never finished as conference champion. Vanderbilt held 10 conference titles, Sewanee won three titles while always in contention. Auburn was named conference champion in 1900 (shared with Clemson), and was sole honoree in 1913 and 1919.

From 1908 to 1922, Auburn's "Iron Mike" forged team after team that contended for championships. In 18 seasons at the helm, Donahue had three teams finish undefeated, and four more suffering only a single loss on the season. He amassed a record of 106-35-5, with a winning percentage of .743, the second highest in Auburn football history.

He too, installed the pass play, and used unorthodox formations both offensively and defensively. He learned the rules more completely during his time off and became quite the innovator, himself. Though there were no head-to-head competitions with Alabama during the remainder of his tenure, he surely would have been prepared for anything Pollard or any other Alabama coach would have presented to him and his teams on the gridiron.

His 1913 squad is retroactively recognized as the collegiate national champion by The Billingsley Report. The 1913 Auburn Tigers were 8-0 and outscored opponents 223-13.

Donahue's teams in 1913 and 1914 were both undefeated, the team in 1914 was not scored upon for the entire season. The Georgia team of 1914 fought the Blue and Orange to a 0-0 tie in Atlanta.

From 1913 to 1915, Auburn went on an unbeaten tear for a collective 22 games over the three seasons, losing the last two games of the 1915 season to Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, both teams very worthy opponents. Vanderbilt was the eventual conference champion in 1915.

Eighteen of the 22 victories over that period were shut-outs. Fifteen of the 18 were consecutive shut-out victories. The record is unmatched in the history of the program and a record of such achievement was never matched by the Alabama squads of the time or any period since past. Donahue established a winning tradition at Auburn following the blood-feud that separated the kindred institutions.

Good but not Great in Tuscaloosa

Meanwhile, with Pollard at the helm, Alabama continued to have success on the gridiron. Just not the kind of success that was being forged in East Alabama.

In 1908, The Crimson Tide finished 6-1-1 (2-1-1) and in 1909, the team finished 5-1-2 (4-1-2). In 1910, Pollard relinquished his responsibilities as head football coach to coach only baseball. He was followed by Guy Lowman, who coached for a single year and left for Kansas State. In 1910, Alabama finished the season 4-4 but only 1-4 in conference play.

In 1911, Led by D.V. Graves, the Tide finished 5-2-2 ( 2-2-2), they were not making progress. Mediocrity was the norm for years to come. 1915 was a standout year, Alabama defeated Sewanee in that season, the first win against the Tigers in ten years, winning by a score of 23-10. Early in the season, coach Thomas Kelley contracted Typhoid Fever.

They finished the season with the help of former player, Farley Moody and Athletic Director Loonie Noojin taking over for the ailing Kelly. It was a successful 6-2 (4-1) campaign. University Field was completed and games were moved from the Quad to the new venue that could support around 3500 spectators.

In 1916, the season results were once again respectable, but average, and the three losses were to conference opponents Georgia Tech (0-13), Tulane (0-33) and Georgia (0-3). The 1917 season record was once again respectable but losses to Vandy and Camp Gordon along with a tie in the contest with Sewanee put a damper on the promising season that started with four consecutive wins.

The Rise to Greatness for Alabama -- The Pride of Dixie

George H. Denny arrived on the campus of Tuscaloosa in 1912 at the age of 42. He came to Alabama after serving as President for Washington and Lee from 1901-1911.

George Hutcheson Denny, Jr. was born and raised in Hanover Court House, Virginia. He was the son of a Presbyterian minister. Denny's father, prior to becoming a minister, served in an elite confederate artillery unit attached to the Army of Northern Virginia. An army led by none other than Robert E. Lee.

George Denny, Jr. was born five years after the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. He was raised in the war torn lands of Virginia and walked the fields where many southern and northern men sprinkled the soil with their blood. Though he did not coin the phrase, George Denny lived to see the day that "the south would rise again."

In 1912 the enrollment at The University of Alabama was just over 650 students. Denny expanded the campus facilities from nine major buildings to twenty-three, and he led the transformation of Alabama from a State University to a nationally recognized Institution of higher learning. At the end of his tenure, enrollment at the University was more that 6,000 students.

George Denny used football as a tool to accomplish many of these goals. He did the same thing with the sport of football at Washington and Lee, but it was at Alabama that he made the connection from the sport to the heart of man.

At Alabama, Denny realized that the game transcended the sport. Small victories on the gridiron could be used as a source of pride that can motivate an entire group of people. The game was a metaphor for the human spirit, a spirit that needs to experience redemption and renewal before it can achieve greatness.

Goodness began with Pollard, greatness came with the hire of Xen Scott in 1918. In his first year, Xen Scott led the Alabama team through the 1919 season ending with a record of 8-1. He followed that season in 1920 with a record of 10-1, the first ten win season in the history of Alabama football.

In 1921, Denny encouraged Scott to take his team on the road. Scott followed up on the advice in the following season, 1922. First to Texas, then on to Pennsylvania. That 2,885 mile road trip put Alabama on the national map for football programs that could compete for greatness. While the first game on the road resulted in a 19-10 loss to Texas, the game went down to the wire, despite seven fumbles by the Crimson Tide.

It was no mistake that one of the first games played by Alabama above the Mason-Dixon line was played in Pennsylvania—home state of the Gettysburg battlefield. It was the vision of George Denny. It was a gridiron battle that need a point of reference for the Alabama president and the entire south. 25,000 were in attendance to see the Crimson Tide take on the Penn Quakers.

The 9-7 victory against the University of Pennsylvania was the first victory by a southern school over a powerful northeastern opponent. It was completely unexpected by those who followed the sport. It was the first victory for Alabama over a nationally recognized football powerhouse.

Penn had previously finished as college football national champions in 1894, '95 and '97, again in 1904, '07 and '08. At the time of the Alabama victory, Penn was coached by none other than John W. Heisman. 

The Alabama fight song includes references of unity, battle, pride and eternity. It was the vision of George H. Denny for the University Alabama, through sport and higher education, to become a source of pride for the entire southern region.

Denny hit the mark, and those who bought into his vision helped him reach that goal. The Rose Bowl victory in 1925 against Washington by a score of 20-19 was just a start. The University of Alabama is the most recognized sports Logo from the southern United States not only in this country but across the globe.

The Great Divide and the Inter-Testament Period

It wasn't that attempts were not made to mend the fracture in relations with the schools, it's just that the attempts to mend the wounds were disingenuous, responses to correspondence were intentionally delayed and the divide between the relationship grew wider than the Grand Canyon.

Aside from the dispute of cheating and the desire by Donahue to use northern referees, there was a real dispute over payment of room and board for the players. Moreover, Auburn fought to have 22 players travel to games while Alabama only wished to pay for 20 players to each contest.

In January of 1908, Auburn's Thomas Bragg sent a proposal to Alabama's J.W. Pollard for the 1908 match. The proposal from Bragg asked for $3.50 per day in expenses per player. Alabama drew the line at $3.00. Room and board was to be for two nights in Birmingham, in 1907 and before, the expenditure was $2.00 per day, per player. 

Again, money was harder to come by at the turn of the 20th century and what amounted to a $34 dispute was not just pocket change at the time. The Alabama trustee's could not or better yet would not justify expenditures for the athletic contest between the two school and chose to cancel the 1908 game.

In September of 1908, Auburn agreed to compromise on the payment for room and board and sent four dates to the Alabama board of trustee's that could be used to schedule the in-state rivalry game. Alabama did not send a response in time to make the first two dates feasible choices.

Auburn had a long standing rule to not play games after Thanksgiving, and Alabama only had November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving, as an open date. Alabama had previously scheduled a game with Haskell University on November 21st, choosing to honor the contract rather than reschedule the game. Neither school would budge, and the game was bunked.

Attempts were made to schedule games in 1911 and 1923, both were at the initiative of the Alabama board of trustees, both attempts rejected by Auburn. In fact, in 1923, the reasoning was stated by Auburn President, Dr. Spright Dowell in these terms; "such a game would make other games, contests and events subservient to the one supreme event of the year." Duh!

There was little discussion of resuming the rivalry until 1944, when Auburn approached the Alabama Board of Trustees with a proposal to resume the annual contest.

This time, Alabama said no, with very little regard to their eastern brethren. The pride of Alabama Football that was used for good by Denny had been changed over time to arrogance. With Alabama in the seat of power, the statement released to the media were even more preposterous.

The Alabama Board of Trustees released a statement, saying: "An Auburn-Alabama rivalry would lead to an overemphasis of football in the state of Alabama and would cause an unhealthy increase in rumor and rancor between the two schools."

The Board also said "an intrastate rivalry would make it impossible for either school to hire coaches of high character and proven ability because they would be afraid of beating the cross-state rival every year." The statement doesn't even make sense. What feeble mind drafted those words and why would a sports page print it without explanation? What a bunch of hooey!

In addition to attempts at resolution of the standoff by each University, State senators and congressmen attempted to pass legislation to force the programs to resume the in-state game. But the University's would not budge from their respective positions and both institutions chose to ignore the bills sent to the from the Statehouse.

Part III will follow in short order. It will chronicle the Rise of Alabama Football to a national powerhouse following the Rose Bowl victories, and the decline of Auburn during the "roaring 20's. This is followed by a resurgence of "pride on the plains."