Alabama Football: The 25 Most Beloved Figures in Tide History

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Beloved sports figures means many things. It could mean the players was great, it could mean he was just admired for other things other than his sport or maybe it just means he was loved for who he was and the circumstances of his destiny with a team.

While I'm sure a twenty year old's list would differ from a man in his seventies, this is a list of who I as a writer, a fan myself (in advancing years) and an alumni would give.

Except for the last one, they are in no particular order, just the group in whatever positions you would desire to place them that most would agree are beloved figures at the University of Alabama or in their history. If you have additions, deletions and comments at the bottom.

Harry Gilmer - A player from 1944 to 1947,  he was a player who did everything he could to help the team win. He'd play halfback, quarterback, be the punter and the kickoff man, as well as returning kicks and punts too. He would have have popped corn for the fans at halftime if they would have let him.

He quarterbacked the Tide to a Rose Bowl win in 1946 and had a style that no coach would hope a young player would copy, as he would often jump high into the air to throw the ball. How he got so much velocity on the ball doing that still makes physics majors wonder.

Legendary Coach Bobby Bowden said Gilmer was his boyhood hero. "Man he was something! He would jump in the air right before they got to him and zing that ball down the field. It was something to see." Bowden said.

Billy Neighbors - Played from 1959 to 1961, and was one of only nine players out of the original 108 players that stuck it out for four years to get the promise that a young coach made them. When Billy came to Alabama, new coach Paul Bear Bryant said it wasn't going to easy, but if these boys "stuck it out" for four years, they'd win a national championship.

They did indeed become champions in 1961 thanks mainly to a few players like Neighbors.

In 1961, Billy became an all-conference and consensus All-America selection. He was also named the top lineman in the SEC and was named the Most Valuable Player in the Senior Bowl.

Lee Roy Jordan - Played in the seasons of '60, '61 and '62, the "Golden Years" of Tide Football where they only lost two games during that period. He was a smallish guy to play to linebacker and it was said that Coach Bryant once said, "I hope he never finds out he's too small to play linebacker, 'cause he's doing one hell of a job."

He led a defense in 1961 and 1962 that allowed a total of just 25 and 39 points, respectively. The 1961 team went undefeated and was the consensus National Champion. In 1962, Jordan's senior season, Alabama finished 10-1 and was ranked fifth in the nation.

Jordan's best performance as a collegian came in the 1963 Orange Bowl, his last game. Playing in front of a crowd that included Pres. John F. Kennedy, Jordan earned MVP honors by making 30 tackles and leading the Tide to a 17-0 victory over the University of Oklahoma. Crimson Tide coach Bryant said Jordan was one of the finest players he ever coached.

Johnny Musso - The "Italian Stallion" played at Bama from '69-'71 and was an All American on the field and in the classroom earning honors at both places. He was not really Italian, he was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but born into an Italian family.

His touchdown record of 34 stood for 27 years until broken by Shaun Alexander. He twice led the conference in rushing, gaining 1,137 yards in 1970 and 1,088 yards in 1971. He was an all-conference selection in 1970 and 1971, and led the conference in scoring in 1971 with 100 points. He was awarded the American Football Coaches Association Ernie Davis Award in 1972.

Musso was a fan favorite during his playing days and one of the modern ages most popular players in the state.

Don Hutson - I guess you could call him "The End" since Coach Paul Bryant was known as "The Other End" opposite Hutson. He set the standard for ends by becoming the first end to make himself a devastating offensive tool.

In the 1935 Rose Bowl Hutson grabbed six passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. That year he was named All-America. Hutson was described as "the greatest pass-catching speed merchant end."

He is one of Alabama players who is also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Dixie Howell - Millard "Dixie" Howell was the quarterback from 1932-1934 who threw those passes to Don Hutson and Coach Bryant. Dixie was the first famous player to be a passing wizard. His feats were so astonishing back in the day, the offense was known as "Dixie's Air Circus".

In 1934 the Crimson Tide posted a 10-0 record, defeating previously unbeaten Stanford in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day 1935. Howell is a member of the all-time Rose Bowl team and was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1970.

Dixie was quite a comical person as well as a great player and also was a fine punter as well. Though he was known as the first great passer, he was a dangerous rushing threat too.

Ozzie Newsome - "The Wizard of Oz" was an end at Alabama that set the standards for the modern age of football ends to match. Sometimes a tight end, sometimes a split end, Ozzie could and did do it all. He played from 1974-1977 and was tapped for the college and professional Hall of Fames.

He was one of the first players to start all four years. He shattered all the Alabama records, set many SEC records and was a fan favorite for being so great, yet so humble about it all.

He once said, "Coach Bryant taught us many things, but maybe the best was to put the team first. Help the team achieve their goal first and not your own."

Gene Stallings - Though he was not an "Alabama Boy" he was one of Coach Bryant's boys and that was good enough for the masses of fans who came to love Stallings on many levels. He helped the Tide win two national championships as an assistant with Coach Bryant in 1961 and 1964 before leaving and coaching in different schools and the NFL.

When he came back to Alabama, we not only got to get to know a great coach, but a great man and a great father. His son John Mark was almost as popular as his father. John Mark was a special needs child with a heart as big as any stadium.

Gene Stallings is enshrined in statue at Bryant Denny Stadium's Walk of Fame for bringing another national championship to Alabama in 1992  He came back to Alabama in 1990 and resigned after the 1996 season.

Frank Thomas - Is second in all time winning percentage behind only Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Thomas compiled a record of 115–24–7 (.812), won four SEC championships and his teams allowed an average of just 6.3 points per game, an astounding record.

Thomas was coach at Alabama from 1931 to 1946. He set Alabama on the path of becoming not only a perennial national powerhouse, but kept them willing national championships too.

Mike Shula - As a player and a coach, Mike Shula was there when we needed him and he held things together both times.  He came as a player when Ray Perkins took the reigns from Coach Bryant just before he passed away. The team may have struggled during that time, but Shula, without a remarkable arm or great athletic ability was still able to simply will this team along.

His playing career is best known for gutsy last minute come from behind wins over Georgia and Auburn. What he couldn't do with talent, he did with brains and sheer willpower.

As a coach, he agreed to take over in an almost no win situation during the height of Alabama's dark days and probation restrictions. With him as head coach, not one player walked away when they could have and he held things together until Nick Saban finally put Alabama back on top.

Saban won with many of Shula's players still in place and in leadership positions. Saban may get all the credit for bringing the ship into national prominence again, but Shula kept it from sinking.

Kenny Stabler - Is the only player with a nickname on the Denny Chimes Walk of Fame. It reads Kenny "Snake" Stabler.Stabler played from 1964 to 1967. He earned the nickname because of slithery running style.

Kenny is beloved partly for his play as a quarterback, "his run in the mud" to beat Auburn was called by Coach Bryant called, "the worst conditions I've ever seen".

The other part is the fact that he's such a rogue. Kenny's walks on the wild side has done nothing but make him a deeper folk hero to many.

Rashad Johnson - If Hollywood were to write a story of a young man who comes from nowhere to be a great leader and star player it would be the Rashad Johnson story that took place between 2004 and 2008.

In 2004, Alabama had few scholarships to offer due to limitations placed on them by the NCAA, but they needed players.

Rashad Johnson had not one offer from any Division One school, but saw the need that Alabama had and since he was a lifelong fan, he simply walked on to the team.

He got a lot of "who are you" looks when he arrived, but this young man let people know that he was not just going to make the team, but become a leader on it and an important part of rebuilding the Tide into a national power again.

He ended his career an All American, a Team Captain enshrined in Denny Chimes Walk of Fame and oh yes, he earned his scholarship as well. The kid that nobody wanted was one of the best of all time.

George Teague - There are a few players on this list that define what Alabama is all about with one memorable play that etches their name in Crimson Flame as the fight song says.

In the 1993 Sugar Bowl, Alabama was putting a beating on the favored Miami Hurricanes and just when it looked like the 'Canes may try and mount a comeback by completing a long pass that looked like it would go the distance. George Teague chased down Miami's fastest receiver and then simply snatched the ball from his hands before turning around and start running it the other way.

Miami never had anything more that a whimper the rest of the game.

That play was the thing of legend and made Teague on the most beloved players of all time.

Wallace Wade - The coach that got it all going in putting Alabama on the map was Wallace Wade. He brought Alabama their first three national championships in 1925, 1926 and 1930. He was Alabama's head coach from 1923 to 1930.

Wade was convinced that his Alabama team was better than the then so called "powers" in college football up North and out West. He constantly told the press so. Finally the Rose Bowl invited this upstart coach and his group of yokels just to shut him up once and for all.

Boy did that backfire. Alabama owned the Rose Bowl almost each time they were invited.

Barry Krauss - Another player who had one play that not only defined the man, but the team he played for. Krauss may never have made the big time had he not become so famous for one of the finest moments in Alabama history, the goal line stand against Penn State to win not only the 1979 Sugar Bowl and the national championship.

Krauss played at Alabama from 1976 to 1978. That play and that image has been the source of more paintings and memories than any one play in Alabama history.

Barry proved that he or his team would never quit, never say die, never surrender that final inch and that every man would step up when his time came.

Woodrow Lowe -  He played from 1972 to 1975 and was the first player in Alabama history to be named an All American three years straight and held down an Alabama defense that won four SEC titles and one national championship during his four years.

"Woody" was loved and admired on and off the team and still holds the team record for 134 tackles in a season and is still third all time on total tackles.

He is of course in the College Football Hall of Fame and is enshrined at Bryant Denny's Walk of Fame.

Cornelius Bennett - Known as "Biscuit" was THE outside linebacker from 1983 to 1986. That name was supposed to be a racial slur on his color, but like everything he did, he turned it into a positive and embraced it and turned it into something wonderful.

Only two Alabama players were All Americans three years in a row, Bennett was one of them.As a senior, he won the Lombardi Award,  SEC Player of the Year honors, and finished 7th in balloting for the Heisman Trophy.

He also had on play that typified his style, the famous sack of Notre Dame QB Steve Beuerlein, which became immortalized in a painting and of course in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Shaun Alexander - Long before there was Tim Tebow, there was another player who left college football a virgin and that was Shaun Alexander. He believed in doing what was right on every level including waiting on marriage to engage in such practices.

He approached football the same way. Dedication, doing everything right, being a role model and never surrendering your principals.

He went from being a third string back to a star with a sensational breakout game as a red shirt freshman when he came in and ran for 291 yards and four touchdowns against a very solid LSU team.

Many thought he would leave early for the NFL, but Alexander stayed for his senior year because in his mind, it was the right thing to do. He was hurt in his senior season, but came back to help the team win the Iron Bowl with three touchdowns and 199 yards total and followed that up in the SEC Championship with his 25 yard overtime run to defeat number three Florida and win Alabama yet another SEC Championship.

Joe Namath - Before he was "Broadway Joe" he was a skinny big nosed raw boned kid from Pennsylvania whose high school coach called and asked Coach Bryant to take under his wing. He was sought after by many schools but his high school coach pushed him toward Alabama because he felt Coach Bryant could be the role model he felt Joe so desperately needed.

Every Alabama fan knows Joe's accomplishments, but many did know of his background.

Joe came from a very lower end neighborhood and most all his friends growing up were black. In a day where "Dunking" a basket ball was rare, Namath regularly did so on playgrounds and at his school. Joe was a hell of a baseball player too and almost signed a pro contract, but his mother urged him not to and pursue an education first.

He came from a broken home and his coach knew that unless someone had a firm grip on Joe, he could be lost to "temptations". He almost went to Michigan State, because his coach also thought the great Duffy Daugherty could keep a handle on him, but he didn't meet their entrance requirements by just a few points. The coach then called Bryant.

Bryant gave him not only the discipline he needed, he sat him out of the last two games of one season for missing bed check by only 15 minutes, but the love Joe had always needed.

Coming to Alabama at the height of the civil rights era, Namath's years there were from 1962 to 1964, he would often get in fights defending blacks. This kind of spirit made team mates admire this "Lanky Yankee" and take him into their hearts.

Bryant called the decision to recruit Namath, "The best decision I ever made". The two became almost father and son, a relationship that continued until Bryant's death. In his acceptance speech into the NFL Hall of Fame, Namath broke down and cried just mentioning Coach Bryant's name.

Terrence (Mt.) Cody - Is the only person that made this list with just two years on campus at Alabama. Everything about Cody was bigger than life. He was Alabama's version of "Refrigerator" Perry.

He may have been the "biggest" starter in Alabama history. His weight was always an issue. Though looked too big, too slow and too out of shape, he did incredible things on a constant basis. One was him proving to me that he could actually dunk a basketball by getting all that girth that high. He did.

That size and clever nickname made him a household name not just in Alabama, but across the nation.

But he proved to more than a showman and joking funny man, when the team needed him, he stepped up. With a national championship on the line in a tough game against Tennessee, the big man blocked not one, but two field goal attempts including one with just seconds left to preserve a narrow 12-10 win over the tough annual rival.

Tyronne Prothro - It's not "The Catch" that makes Tyronne a beloved folk hero to so many Tide fans, but two other things. The first was that he was taken away from his best years with such a freak accident and the other is the way he conducted himself afterward.

It would have been easy to have just walked away, but Prothro kept working and rehabbing just for the hope of coming back to finish his work, but it was just not meant to be. His career with Alabama was from 2003 to 2005.

Mal Moore - Mal Moore is a beloved son of the Alabama program in many ways. He wears more national championship rings than any player who ever attended Alabama. He has eight as a player, a coach and as Athletic Director.

As a player, he was a back up quarterback, but was someone who Bryant had a lot of faith in. "He ain't the best athlete I got, but he might be the smartest." Bryant said of Moore, and when his time as a player was over, Bryant knew he'd be a better coach than a player and he was right.

Moore went on to help Alabama win more national titles as a coach and then tragedy struck. His beloved wife Charlotte came down with Alzheimer's and rather than continue coaching and all the hours that entails, he chose to stay home and care for her himself instead of hospitalizing her.

That decision gave the University of offer him a "day job" in the Athletic Department, where Moore could work an eight hour day and then return home to care for his wife. He learned and blossomed in that role as he had done in everything he did and eventually became the Athletic Director, a job once held by his old coach, boss and friend, "Bear" Bryant.

Moore may be best remembered in years to come for the explosion of building, expansion and renovations that turned Alabama into one of the worst to one of the finest sports facilities in the nation.

Pat Trammel - Was Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's first big star athlete, but there was a much deeper relationship there. Trammel came from a family doctors and though he was truly one of the best athletes of his generation, football was just a way of getting a free education and getting him closer to being a doctor.

In high school he not just the best quarterback in the state, but was named the best basketball player as well. In meeting Pat and the Trammel family, he told them if he would come to Alabama to play, that Bryant would leave his job and take the head coaching position there to coach him.

Prior to that talk, Trammel had been set on going to Georgia Tech.

Everyone that ever met Trammel was won over by him including President Kennedy, who after meeting him always asked about what he was up to when he saw people who might know him.

Trammel went on to help win Coach Bryant's first national title as an Alabama coach and broke many records that stood for years, with some still standing including fewest interceptions by a starter. HIs years were 1959 to 1961.

He is the last player on Alabama's Walk of Fame to have been designated as the Most Outstanding Player.

There are just far too many awards to list and he was offered much to play professional football, but he only wanted to be a doctor. When he died at age 28 after just finishing his residency, his funeral saw players and coaches of many schools attend. That was the respect they all had for him.

It was the only time Coach Bryant was ever seen by the public openly weeping and called that day, "The saddest day of my life".  Later toward the end of his career, when asked who is favorite players were,

Bryant remarked about a number of players that he thought highly of during the previous 22 years at Alabama and during his 30 year coaching career. He took a pause at that point and said, " [now] You'll have to forgive me here for getting sentimental." He then responded in turn with a direct and deliberate answer to the question, " [but].... Pat Trammell was the favorite person...... of my entire life."

Mark Ingram - It's incredible to think that the school with the most national championships never had a Heisman Trophy winner until Ingram. At Alabama, it was and is always "Team First". And while some say that Ingram may have won the trophy as the best player in the nation, he may have in fact, not been the best the best player on his own team.

Mark never minded sharing the spotlight with his other running backs, it was always "Team First" with him as well and the fans loved him for that. There was not a selfish bone in his body as he blocked for others as they did for him, as he helped others get better, sometimes at his own expense in playing time.

But it was his never give up attitude that won him not only the Heisman Trophy, but the hearts of the fans with his famous for his yards after contact totals continuously being racked up.

That huge heart showed in his Heisman acceptance speech where he unashamedly cried in tears of joy and thanks.

He could and did often times put the team and his back and carry them to wins. His years at Alabama have just ended, but his legacy will remain forever.

Paul (Bear) Bryant - No other name or face is as synonymous with Alabama football as Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

He inspired everyone he met whether they were football players or businessmen, soldiers or Presidents and yes even writers. He inspired me to write my very first sports article, HERE IT IS. And of course, it was about Bryant.

To even try and list his accomplishments would be an insult of sorts, because there were so many more no one will ever know of. He touched that many lives.

From a player who played with a broken leg to a coach that set the standard coaches would hope to achieve for the rest of time, Coach Bryant symbolized what was and is best at Alabama and as a fictional character and former Alabama player, Forrest Gump once said, "And that's all I have to say about that."

And that's the list of the top 25 most beloved Alabama figures, at least in this author's mind after much thought and little sleep.

Each may have been beloved for a different reason, but each made both a physical and emotional impact on the the program and the school, as well as the fan base.

Each person on this list laid a brick or two in the building of not only that Alabama lore, the future as well.

In writing this story, I was reminded why I came from an Auburn home to leave and go to Alabama. I chose to be a member of that family and these men and their stories of why I'm so proud of that decision.

The only thing more exciting that the things that have happened so far, are the great memories, stories and men to come.