Bleacher Report - Articles by Richard Keenam

The Bowl Game That Changed America

Richard Keenam — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:36:28 -0400

With Alabama’s Rose Bowl victory, The Atlanta Journal proudly proclaimed that “The Crimson Tide no longer belonged exclusively to Tuscaloosa and the State of Alabama. It belongs to the whole South, just like the Stone Mountain Memorial.”

Among all Southerners, including middle-class and upper-class, the extravagant recognition they draped over the Crimson Tide was, in so many ways, filled with references to the South’s chivalric past.

Southerners began considering Alabama’s Rose Bowl victory as the renewal of the positive traditions of the “Old South.”

University of Georgia President Sanford stated that Alabama “upheld the tradition and fighting spirit of the Old South.” The Old South was being reborn, with Southerners beginning to develop football, along with activities that evoked the old Southern aristocracy.

But for the majority of Southerners, the core of their celebration of winning the Rose Bowl was more of their long-held desire to gain revenge in regard to the degradations dealt to them by the victorious Yankees and the insults they were receiving from the national press.

However wrong a group of people may think, it is only normal for them to try feeling some kind of pride in who they are. The greatest pride Southerners had, starting in 1926, and are still holding onto today, is the `pride of their football teams.

While the South still had to ask Washington and Wall Street for help, they had never forgotten how their ancestors had demonstrated their honor on the battlefield.

The South, before Alabama’s invitation and acceptance to the 1926 Rose Bowl, could easily be compared to a wounded animal, looking for any possible way they could fight back.

The Tide’s presentation of their masculine strength and determination to win in Pasadena was their evidence that their fighting ability and legendary nobility had again risen in their 20th Century world. The “Wounded Animal” had finally found a way to fight back.

But before going any further, as a man with Southern roots, but who lived the majority of his life in the Midwest, let me hopefully bring some degree of understanding that many may have never known about the South, during the time it was becoming what could only be described as a nation unto itself.

What I say may offend people on both sides, but having become a mixture of both sides, I can only express my views as I see them.

As wrong as the use and treatment of African slaves was worldwide, it was an accepted part of a world trading system that had flourished for hundreds of years.

European nations began bringing African slaves across the Atlantic. Many Africans, often those disliked or in prison, were offered by African rulers, as an exchange for their needed supplies.

The origin of slavery in the United States developed due to the need for the industrial products of the upper British Colonies being purchased.

Slaves brought over to the colonies by Europeans, were exchanged for these products, with the Northern colonies then selling these slaves for labor needed on the farms of the agricultural South.

While centuries of slavery was the most massively inhumane activity ever devised in human history, as far as American blame for who was most responsible, I see equal blame being laid on both the North and the South.

Until the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, nationwide slavery was accepted.

No one should ever forget that it was the upper eastern states who first encouraged and profited from slavery. They exchanged their products for slaves, then most often sold them to Southern farmers.

But outside the well-known slave states, between 1790 until 1860, there were 15 states, or territories that were later to become states, that had slaves. Alphabetically, they were CT, IL, IN, KS, ME, MA, MI, NE, NY, OH, PA, RI, and WI.

During these years, one of these States had only one slave on their record, with another State recording the highest number of 21,193 Not until 1806, when the constitution placed limits on slavery, slaves could only then be the descendants of those already owned.

As wrong as slavery was, slavery in the South was the result of upper east coast states selling them to the South. Southerners held deep resentment about this 1806 decision. As most of the Old South saw it, secession was their only legal way of preventing what they viewed as the impending abolition of slavery.

But soon after the turn of the 19th Century, when bringing in additional slaves became illegal, Southerners saw their slave states becoming part of a shrinking minority. Republican opposition to the expansion of slavery was immediately viewed as their eventual attempt to end slavery.

The Civil War actually started with Lincoln’s election. South Carolina seceded before the electoral vote was cast. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, in that order, seceded before Lincoln’s inaugural address. Between April and June of 1861, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee joined them.

Until the age of ten, growing up in the Alabama Power Company community of Gorgas, Alabama, followed by eight years in Jasper, in the county that was known as the second only to Harlan County KY as the meanest county in the nation, I easily saw the wrongs of white supremacy.

But as wrong as slavery always was, it is in no way difficult to understand the reactions of the Old South, with slavery as their only profitable way of farming tobacco and cotton on a grand scale.

But as in the biblical statement, “The sins of the first generation are passed down to those of the third and fourth generation."

For those of us in these last two generations, along with the racist attitudes that are sometimes held today, life for us was, and for many today still is, far more difficult than for those whose ancestors were on the winning side, with their industrial system already well in place.

Not realized to any degree at the time, the state that was later seen by many as the most resistant to integration, had, by accepting the invitation to the 1926 Rose Bowl, unknowingly taken the South’s first step of eventually ending Southern segregation.

Can anyone think of any one noteworthy event, at any point in our history, but not considered at the time it was happening, as turning out to be this significant in eventually remolding America? If so, please let me know.

Again, even as a young child, as wrong as I knew white supremacy thinking was, listening to Dinah Shore’s slow ballad style of “Dixie” still means something to me.

But at the same time, my personality and thinking is now primarily that of a Midwesterner, best described as “What you see is what you get” and “Don’t bother me and I won’t bother you.” The Battle Hymn of the Republic is also one of my favorite musical compositions.

But for wealthy Southerners in the mid 19th century, not continuing their marketing of “King Cotton” and living their chivalric life style was unthinkable. Only slavery provided field work for tobacco and cotton, as well as all plantation work, both inside and outside their households.

They considered their “State’s Rights” kind of government as being true to the way the nation had been founded and that it was the North that had betrayed the spirit of the American Revolution.

Wealthy Southerners couldn’t begin to conceive of their not continuing to live the only way of life they had ever known, that only slavery made possible. With no alternative seen and so sure of being victorious, Confederate troops fired on Ft. Sumter.

Four years of fighting, as the circumstance of the British and their North American colonies becoming involved in the world wide practice of slavery, resulted in more Americans killed than in any war America ever fought.

It didn’t matter that most plantation owners had little left at the end of the war. As in all peaceful cultures, the wealthiest, however few there may be, always set the lifestyle standards most of the population strives to reach.

Even today, there are still deep threads of the chivalric lifestyle that antebellum Southerners saw as the most proper way to conduct themselves.

Many years after Reconstruction, the South’s feelings against the North began improving, reaching its peak during World War I. But a post war decline in North-South relations soon developed, primarily brought on by journalists who began seeing little, if anything, good about the South.

Journalists began more frequently composing magazine articles about widespread sharecropping in the South, Southerners having little or no culture, claims of Southerners eating dirt because of Hookworm, along with more frequent reports of lynchings because of the revival of the Ku Klux Klan.

With no radio or TV, this resulted in the North’s image of the South reverting back to how it had been seen after Reconstruction ended. The South was seen as having no noticeable culture, with an exclusive Puritanism that was in conflict with the flapper era of upper America.

The South again became obsessed, in varying ways and degrees, with their “Lost Cause” movement. Tributes to their “Lost Cause”, began with monuments to fallen Confederates being placed around the courthouse squares of most Southern cities and towns.

Soon after the war was over, former Confederate states established Decoration Day, Confederate Memorial Day, and/or Robert E. Lee’s birthday, as holidays honoring those who died for the Lost Cause.

On Stone Mountain, the largest piece of exposed granite in the world, in the Atlanta metropolitan area, is a carving of the largest sculpture of its kind in the world. On this carving are Jefferson Davis, “Stonewall” Jackson, and Robert E. Lee.

Lee had privately considered Southern secession as a betrayal to the hard work of the Founders. But when offered the post of commanding general of Union Army, the only reply Lee could make was:

"I shall never bear arms against the Union, but it may be necessary for me to carry a musket in the defense of my native state, Virginia, in which case I shall not prove recreant to my duty."

This carving originally existed only in the mind of Mrs. C. Helen Plane, a charter member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The Venable family, who owned the mountain, offered the north face of the mountain to the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1916, giving them 12 years to complete a monument.

Gutzon Borglum was commissioned to do this project, but work ended when he left in 1923 and later helped work on the Mount Rushmore carvings. Augustus Lukeman, an American sculptor, continued at Stone Mountain until 1928, when work again stopped for thirty years.

In 1958, with the support of Governor Marvin Griffin, the Georgia legislature approved the measure to purchase Stone Mountain for $1,125,000. Walker Hancock was selected to complete the project in 1963. Beginning his work in 1964, it was officially completed on March 3, 1972.

There is little doubt that this project, in its beginning, was still part of the “Lost Cause”. But with Lee being on this sculpture, his reply to West Point and its close location to Atlanta, “The city to busy to hate”, when civil right’s problems arose, I consider that it became the “First Monument” made to the “New Cause of Nationwide Equal Rights.”

No intelligent Southerner would ever disagree that the life style of the Old South had to end. And what intelligent Southerner would have not preferred this way of life ending peacefully. The South, in so many ways, is still working on reaching equality with the rest of the nation, without the many benefits those of the Northern states have.

Vanderbilt, Tulane and Georgia Tech are outstanding universities, but most of our overall educational system is not up to par with the States of the old Union.

But some large Southern cities now have high schools centered around the performing arts. It was not too many years in the past when about the only opportunity of participating in the performing arts was the senior high school play.

Many Southerners are just as gracious, well-groomed, and as well educated as those in states outside the South. We all are aware of some snobbish Southerners who consider themselves as the most gracious, well groomed of all in the nation.

But as all courteous and polite Southerners know, we are well aware that our percentage of rowdy, thoughtless and discourteous Southerners are the “Best in the nation”.

This is primarily because Alabama has no pro-football, with the above mentioned being both Alabama and Auburn’s most rowdy fans, instead of have a pro team to pull for.

We hope that all of you who see these people as being representative of either university will try to realize that we do not like these kind of fans either, who so often blast out and so often unjustified, very negative expressions.

We hope those of you outside the South can begin seeing us as the gracious and well-educated people many of us are.

As Alabama was the role model for Southern colleges building their football teams, let’s try kick-starting, on our home game days, a renewal of Southern hospitality.

I hope there might be a small tent close to the southwest corner of the quadrangle, where anyone could spend a short time greeting some of our guests, with mutually courteous conversation.

As I’ve said in my bio, I have finally reached the point of being able to completely defeat some physical problems that have kept me far more limited than I’ve liked, but will do so only by spending a great deal of time in working on accomplishing this..

For the first time since 2004, I will be physically able to walk, unaided, into Bryant Denny Stadium, with season tickets for every game.

From this point on, I’ll only be writing about the events that took place at the University of Alabama, during what we claim is the most storied ride in College Football.

This next serial will begin with the return of the 1926 Rose Bowl team and the historic and unprecedented celebration awaiting them in Tuscaloosa, then eventually up to our current history.

For those who may not agree with our considering the Ride of the Crimson Tide as the most storied tradition in college football, I’d like to hear of other college football teams who believe they have a sustained, more storied tradition than the University of Alabama.

ROSE BOWL MAGIC TOUCHES THE TIDE

Richard Keenam — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:13:49 -0400

Rose Bowl Magic Touches The Tide

The Storied Ride of the Crimson Tide – Chapter III

“The best way to describe the 1925 season is to view it in retrospect, that is, as the first moment in what is going to become such a defining part of Southern life.”

Wayne Flynt, Professor of History, Auburn University

From the DVD, “Roses of Crimson”, 1997*

Starting football in 1892, the Tide had a reasonable number of one loss seasons. In 1924, under new coach Wallace Wade, the Tide added another one loss season.

President Denny, Coach Wallace Wade, the football team, the student body and fans state-wide, were hoping for their first undefeated season in 1925. If undefeated, they would hold onto to their first ever, 1924 Southern Conference Championship. Very few thought of achieving more than this.

Alabama’s opponents in 1925 were Union College, Birmingham Southern, LSU, Sewanee, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Florida and Georgia. Only one opponent scored 7 points, against Bama’s 277, with this undefeated season earning them a #4 national ranking.

No Southern team had ever been offered the opportunity to represent the Eastern states in the Rose Bowl. No one was expecting this to happen for Bama for the 1926 Rose Bowl. But an out of the ordinary comment triggered some very unexpected events.

Only a few days after playing his final game, Illinois halfback Red Grange sparked the renewal of a long standing belief. Grange publicly made the statement that a post season game was excessive commercialism of college football. Both Yale and Illinois dropped out of consideration for the Rose Bowl bid.

With many universities also feeling this way for quite some time, Dartmouth, Michigan, Colgate and Princeton each declined an invitation. This left fourth ranked Alabama as the most obvious choice for representing the East.

But the Rose Bowl Committee refused to even consider the Tide. The man most responsible for finding a team that could challenge Washington said “I’ve never heard of Alabama as a football team and I can’t take a chance on mixing a lemon with a rose.”

With no other seemingly appropriate team to accept the invitation, the Rose Bowl sponsors finally overcame their aversion to inviting a Southern team. Very reluctantly, they offered the invitation to Alabama, but not until four weeks before the game.

The Birmingham News said “This is only one more example of a Yankee predisposition belittling a southern achievement and had they been eastern, there would have been an immediate invitation.”

President George Denny and Coach Wallace Wade were furious about the Rose Bowl Sponsors lack of respect, but not quite furious enough to reject the invitation. Denny just gave them a few days of regretting their lack of respect and delay in offering the invitation.

After receiving the offer, Denny told them that he must first have the time to seek the approval of the Southern Conference, as well as that of the Alabama faculty athletic committee.

For those of you who have never lived in the South and have only a small conception of the Southern feelings of this time, I hope what I’ve said, and will continue saying later, will help you understand why the South, was for so many years, a nation unto itself.

The South losing the war, in time, could have been tolerated, but Reconstruction was an entirely different matter. The radical years of Reconstruction left the South devastated. Unlike fictional Scarlet O’Hara and her Tara, few had her ways of holding on to their property.

With ways of transportation destroyed, production systems collapsed. Sherman’s troops “living off the land” slaughtered livestock and burned crops. For most Southerners, a day to day grasping for whatever they could find was their only way of survival.

I will speak of more demoralizing events in the next chapter, but believe the above two paragraphs are sufficient for anyone to realize why the South of the ‘20’s was still totally lacking of regional pride. But suddenly, up popped Alabama’s invitation to the Rose Bowl.

The University of Alabama had the opportunity of ushering in the first feelings of pride the South could feel since Union troops started heading south. Unknown at the time, this game also led the South, however slowly, up into mainstream America.

Almost no one outside the South, including football experts, believed that Alabama could handle the University of Washington. Most Southerners, as much as they were hoping for an Alabama victory, were only cautiously optimsitc.

.The Atlanta Georgian said “Alabama has the reputation of an entire section to uphold” and were concerned that “Alabama would travel all the way out there, get spanked, and come home with a good record dented.”

West Coast gamblers made the Huskies two to one favorites. Washington fans believed that Alabama would offer them no more opposition than a high school team. The Washington football team apparently thought the same, since their pre-game preparations were considered halfhearted.

But Wallace Wade was an iron disciplinarian. He kept the Tide centered on the task that was their duty to perform. They left Tuscaloosa thirteen days before the game. To make sure no one had a bad reaction from drinking “foreign water”, Wade saw that sufficient Tuscaloosa water was on board.

Wade conducted twice daily briefings about his game plan and conducted scrimmages at every stop. They arrived in Pasadena on Christmas Eve morning.

Although tired from the trip, much of that day was primarly that of publicity. They held interviews, posed for photographs. met transplanted Southerners and got to know many Hollywood movie stars.

Before their Christmas evening dinner, Wade put his team through a hard hitting practice.

On December 26 and 27, Coach Wade gave his team a couple of days of sightseeing. But on the evening of the 27^th, Wade told them there would be no more entertainment.

It was now time for them to get focused, then mentally stay focused on why they were there. The next day he began putting them through some of the toughest practices of the season.

President Denny also spoke of “The overwhelming interest and enthusiasm that our trip has evoked, not only in Alabama, but the entire South.”

Coach Wade understood, so well, the importance of preparing his team well enough to erase the shame of what had long been considered inferior southern football.

January 1, 1926, finally arrived. The Rose Bowl was filled almost to capacity. There was only a local broadcast of the game. Many Alabama radio stations broadcast a studio-created version of what they were receiving on their telegraph lines.

But for those who wanted to be together, cautiously hopeful crowds gathered in theaters and auditoriums statewide. Some gatherings had someone on a stage, using something like a blackboard, showing most of the game's movements, while saying what was happening.

No matter how deep the rivalry between Alabama and other universities they played may have ever been, everyone in the South was hoping for the opportunity to say to those in other sections of the country, “We are better than you in playing football.”

Even Auburn University students realized the importance of this win for “The South” and packed their campus auditorium to cheer for the Tide.

But bad news soon flashed over the telegraph lines.

On Bama's first possession, Washington’s All-American halfback George Wilson intercepted a pass. The Huskies moved 87 yards and scored. Wilson’s 25 yard pass completion in the second quarter gave the Huskies a 12-0 halftime lead.

As seen in "Roeses of Crimson", Wilson violently tackled and slung around Johnny Mack Brown by his leg. This resulted in Alabama players getting a little rougher with Wilson. He as soon hit with a hard tackle by Hubert and left the game with a hip injury. Alabama was driving down the field before the first half ended.

Alabama had looked nothing like their 9-0 team of the regular season. Southerners worst fears seemed to be falling into place. During halftime, conversation was more often not centered on the game, probably an attempt to help mentally block out what they had heard.

While few expressed it, Southerners knew they were facing the possibility of Yankee sports writers stating that this was the proof that Southern football was totally inferior and how foolish it had been for the Rose Bowl to invite Alabama. .

At halftime, it made no difference that the state of Washington had played no part in the South losing the Civil War. After the team was in their locker room, Wade played on most Southerners seeing all who lived in states outside the south as “Yankees.”

Wade’s only comment, no doubt while shaking his head at them was, “And they told me Southern boys would fight.” Whatever the Tide players said among each other, they came back on the field, all fired up to play far better than that of the first half.

But however he got away with it, Johnny Mack Brown (shown in Roses of Crimson) apparently spent, if not all of it, at least part of the halftime sitting in the crowd, between two admiring and attractive women.

Hubert had done little running in the first half. Coach Wade was too concerned about his being injured. But behind 12-0, there was now nothing to lose.

With Wilson still on the bench, after the Tide recovered a Washington fumble in the third quarter, Hubert started smashing the line. He first drove through the guard, knocked the linebacker out of the way, and with two backs clinging onto him, was still able to drive 27 yards on his first run.

Hubert continued running straight through the line for more consecutive plays. The last was for one yard, over the goal line. With Buckler kicking the extra point, the Huskies lead was cut to 5 points.

Unlike some conferences, such as the SEC, Pacific Coast Conference members have long been known for pulling for teams outside their conference, who are playing against one of their own members.

Many of the West Coast crowd were becoming impressed with how well the Crimson Tide was pulling everything together. The residents of California, and especially Southern California, began pulling for Alabama. Those from Alabama were not the only spectators pulling for the Tide.

After The Tide kicked off, the Huskies were unable to make a first down and had to punt. In this possession, Grant Gillis threw his only pass of the game, that traveled more than 50 yards. Mack Brown caught it in full stride and was soon in for the go ahead touchdown.

Buckler made another good kick and Alabama had a 14-12 lead. With the vast majority pulling for the Tide, the almost full house was in an uproar.”

In trying to catch the ball, the flustered Huskies fumbled the Alabama kickoff and the Tide had the ball again. Pooley Hubert, believing he could throw a knockout blow, called a very daring play.

Pooley told Brown to run up the field as fast as he could. Quoting Brown: “When I reached the three yard line, I looked back and sure enough, the ball was coming over my shoulder. I took it in stride and went over carrying somebody. Pandemonium broke loose.

This touchdown that Brown scored, in his amazing over the shoulder catch, was Alabama’s 3^rd touchdown of the third quarter. All 3 touchdowns were scored in a seven minute time span, with Buckler successfully kicking two of the three extra points.

By the time the third quarter was over, the Huskies had only gained 17 yards.

George Wilson returned in the 4^th quarter, and in an 88 yard drive, cut Alabama’s lead to 20-19. The Tide later stopped two Washington drives with interceptions.

Time was close to running out when Wilson finally to break loose. Wade is on record as saying, “There goes the ball game.” But Wade underestimated Johnny Mack Brown. Mack's galloping legs brought Wilson down and saved the game. Alabama had the ball while the last minutes ticked away.

Washington’s Coach Enoch Bagshaw, out of anger, embarrassment or whatever, left the field without even offering a handshake to Wallace Wade. Stanford Coach Pop Warner, who theTide would meet in the 1927 Rose Bowl, said that their victory was a shock to everybody.”

A shock can be painful or pleasant. For those pulling for the Huskies, it was a painful shock. But for all who were pulling for the Tide, the shock was far beyond that of being described as pleasant.

When Alabama’s win came over the telegraph lines, the crowds that had packed all the indoor statewide gatherings erupted into a frenzy of emotion, parades and celebrations, with many lasting past midnight.

The joy many were feeling probably kept them up uintil sunrise. In less than a week, many of them were at the Tuscaloosa train station, to be part of the greatest celebration ever held in the state of Alabama.

January 2, 1926 National Newspaper Quotations

(All three players made at least one All-American team)

Pooley Hubert:

“In a burst of glory, Pooley Hubert, the best in Dixie, ran all over the best in the west and closed his career with a win.” The Associated Press

“Pooley Hubert is the greatest field general the West has ever seen.” L. A. Examiner

“Pooley Hubert is a crashing leader of a crashing football team.” New York Times

Johnny Mack Brown

“One of the fleetest and quickest backs ever to trod California sod.” L.A. Times

“Johnny Mack Brown caught our eye for his safety work, as well as outstanding performance.” The Innocent Bystander

“No Player has ever delighted a football crowd in all history as did Mack Brown of Alabama in the Rose Bowl New Years Day.” Referee of the Game

Bill Buckler

“Buckler of Alabama is consistent and dependable.” New York Sun

“Bill Buckler’s highly trained toe and his ripping, tearing, line work mark him as the first choice on “All Southern Elevens.” Nashville Tennessean

“Bill Buckler is one of the greatest players ever developed in the South or any section of the country.” The L & N Journal

NEXT WEEK: HOW THIS GAME ACTUALLY CHANGED AMERICA

***

Is anyone interested in viewing the activity before the team left, the train ride to Pasadena, their victory and their return to Tuscaloosa, which includes far more detailed information than I have room to include?

If so, Alabama Public TV made a one hour documentary, titled “Roses of Crimson” in 1997. It starts with the beginning of the 1925 season, continues with the trip to Pasadena, shows in detail how they won the game, and concludes with their four day trip back home and their tremendous reception when they arrived back in Tuscaloosa.

It may be ordered by calling 205-348-6210 and paying with a debit or credit card. It may also be ordered by mailing your request to “Center for Alabama Public Television, Room 199, Reese Phifer Hall, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35487, with a $21.00 check or money order, which covers shipping and handling

THE BEGINNINGS OF ALABAMA FOOTBALL

Richard Keenam — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:21:29 -0400

CHAPTER TWO - THE STORIED RIDE OF THE CRIMSON TIDE

William G. Little was responsible for the beginning of Alabama football. A student at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, he was working on later playing for Yale. But because of his brother’s early death, he came back home to Livingston, Alabama to help his family.

From New Hampshire, he brought the kind of equipment used at that time for playing football and enrolled in the University of Alabama for the fall semester of 1892. This “Football Evangelist’s” repeated sermons to the student body were always wrapped around his theme of “Football is the game of the future.”

After enough men were interested to field a team, Little served as the team’s captain. On Nov 11, 1892, Alabama played its first practice game on a Birmingham baseball field in Lakeview Park. Playing against what was considered the most qualified students in the Birmingham high schools, they won 56-0.

While now unthinkable, they stayed overnight in Birmingham and on Nov. 12, 1892, played against the Birmingham Athletic Club (BAC). The moniker for Alabama was the Cadets. They also became known as the Varsity, the Capstones and the Crimson White.

The men of the BAC were older and possibly more experienced. Even with the 56-0 score confirming it wasn’t a hard win, some Alabama players had to at least not be at their best after playing the day before, which was not the case for the men of the BAC.

Touchdowns counted as four points and field goals were five. Captain Little was the only Cadet to score, with the Cadets holding their 4-0 lead until shortly before the game was to end. But during the last minutes, BAC’s J. P. Ross, who had played rugby in Ireland, kicked the ball 65 yards through the uprights. The Cadets lost 5-4.

But about a month later, the Cadets played the BAC again on Dec. 10, 1892, with Alabama winning 14-0. The final game of the 1892 season was played in Birmingham on Feb. 22, 1893. It was a game that turned out to be the first meeting of what eventually became known as the Iron Bowl, with Alabama favored to win.

Playing for Alabama was Bibb Graves, who later served two terms as Governor. Also playing was Walter Will Bankhead, who later fathered the well-known NY stage actress from Jasper, Tallulah Bankhead, as well in becoming a future Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Special trains from Selma, Anniston and Montgomery played a big part in 5,000 people paying 25 cents admission to this game. Favored Alabama was dressed in red stockings and white uniforms with a large "UA" stitched onto their sweaters, but with no shoulder pads or helmets.

Auburn won this first meeting 32-22, then handed Alabama another 18-0 loss in Montgomery on Nov 30, 1893. No one at either game could have possibly given any thought to this game eventually becoming known as the Iron Bowl, and considered by many as the most intense rivalry in the nation.

I had assumed this chapter was going to be fairly easy to pull together. But the more I worked on it, the more I realized that appropriately covering the Tide-Tiger rivalry, Alabama’s beginning years, then the years that brought us to national prominence, required separate discussion of each topic, with some necessary overlapping.

I’ve chosen this point to say what I’ll say about our Tide-Tiger rivalry, before I cover the years Alabama and Auburn continued meeting from 1892 through 1907, followed by what were our far better years from 1904 until 1923.

Both teams have given each other some hard losses to handle, but I’ll just stay with the facts, with no arrogance.

It would be hard to find anyone who has always been as enthusiastic and as passionate about the Tide as I have been since around age 10. If some team losing would be an advantage for Alabama, I always wanted to hear that they lost, which is where I’m sure any fan will be.

There have been a few teams outside the SEC that I admit to having hated at different points in their history. But especially for those of us who are older, our universities in the SEC are more like family than for those of other conferences. Most of us will pull for a member of our family to win, providing that win doesn’t lower our team's standing.

Tide and Tiger fans know that what we experience is something that words will never describe. Our rivalry can only be “experienced” by the fans of both schools, whether or not they were ever enrolled or even on our campuses.

On both campuses, we know of alumni of other universities becoming deeper fans of our universities...after we employed them.

But wherever Tide and Tiger fans may one day move, while they may pull for the local universities of their newly-found friends, their primary concern will always be for the Tide or Tigers.

I’ve never heard of a Tide or Tiger fan who has replaced their initial loyalty. After becoming infected with our “fevered experience,” this fever never breaks.

I also am not aware of any college rivalry that has ever held the deep bitter feelings that some on both sides hold. Friends and relatives have broken ties, business agreements and partnerships have fallen apart and marriages have dissolved. For those who do hold bitter feelings, many of us ask that you don’t openly express these feelings to our guests.

On the other side, some of us are tolerant enough to watch our games together, always letting an opponent respectfully rejoice without showing anger. Common sense says that individual reactions, while watching a game, will never change the final score. Arrogant statements, in the presence of everyone, could never be part of this kind of gathering.

As I said in my prologue, I hope to have a place on Bama’s campus where opponents can mix with each other, without making unnecessary offending comments. For those of you on both sides who fall into this category, I hope we can at least make some brief contact and maybe begin playing a small part in helping the SEC not being seen as so arrogant.

There will be a question in the next chapter, regarding this matter.

During our first 16 years, in addition to Auburn, Alabama played Five City Athletic Clubs, Sewanee, Ole Miss, Tulane, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Clemson, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Florida, Cumberland, Nashville, Centre College, Maryville College, & Howard. We won 41, lost 36 and had 4 ties.

In 1894, after an opening 6-0 loss to Mississippi in Jackson, Alabama beat Tulane 18-6 on Nov. 3 in New Orleans. On Nov 15, we defeated Sewanee 24-4 in Birmingham and in Montgomery on Nov 29, Alabama finally defeated Auburn 18-0.

Local newspapers soon began calling the Alabama Cadets “The Thin Red Line.”

The first Tuscaloosa meeting with Auburn was on Nov. 23, 1895, with a 48-0 win for Auburn. Then in 1896, the U of A’s Board of Trustees made a rule that prohibited all future athletic competition from ever leaving the campus. There were three home football games in 1896 and only one in 1897.

Then in 1898, Alabama ceased playing football.

But football had become the favorite sport of the student body. Student protests became so strong and frequent that the trustees eventually removed the travel ban. Alabama football began again in 1899, playing four games that year. Only one team, Mississippi, was representative of the type of teams Alabama had most often been playing.

In 1900, they were again playing four teams in the Southern Conference. Not having played Auburn since 1895, Alabama lost 53-5 in Montgomery. Both met again in Tuscaloosa in 1901 and Auburn won 17-0. Our first game with Tennessee was called because of darkness and tied 6-6. Over 2,000 angry protesters rushed the field.

Back in Birmingham in 1902, Auburn won 23-0. In Montgomery in 1903, Alabama won 18-6. Starting in 1904, until near the end of the 20^th Century, games with Auburn were always played in Birmingham. Auburn won 29-5 in 1904. In 1905, Alabama won 30-0 and for their first time, in 1906, Alabama made it two in a row over Auburn with a 10-0 win.

The 1907 game in Birmingham ended in a 7-7 tie.

This was also the last game in which we played each other again until 1948. The Tide-Tiger record between the 1892 and 1907 seasons was 7 wins for Auburn, 5 for Alabama and one tie.

The moniker, "Crimson Tide", arose out of the 1907 game. Auburn was heavily favored in this game but had to accept, from hard fighting Alabama, the 7-7 tie. In one of the next day papers, some sportswriter described Alabama’s offensive line, having played in deep mud in their crimson jerseys, as the "Crimson Tide."

This moniker stuck.

Alabama’s Southern Conference opponents from 1904 through 1923, in the order of who Alabama met most frequently, were the universities of Georgia, Sewanee, Mississippi State, Louisiana State, Georgia Tech., Tulane, Tennessee, Mississippi, Vanderbilt, Clemson, Auburn, Florida and Kentucky.

During these later years, Alabama hosted two well known universities not in the Southern Conference, as well as being the guest of four. Cincinnati was beaten in 16-0 in In 1908 and Washington and Lee lost 9-0 In 1910, both losing in Birmingham.

In 1920, Alabama defeated Case College in Cleveland. In Austin, on Oct. 28, 1922, Texas won 19-10. On Nov. 4, 1922, in Philadelphia, Bama defeated a highly favored Ivy League University, the University of Pennsylvania, gaining national attention for Alabama. In NY in 1923, Syracuse won 23-0, but who was favored is unknown to me.

Starting in 1904, our won-loss record began improving. This year we had a 7-3 record, with 5 shutouts, scoring a total of 100 points and holding our opponents to 62. In 1905 we were 6-4, scoring 178 and our opponents 113, with three shutouts in a row. In 1906, our record was 5-1, scoring 97 points, but with an unbelievable 78-0 loss to Vanderbilt.

In 1907, we were 5-1-2, scoring 70 points and our opponents scoring 64, with 54 of these 64 being a 54-4 loss to Sewanee. Our first game ever in Mobile was this year, with our defeating LSU 6-4. In 1908, we were 6-1-1, outscoring our opponents 108 to 31. Only an 11-6 loss to Georgia Tech knocked us out of our first undefeated season.

The year 1909 was a 5-1-2 season, in which our opponents scored 17 points, against our 68. We only managed a 4-4 record in 1910, resulting in Guy Lowman coaching just one year. Dr. George H. Denny, who was President of Washington & Lee, whom we had defeated 9-0 in the closing game of the 1910 season, was selected as Alabama’s new President in 1911.

Dr. Denny’s grandparents were from Scotland and England. His father was a minister. He was born on December 3, 1870 in Hanover, Virginia. George Denny entered Hampden-Sidney college at seventeen years of age, and received their BA degree in 1891. In 1892, after a year's post-graduate work, this college favored him with a Masters of Arts degree.

He was married June 1, 1899, to Janie Strickler, the daughter of another minister. They had three children. After the death of President Wilson, the president of "Washington and Lee university, Professor Denny was offered and received the opportunity to be the new president. In 1907, he received his Ph. D. degree from the University of Virginia.

When offered the presidency of the University of Alabama in September of 1911, students signed petitions, pleading with him to stay. Washington and Lee’s trustees offered him a $1,000 raise.

Alabama students saw Washington and Lee’s effort to keep him as an excellent sign that he was going to be something very special for them. Many were aware of his excellent commencement address that he had delivered to Alabama’s 1907 graduating class.

Denny saw upgrading football at Alabama as a way of increasing the size and prestige of the University, especially attracting students from the northeast, who might like playing football in warmer weather.

The approximate enrollment, when he became president in January of 1912, was 400. When he resigned in 1936, the enrollment was around 5,000.

In 1911, we scored 153 points against our opponents 31, with a 5-2-2 record. Our record for 1912 was 5-3-1, followed by a 6-3 record in 1913, shutting out Tennessee two years in a row. Our 1914 record was 5-4, but we beat Ga. Tech for the first time since 1902.

While all previous games had been played on a corner of the Quadrangle, in 1915, we played on Denny Field, but with spectators still having to bring something to sit on, or standing around the field to watch the games. Not until 1929 was Denny Stadium available for seating 12,000, but with no further expansion until 1937.

The 1915 record, with new coach Thomas Kelly, was 6-2, and set a new scoring record of 250 points, to our opponents 51. W. T. "Bully" VanderGraffe had the honor of being the Tide's first All-American.

He was outstanding on both offense and defense. He was also known as the best kicker of his time, for both his placekicking and punting skills.

We won the first 6 games of 1916, but lost the last 3. In 1917, our record was 5-2-1.

In 1918, WWI eliminated college football for most colleges nationwide. In 1919, under coach Xen Scott, we were 8-1, with that one loss being only by 4 points.

In 1920, playing eleven schools, 8 schools were held scoreless, while we scored 377. Only a 7 point loss to Georgia blemished our record. We went back to a 5-4-2 record in 1921 and had a 6-3-1 record in 1922. The 1923 season saw our first time in Legion Field in Birmingham, defeating Sewanee 7-0.

Now looking for a coach to bring Alabama to the high level he believed it could reach, Dr. Denny wasn’t alone in considering Wallace Wade, the assistant coach at Vanderbilt, with Vanderbilt having gone undefeated in 1921 and 1922. Wade was offered head coaching at both Alabama and Kentucky and chose to be interviewed in Lexington first.

He had all but decided that Kentucky was where he wanted to coach. But while Wade sat in the lobby with their haggling for over an hour, about the provisions they would offer, angry Wade stormed into the meeting and loudly “announced” he was going to Alabama.

It is also believed that he told them that “the University of Kentucky will never win from a football team of mine."

Wade used a metronome to insure every movement, from the hands to the feet, to see that all movements was properly timed, sometimes repeating a play for months before actually using it. He would often crouch on the ground with players to show them exactly what he wanted them to do. Wade was recognized by his colleagues as one of their most patient teachers.

It would be almost impossible to find two related critical decisions made, involving the same scholl, that affected more drastically, the rise of Southern football. No one knows what would have happened had Denny stayed at Washington and Lee and Wade had gone elsewhere.

In 1924, Wade brought Alabama back to an 8-1 record, along with their first Southern Conference championship. Wade was determined to make his teams feared throughout the South. But along with this fear, he brought Alabama up as the role model for all Southern colleges, in their building stronger football teams.

Chapter 4: The events that thrust Alabama into the Rose Bowl

THE BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Richard Keenam — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:50:58 -0400

(This can only be pulled up after hitting page or Single Page)

CHAPTER ONE

THE STORIED RISE OF THE CRIMSON TIDE

I consider it best to begin this chapter with a basic understanding of how American football arose. Out of my research, before this chapter ends, I hope I have at least mentioned all universities with appropriate records of their contribution to the growth of this sport. Do advise me of any university I have not mentioned.

This chapter is designed for understanding how football developed and its emerging as America’s favorite sport. Being a musician, while I never played high school team football, I’d match my football enthusiasm against that of anyone.

During the days when only one weekly college football game was televised nationwide, if possible, I always watched them.

In researching football’s beginnings, I found some contradictions in the records. In the event anyone is aware of anything stated in these weekly serials that is incorrect, by all means advise me.

American football’s origin is in English rugby football. What was originally called “Football” was played at Rugby School, in the West Highlands of England. Between 1750 and 1859, handling of the ball was permitted, but no one could hold the ball while running to reach their opponent’s goal line.

“Rugby” was primarily kicking a rounder ball down the field, from which the name “Football” obviously emerged. When Rutgers and Princeton met on 11/6/1869, to play the first intercollegiate football game, this date is recognized as American football’s birthday.

In 1873, Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton and Yale met in New York City to begin working on designing rules for playing intercollegiate football. In Harvard and McGill University of Canada’s meeting in 1874, when Harvard saw McGill running with the ball in their warm ups, they asked McGill for a meeting of both teams.

Harvard and McGill agreed to play one game in which running with the ball was allowed and the other with the traditional no running with the ball rules. The Harvard team liked running well enough to add it to their game plan.

When both Harvard and Yale agreed to play in only a running game, I personally consider this the true birth of American football.

In college football’s early days, the rules could change from game to game, all depending on whatever rules both teams agreed on making. This being the case, from its earliest days, football was a violent mob game, with the most violent play known as “The flying wedge.”

In this play, the offensive line locked arms, with some players holding handles that were attached to their teammate’s jerseys. Defensive linemen, in trying to get to the ball carrier, could be severely injured when trying to break through this line of men. As the brutality of the game increased, university presidents started banning the game.

Walter Camp of Yale’s class of 1880, who earned varsity honors in every sport the school offered, is considered the man most responsible for developing American style football. In 1880, he began contacting Ivy League Universities about all participating in a joint meeting, in which some set rules could be established for playing football.

The scrimmage was started in 1880 and a set system of making first downs in 1882.

But violence remained. The 1894 Harvard-Yale game resulted in crippling injuries to four players, with their football rivalry suspended until 1897. An annual Army-Navy game was suspended from 1894-1898. President Theodore Roosevelt’s son, Ted, had his collar bone broken while playing at Harvard in 1905.

This resulted in President Roosevelt becoming far more aware, in 1905, of the 159 players that were critically injured, and much worse, the 18 players that had died as a result of playing this game.

After the presidents of Harvard, Yale and Princeton met him in the White House, to discuss steps to make football safer, President Theodore Roosevelt tossed out his ultimatum:

“Make this game safer or it will be outlawed.”

Sixty-two schools met in New York City on December 28, 1905 and began working on rules to meet his ultimatum. In this gathering, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, later named the NCAA, was born. Before it became mandatory, more players began wearing protective helmets and pads, further reducing injuries.

In 1906, the NCAA limited their being only seven men on the line of scrimmage, when the ball was snapped This made the “flying wedge” play impossible, greatly reducing injuries. Another major rule added in 1906 legalized the forward pass. But it would be seven years before this opportunity was used to any great degree.

In the “Game That Changed Football”, on Nov. 1, 1913, a team that had only known regional respect as a small-time Midwestern Catholic football college was at West Point, to play heavily favored Army.

With their successful passing, Notre Dame’s 35-13 win instantly placed South Bend, Indiana on the football map. The Fighting Irish gained their high national recognition they have held since that date.

Most historians consider Amos Alonzo Stagg, with his 57 years of coaching that began at Springfield College, Massachusetts, the father of “Football Coaching.” Stagg, like Camp, also played at Yale and created many American football firsts. One of his non-football firsts was developing basketball as a five player sport.

Stagg is responsible for players being numbered, designing punt formations, the end around, the huddle, the T formation and working out trick plays like “The Hidden Ball” and “The Statue of Liberty Play.” He also invented blocking sleds and tackling dummies. Knute Rockne was definitely right when he said, “All football comes from Stagg.”

In 1912, football reached its current form. The football field was also made its current size, touchdowns were increased to six points, and a fourth down was added in the attempt to gain 10 yards. The Ivy League, where football started, originally had the best teams, but in just a short time, football captured the interest of colleges nationwide.

In 1880, only eight universities played intercollegiate football, but by 1900, there were forty three. The first school in the industrial Midwest to establish a college football team, in 1879, was the University of Michigan. Soon to follow were the universities of Northwestern, Chicago and Minnesota.

Michigan was definitely the first Midwest power and the first to travel east in 1881, playing Princeton, Harvard and Yale. In 1895, the three previously mentioned Midwestern Universities formed the “Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives.” It was also known as the Western Conference and eventually, the Big Ten.

Between 1901 and 1905, Michigan had an undefeated streak of 56 games. During these four years, Michigan scored 2,831 points, while allowing their opponents a total of only 40. In 1902, the Wolverines were invited to play in the inaugural Rose Bowl, in which they beat Stanford 40-0.

In 1903, Polo became the Rose Bowl featured attraction, but drew a crowd of only 2,000. Realizing Polo wouldn’t fit the bill, from 1904 through 1915, they held chariot races. While 25,000 came to the 1905 chariot races, dwindling interest resulted in the Tournament of Roses bringing back football in 1916.

The Ivy League was invited in 1916 and 1917, Brown and Pennsylvania respectively. During the time of the “War to End All Wars”, Pacific Coast military teams played in the 1918 and 1919 games.

The Ivy League, represented by Harvard, returned in 1920, with Ohio State making its first appearance in 1921. Washington and Jefferson played in the 1922 game, Penn State in 1923, Navy in 1924 and Notre Dame in 1925.

Around the turn of the century, many of the universities that eventually became members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, Southwest Conference, and Big Eight Conference, began fielding football teams.

Most of these colleges who chose not to expand their enrollments, eventually left their conference, unable to play well with those who had grown much stronger.

Until the 1946 Big Ten Contract, Alabama, with six appearances, was second only to USC’s nine appearances. Alabama’s 1926 victory opened the door for the SEC, with Tennessee there twice and Tulane, Georgia and Georgia Tech there with one appearance, as well as other Southern teams being invited.

The ACC was twice represented by Duke. SMU of the Southwest and Nebraska of the Big Eight, each made an appearance. Independents Penn State, Navy and Notre Dame also made one appearance, with independent Pittsburgh making four appearances. Columbia received The Ivy League’s last invitation.

Interest in American football grew more deeply after the Rose Bowl consistently tried matching the best of the west and the east against each other. This growing interest resulted in the “Grandaddy of Them All” fathering the Sugar and Orange Bowls in 1935 and the Cotton in 1937.

For many years, there were the only four major bowl games, in which the highest ranked teams played. Georgia Tech was the first to appear in all four bowls.

Until a definite time was set by the NCAA for bowls offering post season invitations, I remember, far more than one time, when a university was offered an invitation with two remaining regular season games, then lost both of them before playing their bowl game.

As I remember, while the Rose, Cotton and Sugar didn’t originally have official contracts with any conference, all three most always invited the conference champion of their region, but exceptions were made.

But when, for whatever reasons, the team still rated the strongest didn’t win their conference championship, they were often still invited. Bowl committees were reluctant to offer invitations to weaker rated teams.

In closing, perhaps this is the most appropriate way to recognize most universities not previously mentioned, who played a part in our early football history.

Starting with the 1926 Rose Bowl, until the Rose Bowl contract with the Big Ten was started in 1946, along with those who played in the Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls from their incetpion to 1946, is an alphabetical listing of the universities who played in these four bowls during this time.

Next Week, The Beginnings of Football at Alabama

“R” for Rose “S” for Sugar “O” for Orange “C” for Cotton

Alabama 1926 R

Alabama 1927 R

Alabama 1931 R

Alabama 1935 R

Alabama 1938 R

Alabama 1942 C

Alabama 1943 O

Alabama 1945 S

Alabama 1946 R

Auburn 1938 O

Boston College 1940 C

Boston College 1941 S

Boston College 1943 O

Bucknell 1935 O

California 1929 R

California 1938 R

Carnegie Tech 1939 S

Catholic U of America 1936 O

Clemson 1940 C

Colorado 1938 C

Columbia 1934 R

Duke 1939 R

Duke 1942 R

Duke 1945 S

Duquesne 1937 O

Fordham 1941 C

Fordham 1942 S

GA Tech 1929 R

GA Tech 1940 O

GA Tech 1943 C

GA Tech 1944 S

GA Tech 1945 O

Georgetown 1941 O

Georgia 1942 O

Georgia 1943 R

Holy Cross 1946 O

LSU 1936 S

LSU 1937 S

LSU 1938 S

LSU 1944 O

Mississippi St. 1941 O

Missouri 1940 O

Missouri 1942 S

Missouri 1946 C

Nebraska 1941 R

Oklahoma 1939 O

Marquette 1937 C

Miami 1935 O

Miami 1946 O

Michigan St. 1938 O

Miss. St. 1937 O

Mississippi 1936 O

Oklahoma St 1946 S

Oklahoma St. 1945 C

Oregon St. 1942 R

Pittsburgh 1928 R

Pittsburgh 1930 R

Pittsburgh 1933 R

Pittsburgh 1937 R

Randolph Field 1944 C

Rice 1938 C

Santa Clara 1937 S

Santa Clara 1938 S

SMU 1936 R

St. Mary’s Cal 1946 S

St. Mary’s Cal. 1939 C

Stanford 1927 R

Stanford 1928 R

Stanford 1934 R

Stanford 1935 R

Stanford 1936 R

Stanford 1941 R

TCU 1936 S

TCU 1937 C

TCU 1939 S

TCU 1942 O

TCU 1945 C

Temple 1935 S

Tennessee 1939 O

Tennessee 1940 R

Tennessee 1941 S

Tennessee 1943 S

Tennessee 1945 R

Texas 1943 C

Texas 1944 C

Texas 1946 C

Texas A & M 1940 S

Texas A & M 1941 C

Texas A & M 1942 C

Texas A & M 1944 O

Texas Tech 1939 C

Tulane 1932 R

Tulane 1935 S

Tulane 1940 S

Tulsa 1943 S

Tulsa 1944 S

Tulsa 1945 O

UCLA 1943 R

USC 1930 R

USC 1932 R

USC 1933 R

USC 1939 R

USC 1940 R

USC 1944 R

USC 1945 R

USC 1946 R

Washington 1926 R

Washington 1937 R

Washington 1944 R

Washington St 1931 R

THE STORIED RIDE OF THE CRIMSON TIDE: PROLOGUE

Richard Keenam — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:06:03 -0400

THE STORIED RIDE OF THE CRIMSON TIDE

Prologue

Over eighty years ago, something unexpected happened for the Crimson Tide, resulting in what is considered the most significant game ever played in the history of Southern football. This game ushered in, with mixed southern emotions, the beginning of the south’s movement into the cultural and economic thinking of industrial America.

The University of Alabama faithful believe they hold the most storied “Rise to Tradition” in American football history and older fans know why this claim is made. But there may be many younger Bama fans who know very little about these events. And nationwide,the percentage who may be aware of them, must, at best, be minimal.

But before getting into this game, for a better understanding of the climate of the times in which this game took place, it’s best to take a look back into how our nation developed, long before American football was ever played. I believe the following remark from the beginning of “Gone With The Wind” is the best point to start.

“There was a land of Cavaliers and cotton fields called the old South. Here in this pretty world, gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their ladies fair, of master and of slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered…A Civilization gone with the wind.”

To more clearly understand the climate of these times, “Gone With The Wind” was in no way typical of how the ancestors of today’s African Americans lived, but I’d consider their life style of wealthy Southerners a good example. The early South’s history, with a primarily Anglo-Saxon population, even more deeply “refined” English social structure.

The South became a nation unto itself. Those on wealthy plantations were the South’s highest class and socialized with no others. The middle to lower class primarily lived in urban areas, except for the sharecroppers, who were only able to live day by day. These “Knights and their ladies fair” had no inkling they would soon be chivalry’s last stand.

The statement by the character Rhett Butler was dead on: “Gentlemen, there’s not a cannon factory in the whole South. The Yankees are better equipped than we. They’ve got factories, shipyards, coal mines…and a fleet to bottle up our harbors and starve us to death. All we’ve got is cotton, and slaves…and arrogance.”

Had wealthy southerners kept paying for Caucasian indentured servants, slavery would have never existed. Indentured servants had varying time limits on how long they worked for someone. Being white, escape was also easier. But slaves were “owned” for life, with their black skin, unfortunately, making escape next to impossible.

The South was primarily agricultural and the North primarily industrial. Had both of these economies only had indentured servants, it would have greatly reduced the possibility of a Civil War. But even had slavery not been an issue, many historians still believe the South would have eventually, and peacefully, become an independent nation.

But the wealthy plantation slave owners wanted a war. These “Southern Gentlemen”, skilled with their weapons, “knew” they were far better fighters than the men up North. Wealthy plantation owners also knew that Southern men, whether they owned slaves or not, would fight to preserve white supremacy and that, personally, Northern men had little reason to fight. .

Southerners simply assumed that they could quickly do enough damage to the Union for them to eventually say “Enough of this, we can live without them, let them leave the Union.” which is all the South wanted. Since most able bodied Southerners joined in the fighting, they believed this war would be over in less than a year.

The Union advantages stated by Rhett Butler were dismissed. Arrogance ruled all of their thinking. While after Gettysburg, most Southerners realized “Victory” was not probable, they continued fighting until Sherman released his troops and told them to live off the land. This was, in many ways, the beginning of Reconstruction.

Lincoln saw the defeated Confederacy as the “Bloody and Beaten South” and, as gently as possible, was going to bring them back into the Union. But others soon had the opportunity of punishing the “Rebellious South.” The ten years of Reconstruction by the Union’s troops left deep bitter feelings that, unfortunately, are still held by some today.

Born 70 years after the war was over, I recall those who were two generations older, still holding bitter feelings against “The Yankees.” Southerners even considered everyone that did not live in the States of the former Confederacy as “Yankees.” Never mind many of them lived in States that played no part in the Civil War. They were still “Yankees.”

Growing up, I heard about a few bitter feelings expressed by those who were children during the Reconstruction. Because of what the war in so many ways had destroyed, especially their financial securities, it took many years for the South, overall, to again reach a decent standard of living.

Despite the rise of an intolerant religious atmosphere, a revival of the Ku Klux Klan, the 1925 “Monkey Trial” and the still held hostility to their terms of surrender, Southern modernizers slowly moved the South closer to the mainstream fundamentals of the cultural and economical standards of the upper East Coast, out of which Southern football emerged.

Tuscaloosa, the state capital prior to Montgomery, was chosen as the site for The University of Alabama. But a still “Frontier Alabama” lacked the culture to adequately prepare students. After its 1831 opening, behavior soon became a major problem. Riots and gunfights were not uncommon, with few students graduating in those early years.

With 5000 volumes, Alabama did have one of the largest university libraries, but severe discipline problems remained. The university president finally requested and received financial approval to solve this problem. In 1860, the university became a military school, with many of the graduating cadets serving as officers in the Civil War.

Several months before Sherman’s March to the Sea, Union troops burned down most of the campus. Four buildings survived, and two of them were the President's Mansion built in 1841 and the Gorgas House built in 1829,the oldest building on campus.

But after its rebuilding, the University of Alabama campus is now considered by many as one of the nation’s most beautiful.

Each new Southern generation wanted to find some way of demonstrating there was something they could better accomplish, always feeling “second” to those of the old Union. While my parent’s generation was no longer bitter, they still deeply resented the “Yankees” up north, considering those with a southern drawl, as lower class “Hillbillies.”

Original Southern football was primarily sectional, with “Dixie” repeatedly played during their games. Southern universities soon began realizing how important having a competitive football team would be for their university. Playing teams outside the South was the only way for young men to legitimately do battle with the descendants of those who had defeated their ancestors.

While possibly not the first university president to realize the importance of having a great football team, University of Alabama President Dr. George H. Denny was definitely the first in getting this accomplished. Denny Chimes on the Quadrangle, directly between the President’s mansion and Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, is a very fitting tribute.

When Southern teams started playing Northern teams, however badly they may have been beaten, they were welcomed home as if they had won. Their classmates wanted to show them how proud they were of their going to the North to “Fight the Yankees.” Out of my parents’ generation, good southern football finally emerged.

After Southern schools started playing a few games outside the South, they invited Northern schools to come to the South to play them. But Northern schools infrequently came to the South, knowing they could never bring any of their black players.

No university can ever claim being the model for the emergence of good Southern football teams, as was Alabama. But for many years, many SEC schools felt they were never given appropriate credit for the quality of football they played, which is what I believe, after their recognition, gave birth to the SEC being considered as arrogant.

In returning from Pasadena, Alabama emerged well beyond that of a just being a Southern football power. In much the same way the SEC today feels more like “family” than any other conference, the University of Alabama was soon recognized and honored by the entire South as what was both good and decent about the South.

A quote about Alabama from “Y’all Magazine” a few years ago:

“WINNING IS ONE THING. DOING SO WITH PRIDE, ELEGANCE AND CHARISMA IS SOMETHING ELSE. IT'S SOMETHING WONDERFUL, SOMETHING EPIC, SOMETHING AMIABLE. IT'S SOMETHING ALABAMA".

Along with the campus of the University of Alabama being recognized as one of the nation’s most architecturally beautiful, for the South in particular, it has the definite distinction of being known as the university that became the role model for Southern schools building outstanding football teams.

In the recent past, 75% of UA students listed football as their primary reason for enrolling. In the telecasting of our recent 2009 A Day Game, it was said “At some places they play football, at Alabama, we live it.”

Having been the role model for southern schools building great football teams, I now toss out another idea in which we could become a role model. Apparently back to the quality of football playing we have experienced during most of our history, I now consider it time for us to begin working on becoming another role model for the South, in becoming known by our opponents as a very welcoming host, to whomever we are playing.

Our Oklahoma guests here in 2003, told the people in Norman how well they were treated. I hope there can eventually be a welcoming tent that our guests can easily see, a place where we have the opportunity of sincerely welcoming them, with the understanding that arrogant or obnoxious behavior, by anyone, will not be permitted. When needed, this kind of behavior can be released during the games.

To whatever degree Alabama fans are arrogant, or are free of arrogance, this never plays any part in how well the Tide plays, wherever they may be playing. But more of us choosing not to be arrogant can begin the return back to our past history of being courteous to our guests, and as the role model for other SEC schools to follow.

Since Alabama’s 1979 National Championship, counting the 9 games forfeited in the 1993 season and playing under the severe NCAA sanctions that followed, Alabama still had ten seasons with 10 wins, which includes the 1992 National Championship.

Following the greatest winning percentage the Crimson Tide has ever experienced while under the Bear, for Tide fans, these 30 years have been a long wait to return back to the elite of college football. But let’s just try to be thankful for the resilience we have always had and for the record of the past 30 years. How many universities would not consider this record quite an accomplishment?

Most Southerners just naturally talk to most anyone, expressing whatever they may be feeling. While the same kind of feelings may be felt in other conferences, they are less likely to openly express them. I would like to be made aware of just one good reason for our being arrogant and obnoxious to our guests about anything, before the game starts, and after it is over..

Yes, this was a long prologue. But I wanted everyone who has never spent enough time in the South, to realize the reasons behind the resentment the old South held. Even in our more recent past, many of us became very angry when the polls denied SEC schools a national championship, for as SECS fans saw it, it was only because we were Southern.

But whatever negative feelings anyone may have about Alabama and the SEC, I hope that what I have composed above, and will be completing just before the season begins, will help those outside the South better understand the events that brought about what many consider as our being the most arrogant and obnoxious conference in the nation.

As I finish composing the storied tradition of the Crimson Tide, as I tried to do above, I will do my best to stay only with what actually happened and what was said, with no personal feelings of mine thrown in.

I hope that many of you may be able to begin not seeing the vast majority of the fans of the SEC as arrogant and obnoxious. I also hope that the many of us who are part of the SEC, who are not obnoxious and arrogant, will begin thinking of ways we can play a part in toning down the behavior of those who, out of their insecurities, choose to be this way.

Before the SEC Championship game is played, instead of asking people to vote on which SEC school they consider the most arrogant and obnoxious (LSU, FLA and AL were in almost a dead heat for this “Honor” last year), I’ll ask which ones are the most welcoming. For all of you involved with the SEC, I hope this is an incentive to become more welcoming to your guests.

Next Week: Chapter One - The Beginnings of American Football

While I will read every reply, since I'll be composing a new serial each week, right up to the start of the season, and depending on how many replies I may get, I doubt I will have the time to reply to everyone. After the season starts, I will have more time to reply, especially to those of any college who are interested in seeing their quests are made to feel welcome.

Are SEC Fans the Nation’s Most Ignorant, Arrogant, and Obnoxious?

Richard Keenam — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:09:07 -0500

This is being written primarily to help those outside the SEC to see us in a different light.

So let’s face it SEC, Nation, to a degree that I wish we were not, I’m afraid that this is the way many conferences view us.

I can confidently say that while the vast majority of us are none of the three, from what I’ve heard and read, it definitely seems that much of the rest of the nation does see us this way.

This is primarily because of those who fit the above three traits are broadcasting these qualities so often and so loud.

Moving to Chicago at age 20 in 1955, after living my first 20years in Alabama, as I finally came to see it for much of the South, I realized that many Southerners were still, and some still are, fighting the Civil War.

But for me, even as a child, it never had anything to do with my not liking that the old Southern way of life having been destroyed. It was wrong from the beginning and had to be knocked flat on its butt. My fighting was only defending the SEC and in particular, the Crimson Tide.

While living in Chicago from 1955 to 1969, and in Nebraska in the early and late 90’s, while I would have never considered myself as having any of these three qualities, my fanatical boasting about the SEC and Bama was probably seen as being arrogant and obnoxious.

But all anyone would ever need to do is spend enough time among the well-behaved Crimson Tide people to see how fanatical most of us are, but void of being ignorant, arrogant and obnoxious.

There is definitely something infectious about the Tide atmosphere, and especially so in Tuscaloosa. I know many of our faculty who became bigger fans of Bama than they ever were of the university where they received their degrees. And I also know of other Bama alumni who still remain very loyal to the Tide, wherever they may eventually live.

This fanaticism is as true in Mississippi as much as it is in Alabama, two states that will probably never have an NFL team. Nothing could ever be as important as the intrastate rivalries both of us have. The changing Pro teams we tend to pull for are those who have players who played at our universities.

When Virginia came within one vote of making slavery illegal before the war began, should that have happened, maybe it could have been the motivating factor for the remainder of the Confederacy, which, along with slavery, was also the last place on earth where “chivalry and their fair maidens” still existed.

Both lifestyles were doomed, but it’s unfortunate that all of this could not have had a far more peaceful ending, which for so many years, resulted in the South becoming a nation unto itself, and for some people, unfortunately, still is.

There are few Southerners left who could possibly remember anything about Alabama’s victory over Washington in the 1926 Rose Bowl Game, but there is a good recorded history and movie about this.

It was the first “victory” the South had experienced after the Civil War ended.

From the time the train taking the Tide back home arrived in Texas, people were lined up along the railroad tracks expressing their joy about this victory of Alabama earning the first of their 12 national championships.

I doubt that anyone could come up with the appropriate words for truly describing the ways multiple celebrations in Tuscaloosa were held after they arrived home. The local student newspaper soon had a contest for the composition of a good Alabama fight song.

With our first ever bowl game victory, the words “Remember the Rose Bowl, we’ll win then,” were very appropriate for “Yea Alabama” being selected as the winner.

When in 1920, after the Rose Bowl always had only a Pac 10 host school playing in this game, USC made its first appearance in 1923, followed by Alabama’s first appearance in 1926.

From 1920, until the Pac 10 and Big Ten contract began after Bama’s 35-14 victory over USC in the 1946 game, the Tide, with six appearances (4-1-1), was second only to the Trojan’s 9 times in the Rose Bowl.

Four other SEC teams (twice for Tennessee and one each for Georgia Tech, Tulane, and Georgia), were there during this time, with their total of two wins and three losses.

With the Tide having become the most frequent visitor to the Rose Bowl, they had come to sort of expect to always hold this visiting team record.

The SEC liked the Big Ten defeating the Pac 10 in every game from 1947 to 1959, but they also began resenting both the Big Ten and the Pac 10 claiming to always being the best two conferences in the nation, particularly since neither the Big Ten nor Pac 10 would ever agree to playing anyone in the SEC.

Before these conferences began recruiting black players, it still could have happened.

The closest the Tide came to appearing again in the Rose Bowl was in 1962. The Minnesota Gophers had been in the previous Rose Bowl, which under the Rose Bowl agreement, they were not to make a repeat appearance.

Ohio State won the Big Ten title in 1961, but a faculty council dispute emphasized academics over athletics, and didn’t permit the Ohio State football team to go.

Alabama had already been chosen as the national champion, and the Gophers, who finished second that year, had losses to Wisconsin and Missouri. The Rose Bowl began considering inviting undefeated Alabama, but soon realized the heated protests there would be about a still all-white Alabama team playing in the game.

Minnesota was offered the opportunity to make a repeat performance. The Gophers were led by Sandy Stephens, the first African American All-American quarterback, to a 21-3 victory over UCLA in the first national color television broadcast of a college football game.

In December 1932, 13 members of the Southern Conference pulled out and formed the new Southeastern Conference.

The Tide won the first conference championship and despite the two-year losing streak and the not-so-good years since the Bear retired, they have still won more SEC titles than all other conference schools, hold the record of the most bowl game appearances, and no SEC team has ever held a winning percentage over Alabama.

Yes, Bama does boast about our history, as all colleges with our kind of record also do. But I see much of the observed obnoxious behavior other conferences see in us as primarily related to the frustration of the SEC always considering it as strong as any conference, but not recognized as such.

But once that became apparent to other conferences, it still took many years after integration of the SEC began, that allowed playing anyone anywhere began to prove it. I’m afraid that long held frustration has never been totally released.

While there have been rare meetings with Pac 10 Schools, I am not aware of any regular season play between the SEC and the Big Ten.

As is always the case with the winningest team of any conference, Alabama is the university most schools in the SEC like to see lose, with the exceptions of those who most always pull for their conference members to win their bowl games.

As an alumnus of Alabama, I will always pull for the Tide under all circumstances. But after coming back to Alabama in 1997, I soon discovered I didn’t like the ways many of Alabama’s fans had become obnoxious.

When I played in the Million Dollar Band, when a visiting opponent was playing us without their band, we played that school’s fight song as their team came running on the field.

With or without the opposing team’s band, most everyone now begins booing when their opponent first comes on the field, which could only add to the opponents' drive to win.

One year, when the Million Dollar Band was performing in one of the first Iron Bowl games, while facing the Auburn side, they formed a large eagle, starting with Auburn’s fight song, but began diminishing in size before playing “Sparrow in the Tree Tops.”

Yes, between 1935 and 1969, we were consistently ranked along with Ohio State and Michigan as being the three best bands in the nation, but doing this was still very inappropriate to do.

There was a time when the Million Dollar Band never failed to win their half-time performance, but the Auburn Band has improved to the point in which that certainty is no longer in place.

I also do not like, with maybe the sometimes exception when playing our two most bitter out of state rivalries, our first yelling “We’re gonna beat the hell out of you” and when we do win, even over an opponent that had little opportunity to win the game, “We just beat the hell out of you.”

And booing our team’s players, against men who are in no way professionals, I find appalling. This could in no way motivate them to play better.

It would be far better to applaud them, whether they have won or not, when it was apparent they have given it their best, which is what we used to do many years ago.

During my years in Big Ten territory, with Purdue becoming my second favorite team and also while in the old Big 8 territory, I never saw this kind of behavior.

I hope those of you in other conferences reading this have come to a better understanding of why many of our conference members, still holding onto the angry frustration many held before we were able to demonstrate how good we were, come across as being obnoxious.

I wish some kind of movement could get started for the 2009 season, not only for Bama, but for the entire SEC, of trying to be seen as the most hospitable member of the conference, in which our visitors compliment us on how well they enjoyed being on our campus and not how obnoxious we sometimes come across.

Whatever happened to Southern Hospitality?

The Storied Tradition of Alabama Returns

Richard Keenam — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:22:13 -0500

With Alabama's almost meteoric rise back to the elite of college football, of which it was so very much a part, even before Bear Bryant; can the Tide win the SEC Championship for the first time since 1999? And should this happen, will they win the National Championship?

If so, and with only nine graduating seniors, is a three-peat possible? But in all due respect to Auburn’s unexpected tough year, will the Tigers refuse to let their winning streak with Alabama be broken? It's difficult to see how the latter will happen, but when playing what many consider the deepest rivalry in college football, as both universities know, totally unexpected upsets in this rivalry will never stop happening.

Assuming the Gators handle the Seminoles, and the Tide beats the Tigers, short of a blowout in either game, the Tide will probably still be No. 1 in the BCS rankings, with the Gators most likely favored in the SEC Championship Game.

Since losing Bryant, there have been a few promising times in which it appeared Bama had made it back, yet the Tide was seldom able to hold onto any sustained winning seasons. But Alabama's long stretch of so seldom being part of the elite, appears to be over.

The best winning percentage during these rough years was in the 80's, under the coaching of the very honorable Bill Curry. He had played for and was the coach at Georgia Tech, before accepting the offer to coach the Tide. But far too many bitter feelings were still being held against his relationship with "The Rambling Wreck", a rivalry that was as intense as Alabama’s rivalry has always been with Tennessee, before Tech left the SEC.

Beyond this, what was most disliked about Curry was his inability to come up with a team that could beat Auburn. His third and last year at Alabama was Alabama’s first time of going to Auburn, instead of playing the Iron Bowl in Birmingham every year. With the Tigers beating an undefeated Tide team, that was contending for a national championship, this resulted in Curry officially resigning shortly after the Tide’s loss to Miami in the Sugar Bowl.

Bama’s storied tradition began in the 1926 Rose Bowl in which they beat Washington 20-19, earning the Tide its first of their twelve national championships. Even though Washington had played no active part in the Civil War, with the South still reeling from having lost the war, followed by ten years of reconstruction, this was “their” first victory, since the Civil War was over.

Southerners were finally able to claim a victory over the "Yankees." On the train ride back, the Tide was repeatedly greeted by large crowds, beginning from Texas, down to New Orleans and all the way up to Tuscaloosa. Their first full day back was more or less a city holiday, in which there was a big parade with celebratory festivities lasting the rest of the day. The words "Remember the Rose Bowl, we'll win then", in "Yea Alabama", the now well known victory march for the Tide, came as a result of Alabama’s first Rose Bowl victory.

After WWII was over, with blacks slowly being accepted as players in college football, the Southeastern Conference, and especially Alabama, held deep resentment about the Big Ten and Pac 10 always being considered better than the SEC. As Alabama saw it, their 34-14 victory over USC in 1946, their sixth Rose Bowl appearance, against the only college in the nation that had appeared in the Rose Bowl more than the Tide had, was what closed that bowl game, out of West Coast concern of being beaten again by the Tide.

That resentment deepened when Alabama’s 1953 Orange Bowl 61-6 victory over Syracuse, for what Alabama considered the same reason, closed that one to them also. But in 1954, the Homecoming loss to Mississippi State was the beginning of two years in which the best of these two years was only two ties, until the Tide beat Mississippi State for the 1956 Homecoming. Then the "Bear came home to mother", taking the Tide to the inaugural Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia in 1959. That was followed with his guiding Alabama to the 1961 National Championship, the Tide's first since the 40's. During the Bear's tenure, the Tide reached the highest level Alabama had ever experienced. Starting with 1959 Liberty Bowl, at the end of every season, each was always followed by a bowl game appearance.

Nick Saban keeps saying this is not me, it’s the team. This reminds me so much of Carleton K. Butler, the director of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band from 1935 to 1969, when anyone who ever saw the band during this time considered it the “Golden Age” of the Million Dollar Band.

Like Saban, Butler never accepted seeing anyone not working on reaching their absolute best by the end of each season. With the band always prepared to form whatever the half-time score may be, with Penn State scoring just before the half in the 1959 Liberty Bowl, more than one newspaper in Philadelphia stated that the game "Had to be fixed", because of the Million Dollar Band "Already knowing what score to form" in its haltime show. “Perfectionist” and “Resilience” could have easily been the middle names for both, and both with the ability of dishing out the kind of “Tough Love Inspiration” that always brings back deep respect and love. Even if the Tide loses their last two games, Tide supporters will consider this season a job well done, eagerly waiting for the 2009 season to start.

Perhaps it’s only a coincidence that both Saban and Butler graduated from Kent State. Or is it possible that Saban has brought another Kent State “charm” with him, in which he, if not surpassing Bryant’s winning percentage, will come very close to bringing the Tide back to a new “Golden Age” for the University of Alabama?

While Saban will keep saying “This is not for me”, this is in much the same way that Colonel Butler, a native of Ohio, looked at the band. While Saban's detractors say this is just one more stop to whatever the next school may be, in the same way Colonel Butler was infected with Bama's deep spirit, those who truly know Saban have little doubt that he will ever look elsewhere. Just like Colonel Butler, looks like Saban has found a home.