Crimson Nation
(Rutledge Hill Press, 2005)
by Eli Gold, Voice of the Crimson Tide (M.B. Roberts, ghostwriter)
For over twenty years, Eli Gold has been behind the microphone for
Alabama football, calling many a memorable game and witnessing
firsthand some defining moments in the history of Alabama football: an
unbelievable win at Penn State, numerous wins over Tennessee on the
Third Saturday in October; a national title win over Miami. He also had
a front row seat for the 1990 return of “Junction Boy” Gene Stallings.
Those firsthand memories, plus many great moments from “days gone by”
are just some of the stories as told by the Voice of the Crimson Tide.
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The 1992 Championship
…from pg. 209
The Alabama and Miami teams couldn’t have been more different. They
both had winning records, but in terms of style and substance, the Tide
and the ‘Canes had virtually nothing in common. They were from two
different cultures. Stallings had the Alabama team wearing suits and
ties. The Miami guys? They were decked out in camouflage fatigues. The
Alabama=2
0team was steeped in a Deep South, tradition-rich culture. Miami
was proud but in a more modern and sometimes in-your-face kind of way.
As Alabama got off the airplane in Miami in their tidy, well-behaved
row, the press was betting on trash-talking Miami. This served to fire
up the underdog Bama players. And some retired players as well.
“When Lee Corso picked Miami, 21-0, over Alabama,” remembered former
star linebacker Barry Krauss, “that really ticked me off! I was like,
we are going to beat their butts!”
….Jay Barker remembers reading a story in the paper that compared the
upcoming game to a David and Goliath battle. “I don’t know if they ever
read the Word,” Barker laughed. “But David won that battle.”
The Third Saturday in October
Too Much Damn Orange
from pg. 173
From where I sit, the biggest problem with the third Saturday in
October, the day Alabama traditionally plays Tennessee, is that here’s
just too damn much orange. But that’s just my opinion. So, let’s stick
with an indisputable fact: The Alabama-Tennessee rivalry is among the
most intense in all of college football.
Most Alabama players and fans count Auburn as their archrival. But some
notch the Tennessee game just ahead of Auburn in terms of importance
and bragging rights in the SEC. According to those closest to him,
Coach Paul W. Bryant put Tennessee first on his h
it list. The reasons
may have been highly personal. To understand this, we have to go way,
way back.
Before he was arguably the most famous college football coach that ever
lived, Bryant was a football player for Alabama. In fact, during the
1935 season, a series of events would occur on the football field that
would become as legendary as the famous bear-wrestling story that gave
Bryant his better-known nickname.
By all accounts the 1935 season had gotten off to a shaky start. The
Tide ended up with a disappointing tie after their first game against
Howard (now Samford) University, a team they were expected to clobber.
They beat George Washington, but then Mississippi State bested Bama
20-7. Worse, during the game Bryant fractured the shin bone on his
right leg. When the team headed to Knoxville to face Tennessee the next
week, Bryant had his leg in a cast and was walking on crutches. But
before the game, the team doctor removed the cast and told him to go
ahead and suit up, even if he wasn’t going to play.
Then, defensive coach Hank Crisp used Bryant’s situation to motivate
the masses. “Hey, if this guy can tough it out on a broken leg…”
So when Coach Frank Thomas asked Bryant if he was ready to play, he
felt he had no choice. So, he played. And he didn’t just go through the
motions and perform his duties in a perfunctory manner. He played the
best game of20his career! He set up two touchdowns….
…When asked about playing hurt, Bryant answered in the cowboy style he
would later make famous, “It was just one little bone.”
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