Part of his inductee bio reads, "Newman was the prime motivator behind the establishment of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. He said Alabama reminded him of the sea pounding the sea shore and that's from a quote from him, another great Birmingham writer, Clyde Bolton, who interviewed him, but yeah, Zipp Newman probably popularized Crimson Tide. He was kind of the big writer at the time for this area. Hugh Roberts was probably a little bit before him. So, there's not a lot of clarity behind who, when, how or why one of the best football programs in the country got its nickname, but that's just part of Alabama's story.
Believe what you want. Where did these iconic mascots come from? FBS Football. But where did the nickname "Crimson Tide" come from? It's complicated. Who is created the nickname 'Crimson Tide'? But it may not be true. Undefeated college football teams in Here are the last remaining undefeated teams for the season. After originally going by "varsity," "Crimson White" the school colors and "The Thin Red Line," Birmingham Age-Herald sports editor Hugh Roberts coined the term "Crimson Tide" to describe 'Bama's heroic effort in holding heavily favored Auburn to a 6—6 tie in a mud-soaked game in that had the 'Bama players looking like a red tidal wave.
The nickname stuck. You have to fast-forward 23 years to come upon the first mention of elephants to describe Alabama football. Like the team's nickname, it was the brainchild of a sports writer. More from LostLettermen. Strupper and other writers referred to the linemen on that team — which won the third of Alabama's 14 claimed national championships — as "Red Elephants. But it would be nearly five decades until Alabama recognized the animal as its official mascot.
Which isn't to say that elephants didn't factor in prominently to gameday tradition. Auburn's "War Eagle" ]. During the s, the school kept a live elephant mascot named "Alamite. By the s, keeping a live elephant year round proved to be too expensive for the university. Instead, the school's "Spirit Planning Committee" started hiring elephants — often from traveling circuses passing through or by Tuscaloosa — for every homecoming.
And in the early s, Alabama student Melford Espey went the extra mile and dressed up as the animal to cheer on his beloved team. It was clear that Crimson Tide Nation's obsession with the pachyderm would not cease. So what took so long for the Alabama administration to adopt the animal as the school's official mascot?
That was not the image of his players he wanted to portray. Bryant was Alabama's football coach and athletic director, not to mention a legendary figure that Crimson Tide fans would never cross. When Bryant shot down the elephant mascot idea, that was that. But the same students that worshipped the Bear persisted, and he finally relented in the late s.
The man who Bryant tasked with spearheading Big Al's creation was none other than Espey , who by that time was working as an Alabama administrator.
Big Al's game debut was one to remember: The Sugar Bowl against top-ranked and undefeated Penn State, when a fourth-quarter goal line stand delivered No. And Big Al's been an omnipresent fixture on the Crimson Tide sidelines ever since.
He's still one of the most unique mascots in college football. But how did the program get that unique name? The University of Alabama has been playing organized football since Everything changed in , though. There is a problem, however, with that story.
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