Here we have another item from the old Gadsden Times issues I've been paging through in recent months. This brief article relates to one of the most important topics in the state's history--Alabama and Auburn football.
The two schools first played each other in that sport on February 22, 1893. The game took place at Lakeview Park in Birmingham. Auburn--formally known at the time as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, or API--won that contest. 32-22. The park no longer exists; Highlands Park Golf Course occupies the land today.
The teams continued playing each other through 1907. After that contract negotiations stalled and another game wasn't played until several decades later. Various rumors arose about why the contest ended and how it started again in 1948. The Encyclopedia of Alabama entry by Clyde Bolton on the "Iron Bowl" sorts out the mess:
"Auburn and Alabama stopped playing each other after 1907. Over the years, a myth grew that a huge fight among players and fans had led to the severing of relations between Auburn and Alabama. The truth, however, was decidedly less dramatic. The schools' officials simply could not agree on contractual details, such as per diem pay rates for the players, and thus there was no game in 1908. Another myth has persisted that the state legislature mandated resumption of the series, but a resolution approved by the legislature on August 15, 1947, merely officially requested that the schools resume the annual contest. In 1948, Auburn president Ralph Draughon and Alabama president John Galalee simply agreed that the schools should play, and the rivalry was renewed in the modern era."
As the article below indicates, a bill to force resumption of the series--with a serious penalty attached for non-compliance--was actually introduced in the state legislature on May 2, 1945. The bill called for the governor to set the time and place of the first game. However, Governor Chauncey Sparks declared his opposition to this method of restarting the game.
Apparently some momentum had developed. The quote above from the EOA mentions a resolution about the game passed by the legislature on August 15, 1947. That resolution notes there had been a "lapse of many years in athletic relations" between Alabama and API and that a majority of the legislature feels resumption of a "full athletic program" between the schools is in the best interest of the universities and the people of Alabama. Thus the legislature "respectfully requests" the Boards of Trustees of the schools to implement that program by May 1949.
The first game of the resumed series was played on December 4, 1948; Alabama won 55-0. Thus, "grid relations" did not resume in 1945, but did soon enough to fulfill the legislature's request. Note there is no mention of any "Iron Bowl" in all of this wrangling. Shug Jordan christened the game the "Iron Bowl" in the 1950s, but the term didn't gain traction until the following decade.
Also notable is the fact that original negotiations between the schools in 1907 broke down over the issue of player payment.
