Resuming Grid Relations in 1945

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.  

Source: Gadsden Times 2 May 1945

The resolution appears on pages 215-215 of the 1947 General Laws. 

Source: Internet Archive

Football in Gadsden in 1908

In recent months I've gone through numerous 1930s and 1940s issues of the Gadsden Times. My grandmother Rosa Mae Wright saved these publications, especially during World War II. I found a lot of fascinating articles [and advertisements!], and this blog post features one of them. 

I've also recently enjoyed Lars Anderson's 2007 book, Carlisle Vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner and the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle. He's written several books, lives in Birmingham and is on the University of Alabama faculty. I find early college football in the U.S. to be fascinating, and there is a lot about the game in those days in this book. Jim Thorpe, Pop Warner and the Carlisle Indians also form a number of incredible stories.

American football was a very different animal in those early days before World War I. On November 6, 1869, Rutgers and Princeton played what is considered the first intercollegiate game in the U.S. Each side had 25 players and tried to kick a round ball across the opposing team's goal; carrying or throwing the ball was not allowed. By 1872 several other schools in the northeast including Columbia and Yale began play. Over the next two decades more teams entered the sport and the rules of play and the size of the field underwent great changes, many introduced by Walter Camp such as the system of downs and the line of scrimmage. In these early years betting on games was common as were hired players who did not attend the schools. 

By the early 20th century football had become so violent that efforts began to change or ban the game. A military formation called the flying wedge had been used in that first 1869 game and caused numerous injuries and even deaths. Nineteen players died from various causes in the 1905 season alone. The forward pass was legalized in 1906 to hopefully reduce injuries, but did not catch on for some years. The flying wedge was banned about the same time. Although various conferences had already been founded, a national organization to oversee college athletics was organized in late 1905 by 62 schools that met in New York City. 

The article below, published October 29, 1940, describes Gadsden football in 1908. By that time the game had already started to develop on college campuses in the state. Auburn and Alabama fielded their first teams in 1892 and played each other initially in 1893. The rivalry paused in 1908 for many years due to arguments over player payments and other money issues. Both teams became charter members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association when the group was organized in 1894. 

This article outlines the history of football in the Gadsden area in 1908. Former college players met and an eleven man team was proposed and a "complete schedule for the season." Possible players who attended the meeting included two former Alabama stars, two from Auburn, one from "Carolina", another from the University of Chicago and four "regarded as apt pupils of the game." The two Alabama players were selected as coaches.

Opponents would include Ninth and Seventh District schools, Jacksonville, Anniston, and "other cities in the district." Thanksgiving Day contests with Jacksonville Normal School [now Jacksonville State University] and the Seventh District Agricultural School were scheduled. 

At the time Jacksonville, captained by "a local boy", presumably one from Gadsden, was undefeated. Gadsden actually played Jacksonville in one of the Etowah County team's earliest games on November 2, 1908, and won 7 to 0 with one touchdown and a safety. At this time a touchdown gained a team five points and a safety two. The article includes the lineup of Gadsden players for that game.

The team lost its next game on November 14. "Gadsden football enthusiast" Lonnie Noojin coached the Blountsville Ninth District School to the win 20-2. A contemporary account is given in the second article below: "Gadsden Downed by Farmer Lads." The school is described in the article as Blountsville Agricultural College. 

Another team in the area was Disque High School [1901-1924, when it became Disque Middle] coached by Prof. J.R. McClure. That team beat Gadsden Athletics 20-15 and tied Birmingham's Woodlawn 5 to 5 on November 23, 1908. On Thanksgiving Day Birmingham High School beat the Gadsden Athletics 19 to 4. 

The 1940 article and the two 1908 ones below are a good start for a history of football in Etowah County. I found the 1908 ones on Newspapers.com; I'm sure more could be located. Several of these games are noted as taking place at Elliott Park, which was just west of Alabama City. One research area that would be interesting is to search for all these names of individuals at Ancestry.com, Find-A-Grave, etc., to learn something about them. Perhaps another day....

The history of football in these early decades at the high school and self-organized levels is largely unknown. You can read more about early high school football in the state at the Alabama High School Football Historical Society. 

Gadsden Times 14 November 1908

Gadsden Times 9 December 1908

Who Was Don Downs?

Recently Dianne and I had an enjoyable meal at Ragtime Cafe on Valleydale Road. The restaurant has been operating in Hoover for over three decades. The inside walls are decorated with lots of sports images, much of it related to the University of Alabama, sad to say. Yet I did notice the painting below of an Auburn football player. So who was Don Downs??

As it turns out, Don Downs played wide receiver during the 1960, 1961, and 1962 seasons under Auburn coach Shug Jordan. The Sports Reference site lists him with 21 receptions as a senior, ranked 9th in the SEC. His 13.4 years per catch ranked 7th. Football rosters at Auburn University note that in 1962 he wore number 88, weighed 205 lbs. and was 6-1. His hometown was Birmingham, and he graduated from Ensley High School.

Downs' obituary at al.com has a death date of December 3, 2019. That piece also tells us that he was the first Auburn football player to earn a degree in Forest Management. After graduation Downs worked as a distribution consultant, which allowed him to travel. 

The artist for this painting, which is dated 1959, is Warren Pratt. I have been unable to find anything about him except for a few more paintings similar to this one. One ink and watercolor from 1955 depicts Sonny Humphreys in his University of Tennessee playing days. I also found a pastel Pratt painted of Oakland Athletics pitcher Rollie Fingers and one of Baltimore Orioles player Andy Atchebarren from 1971.  

If you know any more about Don Downs or Warren Pratt, let us know in the comments!

Oh, and if Downs played at Auburn 1960-62, why are the dates on the painting 1958 and 1959??

 

Punt, Bama, Punt! Auburn Does It 17-16

As the most recent one demonstrated, the annual Iron Bowl football contest between Auburn University and the University of Alabama can have all kinds of craziness. That was certainly true for the 1972 contest, the immortal "Punt, Bama, Punt!" game. As my brother Richard and I continue to clean out mom and dad's  house in Huntsville, we keep encountering all sorts of interesting things, and this blog post is about one of them. 

The sound recording seen below was mailed to Auburn University alumni in 1973 as a fund raiser for the university's foundation. In the game played December 2, 1972, Alabama was undefeated, ranked 2nd in the nation and a two-touchdown  favorite over Auburn. With less than 10 minutes left in the game, the score was  16-3 with Alabama leading when the Crimson Tide had to punt.  Auburn player Bill Newton blocked and teammate David Langner ran the ball back for a touchdown. Several minutes later, Alabama had to punt again, Newton again blocked it, and Langner again returned it for a touchdown. Langner intercepted an Alabama pass to seal Auburn's victory.  See the Wikipedia entry "Punt Bama Punt" for more details about the game. This item has a portion of the official Auburn Football Network broadcast with Gary Sanders and Gusty Yearout.

Auburn vs. Birmingham-Southern in 1938

In 1938 Auburn [then formally known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, but seldom called that] and Birmingham-Southern College met in the first football game of the season for both teams. The contest took place on September 23 at Crampton Bowl in Montgomery. Auburn managed to win 14-0 with a "late spurt" as the article below describes it.

That article was written by Bill Rollow for the Montgomery Advertiser. Also below is an excerpt declaring that "Auburn's play was unimpressive" and noting the team will have to greatly improve before the next game against Tulane. Birmingham-Southern had been a three touchdown underdog.

The teams would finish that season with similar records. Under fifth-year coach Jack Meagher the Tigers had a record of 4-5-1. The Panthers coach Jenks Gillem completed his eleventh season at 4-5. 

The Panthers home stadium was Legion Field, but they only played two games there that year. Some of their other games were played in New Orleans, Memphis, Mobile and Gadsden. Auburn played Tulane in New Orleans, and other teams in Houston, Atlanta and Jacksonville, Florida. They lost to Villanova in Philadelphia. Two games were played at Crampton Bowl, and Auburn defeated LSU at Legion Field. 

Source: Auburn University Libraries Digital Collections

Harold McInnish, center, Birmingham-Southern 

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History

Lewis Holliday, end, Birmingham-Southern. He did not start, but according to the newspaper account below he did play. 

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History 

Rollow notes later in the article that Auburn attempted no passes in the first half and "did not open up with anything but country store football." Their fanciest play in that half was four laterals after an interception that gained about a yard. 

Montgomery Advertiser, Saturday 24 September 1938, written by Bill Rollow

Larger version can be found at the source

Source: Newpapers.com

That Time Auburn Scored on Sewanee!

I recently watched the 2022 documentary Unrivaled: Sewanee 1899 about that year's football team at the University of the South, a small, private liberal arts college in the Tennessee town. The film is a fascinating look at what is often called the greatest team in college football history. The Tigers played twelve games between October 21 and December 3 that season, including an incredible November road trip of five in six days. No opponent scored on Sewanee except Auburn. Let's investigate. 

College football was a very different sport in those days. The game had evolved somewhat from the ones played in the 1860's and 1870's that resembled rugby. In the 1880's the influence of Walter Camp brought a number of changes still in use today. Camp, who played at Yale and then coached there and at Stanford, introduced the line of scrimmage, the center snap to the quarterback, and the modern day size of the field. 

In 1899 touchdowns and field goals were scored at five points each and conversions [point after touchdown] were a single point. At the time of Sewanee's great season, the forward pass had not yet been invented. The quarterback took the snap and handed off to another player, then becoming another blocker. There were no offensive and defensive squads; players stayed in for the entire game unless injured too badly--which usually required a broken bone. 

Auburn and Sewanee were members of the same conference. As noted by Wikipedia, "The beginnings of the contemporary Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference start in 1894. The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was founded on December 21, 1894, by William Dudley, a chemistry professor at Vanderbilt.^[47] The original members were Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Sewanee, and Vanderbilt. Clemson, Cumberland, Kentucky, LSU, Mercer, Mississippi, Mississippi A&M (Mississippi State), Southwestern Presbyterian University, Tennessee, Texas, Tulane, and the University of Nashville joined the following year in 1895 as invited charter members.^[48] The conference was originally formed for "the development and purification of college athletics throughout the South".^[49]"

The coach of Sewanee was Billy Suter, in his first year at that position. He had seven
starters back from the 1898 team, which went 4-0. By all accounts he was a strict
disciplinarian. He coached at Sewanee until 1901, then one year at Georgetown
before leaving the profession for publishing. 

Sewanee's victims in 1899 included Tennessee (46-0), Texas (12-0), Tulane (23-0), 
and LSU (34-0). They outscored opponents 322-10. Although the team had twenty-
one students who played that year, only thirteen made the brutal road trip.

The Tigers from the Plains were 3-0-1 going into the Sewanee game, so the players
were no doubt rested and ready. Auburn had not played a game since November
18 when they tied Georgia 0-0. Earlier in the season Auburn defeated by large
margins three teams, including Georgia Tech and Clemson, that did not score a
point. 

Auburn's coach John Heisman , in his fifth year at the school, had a much different
career. In addition to football, he coached basketball and baseball at various schools.
He coached at Oberlin before arriving in Auburn in 1895; he left there after the 
1899 season. Others stops in football included Clemson, Georgia Tech, Penn and 
Rice. His contributions to the game included an early player shift, the hidden ball
play, and efforts to legalize the forward pass and divide the game time into quarters.

The Sewanee-Auburn contest was played on November 30, Thanksgiving Day, at
Riverside Park in Montgomery. Accounts give the attendance as 3000 or 4000.
I wonder if the site was at or near the current Riverfront Park along the Alabama River.
I did find a description in The Works of Matthew Blue, Montgomery's First Historian,
edited by Mary Ann Neeley, that seems to locate the park there. "The depot was near
the river on the west side of north Court Street. The area extended along the riverbank
and was later known as Riverside Park, where subsequent fairs and events took place." 
[p. 218]. 

An interesting sidelight to this game is the fact that Sewanee had two players from Alabama, both at the halfback position. Ringland F. "Rex" Kilpatrick was from Bridgeport and Henry "Diddy" Seibels from Montgomery. 

Early Auburn football has a connection with another interesting team and game. In 1914 the Carlisle Indians from Pennsylvania made a southern tour during the season and played both Alabama and Auburn. They defeated Alabama, but lost to Auburn. You can read the details here. 

Two descriptions of the game can be read below. Sewanee managed to win by one point even though Auburn gained 323 total yards to their 82. On December 4 a long article about the game appeared in the Birmingham Post-Herald under the title "Coach Heisman Scores Officials". Heisman was critical of the officiating, to say the least. 

Savannah Morning News 1 December 1899

Source: Chronicling America

Birmingham Age-Herald 1 December 1899

Source: Chronicling America

The 1899 Sewanee football team, known as the "Iron Men". Twenty-one different students played on the team. Not shown are the two black men who served as trainers, giving massages to exhausted players including during the famous road trip. Their story is included in the 2022 documentary. 

Source: Wikipedia 

Auburn's 1899 team

Source: Wikipedia

UAB Football in 1991 & 1992

On the way to its recent success the UAB football program has had some ups and downs. The Wikipedia entry will give you the basic facts. This blog post looks back at the team's two years at the NCAA Division III level in 1991 and 1992. Why am I doing that? Well, in some recent cleaning out I came across the two flyers and a ticket stub included below.

The program began with two years of club football in 1989 and 1990. In 1991 the university upgraded the program to Division III and Jim Hilyer was hired as head coach beginning that fall. He led the team for two years in Division III and two in I-AA; Watson Brown became head coach in 1995. 

Hilyer had played four years as offensive guard and linebacker at Stetson University. He was an assistant coach at the pro and college level for Mississippi State and Auburn [twice!] and the Washington Redskins and Birmingham Stallions. At UAB, his only head coaching post, he had a record of 27-12-2. Hilyer passed away in January of this year. 

My son Amos and I saw a couple of UAB's games in those Division III days. As you can see from the ticket stub below, we attended the October 12, 1991, contest with Lindenwood University played at Legion Field. Lindenwood, located in St. Charles, Missouri, had just begun football the previous year and played as an independent until 1996 when they joined the NAIA. The team began playing in the NCAA in 2012. The game ended in a 17-17 tie. UAB finished that first season with a 4-3-2 record; you can see the scores here. 

I've yet to find any ticket stub in my vast collection, but we also attended a game during the 1992 season. The opponent was Gallaudet University and the September 12 game was played at Lawson Field. We were among the crowd of more than 5300 people who watched UAB win 44-6. The Blazers finished that season with a 7-3 record. 

The game had an extra dimension not often seen--or heard--at football games. Gallaudet is a private school in Washington, D.C., that serves deaf and hard of hearing students. At the game we attended, a big drum on the sidelines sent signals to the team on the field. 

Gallaudet has been playing football since 1883. Interestingly, the huddle originated at the school. In the 1890's quarterback Paul D. Hubbard came up with the idea as a way to hide hand signals from opposing teams. 

Amos and I attended this Blazer win over Gallaudet played at Lawson Field. 

These buildings, now demolished, served as UAB football administrative offices for many years. 

UPDATE 12 September 2025

I recently came across this short article about Jim Hilyer's hire at Auburn. As noted above, Hilyer was UAB's first coach. The source for the item is the Gadsden Times 5 April 1968. 

Alabama's Female College Football Players

Recently Sarah Fuller made college football history by kicking an extra point in the December 12 game between her Vanderbilt Commodores and the Tennessee Volunteers. She had also kicked off in the November 28 game against the Missouri Tigers. She thus became the first woman to play and score points in a Power Five game. However, she was not the first female college athlete to play and score in football games in the U.S. In fact, two women playing for Alabama teams also have significant records in that sport.

The article linked above notes these female milestones in college football:

"Fuller joins Katie Hnida and April Goss as the only women to play in an FBS game. Hnida kicked two extra points for New Mexico against Texas State in 2003. She transferred to New Mexico from Colorado, where she did dress out but did not play in a game for the Buffaloes. Goss, who played at Kent State, kicked an extra point against Delaware State in 2015.

Four other women -- Willamette's Liz Heaston, Jacksonville State's Ashley Martin, West Alabama's Tonya Butler and Lebanon Valley's Brittany Ryan -- have also kicked in college football games at various levels ranging from NAIA to FCS. Heaton became the first woman to score in a college football game in 1997."

Let's look at the specifics for those two Alabama players.

On August 30, 2001, Ashley Martin kicked three extra points for Jacksonville State as they defeated Cumberland University 72-10. In doing so she became the first woman to score points in an NCAA football game. At the time Jacksonville played in Division 1-AA [now the Football Championship Subdivision.] The only previous woman to score in an American football game was Liz Heaston who played for Willamette University in 1997. Willamette played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. 

Martin played soccer at Jacksonville and joined the Gamecocks football team as a backup place kicker. She had previously played for her high school football team in Sharpsburg,, Georgia. Martin was also homecoming queen at the school, and accepted her crown wearing her football uniform.

Tonya Butler had an outstanding career as a placekicker for her high school team in Fayetteville, Georgia, where she joined the team as a tenth grader. Butler played football at Middle Georgia College, where she received the first football scholarship for a female at a state school. After getting an associate degree there, she played soccer at Georgia Southern and graduated in 2003. 

Butler had two years of football eligibility remaining, and Randy Pippin, her coach at Middle Georgia, offered her a scholarship to play for his new team, the University of West Alabama. Butler enrolled in graduate school and made the 2003 squad. In the first game of the season against Stillman Butler kicked a 27-yard field goal and became the first female to achieve that feat in an NCAA football game. 

Butler played the entire 2003 and 2004 seasons for the Tigers and was voted special teams captain both years. She finished her master's degree at the school in 2005. 

Wikipedia has a running list of females who have played American football at various levels and on various types of teams. I noted at least one middle school and one high school player from Alabama on these lists. 

Ashley Martin kicking for Jacksonville State

Tonya Butler at the University of West Alabama