Description:
As their fans try to drown each other out with cries of "Rrrrroll Tide!" and "Warrrrr Eagle!", two of college football's toughest, winningest teams, Alabama and Auburn, battle it out in the annual Iron Bowl, a tradition dating back to the 1892 - 1893 season. In his Alabama vs. Auburn: Gridiron Grudge since 1893, John Chandler Griffin gives us the first complete, illustrated history of this yearly battle between the SEC powerhouses complete with a year- by-year discussion, over 1,000 photographs, and definitive lists of team lettermen and annual schedules. Griffin discusses the 41- year hiatus in the contest (1907 - 1948) caused by a squabble over finances and game officials and ended only by special resolution of the Alabama House of Representatives and a meeting of the college presidents. Griffin presents a colorful roster of the cross-state rivalry's most memorable players and coaches--from the earliest meetings of the pigskin-helmeted Plainsmen and members of the Thin Red Line at Birmingham's Lakeview Park and Legion Field, to Auburn's successes under John Heisman (Auburn is the only Heisman-coached team to later boast a Heisman Trophy winner) and Alabama's under Paul "Bear" Bryant (where he compiled a 232-46-9 record in 25 years), to NFL-tested players such as Don "Alabama Antelope" Hutson, Joe Namath, Derrick Thomas, and Shaun Alexander from Bama and Pat Sullivan, Mike Kolen, Vincent "Bo" Jackson, and Takeo Spikes from Auburn. Alabama vs. Auburn gives a 50-yard seat to the most fabled games between these eternal arch rivals including the 1972 so-called "Punt, Bama, Punt" game and the Crimson Tide's nine-year stretch against the Tigers. Incredibly, the teams have never had losing records in the same season and, since 1956, at least one of the two have been ranked in the final AP poll. Whether your heart pounds at the sight of the Tiger Walk or at the strains of the Million-Dollar Band you will fin Alabam vs. Auburn as satisfying as a tailgate picnic and as thrilling as 50-yard line seats.
