University of Alabama Traditions

The Crimson Tide

Back in 1900, when people referred to Alabama’s football team, they simply called it “the varsity” or the “Crimson White” after the school’s colors. The phrase “Crimson Tide” was not used until 1907, when a sports editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald referred to that year’s match-up between Alabama and Auburn. Although Auburn was heavily favored to win, Alabama played in a sea of red mud to hold Auburn to a 6-6 tie. The sports editor used the term “Crimson Tide” to describe the great game played by Alabama and the name has followed ever since.

The Elephant

UA has not always been associated with the elephant. In fact, it was not until 1930 that Alabama and elephants were even linked. In the 1930 football season, Coach Wallace Wade assembled a strong team.  Sports writer Everett Strupper of the Atlanta Journal wrote a story describing the events of the Alabama-Ole Miss football game. He described the Alabama players’ size and power. His article went to say:

“At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, ‘Hold your horses, the elephants are coming,’ and stamped out this Alabama varsity.

It was the first time that I had seen it, and the size of the entire eleven nearly knocked me cold; men that I had seen play last year looking like they had nearly doubled in size.”

From then on, he and other writers continued to refer to Alabama’s linemen as “Red Elephants,” beginning the long association of UA and the elephant.

Alabama Football

Alabama’s first football game was played in 1892 in Birmingham against a team of selected students from Birmingham high schools. Alabama won, 56-0.

The Tide has now won 13 NCAA National Football Championships.

Originally, the stadium had a capacity of 12,000.  The first of a long series of expansions took place in 1937. Currently Bryant-Denny is one of the largest on-campus football stadiums in the nation and holds over 101,000 fans.

Million Dollar Band

Comprised of over 400 students, the nationally recognized “Million Dollar Band” is a very prominent part of the Crimson Tide spirit and tradition.

The name “Million Dollar Band” was given in 1922 by W. C. “Champ” Pickens, an Alabama alumnus and football manager in 1896.  Accounts of how the name evolved vary. In the 1948 Alabama football media guide, it is described this way:

“At the time the band was named (1922), it was having a hard struggle. The only way they could get to Georgia Tech for a game was by soliciting funds from the merchants. They usually had to ride all night in a day coach, and we thought it was swell when we finally got a tourist sleeper and put two to a lower and two to an upper berth. Thus, because of the fund raising prowess, Pickens called the group the ‘Million Dollar Band’.

During that particular Georgia Tech game, won by the Yellow Jackets 33-7, an Atlanta sportswriter commented to Pickens, “You don’t have much of a team, what do you have at Alabama?” Pickens replied, ‘A Million Dollar Band.’”

Houndstooth

Alabama fans deck themselves out in houndstooth patterned hats, scarfs, jackets, and dresses each and every game. But some may wonder where this pattern came from and why it has become synonymous with The University of Alabama.

When Alabama fans think of houndstooth, they think of coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, who led the Crimson Tide to a record six national championships.  Coach Bryant  always wore suits and hats on the sideline, but it was not until Sonny Werblin, owner of the New York Jets, gave him his first houndstooth hat in 1964 that the trend was started.

Today, fans honor Coach Bryant by accessorizing their gameday gear with a flair of houndstooth.

The Capstone

The University of Alabama is often referred to as “The Capstone” by alumni and friends of the university. “The Capstone” is a nickname for The University of Alabama coined by former UA President G. H. Denny when he referred to the University as the “capstone of the public school system of the state” in 1913. Capstone means ‘the top stone or high point.’

The Capstone Creed

This statement of values, written by the Student Leadership Council, is the pledge made at convocation by each incoming freshman class at the start of the academic year.

“As a member of the University of Alabama community, I will pursue knowledge; act with fairness, honesty, and respect; foster individual and civic responsibility; and strive for excellence.”