The first football game played between Alabama and Tennessee had just ended with shame, and a senior Birmingham city official wondered if the game itself had a long history in his city.
A magnificent Thanksgiving afternoon on November 28, 1901, at Birmingham’s West End Park, went wrong when enthusiasts broke into the field at the time to protest a debatable appeal opposed to the house team.
Police were unable to repair the order and the attack ended with a 6-6 draw.
“With such mismanagement, there is no chance of having a blank sport, and it will break football in Birmingham,” the head of the anonymous city official told Birmingham Age-Herald newspaper in an article published the next day.
Today, the Alabama-Tennessee series is among the SEC’s significant top rivalries, and the groups have faced each other 103 times. But this inaugural episode of the series has been described as “embarrassing” no less than 3 times in the Account Age-Herald.
The Tuskaloosa Daily Gazette presented a softer performance, saying the game “ended in a nasty controversy. “
The Knoxville Journal and Tribune bit their words.
“THE TENNESSEE GARONS ARE VOLÉS OF VICTORY GOOD WINNER,” the headline of the following day’s newspaper introduced.
The setting served as each team’s season finale. Tennessee came in with a 3-3-1 record, after consecutive bleaching victories over Georgetown (Ky. ) College and Kentucky State College. Alabama 2-1-1.
The Birmingham News reported that Tennessee is a favorite for 5-on-4 betting.
UT enjoyed a length advantage, with an average weight of 160 pounds across the list, which gave his team a “hard line,” the Age-Herald reported in a preview of the game. By comparison, the Alabama team weighed only 155 pounds on average and “a little weak. “
However, Alabama had a merit of speed and his coach, M. S. Harvey, he felt confident.
“We hope to win,” Harvey told the Age-Herald, before predicting “fair play. “
How he was.
Thanksgiving 1901 brought a very good day for football in Birmingham. The good weather ensured that “a lot of lovely sex” was available for the game, as announcer Montgomery reported.
Players had walked the streets of the city before the start of the match, surrounded by admirers, while those in the city carried banners that preferred their team.
At first, an estimated crowd of at least 2,500, and up to 3,000 or more, performed in West End Park.
“It was by far the biggest crowd at a football game in Alabama,” the announcer reported.
Tennessee temporarily affirmed its will in the career of Nash Buckingham, a Memphis fullback who has become an outdoor sports and activities editor and editor of the eBook “De Shootinest Gent’man”.
Buckingham’s ability to cross the line daessled the crowd.
“Rooters watched in awe as the brave Tennessean jumped the line for gains of 8 and 10 yards,” wrote Bozeman C. Bulger in his game for Age-Herald.
Buckingham’s race and jump helped Tennessee walk to the countryside, and John Luther Brong crossed the line to land after Alabama’s defense made saves near the line of purpose in the last two games.
Alabama tied the beaten score in the first half. James Forman ran for a 40-yard run that stopped alone thanks to Buckingham’s flying tackle. A. W. Stewart followed him with a 10-yard touchdown.
He was 6-6 at halftime.
However, there are already symptoms of problems.
Police and game makers had no way to keep enthusiasts out of the box. Bulger wrote in the Age-Herald that for an expense of “five or six dollars,” a rope may have been installed around the box to give police the ability to keep spectators at bay.
“An embarrassing exhibition may have turned into a blank and sporting football match,” he wrote.
As things are, enthusiasts have invaded the playground.
During the first half, viewers arrested Tennessee Quarterback Saxton Crawford for a career, thwarting what would otherwise have been a touchdown, according to the Journal and Tribune report. would have scored three touchdowns in the first half.
Alabama enthusiasts not only took the area in frustration, they also ran to the area after Forman’s long career in the first half, surrounding the jubilant players, even though Alabama’s defense did not score. .
According to the Age-Herald, some 50 enthusiasts posed as officials and hounds and claimed the right to be on the ground. No press credentials had been issued, preventing police from saying who was there as an employee and who only as a fan.
The Journal and Tribune described the game as playing in a “crowd that Alabama leadership allowed to meet on the field. “
Finally, in the middle, the mess reigned.
The offside affects the defense by 10 yards at that time.
The fit referee was originally from Knoxville. Su last call was Payne, the papers did not make his first call.
On two occasions he denounced Alabama for unexpected consequences in a practice in Tennessee. The penalty moment completed the ball to yard 5. Payne said three Alabama defenders were on the wrong side of the punch line when the ball broke, which didn’t give him a selection yet to throw a flag.
Alabama enthusiasts saw things and the idea that Payne made a mistake.
Some 2,000 enthusiasts invaded the box in protest, crowding players and preventing Tennessee from accepting coins.
Enthusiasts gesticulating wildly.
“Rotten!” he said. Shouted. “Voleur!” he said.
Payne didn’t give in. Alabama enthusiasts don’t either. The police were powerless to leave the field blank.
He fell the night and an referee stopped the attack and declared him a draw; the result was decided, but football’s long career in Birmingham is unclear.
“People here enjoy smart athletics games and sometimes don’t get dirty,” The Birmingham city official told the Age-Herald, “but with nothing to rule them, any crowd will make noise. “
Bulger, the Age-Herald journalist, predicted that, despite the “most embarrassing scenes ever seen on a Birmingham sports field,” the groups would play the following year.
In fact, it took two years to see each other again.
According to the Journal and Tribune, “there is no doubt” that Tennessee is the most productive team in that 1901 installment and would have won the game if Alabama enthusiasts had not interfered.
However, not everything is lost. No one was injured and each team made a profit of $350.
Two days later, Tennessee players met with their coaches and college for a banquet to celebrate the season.
“The nerve of war, ” provided UT President Charles W. Dabney.
Blake Toppmeyer covers football from the University of Tennessee. Send an email to blake. toppmeyer@knoxnews. com stay with him on Twitter . If you enjoy Blake’s coverage, a virtual subscription will give you access to all of this. Current subscribers can click here to enroll in The Blake Subscribers Text Group that provides Football Flight updates and analytics.