The Alabama Crimson Tide football team represents the University of Alabama in American football.

Overview

Early history (1892–1957)

University of Alabama law student William G. Little learned how to play American football while attending prep school in Andover, Massachusetts and began teaching the sport to fellow Alabama students in early 1892. Later in the year, the school formed an official team of 19 players, with Little as captain and E. B. Beaumont as head coach. Among those also on the team were William B. Bankhead, future U.S. Speaker of the House, and Bibb Graves, future governor of Alabama.Groom, 2000, p.9. The team was referred to as the "Cadets", the "Crimson White", or simply as "the varsity". Its first season was 1893 when Alabama lost to both Auburn and Sewanee in 1893.

After the winless 1893 campaign, Eli Abbott, also who played for the team in 1892, returned as a player-coach and led the 1894 squad. Alabama opened the season with a loss against Ole Miss in what was its first game ever played outside the state of Alabama. The Crimson White then rebounded and won their final three games. After a victory over Tulane at New Orleans, Alabama returned to Birmingham where they defeated Sewanee in their only home game of the season. They then closed the year with their first all-time win over Auburn at Montgomery. In spring 1895, after it became public that the football team had hired non-students to play football, the university board of trustees passed a rule that prohibited athletic teams from competing off-campus for athletic events. As such, all games scheduled for the 1896 season were played on campus at The Quad. The team also joined its first conference, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA).

In their first game of 1896, Alabama shutout the Birmingham Athletic Club before they lost their only game of the season against Sewanee. The Crimson White then closed the season with their by playing rival Mississippi State (then Mississippi A&M) for the first time. Alabama won 20–0. The 1896 team's manager was Champ Pickens, who gave Alabama's band its name of the "Million Dollar Band", and was the namesake of the Champ Pickens Trophy. The team played only one game during the 1897 season and did not field a team for the 1898 season because of a ban restricting student athletes from traveling away from campus. The team's quarterback in 1897 was Ed Tutwiler, the son of Birmingham philanthropist Edward Magruder Tutwiler. One account reads "Ed Tutwiler is one of the greatest stars that football in the south ever produced. He was a graduate of the University in the class of '98, and afterwards went to the University of Virginia. He was considered the pluckiest quarterback in the south, and was noted for head work and generalship." The team resumed play in 1899 after the ban was lifted due to fan and student outcry. Alabama played rival Tennessee for the first time in 1901. The first game ended early in a 6–6 tie, when fans rushed onto the field after a controversial offside call and the umpires were unable to clear out the crowd in the second half. Eli Abbott returned for the 1902 season. The 1903 team beat LSU for the first time, and Auburn for the second time. 1905 saw two All-Southern players for Alabama in Auxford Burks and T. S. Sims. "The overworked Burks, who appeared to bear the entire brunt of Alabama's offense", collapsed on the field during the second half of a 12–5 loss to Georgia Tech. Burks scored in the 30–0 victory over Auburn in what was then the largest crowd ever to see a game in Birmingham (4,000). He was said to be the school's "first running back hero".

Alabama was coached by Doc Pollard from 1906 to 1909. The 1906 team won all its games but one; the loss was the program's most lopsided ever, a 78–0 victory by Vanderbilt. Burks scored all of the points in the 1906 Iron Bowl. Auburn contended Sims was an illegal player. The SIAA denied the claim. Following the 1907 season, the team adopted the "Crimson Tide" nickname. The victory over LSU in 1907 at Monroe Park marked the first Alabama home game played in Mobile. Jack Reidy returned a kickoff for 75 yards and the touchdown with 20 seconds left to give Alabama the win. In 1908, Alabama beat Haskell 9–8 with a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown by Edwards, with five minutes left in the game. In 1909, Alabama had six consecutive shutouts to go 5–0–1 before they surrendered their first touchdown against Tulane in their 5–5 tie.1909 Season Recap Alabama completed their season with a 12–5 loss to defending SIAA champion LSU at Birmingham to finish 5–1–2. 1910 saw quarterback Farley Moody defeat Tulane by a 5–3 score with a 20-yard field goal. Alabama was coached by Tubby Graves from 1911 to 1914. 1912 saw quarterback Moody make All-Southern teams. In the Georgia game that season, the Bulldogs ran a trick play in which they threw the ball to a receiver who was dressed as a waterboy, on the field, carrying a bucket. The play did not prove decisive, as Georgia fumbled the ball away soon after, but the Bulldogs won the game after they recovered a botched Alabama field goal and scored in the final minutes. In 1914, quarterback Charlie Joplin was ruled ineligible because he refused to sign an affidavit stating that he had never played professional baseball.

Alabama was coached by Thomas Kelley from 1915 to 1917. In 1915, Kelley coached only the first half of season (4–0) before he came down with typhoid fever. Athletic director B. L. Noojin and former Alabama quarterback Farley Moody took over the head coaching duties for the remaining four games of the season.Groom 2000, p. 26. Bully Van de Graaff who punted, kicked, and played tackle, offense and defense, was Alabama's first All-American in 1915. Bully's older brothers Adrian and Hargrove had also been All-Southern players under Coach Graves. Their younger brother was Robert J. Van de Graaff, inventor of the Van de Graaff generator which produces high voltages. Quarterback Cecil Creen made some All-Southern teams in 1916 and was given honorable mention on the All-America team of Walter Camp. He ran in the touchdown in the fourth quarter to defeat Mississippi College 13–7.

B.L. Noojin was selected to be the coach for the 1918 season, but no games were played due to World War I. Former players Joplin and Moody were both casualties of the war. The school resumed play once again in 1919 under coach Xen C. Scott. Arguably the best season under Scott was his first, in which the team lost its only game to Vanderbilt and set a school record for victories in a season with an 8–1 record. The 1919 team was led by All-Southern players in the line like Ike Rogers and Tram Sessions; and in the backfield such as Mullie Lenoir and Riggs Stephenson. The next season the Tide went 10–1 suffering its only loss 14–21 at the hands of SIAA champion Georgia. Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Joe Sewell also played for Scott. Alabama joined the newly formed Southern Conference (SoCon) in 1922. Coach Scott led Alabama to a 9–7 upset victory over Penn, one of the first times Alabama received national coverage. An account of the drive to beat Penn reads: "Alabama came back strong in the second quarter on the back of leader Charles Bartlett. Bartlett drove the team down the field on most notably a 22-yard run from the 27 that put the ball on the Penn 4-yard line. Pooley Hubert went in the rest of the way but fumbled the ball in the end zone. Shorty Propst recovered the ball and gave Alabama the 9–7 lead that they would never give up." After the game, when the news reached Tuscaloosa, "they started burning red fires and celebrating in a manner that Tuscaloosa had never seen before in its history." The next week Alabama beat LSU 47–3 in what was then the largest crowd ever to witness a game at Denny Field. Bartlett was given honorable mention on the All-America team of Walter Camp.

Shortly after head coach Xen Scott's death, Brown University alum and Vanderbilt assistant Wallace Wade was hired as the new Alabama football head coach. While Wade assisted Dan McGugin at Vanderbilt the Commodores went 15–0–2 over two seasons. The team saw success quickly, losing just one southern game in his first year when Florida upset the Tide to close the season. The 1924 team won the Southern Conference, upset by Centre in its only loss. In 1925, Wade would lead the team to an undefeated season capped with a Rose Bowl win over Washington for the team's first national championship. The win later became known as "the game that changed the South". Intent on building a dynasty, athletics director George Denny took advantage of the team's newfound popularity and began advertising the University of Alabama in metropolitan New York City newspapers. Students, football players and fans alike from the Northeast began enrolling at Alabama at such a rate that by 1930, over one-third of the student body was from out-of-state.Groom, 2000, p.52. The Crimson Tide repeated as national champions in 1926. Wade led the Crimson Tide to his third and last national championship in 1930. Wade was under fire after lackluster seasons in 1928 and 1929, which included narrow losses to Robert Neyland's Tennessee Volunteers. As a result, Wade submitted his resignation on April 30, with the caveat that he coach next season. Tailback John Suther described the feeling before the Tennessee game that year, which Alabama won 18–6. "Coach Wade was boiling mad. He was like a blood-thirsty drill sergeant anyway, and those critics made him more fiery ... He challenged us to help him shut up the loudmouths that were making his life miserable." Wade finished his career at Alabama with an overall record of 61–13–3. Wade coached Hall of Fame player Pooley Hubert. Other notable players included Johnny Mack Brown, Hoyt Winslett, Fred Pickhard, Fred Sington, and Herschel Caldwell. Wade took the head coaching position at Duke in 1931.