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How the Crimson Tide Got its Name
1900 Offensive formationIn early newspaper accounts of Alabama football, the team was simply listed as the "varsity" or the
"Crimson White" after the school colors.
The first nickname to become popular and used by headline writers was the "Thin Red Line." The nickname was used until 1906.
The name "Crimson Tide" is supposed to have first been used by Hugh Roberts, former sports editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald.
He used "Crimson Tide" in describing an Alabama-Auburn game played in Birmingham in 1907, the last football contest between
the two schools until 1948 when the series was resumed. The game was played in a sea of mud and Auburn was a heavy favorite
to win.
But, evidently, the "Thin Red Line" played a great game in the red mud and held Auburn to a 6-6 tie, thus gaining the name
"Crimson Tide." Zipp Newman, former sports editor of the Birmingham News, probably popularized the name more than any other
writer.
Elephant
The story of how University of Alabama became associated with the
elephant goes back to the 1930 football season when a UA fan yelled, “Hold your horses, the
elephants are coming,” because the size of the players were so large. That year, Coach Wallace
Wade's team was declared national champions. Ever since then, Big Al the elephant has been the
school's mascot.
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