Battle of College Football Traditions-Alabama

Crimson Tide

UA’s football team was first known as the Thin Red Line or the Crimson White. As the story goes, that changed on a soggy day in 1907, when Alabama went to Birmingham to play heavily favored Auburn. Birmingham’s iron-rich soil turned to a sea of red mud which stained Alabama’s white jerseys. The team fought Auburn to a 6-6 tie and sports editor Hugh Roberts of the Birmingham Age-Herald is supposed to have said the team played like “a Crimson Tide.” The name has been ours ever since, according to Crimson Tide lore. (SOURCE)

Other Traditions: National Championships, The Quad, “Dixieland Delight,” houndstooth attire, Bear Bryant, Walk of Champions, “Sweet Home Alabama,” Iron Bowl, Smoking cigars after Tennessee win, Roll Tide, Dreamland Ribs, “Big Al”

Rolling Toomer’s Corner

The intersection, which marks the transition from downtown Auburn to the university campus, is known as Toomer’s Corner. It is named after former State Senator “Shel” Toomer (a halfback on Auburn’s first football team in 1892) who founded Toomer’s Drugs in 1896. Toomer’s Drugs is a small business on the corner that has been an Auburn landmark for over 130 years.

The tradition of rolling Toomer’s Corner is said to have begun when Toomer’s Drugs had the only telegraph in the city. During away football games, when employees of the local drug store received news of a win, they would throw the ticker tape from the telegraph onto the power lines.

The beginning of the tradition of throwing toilet paper into the trees, power lines and every other stationary object on the corner is open to debate.(SOURCE)

War Eagle, Three Heisman winners, Iron Bowl, Tiger Walk, War Eagle SupperClub, “Aubie,”The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, Eagle Flight