"Mama Called"...This is what Paul W. "Bear" Bryant was
quoted upon saying after asked why he had left a
successful Texas A&M program to return to his alma mater
in 1958. Before coming to Alabama, Bryant was already
known as legendary rebuilder of destroyed programs by
turning around Maryland, Kentucky and Texas A&M. Folks in
Tuscaloosa and elsewhere hoped he
could do the same for their beloved Tide. The past ten
years had been nothing but mediocre and losing seasons.
Paul Bryant, while playing with limited talent, signalled to the rest of college football that he was not kidding when he said he had returned to restore Alabama to its proper place with the mighty of the SEC and NCAA. While his first year had a 5-4-1 record, it included narrow losses to eventual national champ LSU, Tennessee, Tulane and Auburn. The 14 points by the Vols and Tigers were the most yielded in the entire season against the Crimson Tide, which showed the emphasis Bryant placed on defense. While there were no all-stars on the '58 team, the first building blocks of the Bryant era had been laid in the ground.
When Alabama's 7-2-2 squad finished the year ranked No. 10 in the country, it marked the first time since 1952 Bama had been listed among the nation's elite. A meaningful 10-0 victory over Auburn ended a streak of 5 straight Tiger wins. While the Tide did lose to the Nittney Lions of Penn State in the inaugural Liberty Bowl, it hardly lessened the enthusiasm for a better decade to come. The Alabama Crimson Tide was back on the winning track. For the decade of the 50's Alabama was 50-48-10. Bryant's two year record so far was 12-6-3.
A 21-6 win over the Fran Tarkenton-led Georgia Bulldogs on
national television began the 1960 season. This season
included a celebrated 16-15 come-from-behind win over
Georgia Tech and a 3-0 defensive battle vs. Auburn. The
win over Tech was of folklore material, especially for
backup QB Bobby Skelton and end Richard "Digger" O'Dell.
Skelton came in for the injured Pat Trammell (pictured here) to lead the
Tide to within two points and on the game's final play
O'Dell kicked a game winning field goal, the only one he
tried in his college career. He was subbing for regular
Tommy Brooker who was injured. Two weeks later, Brooker
would return and score the only points in the victory
against arch rival Auburn. The season ended with a 8-1-2
record and once again Bama was in the final top-10, ranked
in the ninth spot.
As far-fetched as it sounded back when he was recruiting
his first class four years before, Paul Bryant's promise
of a national championship proved as accurate as his
precise demand for excellence. The 1961 squad, led by QB
Pat Trammell, center-linebacker Lee Roy Jordan (pictured here) and two-way
star Billy Neighbors, ascended to the pinnacle of the
college football world, winning all eleven games and being
named the Number One team in America. It was the Crimson
Tide's sixth National Championship and Bryant's first at
the Capstone. In only four years, Paul "Bear" Bryant had
transformed a disparaged football program in the '50s into
champions once again. Alabama had outscored its foes
297-25, with North Carolina State scoring the most against
the Tide all season in the Sugar Bowl...7 points!
Neighbors was a unanimous All-American (the first since
1954) while Jordan and Trammell were second team picks.
Only the anguishing 7-6 loss to Georgia Tech separated the
1962 team from a second straight title. Led by the
incomparable Lee Roy Jordan and sophomore sensation 
Despite the controversial loss to Texas, as well as several other flagrant officiating omissions that night, Alabama was the AP and UPI National Champion. Joe Namath, halfback/kicker David Ray, tackle Dan Kearley and guard Wayne Freeman were named to different All-American teams.
That year's Heisman winner was Notre Dame's John Huarte
who would serve without distinction as Namath's backup
with the New York Jets during the mid-1960's. Later, near
the end of his career, Bryant would call Namath, "The greatest athlete he ever coached."
Ray Perkins and Dennis Homan and All-American lineman
Cecil Dowdy. Defensively, Bobby Johns picked off three
Cornhusker passes and this Tide team proved its greatness
to its masterful coach. Johns and defensive tackle
Richard Cole also earned All-American honors in 1966. However, the most memorable game of the season occured on
the Third Saturday in October against Tennessee. The
skies erupted with rain in Knoxville as the Tide trailed
the Volunteers 10-0 into the fourth quarter Stabler
rallied Bama to a heart rendering 11-10 win by game's end.
While offensive records were shattered by the 1969 team,
this time it was the defense which struggled as Bama
slipped to a dissapointing 6-5 season. One of the few
highlights came when the Tide defeated Ole Miss 33-32 in
Birmingham in one of the most electrifying games ever
played on national television. Scott Hunter hit 22 of 29
passes for 300 yards in his fabled duel with Rebel
quarterback Archie Manning, who compleated 33 of 52 for
436 yards while he rushed for 104 more. The Ole Miss win
gave Bama an early 3-0 record but the rest of the season
slipped away with defeat after defeat. The loss to
Colorado in the bowl was a discouraging conclusion to an
otherwise successful decade. For the decade of the '60s
Alabama was 90-16-5 with eight of those losses coming in
the final two years of the 1960s.
