The History and Impact of the Greatest Rivalry in American Sports

By Ricky Triana

On Clairmont Avenue at 32nd Street South stands an ordinary historical maker commemorating the beginning of an extraordinary rivalry. In late February 1893 here, in what was then the Lakeview Baseball Park, Alabama faced Auburn for the first time. This was the first Iron Bowl, the annual game in one of the greatest football rivalries. It is celebrated for all the intense, nail-biting games it has produced. It is crucial to the history of not only college football, but of all American sports. This rivalry has now extended to even baseball and basketball. This rivalry has lived for nearly a century and surely will continue to be appreciated throughout America for years to come. The popularity of college football gives players and coaches a platform they can use off-the-field to encourage causes they see as just. One recent example of this is former University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Historical Context

The first Alabama-Auburn football game took place on February 22, 1893, in the baseball park adjoining Lakeview Park. The Alabama Cadets (now known as the Crimson Tide) faced off against the Auburn Football Team (now known as the Tigers). The game was played in Birmingham due to the fact that it was the state’s top industrial city. The city’s leading industry later led to the game later being nicknamed the “Iron Bowl.” Auburn took down Alabama in this first of many meetings by a score of 32 to 22. (Touchdowns were 4 points and field goals/kicks were 5 points.) The stars of the game included Auburn quarterback and captain Terry Daniels and Alabama captain Eli Abbott. Daniels received the winner’s cup from Miss Delma Wilson.

Impact on History and Role in Reform

However, this sport itself was not welcomed by the public immediately. Baseball, boxing, and football all emerged in the South in the late nineteenth century. According to historian Edward L. Ayers,  football became “far more popular” than boxing, but equally controversial because of its “barbarity.”  Unlike the other sports which started among the lower classes, however, “the new game of football. . . entered at the top of the Southern social order and trickled down” (Ayers 1992, 313). Thus it first found a home in the South’s colleges.

All these sports were racially segregated. Organizers did not want to mix white folks and black people. It took at the University of Alabama until about 1970 before itbegan to desegrate college football. It is ironic because it only came after Alabama got thrashed by the University of  Southern California (an integrated football team) that Coach “Bear” Bryant asked to be able to recruit college football players regardless of race. Not very long after, in 1971, Alabama won the first non-segregated Iron Bowl by a whopping score of 31 to 7.

By this time the great Alabama-Auburn rivalry was already established throughout the country. Some even went as far as to call it the greatest rivalry in sports history. Football players and coaches started receiving recognition. College football began being televised in 1939. However, the first televised Iron Bowl did not occur until 1964. Future college and NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath took the reins for the Tide leading them to a thrilling 21 to 14 win over Auburn. But more significant was what happened before the game. Auburn head coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan “faced a group of sportswriters” before the game and “one of the reporters asked him how his team would cope with the possibility of missing a bowl game that season.” Jordan, replied, “We’ve got our bowl game. We have it every year. It’s the Iron Bowl in Birmingham,” (Skiver 2023, 2). With these historic words Jordan gave the rivalry its name.

The Iron Bowl’s fame led to many players gaining recognition off the field as well. One of the players from the Alabama Cadets, William Bankhead, went on to become Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and another, Bibb Graves, became a two-term governor of Alabama.

Recognition and Platforms

Football gained popularity quickly. It was like a wildfire, and with barely any ado, it soon became the most prominent of American sports. Due to the fact that players barely monetized the game themselves, they were inclined to accept most, if not all, the sponsorships which were offered to them. This varied from promoting small bakeries to even being on television getting shaved by famous actresses (Joe Namath with Farrah Fawcett). This and televised interviews rising in viewership led to players being able to express not only their emotions from the game but also their respective points of views on real-world topics.

One of the most recent and memorable examples of this is Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh. He recently won the national championship with Michigan in January 2024. He piqued the interest of the Charger’s front office for his outstanding achievement on the field breaking the dynasties of the SEC schools in the CFB playoffs. He has also turned many heads both toward and away from him off the field.

In January 2024, he attended a pro-life rally in Washington, D.C. He has always been very outspoken about his faith, and through this, he has also spread his ideas for reform. He has openly stated to the press and media that he is a Roman Catholic and even spoke at the pro-life rally. “Just have the courage to let the unborn be born,” Harbaugh said. “The testimony of so many here, including yourself, just so thankful and grateful for that. This is a great day for a march, it’s a great day for the sanctity of life, and it’s football weather, so let’s go!” (Owens 2024). He is a role model for many young people seeking to protect human life from the moment of conception and has unequivocally shown that you can do amazing things on and off the field.

Conclusion

            Overall, football, we must remember, goes beyond the field. It also takes the people involved with it. The players’ and coaches’ influence certainly does not end at the final whistle. They go through their lives showing tremendous amounts of discipline and hard work. That is what the memorial to the first Alabama-Auburn football game should evoke in all the young hearts and souls of all who view it. It has inspired generations of players and will keep inspiring them for decades to come. Football unites people. These people united by football find common ground in real-world topics as well.

Historical Marker of the First Alabama-Auburn Football Gamey
Memorial form: Iron Alabama Historical Commission Marker
Erected: 1987 by the Central Bank of South
Location: Corner of Clairmont Avenue and 32nd Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35222

References

Ayers, Edward L. 1992. The Promise of the New South. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Carr, Timothy. 2023. “Site of the First Alabama – Auburn Football Game Historical Marker.” Historical Marker Data Base, February 20, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=23500. 

Caudill, Steven B., and Franklin G. Mixon Jr. 1996. “Winning and Ticket Allotments in College Football.” Social Science Journal 33 (4): 451

Colurso, Mary. 2021. “Historical Marker for Site of First Iron Bowl Is Back in Place.” AL.com November 27, 2021. https://www.al.com/life/2021/11/historical-marker-for-site-of-first-iron-bowl-is-back-in-place.html.

Crider, Beverly. 2013. Lost Birmingham. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013. 

Doyle, Andrew. 2004. “‘Fighting Whiskey and Immorality’ at Auburn: The Politics of Southern Football, 1919-1927.” Southern Cultures 10 (3): 6­–30.

Falligant, John Michael, Steven R. Boomhower, and Sacha T. Pence. 2016. “Application of the Generalized Matching Law to Point-after-Touchdown Conversions and Kicker Selection in College Football.” Psychology of Sport & Exercise 26 (September): 149–53. 

Gold, Eli. 2016. Crimson Nation: The Shaping of the South’s Most Dominant Football Team. Chicago, IL: Triumph Books. 

Marshall, Benny, and Wendell Givens. 2003. All-time Greatest Alabama Sports Stories. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

Owen, Gary, Andrew Kusleika, Adam Gibby, Alec Musa, and Connor Downs. 2024. “Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers.” Gridiron Heroics, January 30, 2024. https://gridironheroics.com/jim-harbaugh-san-francisco-49ers-abortion/. 

Skiver, Kevin. 2023. “Why Is Alabama vs. Auburn Called the Iron Bowl? How a Tigers Coach Coined Rivalry Name.” The Tuscaloosa News, November 25, 2023. https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/sports/college/2023/11/25/alabama-auburn-iron-bowl-nickname-history-college-football/71664407007/. 

Ricky Triana ‘27 was a student in UCS 102: Memorials in the Future in Samford University’s Howard College of Arts & Sciences in spring 2024.

Published April 23, 2024.