Alabama Nicknames - The Sports Historian

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Alabama Nicknames January 5, 2018 By Jim Weathersby

Many of you know that the University of Alabama football teams are commonly referred to as the Crimson Tide or the Red Elephants.  But how many of you know the stories behind the names?

In newspaper accounts of the 1900 Alabama football team, the squad was referred to as the “Varsity” or the “Crimson White” because of the school colors.  By 1906, writers were referring to the team as the “Thin Red Line.”  Birmingham Age-Herald sports editor Hugh Roberts is credited with the first use of the term “Crimson Tide.”  Alabama and Auburn played in Birmingham in 1907 and Auburn was a heavy favorite to win.  The underdog boys from Tuscaloosa played Auburn to a 6-6 tie in the red mud.  Roberts called the Tuscaloosa boys the Crimson Tide and the name stuck like the mud on the Alabama team’s jerseys.

Alabama’s association with the elephant goes back to the 1930 team coached by icon Wallace Wade.  Alabama and Mississippi battled one afternoon.  Atlanta Journal writer Everett Strupper reported that Wade started his second team line, which was bigger than the Mississippi line.  However, the Mississippians held their own for most of the first quarter.  At the end of the quarter, according to Strupper, “The earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow.  Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, ‘Hold your horses, the elephants are coming,’ and out stamped this Alabama varsity.”  Strupper and other writers  continued to refer to the Alabama linemen as the Red Elephants…the color referring to the crimson jerseys.

Incidentally, that 1930 Alabama team went undefeated and held the opposition to a total of 13 points.  After blanking Washington State in the Rose Bowl, the Red Elephants were declared national champs.

Filed Under: College Football, College Traditions Tagged With: Alabama, Crimson Tide, Hugh Roberts, Red Elephants, Rose Bowl, Wallace Wade

Comments

1. Paul J. says April 22, 2020 at 2:17 am

   Cool, thanks for sharing. Interesting to learn the true history of ‘crimson tide’.

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