Auburn Tigers
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Auburn Tigers Football History |
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The Tradition, History, and Legend
Jimmy �Red� Phillips made 11 All-America teams in 1957 before becoming
an All-Pro with the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings and leading
the NFL in receiving in 1961.
Auburn�s award-winning mascot is a fan favorite for Tiger fans, both
young and old. On the job since 1979, Aubie�s existence began
Auburn�s first bowl trip and the only bowl game to ever be played
outside the United States. Auburn and Villanova battled to a 7-7 tie in
Havana, Cuba on New Year�s day in 1937. Billy Hitchcock scored the
Tigers� only touchdown of the game on a 40-yard run.
Garland Washington �Jeff� Beard could generally be considered the father
of modern Auburn athletics. Serving as athletic director from 1951
through 1972, Beard hired legendary coach Ralph �Shug� Jordan, increased
the capacity of what is now Jordan-Hare Stadium from 21,500 to 61,500
seats and is responsible for bringing Auburn home football games with
Georgia Tech, Georgia and Tennessee to campus. His tenure also produced
the basketball arena now named in his honor, the Wilbur Hutsell Track
and Field complex and Sewell Hall. Beard is one of only five Auburn
athletic directors who also didn�t serve as head football coach. Bo over the top
The climax to a 23-22 Auburn victory over Alabama in 1982 which broke a
nine-year losing skid to the Crimson Tide. Bo Jackson�s 1-yard leap over
the Alabama goal line capped a 66-yard drive and set the stage for what
Auburn people consider the Tigers� �coming out� party in the 1980s.
Alabama came to Auburn�s Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time in the
history of the rivalry. Prior to that, all games in the series had been
played at Birmingham�s Legion Field since the series was resumed in
1948. A 30-20 Auburn victory settled the score in 1989, but the
cross-state journey for the Tide settled a score which had brewed for
nearly a century in the hearts of Auburn people. Alabama coach Ray
Perkins once said �it won�t happen�. On Dec. 2, 1989, it did.
Auburn and Georgia. It began in Feb. 20, 1892 at Piedmont Park in
Atlanta and has been played virtually every year since. The Tigers and
the Bulldogs have played every year since 1898, 105 meetings, with the
exception of 1943, when Auburn didn�t field a team due to World War II.
�Iron� Mike Donahue won 99 games in two different stints as Auburn�s
head coach, tying him with Pat Dye for second on the all-time Auburn
victories list. Donahue�s 1913 SIAC championship team not only went
undefeated at 8-0, but did not allow a single point to be scored on
them. On the flip side, his 1920 team averaged 42.5 points per game,
despite being shut out twice. During his tenure, 38 players were named
as All-Southern Conference.
For years some of Auburn�s chief rivals � Georgia, Tennessee, Georgia
Tech and Alabama � never made it to The Plains. Auburn�s �home� games
with those schools were played in Montgomery, Mobile, Columbus and
Birmingham. Athletic Director Jeff Beard changed all that starting in
1960. The Auburn-Georgia game was played in Columbus, Athens, Atlanta,
Macon or Savannah from 1892 through 1959. In 1960 the Bulldogs finally
came to Auburn and lost, 9-6. From 1906 until 1970 Auburn and Georgia
Tech played in either Atlanta or Birmingham � 53 straight times in
Atlanta � before the Yellow Jackets finally gave in and came to Auburn
to lose 31-7. In a series that began in 1900, Tennessee finally played
at Auburn in 1974, losing 21-0. In 1989, cross-state rival Alabama made
the trip and left with a 30-20 defeat and dreams of an undefeated season
ended.
Patrick Fain Dye won 99 games and four Southeastern Conference
championships in 12 years as Auburn�s head coach, but perhaps he will be
remembered most for bringing Auburn�s �home� game with Alabama to the
Auburn campus on Dec. 2, 1989, a 30-20 Tiger victory. Under his
leadership as athletic director, Auburn football facilities were
elevated to some of the finest in the nation with additions to
Jordan-Hare Stadium increasing the seating capacity to 85,214 and 70
luxury suites.
In 1993, first-year coach Terry Bowden directed Auburn to its first
undefeated, 11-win season while the Tigers suffered through the first
year of NCAA imposed sanctions which kept AU off television and out of
the bowl scene. The 11 wins in 1993 were the opening act of a 20-game
winning streak which would set the Auburn record for consecutive
victories.
The Auburn team began a new tradition in 2000, entering the field from
the middle of the south end zone through a cloud of smoke.
For the first time in 2000, Auburn�s golden eagle, Tiger, took to the
air. The flight, which occurs during the pregame routine, quickly became
a fan favorite. Approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the game,
Tiger flies from the upper deck, circles the field and lands in the
middle of the field. The routine is a result of training with Joe
Shelnutt of the Southeastern Raptor Center.
Cliff Hare was a member of Auburn�s first football team who went on to
serve as chair of the Auburn Faculty Athletic Committee. Auburn�s
football stadium is named for the longtime professor and dean of the
School of Chemistry. He served as president of the Southern Conference
before the formation of the Southeastern Conference.
The legendary coach for which college football�s top honor is named
coached at Auburn from 1895-99, posting a 12-4-2 record. Auburn is the
only school where John Heisman coached to have a Heisman Trophy winner.
Heisman left Auburn for Clemson and then Georgia Tech, where he lost 10
of 15 meetings with Auburn.
Auburn has two. Pat Sullivan won the coveted award in 1971. Bo Jackson
did the same in 1985.
Over the years no name has been more synonymous with Auburn football
than Ralph �Shug� Jordan. The all-time winningest football coach at
Auburn, Jordan won 176 games over a 25-year career on The Plains. A
four-time Southeastern Conference coach of the year, he was also named
national coach of the year in 1957 after leading Auburn to its only
current football national championship.
Auburn�s showcase football stadium which seats 86,063 with 70 luxury
suites located between the lower level and upper deck on the East side
of the stadium. The stadium was dedicated Nov. 30, 1939 with 7,500 seats
that are now incorporated into the West stands. Ten years later 14,000
more seats were added and the stadium was named Cliff Hare Stadium,
although only 12 home games were played there over that 10-year span.
Additional seats were added in 1955, 1960 and 1970. The West upper deck
was completed in 1980 and the East upper deck and suites were finished
for the 1987 season. The facility was renamed Jordan-Hare Stadium in
1973.
Auburn�s showcase of a rich athletic history is located off the lobby
area of the Auburn Athletic Complex. Opened in April 1996, the John B.
Lovelace Museum and Hall of Honor features displays and interactive
exhibits which takes visitors from the training table to the Olympic
games with Auburn athletes past and present. The museum is open during
regular business hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and during
most campus Auburn athletic events. Admission is free.
Frank Lupton, a halfback and captain of the 1892 football squad, scored
the first touchdown and kicked the first conversion in Auburn football
history in a 10-0 Auburn victory over Georgia on Feb. 20, 1892.
There is only one ... Tigers. The is no such thing as an Auburn War
Eagle, an Auburn Plainsman or Plainsmen or an Auburn Lady Tiger. It is
simply Tigers. �War Eagle� is a battle cry.
With starting quarterback Stan White lying in pain on the turf of
Jordan-Hare Stadium and Auburn�s undefeated season hanging in the
balance against Alabama in 1993, sophomore quarterback Patrick Nix was
summoned to the huddle to face a 4th-and-15 at the Alabama 35-yard line
with Auburn trailing 14-5 and 6:09 left on the third quarter clock.
Offensive coordinator Tommy Bowden relayed the call to the sidelines and
�278Z Takeoff� would become a part of Auburn football lore. Nix, without
a chance to loosen up, hung the ball up and receiver Frank Sanders
pulled it down for a touchdown. Auburn went on to win 22-14.
Auburn players have won two. Zeke Smith won the first in 1958, Tracy
Rocker the second in 1988. Rocker made it a clean sweep in 1988 by also
winning the Lombardi Award.
Jimmy Hitchcock was Auburn�s first football All-American. The �Phantom
of Union Springs� was also a baseball All-American who later returned to
coach and hold a position on the Auburn University Board of Trustees.
Auburn�s baseball facility, Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park, is named
in honor of Jimmy and Billy Hitchcock, brothers who made a lasting
impact on Auburn.
Those who witnessed Auburn�s 30-26 victory over LSU in 1994 saw one of
the most bizarre finishes ever to a college football game. With LSU
leading 23-9 going into the fourth quarter, Auburn safety Ken Alvis
picked off an LSU pass and rambled 42 yards for a touchdown. Before the
final horn had sounded Fred Smith followed suit for 32 yards and a
score, then Brian Robinson returned yet another pickoff for a 41-yard
TD. In all, the Tigers intercepted five LSU passes in the fourth quarter
to keep a 14-game winning streak alive.
The site of the first Auburn football game on Feb. 20, 1892 in Atlanta.
Auburn defeated Georgia, 10-0, in that game, kicking off the oldest
rivalry in the South. The Auburn and Georgia athletic departments held a
joint ceremony at Piedmont Park on February 20, 1992 to kick off the
100-year anniversary of football at both universities.
Dr. George Petrie, a faculty member in the Agricultural and Mechanical
College in 1892, organized and was the coach of Auburn�s first football
team.
Maybe the most famous and easily the most talked about Auburn-Alabama
football game. Trailing 16-0 heading into the fourth quarter in the 1972
contest, Auburn got a field goal from Gardner Jett. Then lightning
struck � twice. Bill Newton blocked an Alabama punt and David Langner
returned it 25 yards for an Auburn touchdown. Three minutes later Newton
blocked another punt and Langner ran 20 yards for the score.
There are only three at Auburn; Pat Sullivan�s 7, Terry Beasley�s 88 and
Bo Jackson�s 34. Sullivan and Beasley�s jerseys were retired following
Sullivan�s 1971 Heisman Trophy season and Jackson�s jersey was retired
as part of Auburn�s football centennial celebration in 1992.
Auburn�s most prolific passing combination. From 1969 to 1971 Pat
Sullivan and Terry Beasley connected for more than 2,500 passing yards
and nearly 30 touchdowns. Thirty-one years after the end of their
careers, both Sullivan and Beasley still hold Auburn�s career passing
and receiving records, respectively.
The name of Auburn�s golden eagle mascot. Not to be confused with
�Tigers�, which is the correct and only nickname for Auburn athletic
teams.
An Auburn tradition which began in the early 1960s when Auburn players
would walk from Sewell Hall to the football stadium and fans would line
Donahue Drive to wish them well. Over the years the Tiger Walk has grown
into a major part of game day at Auburn, so much so that it is listed on
the players� game weekend itinerary. The largest Tiger Walk is believed
to have taken place prior to the 1989 Alabama game when more than 20,000
well wishers lined the street. Every Tiger Walk prior to home games
draws thousands and over the last couple of years the Tiger Walk has
become a standard as Auburn football players enter stadiums on the road.
Tiger Walk is two hours before kickoff for every game.
The center of town, where the Auburn University campus meets the City of
Auburn. Toomer�s Corner, where College Street intersects Magnolia
Avenue, has long been the gathering place for Auburn athletic
celebrations. After any football win, and significant victories in other
sports, Auburn students and citizens alike join forces to �roll� the
trees (and anything else that doesn�t move) at Toomer�s Corner with
toilet tissue. Celebrations after significant football victories can go
on for hours and leave the heart of town looking like a blizzard passed
through.
An Auburn landmark at the corner of College and Magnolia reputed to
serve the best lemonade in the country. It is Auburn legend that John
Heisman used to frequent Toomer�s Drugs for a taste of the now famous
lemonade.
Auburn has a long and storied past of football walkons who have gone on
to very successful football careers. One success story belongs to former
All-Pro defensive end Kevin Greene. After being cut once, Greene walked
on at Auburn a second time and made the team. He went on to play 15
seasons in the NFL.
Auburn�s battle cry, not Auburn�s nickname. There are several legends
concerning the origin of the War Eagle battle cry, dating back to 1864
and the Civil War at the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia.
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as a
cartoon character drawn by Birmingham Post-Herald artist Phil Neel in
1959 for a football game program.