Rudy Vallée and "Football Freddy"

By 1931, singer Rudy Vallée was a bona fide media sensation. His performances were invariably sold out and the screaming adoration of female fans would be repeated three decades later with the Beatles. He had appeared in his first feature film, Glorifying the American Girl, which was to launch a robust movie career over the next several decades.

But radio was the medium Vallée dominated. As one of the first of the "crooners" the medium played to the strengths of his singing style and that fueled his overwhelming popularity. In 1928 he debuted his radio show, The Fleischmann Hour, with an estimated 200 million listeners. It was a live variety revue with various guests that became a predecessor to the modern television talk show.

Vallée's show was popular among the college crowd and he played to the interests of his audience on his show. So when he chose to sing a tune about a football star he dedicated it one of the heroes of the 1931 Rose Bowl, Alabama's All-American tackle Fred Sington.

The famed singer and the football star had met during the Crimson Tide's trip west courtesy of former Alabama standout, Johnny Mack Brown, who had starred on the squad in the 1920s but had gone west pursuing a film career in Hollywood.

The song "Football Freddy" was written by Edgar Leslie and Con Conrad in 1930 and due to Vallee's performance it became a hit. And, as a result, Sington's fame spread well beyond the football field.

Other performers committed the song to vinyl including Jack Purvis, Ted Wallace & his Campus Boys and the group Six Jumping Jacks whose version is probably the best known today.

Despite the interest the song sparked in Alabama's Sington, the tale told in "Football Freddy" wasn't exactly an autobiographical match. The lyrics focus far more on the player's romantic pursuits than his gridiron prowess. As one verse opines:

The women folks galore,
They know how he can score,
Especially when the lights are low
Football Freddy, rugged and tan.
Football Freddy, my collegiate man.

The tune also notes of Freddy; "he's not so good at school." That wasn't at all descriptive of the actual Fred Sington who was renowned for his academic excellence, as shown by his selection as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

The Alabama Crimson Tide at the Grand Canyon

Mike Szecsi, Hank Crisp, Billy Brown, Lindy Hood, Wallace Wade,
Dink Campbell, Jimmie Moore, Joe Sharpe, Russell Taylor.

In December 1930, the train carrying the Alabama Crimson Tide to California to play Washington State in the Rose Bowl took a stop in Arizona at the Grand Canyon. The team stopped at the canyon on Dec. 22 but the visit was cut short because a practice in San Antonio, Texas had put them behind schedule. A tour of Phoenix was abandoned but the stopover there the team was presented a black donkey named "Poison" which they brought with them to Pasadena.

The 1930 Alabama Football Banquet

A telegram from Atlanta Georgian sports editor Jimmy Burns
to Alabama Coach Wallace Wade. 

Alabama's annual football banquet for the 1930 season was held  Dec. 2, at the McLester Hotel in Tuscaloosa with more than 250 people in attendance. The Tide team was on hand as well as members of numerous local high school football teams. Alabama varsity squad had gone undefeated through the regular season and, just days prior, had received an invitation to play Washington State in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day 1931.

"This team will go down as the greatest ever seen in the South," declared University of Alabama President George Denny at the banquet. "Greatest in exemplifying and illustrating the correct ideals of character, fine spirit, scholarship and devotion to duty in the daily walks under these old oak trees we love so well."

The event was bittersweet for Alabama fans as head coach Wallace Wade had announced his resignation prior to the season and his intention to accept the job as the head coach of Duke. Wade was presented a wristwatch from the the Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Merchant's Bureau who sponsored the banquet.

William Little, the captain of Alabama's first football team spoke as did V.H. Friedman, a longtime supporter of the team. Incoming Alabama coach Frank Thomas sent a telegram with his praise for Wade and the 1930 team as did Jimmy Burns, the sports editor at the Atlanta Georgian. Burns covered southern sports for 17 years at the paper, decamping in the late 1930s for Florida where he became  the Miami Herald's sports editor for almost a quarter century. The text of his telegram is below.

The 1931 Rose Bowl Game Film

Alabama faced off against Washington State in the 1931 Rose Bowl and the Crimson Tide soundly defeated the Cougars 24-0. This ten minute film narrates the games' action in some detail. It is different than the film shot by Ralph Hutchenson for Washington State and involves more of game action taken, apparently, from the press box.

The 1930 Christening of Florida Stadium

The 1930 Florida Homecoming court and escorts await the kickoff.

In 1930 the unbeaten Alabama traveled to Gainesville, Florida on Nov. 8 as the visitors for the Gators' homecoming game. The contest marked the first time the Crimson Tide played a football game in the Sunshine State. The contest also marked the christening of the new Florida Stadium which was dedicated to the Florida servicemen who died in World War I. 

A crowd of 18,000 that were on hand for the game were about 3,000 less that the venue's capacity. A persistent drizzle that lasted throughout the game may have affected the attendance. 

The Crimson Tide were decidedly ungracious visitors as they pounded the Gators 21-0. Alabama outgained Florida 247 yards to 28 and earned 12 first downs to the Gator's two. The Tide would finish the season without a loss to garner an invitation to the 1931 Rose Bowl against Washington State.

The 1931 Rose Bowl

Film of the 1931 Rose Bowl between Alabama and Washington State taken by photographer Ralph Hutchison.  Bette Bohler, the granddaughter of Washington State College Athletic Director Doc Bohler donated the film to Washington State University in 2012.

It shows the Cougars' pre-game warm ups, the school's band performing and then the Washington State team running onto the field. Then there is a meeting between Alabama captain Charles "Foots" Clement (in white) and WSU captain Elmer Schwartz and Rose Bowl sponsor Irene Dunne. The final two minutes of the video consists primarily of shots of the game as well as of the Cougars' sideline.

Alabama won the game 24-0 and claimed the National Championship.

A 1931 Tournament of Roses Souvenir

An envelope that enclosed a series of picture postcards from the 1931 Tournament of Roses Parade. Some of the photos are shown below. Alabama bested Washington State 24-0 in that year's Rose Bowl game.

The 1931 Rose Bowl Drive Chart

The drive chart and stats for Alabama's 24-0 victory over Washington State in the 1931 Rose Bowl. The information was compiled and drawn by Ward Nash, a pioneering sports statistician from Los Angeles.

Irene Dunne and the 1931 Rose Bowl

The team captains, Alabama's Charles Clement and Elmer Schwartz of
Washington State, meet with Irene Dunne prior to the 1931 Rose Bowl.

The 1931 Washington State team that contended  against Alabama in the 1931 Rose Bowl was represented on the sideline by a promising young Hollywood actress, Irene Dunne.

A native of Kentucky, Dunne began her career in the 1920s on Broadway and her big break came in the starring role of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's musical Show Boat. She was "discovered" during a Chicago performance in 1929 and signed a contract with RKO and starred in her first movie the following year (Leathernecking).

Dunne and the Wash. State team.

Dunne was tapped as a sponsor for the Washington State Cougars as part of a publicity push for the young starlet. She posed for photographs with the team captains before the game at midfield and addressed the Cougar squad before the kickoff.

Although the stadium had been expanded to a new-capacity crowd of more than 84,500, inclement weather was blamed for a disappointing turnout of 65,000 for the game.

In a 1990 interview with the Spokane, Washington Spokesman-Review, Washington State tailback Tuffy Ellingsen recalled the team's encounter with Dunne.

"Before the game she came out and met in our huddle," he said. "Irene had a little speech. She said, 'We want good sportsmanship. We want good relations between the teams.' One of our guys said, 'We'd rather have good relations with you, Irene.'"

Washington State lost to the Crimson Tide 24-0.

Dunne's performance in Cimarron later that year earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best actress (she would go on to earn a total of five nominations but never won). She would go on to become a very popular screen heroine during the 1930s and 1940s starring in films such as Back Street (1932), Theodora Goes Wild (1936) and The Awful Truth (1937).

Demoralizing the Opposition with the Second Team

Wallace Wade

During his last season in Tuscaloosa before heading off to take over the head coach position at Duke University, Wallace Wade employed an unusual tactic with his Alabama squad - he refused to start the starters. For every game of the 1930 season, the first quarter was played with the second team.

"You see, that second team was able to hold everybody scoreless the whole year," he explained years later. "We knew it would help us for an opponent to play the second team and not score and then know we were sending in the first team."

And it worked. Alabama's first team stayed on the bench for the first quarter then came in and crushed the opposing team. At the end of the season the Crimson Tide had outscored its opponents 271 to 13. They held held eight teams scoreless and only Vanderbilt and Tennessee were able to reach the end zone and both of them accomplished the feat only once.

The Crimson Tide even used it in the 1931 Rose Bowl against Washington State to successfully down the Cougars 24-0 and claim the national championship.

It wasn't exactly an original idea. Knute Rockne had previously employed the tactic with spectacular success at Notre Dame calling his second squad the "shock troops." Tulane's Clark Shaughnessy tried the gambit against LSU in 1926 but the Green Wave second team allowed the Tigers to score what proved to be the winning touchdown of the contest.

You can read more about it over at Roll Bama Roll.

The 1931 Rose Court

1931 Rose Queen Mary Lou Waddell and her court.
Myrta Olmstead, Alice Ashley, Myrna Wilson,
Fannie Arnold, Florence Dunkerley. 

Alabama's Experiment with the Head Coach In Waiting

Wallace Wade handed off the Alabama head
coaching duties to Frank Thomas in 1930.

Just more than 80 years ago, Alabama tried the head-coach-in-waiting strategy in order to maintain stability in the football program. In the Spring of 1930 head coach Wallace Wade stunned Alabama by accepting the head coaching job at Duke University. Three months later his hand-picked successor, Frank Thomas, agreed to be the Crimson Tide head coach - after the 1930 season.

Wade then lead Alabama to an undefeated season, the 1931 Rose Bowl and a national championship as Thomas waited in the wings. At the conclusion of the season Wade left for Durham, N.C. and Thomas began his fantastically successful 15-year run as the Crimson Tide coach.

More on this story is available at Roll Bama Roll.

The 1931 Tournament of Roses Parade

A silent home movie of the 1931 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. via The Legend of Pancho Barnes.

Alabama Rose Bowl Ticket Stubs

1926 Rose Bowl, Alabama vs Washington

1931 Rose Bowl, Alabama vs Wash. State

1935 Rose Bowl, Alabama vs Stanford

1938 Rose Bowl, Alabama vs California

1946 Rose Bowl, Alabama vs USC

Alabama's 1931 Rose Bowl Squad

Two of the pictorial pages in the 1931 Rose Bowl program showing the players for the Crimson Tide. These pages depict 18 of the 35 players Alabama listed on the Rose Bowl game roster.

The 1931 Rose Bowl: Alabama vs Washington State

The 1930 Alabama team prepares for the Rose Bowl in California.

As the 1930 football season began, Alabama was a program in transition. Between 1927 and 1930, The Crimson Tide had produced no better than a 6-3 record and hopes that Alabama football could rebound for a Southern Conference title - much less a Rose Bowl berth and a chance at a National Championship were - were small.

They got even smaller in April 1930 when head coach Wallace Wade announced he would resign at the end of the season to take the head coach position at Duke the following year. Wade handpicked Georgia assistant Frank Thomas as his successor and brought him on board his staff to ease the transition after the season. At the onset, the peculiar situation left little reason to expect better than the mediocre seasons that had gone before. But Wade believed he had a special group of players on his hands for the 1930 campaign and he made it clear to them what his goal was in preseason practices.

"Gentlemen," he told them. "I’m gonna win this damn championship this season and if you want to be part of it, let's get going. If there is anyone here who is not 100 percent committed, leave now."

As the season started, it became apparent his players had taken heed. Alabama began destroying opposing teams. "The thin red line is a think of the past, existing no more," opined sportswriter Everett Stupper in the Atlanta Journal Constitution after the game against Ole Miss. "The red elephants have replaced it at the Capstone."

Wade’s squad was so strong defensively that he began starting the second team for the first quarter and putting the starters in after the second period had begun. The practice tended to demoralize opponents that had struggled against the "scrub" players for 15 minutes and saw the fresh starters enter the game. He used it in no less than eight games during the season. Alabama rolled up seven shutouts on their path to an undefeated regular season and the Southern Conference Championship.

The Crimson Tide had outscored their opponents 247 to 13 - just two teams, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, proved able to manage a single touchdown against Wade’s stingy defense. An invitation to play in the 1931 Rose Bowl followed.

Alabama's 1930 team

The opponent would be undefeated Washington State (then State College of Washington). The Cougars were led by Coach Orin E. "Babe" Hollingbery – who had amassed a 26-9-2 record between 1926 and 1929. Like Alabama, the 1930 Washington State squad had become the Pacific Coast Conference champions with a dominating defense. The line was anchored by All-American Mel Hein and Glenn "Turk" Edwards, considered two of the greatest players to emerge from the school’s long gridiron history.

Leading up to the New Year's Day game, Wade kept to his habit of rigorous practices – even on Christmas Day – and keeping his players under his watchful eye. Sightseeing was almost completely eliminated; Alabama players weren't even allowed to go see the famous Tournament of Roses parade.

"We did go on one little trip," recalled the team’s All-American tackle Fred Sington. "Out to an orange grove. We picked two oranges and came back. That was his big outing."

Jan. 1, 1931 proved to be a dour affair in Pasadena with the famed Southern California sunshine giving way to a drizzling rain. Still, interest in the game ran high. Tournament of Roses officials estimated 81,000 spectators were on hand at Rose Bowl stadium for the game. The increased number of spectators was due to the recent competition of the South end of the stadium - making the venue a true bowl (instead of its original horseshoe shape). And, just like in 1927, organizers brought in additional seats to accommodate the crowd.

Wade stuck to his tried-and-true practice of starting the game with the second string squad. He used the opportunity to study the Washington State defense all the while wearing down their starting players. The first period ended with neither team on the scoreboard. As the second period began, Wade put in his starters but limited their ability to execute by calling for 13 straight running plays. This offensive attack was complimented by John Cain’s punting efforts. With an average distance of 46 yards, his kicks put the Cougars deep in their territory every possession.

Then, with the ball on the Alabama 39 yard line, the Crimson Tide took to the air. When the ball was snapped left end Jimmy Moore dashed into the backfield and took a handoff from Cain. Moore then stopped, turned and launched the ball to John "Flash" Suther who heading down the left side of the field. Suther caught it at the Cougar’s 22-yard line and galloped into the end-zone for the score.

Washington State’s next possession came to a quick and unhappy conclusion when Crimson Tide center Jess Eberdt intercepted a pass at the Cougar 47. Alabama’s Moore threw another pass this time connecting with Ben Smith who made it all the away to the one yard line. On the next play, Monk Campbell powered in for the touchdown. Alabama’s second-quarter onslaught wasn't finished. On the next possession, Campbell faked to Moore and carried the ball through the line and then rolled 43 yards for the score – the last one of the half.

In the span of less than seven minutes, the Crimson Tide had scored a total of 21 points – an accomplishment that echoed the third quarter heroics of the Alabama team during 1926 Rose Bowl. After halftime, Wade put the second team back in the game and scoring ebbed dramatically. Still, Alabama managed a 30-yard field goal to make the score 24-0. While the Cougars defense kept Alabama out of the end zone during the third and fourth quarters, Washington State remained unable to produce points themselves.

Alabama won 24-0 and gained their third National Championship under Coach Wade. It gave coach  a 61-13-3 record over his eight year stay at the Capstone, including a whopping 47 shutouts - a full 61% of the games his Alabama teams played.

Wade then went onto become the head coach at Duke where he would amass a record of record of 110 wins, 36 losses, and 7 ties in 16 seasons. He took the Blue Devils to two Rose Bowl games (one which he hosted in Durham, N.C. due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor the month before) but was unable to gain another victory playing in "the grandaddy of them all." His protege, Frank Thomas, took the reins of the Alabama football program beginning with the 1931 season and began a 14-year career that would rival his predecessor's in terms of achievement.

A version of this article first appeared on Roll Bama Roll.