Harry Gilmer: 1926 - 2016

Harry Gilmer was Alabama's first superstar player.

Harry Gilmer was Alabama's first true superstar player. While several Crimson Tide players became nationally renowned prior to to Gilmer's arrival at the Capstone, typically their fame came at the conclusion of their time on the Tide team. Johnny Mack Brown, Dixie Howell and others became famous with their final performances in Crimson and White. Gilmer was a household name almost his entire career at Alabama.

Mr. Gilmer passed away on Saturday, Aug. 20 at the age of 90.

Gilmer was famous for his astonishingly accurate jump pass but he was a superb runner as well. For opposing teams, kicking or punting to his side of the field was always a gamble, and one with absolutely terrible odds. If that wasn't enough, he also was a constant threat to intercept you on defense and had a reputation as a hard hitter.

• He is the only Alabama player to be a finalist for the Heisman trophy twice.
• He is the only Alabama player ever taken with the first selection in the NFL Draft.*
• He was an all-American in 1945, SEC Player of the Year in 1945 and the MVP of the 1946 Rose Bowl.
• He was the first player to leave his cleat and hand impressions in the concrete at the Walk of Fame at Denny Chimes.
• He is a member of The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.

There is now a biography of Gilmer at the Encyclopedia of Alabama that outlines his life and career. Obituary stories are available at AL.com, the Tuscaloosa News and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Additionally, there is a post at Roll Bama Roll looking at Gilmer's on-field accomplishments.

1945 Sugar Bowl Ticket

Hughie Thomas' Lucky Hat

Before Coach Paul Bryant made the houndstooth fedora an icon of Alabama football, there was Hugh Rowe Thomas' hat. In 1944, the 11-year-old son of Alabama's football coach Frank Thomas wore a red hat that brought the team luck almost the entire season.

Fred Digby, the Sports Editor for the New Orleans Item who promoted the Louisiana game tirelessly in its formative years and bequeathed it the name "Sugar Bowl," featured the young Thomas in a column prior to the 1945 New Year's Day game that pitted the Crimson Tide against the powerful Duke Blue Devil's squad.

Thomas's decreed the hat to be the team's good luck charm in Alabama's game that season versus Kentucky on Oct. 27, 1944 when he made a wish the Crimson Tide would intercept a Wildcat pass.

"I ran my finger around the rim and made a wish," he told Digby. "On the next play we intercepted a pass and then we won. Every game since I ran my finger around my hat and that's all there is to it."

If there was any doubt in the sixth grader's mind it was resolved a week later in Alabama's contest against Georgia at Legion Field. Thomas would often work in the press box as a spotter and accidentally left his hat on the team's sideline bench after accompanying his father and the Crimson Tide team onto the field. The Bulldogs won the game 14-7.

Thomas promised Digby he would be wearing his hat for the Sugar Bowl and predicted his father's team would win 13-8. The hat's powers either didn't work in New Orleans or expired at the end of the calendar year. Duke won the game 29-26.

Thomas eventually graduated from the University of Alabama and became an insurance agent in Tuscaloosa. He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1966 but served just more than a year. In April 1967 he was killed in a car wreck near Maplesville while travelling to Montgomery for a special session of the legislature. He was 33.

The six-lane highway bridge over the Black Warrior River connecting Tuscaloosa and Northport that was approved in that legislative session was named in his honor. The structure was dedicated in December 1973 and opened the following month.

Café Brûlot Diabolique at the 1945 Sugar Bowl

Photo via The Duke University Archives

Prior to the 1945 Sugar Bowl, Alabama coach Frank Thomas and Duke's Eddie Cameron took time to stir a pot of "Café Brûlot Diabolique" at a pre-game banquet for both teams held at New Orleans' famed restaurant, Antoine's. On New Year's Day, the Crimson Tide was bested 29-26 by the Blue Devils in a game legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice would proclaim "one of the great thrillers of all time."