A Cheer for Alabama

In 1937, after Alabama rolled undefeated through the regular season and finished ranked 4th in the country, the Crimson Tide earned their fifth invitation to play No. 2 California in the Rose Bowl. On Dec. 2, less than a week after the trip was announced, the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce began putting together a promotional magazine to tout the Yellowhammer State to the country at large. A Cheer for Alabama was rolling off the presses just two weeks later.

The magazine consisted of photo collections and articles highlighting the industries and opportunities in Alabama during the late 1930s. It covered subjects such as the cotton and steel industry as well as the port facilities and railroad access. The state's historic and cultural highlights were given good coverage and there was even a section on Alabama Polytechnic Institute.

According to the editors, "a carload" of the magazines was put on the train that left Birmingham on Dec. 25 carrying the Crimson Tide team and 2,000 backers to Pasadena. The publication was then circulated on the West Coast to promote interest in Alabama.

The cover of A Cheer for Alabama featured a photo of Alabama cheerleader Martha Witt Burleson who had earned a bit of national fame by the trip to the Rose Bowl. Described as an All-American Cheerleader, she was featured in a series of slightly-cheesecake photos that were circulated in newspapers nationally the weeks before the New Year's Day game under the title "No Wonder Bama Cheers."

The 1927 Rose Bowl Drive Chart

Drive chart and stats from Alabama's 7-7 tie with Stanford in the 1927 Rose Bowl. The information was compiled and drawn by Ward Nash, a pioneering sports statistician from Los Angeles.

Alabama Cheerleaders at Legion Field in 1940

Photo via Tuscaloosa Area Virtual Museum

University of Alabama cheerleaders at a Crimson Tide game in 1940 at Legion Field in Birmingham. Alabama played Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt in the venue that season falling to the Vols 12-27 but beating both the Green Wave (13-6) and the Commodores (25-21).

Stars Fell on Alabama

As the Alabama Crimson Tide football team reached the height of their power and popularity in the mid-1930s, songwriters Frank S. Perkins and Mitchell Parish penned a tune that would become as identified with the state and the era as the football team, Stars Fell On Alabama.

Massachusetts-born Perkins penned the music and Michell, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania who originally settled in Louisiana, wrote the words for the song. The song referred to the extremely active Lenoid meteor showers visible across much of Alabama on the night of Nov. 12, 1833.

"For several hours, thousands and even millions of these meteors appeared in every direction to be in constant motion," wrote The Huntsville Democrat of the event. The spectacular incident terrified many people across the South who witnessed it, particularly slaves, and it eventually became a part of Alabama folklore.

The song was preceded in 1934 by an autobiographical bestselling book of the same name written by Carl Carmer. In Stars Fell on Alabama, the New York native chronicled his experience as a northerner who had moved to Tuscaloosa to teach at the University of Alabama during the 1920s.

A great deal of the work involved his experience with the state's vibrant folk culture and he discussed the importance of the 1833 meteor shower in the cultural memory of the state.

"Many an Alabamian to this day reckons dates from 'the year the stars fell,'" he wrote.

The popularity of the song increased after it was recorded by Guy Lombardo and his orchestra later in 1934. Stars Fell On Alabama quickly became a standard of jazz musicians and has since been notably performed by Jack Teagarden, Frank Sinatra as well as Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong.

In 1957, Billie Holiday recorded this version of the song just two years before her death at the age of 44. It appeared on her fifth studio album, Songs for Distingué Lovers, and features the work of trumpeter Harry Edison and saxophonist Ben Webster.

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."

Tragedy at the Tournament of Roses Parade

City of Pasadena officials inspect the wreckage of a grandstand
that collapsed during the Rose Parade on Jan. 1, 1926.

Jan. 1, 1926 was the deadliest day in the history of the Tournament of Roses. More than a dozen people were killed in a trio of tragic incidents on the route of the Rose Parade that year, the worst of which was the collapse of a shoddily-built grandstand constructed to view the procession.

A crowd of several hundred thousand people had gathered along the 5-and-a-half mile parade route on New Year’s Day morning prior to the football game that pitted the Alabama Crimson Tide against the Washington Huskies.

Several temporary grandstands had been constructed to accommodate the crowd and approximately 350 people were on the elevated structure erected at the southeast corner of Colorado and Madison as the parade passed at 11 a.m.

According to newspaper reports there was first a loud crack then the entire grandstand dropped slightly. The front end of the bleachers then rapidly began moving forward several feet.

"This was followed instantly by the total collapse of supporting beams and braces and the stand crashed to the ground, a tangled mass of men, women and children, broken timbers and bright colored decorations," reported the Pasadena Morning Sun.

Members of a Robert's Golden State Band were standing nearby after having been ejected from the parade for not being authorized to perform. They immediately began working to pull survivors from the wreckage.

The crowd on Colorado Street in
Pasadena after the 1926 parade.

Eight people were killed instantly and three more perished later from their injuries. News reports said 135 people, mostly women and children, were hospitalized due to their injuries while about 100 others were given first aid treatment at the scene.

The collapse was attributed to a host of structural flaws including poor-grade lumber, bad workmanship and a complete absence of cross bracing. Moreover, there had been almost no oversight during the design and construction by the city or tournament officials - both of whom later denied any responsibility for the accident.

Pasadena's deputy building and safety inspector, Charles B. Bucknall, and building contractor Paul F. Mahoney were both charged with manslaughter. Bucknall was acquitted and Mahoney convicted to ten years in prison. He served one year but was freed when the charges against him were dropped after a new trial was ordered.

The disaster spurred the City of Pasadena to install strict regulations for the design, construction and inspection of grandstands. The new standards required the use of that steel-reinforced frames for the structures.

The incident wasn't the only tragedy that morning. Susan M. Bowen, the wife of a prominent local real estate developer, died when she fell from a roof of a two story commercial building along the parade route on Colorado Boulevard. Her fall also killed a parade spectator on the street below.

The final fatality that day was Pasadena equestrian police officer John Fox who was working crowd control along on the parade route. As the procession approached the crowd pressed in and the officer's horse was spooked. Fox was thrown to the ground and trampled by the animal. He died from spinal injuries.

The 1943 Orange Bowl Program

Alabama made its first appearance in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1943 in a matchup with Boston College. It was the ninth edition of Miami's New Year's Day contest. After giving up a pair of touchdowns to the Eagles in the first quarter, the Crimson Tide rallied and rolled up 22 points in the second stanza and finished with a 37-21 victory.