Monday, April 1, 2013
The 1940 Rose Bowl
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Rose Bowl Postcard
A postcard of the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California during one of the venue's New Year's Day inter-sectional games from the 1920s.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The 1930 Alabama Football Banquet
A telegram from Atlanta Georgian sports editor Jimmy Burns to Alabama Coach Wallace Wade. |
"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.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Alabama Rose Bowl Access Ribbons
In an era long before the laminated access card, lapel ribbons were used to identify people with various degrees of access to games. These are two such ribbons for Alabama Rose Bowl contests; a red photographer press pass for the 1927 Rose Bowl and a white spectator pass for the 1935 Rose Bowl.
Monday, March 18, 2013
The Moon Winx Court
A Moon Winx postcard from the 1930s. |
Originally owned by Meade Johnston, the motor court-style motel was a landmark for out-of-town visitors in the 1920s and 1930s. Its 20 rooms could accommodate a total of 56 guests.
Ad from a 1932 issue of the UA humor magazine Rammer Jammer. |
Eddie Jacquin, a sportswriter with the Champaign, Ill. News-Gazette, who traveled extensively in the south covering University of Illinois baseball during the 20's, wrote of the Moon Winx: "Tuscaloosa also goes down in our notebook of travels as having on its outskirts the finest motor court we have ever seen. It is called Moon Winx and nobody knows just why except that in Alabama on a certain night the moon winks! So there you are."
In 1946, Johnson retired to the Gulf Coast and sold the Moon Winx to Holt native Victor Rogers. During Rogers' tenure as owner the motel it was considered one of the most respectable lodgings for visitors in the area. Visiting luminaries such as actors Robert Mitchum and Allan "Rocky" Lane stayed at the motel in this period.
An ad for the motel in the Tuscaloosa News after the 1954 renovation. |
It was during the 1940s that the Moon Winx became part of Quality Courts – a referral group that formed in the late 1930s to control the growing negative perception the public had of motels. Rogers' daughter, Susan Elmore, recalled in 2003 that vehicles with local license plates were required to have a very good reason to stay.
In 1950 the Moon Winx was expanded with the construction of a new building that boasted 12 air-conditioned rooms - increasing the motel's capacity by half. Four years later Rogers completed a renovation of the entire motel that included upgrading all the rooms with air-conditioning, television and telephones.
A restaurant, The Barn, was added during that period which was renowned for its home cooking. The restaurant became one of The Lamplighter chain in 1960.
In 1950 the Moon Winx was expanded with the construction of a new building that boasted 12 air-conditioned rooms - increasing the motel's capacity by half. Four years later Rogers completed a renovation of the entire motel that included upgrading all the rooms with air-conditioning, television and telephones.
A restaurant, The Barn, was added during that period which was renowned for its home cooking. The restaurant became one of The Lamplighter chain in 1960.
Rogers sold the hotel in 1956 when he learned that traffic on the highway was to be routed to Skyland Boulevard. It would be the construction of Interstate 20 between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham during the 1960s that would lead to the decline of the motel. But two notable events occurred before that time which elevated the Moon Winx to a Tuscaloosa institution.
A year prior, Paul W. Bryant returned to take over the Crimson Tide football team and he began the practice of housing the squad at the Moon Winx the night before home games. The team would have their pre-game meal in a partitioned-off section of the motel dining room where Bryant would give his charges a final speech before heading to the stadium.
A Moon Winx postcard from the 1960s. |
Thursday, March 14, 2013
"Big" Jim Folsom Campaigning With the Crimson Tide
UA President Raymond Paty, Alabama star Harry Gilmer and Democratic candidate for Alabama Governor, Jim Folsom. |
Folsom was a candidate in the state's gubernatorial election to be held in just three weeks time. The former University of Alabama student (he never graduated from the school) had survived an ugly party primary in the spring and was considered a shoo-in for the general election due to the weakness of the Republican party in the state.
According to the Tuscaloosa News, Folsom "was cheered by thousands of students. He gave the fans a thrill when he picked up and hugged and kissed a pretty co-ed cheerleader."
Folsom had been unsuccessful in his previous run for governor in 1942 but his calls for reform and colorful style earned him a growing base of support across the state. For the 1946 election he returned with his now trademark mop and bucket which he said would "clean out" the Capitol. As expected he was elected on Nov. 5, 1946 and was inaugurated the following January for the first of his two terms in office.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
1935 Rose Bowl Coaches Cartoon
A newspaper cartoon from December 1934 featuring the coaches of the upcoming Rose Bowl game; Alabama's Frank Thomas and Stanford's Claude "Tiny" Thornhill. The cartoon at the bottom features Stanford's mascot at the time, the Indian.
Labels:
1935 Rose Bowl,
alabama,
art krenz,
cartoon,
Claude Thornhill,
frank thomas,
stanford
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