By the time the decade of the 1960s had begun, sportswriters around the nation had developed a keen interest and curiosity in the Iron Bowl staged each year in Birmingham's Legion Field. When the decade began, Auburn held the unique distinction of being the only Southeastern Conference team that held a lead over Alabama in its series of games. The Tigers' 13-10-1 advantage was to become a 18-15-1 Tide advantage by the time the 1969 Iron Bowl was history.
Television also began developing an interest in the Alabama-Auburn rivalry and first beamed the classic rivalry to the rest of the nation on Nov. 26, 1964. Coach Jordan's Tigers came into the game with a 6-3 record and with consecutive wins over Mississippi State and Georgia. Bryant's Crimson Tide, led by Joe Willie Namath, was undefeated (9-0) and, in fact, had not lost since Auburn upset the Tide 10-8 in the Iron Bowl the year before.
Auburn football coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan in 1964.
Of course, the tickets were split for the game with half of the throng of 68,000 screaming for the Tide and the other half for the Tigers. The two bands went through the pregame ritual of coming onto the field together, playing the fight song for each school, the alma mater for each school and then combining to play the national anthem. Later in the decade, a state legislator attempted to mandate that the state song and "Dixie" be played prior to the big game.
At any rate, on this day the tension became almost unbearable by the time the final strains of "The Star Spangled Banner" had floated across the stadium and it was as if the world stood still for this football game. For the first time a national TV audience observed the Alabama backyard brawl and it had all the ingredients to keep fans interested. With Shug and Bear on the sidelines, bowl representatives in the press box and pride at stake, it was war.
The Tide won the national championship and went on to the Orange Bowl where Texas upset Bama, 21-17. Perhaps it was the non-sports events going on in the state that caused so much importance to be placed on this game. George Wallace was governor and he was defying the federal government at every turn.
A year earlier, he had tried to block two black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama. Marches and demonstrations were the order of the day in Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham and fans seem to take refuge in college football in order to escape the media microscope focused on the state's racial problems.
Jordan and Bryant became joint celebrities as after-dinner speakers told and re-told jokes about the two coaches. They would appear on television spots together pushing community causes. It was true glory years for Alabama with the Crimson Tide winning three national titles and going to a bowl game each year including three Sugar Bowls, three Orange Bowls, one Cotton Bowl, one Gator Bowl, one Liberty Bowl and one Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl.
Auburn was also gaining national recognition for appearances in the Orange, Liberty, Sun and Astro-Bluebonnet bowls and the Tigers finished regularly in the nation's top 20. Jordan continued to be effective during the decade in recruiting top players at Auburn and Bryant continued to attract winners at Alabama. For the Tide, it was the decade of great quarterbacks with Namath, Kenny Stabler, Steve Sloan and Scott Hunter, to name a few.
Perhaps the greatest performance at quarterback came from Pat Trammell, who directed the Tide to the 1961 national championship. While he did not possess the arm of a Namath or Stabler, he always knew the position of the team on the field and how much it took to make a first down and keep a drive going.
"He was the smartest quarterback of them all," vowed one sportswriter. Coach Bryant said he could not run, pass nor kick. "All he can do is beat you."
Trammell seemed to typify the players that Bryant attracted to Alabama during the era ... people with little talent but great heart. Across the state, Shug was able to instill the great love he had for Auburn in his players and produced his share of outstanding stars during the 1960s. Pat Sullivan, whom he recruited, went on to be the first player from the state to win the Heisman Trophy.