I watched them demolish Rose Tower, I was in 808, long gone.I taught with a girl for a couple of years who graduated from Bama around 2003 or so. She was lamenting one day about how different the campus looked since she had graduated (and this was probably 4 or 5 years ago.) I looked at her and asked how she thought I felt considering I graduated in 1989.
Last year I took a friend with me to the Tennessee game. She's a barn fan (but I think I'm slowly getting her to admit she just might like Bama a little. :smileI wanted to show her around the campus and take her to Bryant Museum. As we walked down Bryant Drive from the stadium toward the museum, I couldn't believe how must that side of campus has changed. We used to tailgate at Foster before the reno, so we would often walk over to the vendors on that side. We haven't tailgated since they ran everyone off from that area, so I hadn't seen any of the new construction. Frankly, I don't like it at all, but that's just me.
Did Alabama once play home games in Birmingham?
- Thread starter LSUgrad2BamaDad
- Start date
You left out Bama's 3 from '73-'79, but, yes, it's not normal!
I know because I lived through the 80's and Mike years.
I feel like I came around at just the right time to see some success when I was young but experience the not-quite-top-tier and languishing teams when I got older. Plus, to be as big of a fan as I was at a young age it made my college years with Shula just absolutely sting. Then my soon-to-be wife showed up to campus and they ran off national titles 3 out of her 4 undergraduate years. Spoiled I say!
Alabama 1971-1981 (3 NCs, 9 SEC titles, 71-4 against SEC), would have won Coaches NC, but for 2 point bowl loss in '74, had a legit argument for 1977. Lost 1 or 0 games in 9 of the 11 reg seasons, losing 2 and 3 games the other 2.
My 1st apt was directly behind the Old Univ Supply Store at what is now the corner of University and Wallace Wade Ave. Neither exists today. The Apt was owned by Dr Minnie Miles a legend for Women's Rights at the University. Fraternity houses lined University in front of Bryant Denny then. Coleman had just been finished. George Wallace had just made his "Stand in the door at Foster" media event. Just a couple of years later came Kent State. At Alabama Dressler Hall was burned. Never have I seen so much law enforcement on campus than the next day after that event. The campus computer then was in the basement of the Math Building (TRS 80's and CPM had not been developed yet). No calculators as we know them today, just slide rules hanging from our belts. Data entry was done with punch cards. Coach Bryant had a rededicaton to winning at Bama and began 10 wonderful yrs of Bama Football. And even tho the campus looks better than ever, I am glad I can still fondly remember the good ole days. Thanks rgw for asking.
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I worked for the University Auditor, Compton, my first year there. All of the punch card checks (Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate) ended up on my desk, all 17 bank accounts, except for the AD accounts. I said "on my desk." In fact, they brought them in in trays and stacked them to the ceiling all around my office. My first two weeks of each month were spent reconciling all those bank accounts. There was an average of about one error for each tray, which had to be tracked down, using folding print out spread sheets...My 1st apt was directly behind the Old Univ Supply Store at what is now the corner of University and Wallace Wade Ave. Neither exists today. The Apt was owned by Dr Minnie Miles a legend for Women's Rights at the University. Fraternity houses lined University in front of Bryant Denny then. Coleman had just been finished. George Wallace had just made his "Stand in the door at Foster" media event. Just a couple of years later came Kent State. At Alabama Dressler Hall was burned. Never have I seen so much law enforcement on campus than the next day after that event. The campus computer then was in the basement of the Math Building (TRS 80's and CPM had not been developed yet). No calculators as we know them today, just slide rules hanging from our belts. Data entry was done with punch cards. Coach Bryant had a rededicaton to winning at Bama and began 10 wonderful yrs of Bama Football. And even tho the campus looks better than ever, I am glad I can still fondly remember the good ole days. Thanks rgw for asking.
Thought processes were 2 dimentional back then. Then along came VisiCalc, 1,2,3 , and Excel. Balancing 17 bank accts would not be my favorite choice of things to do.
I've posted the story before, but the job was miserable for more reasons than just that. Compton was a retired marine sgt. The University Controller was Callahan, a retired navy Col. We were supposed to be bird-dogging him. That's tough to do, when the guard dog feels like he has to say "yes sir," "no sir" to the guarded object. As a result, all sorts of things were slipping by unquestioned. (My background from my earliest permitted working age was in accounting and auditing.) I quit after a year and wrote a five page monograph on what was wrong. I was told later they reformed the auditing office, based on my suggestions, but I somehow doubt it stuck, with those two still in position. I went out to Northington Laundry and applied for job as a counter man. Mrs. Barrett, interviewing me, told me they were a dime a dozen, but that they needed an in-house accountant to work with their CPA. To this day, I don't know how she found that out. I had deliberately omitted the UA Auditor job from my resume'. Anyway, I worked for a couple of years there, filling in also downtown for the CPAs on audits, and then worked the last two years of law school as an Income Tax Auditor for the Al. Dept. of Revenue...Thought processes were 2 dimentional back then. Then along came VisiCalc, 1,2,3 , and Excel. Balancing 17 bank accts would not be my favorite choice of things to do.
The quad looks pretty much the same,even the big oaks. The flowering pears between Denny Chimes and the library have come and gone. I graduated in 1972.
Rose Admin Building was brand new (Thoroughly modern!). Coleman Coliseum had just opened and it was pretty much the outlying building on campus. There, we watched Pete drop 69 on the Tide, 47 in the second half. Ferguson Center was beginning construction, replacing the function of the Union Building, which is now Reese Phifer Hall (the bldg with all the steps diagonal from the quad, near stadium).
The northern approach to the stadium where the statues are now, was just functional, a service road through fraternity houses up to the raw fence and wall of the stadium.
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That is some really great college experience, especially for what you are doing now.
I had two older brothers who were CPAs. I once had an accountant say to me "Earle, talking to you is just like talking to another accountant." He meant it as a compliment...
I worked at the Alabama Geological Survey behind the Alabama Natural History Museum. The geologists would bring their mineral (rock) samples in, and I would grind them to bug dust for chemical analysis.
Even the newer buildings added since I finished law school in 1980 have seemed to try to keep a consistent style. My son graduated from Georgia Tech a few years ago and when I would go up there to help him move in and out, I noticed that GT had never tried to do that, resulting in a hodgepodge.
Bachelor`s `71, MS `74 in Microbiology then off to the Army. Everything you said is right on. Came back for the first time for a game in the 90`s. No problems recognizing everything around the quad and central campus. The real changes were in the areas of the dorms ( lived in Paty for 4 years ). Some great ( and not so great ! ) memories !
Coach Bryant's very first game at Bama was against LSU in Mobile. Led the eventual 1958 AP National Champion 3-0 at the half before losing 3-13. Big change from 1957 when Billy Cannon ran for 4 TDs ( all over 50 yards) in LSU's 28-0 win.
Growing up, I went to exactly ONE game in BDS. I remember getting there was not easy driving up the mostly two lane highway between Montgomery and Tuscaloosa. Getting to Legion Field was easier, even before I-65 was completed, so my father usually picked Birmingham games. My last Legion Field game was So. Miss in 92, so a game from a championship year is a good way to end things.
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