Just looking through the Internet to find 'Bama related videos and came across this video of Tommy Lewis coming off the bench and tackling some poor sap at Rice. Can't believe something like that happened. Fortunately for him that didn't happen in an era like today's. Poor guy would've been hounded just like Steve Bartman.
Crazy video of Tommy Lewis tackling someone from the sidelines in '54 cotton bowl
- Thread starter shudson
- Start date
Tommy Lewis was a long time State Farm agent in Huntsville, and a good man. He was also a very good football player for Bama. We can't fault him for loving Alabama too much.
And, just for clarification - that "poor sap" was running wild through Bama's defense that afternoon. Rice was a powerhouse way back when.
My Dad played at Bama around the same time as TL and he told me he actually gave TL his ID one time shortly after TL returned from Bowl to Tuscaloosa to throw press off his trail.
Mom was a Bama coed then, & remembers it well. He cut him down pretty handily, didn't he? 
exiled
exiled
Indeed, his last name was spelled Moegle. Likely the name is German and pronounced Maegle. He changed the spelling of his name to agree with how it is pronounced. Dicky Moegle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Absolutely! I have a good friend who was on the sideline standing next to TL when it happened. He said TL had a lot built up inside, found out prior to the game his wife was back home dealing with difficulties associated with a pregnancy mainly. TL himself is currently having some health issues at this time and he and the family can certainly use our thoughts and prayers.
As the (self-appointed unofficial) Bama historian here, a couple of things about this.
1) Dickey Moegele (it was pronounced "May-gull," quickly) was a running back for Rice University. (He later changed the spelling because it kept getting mis-pronounced, so technically both of you are correct). (Keep in mind most players were two-way players back in that day and freshmen weren't allowed to play). Tommy Lewis was a Bama fullback who was on the sidelines.
2) Moegele set a Cotton Bowl record for rushing that day that stood until it was broken by Missouri RB Tony Temple in 2008.
3) Rice University was a powerhouse in the 1950s (sorta like TCU and some others you just don't think of). In 1953, they won the Southwest Athletic Conference title with a 9-2 record (they lost to 5-5 SMU and a 7-2-1 Kentucky squad coached by YOU KNOW WHO in his last game before departing to aTm). So Rice drew the Cotton Bowl. (It was also the last bowl game for Red Drew, who would retire after the 1954 season). Also of note, Bart Starr was the Bama QB.
4) Moegele had one of those "put the team on my shoulders and carry them" days, dashing for 265 yards and three TDs: 79, 95, and 34 yards. It was the 95-yard dash that he never completed. Lewis jumped off and tackled Moegele. I have the HBO "Not So Great Moments In Sports" where Moegele said that he saw Lewis at the last second and tried to avoid him (you can see him swerve slightly on the video), but Lewis took him down. Lewis apologized profusely after the game, and Moegele told him to forget about it, it was no big deal. They wound up on "The Ed Sullivan Show" together, and Moegele even admitted to being a little stunned by the fact that somehow Lewis came out of the thing looking like a hero when he should have been the goat.
And before you ask, I know it has happened at least twice more since then. In 1984 it happened in one of those small games (it involved either UConn or Nevada IIRC), and I think it was a coach. It also happened sometime late in the 1990s. Ironically, nobody even remembers those for the most part.
1) Dickey Moegele (it was pronounced "May-gull," quickly) was a running back for Rice University. (He later changed the spelling because it kept getting mis-pronounced, so technically both of you are correct). (Keep in mind most players were two-way players back in that day and freshmen weren't allowed to play). Tommy Lewis was a Bama fullback who was on the sidelines.
2) Moegele set a Cotton Bowl record for rushing that day that stood until it was broken by Missouri RB Tony Temple in 2008.
3) Rice University was a powerhouse in the 1950s (sorta like TCU and some others you just don't think of). In 1953, they won the Southwest Athletic Conference title with a 9-2 record (they lost to 5-5 SMU and a 7-2-1 Kentucky squad coached by YOU KNOW WHO in his last game before departing to aTm). So Rice drew the Cotton Bowl. (It was also the last bowl game for Red Drew, who would retire after the 1954 season). Also of note, Bart Starr was the Bama QB.
4) Moegele had one of those "put the team on my shoulders and carry them" days, dashing for 265 yards and three TDs: 79, 95, and 34 yards. It was the 95-yard dash that he never completed. Lewis jumped off and tackled Moegele. I have the HBO "Not So Great Moments In Sports" where Moegele said that he saw Lewis at the last second and tried to avoid him (you can see him swerve slightly on the video), but Lewis took him down. Lewis apologized profusely after the game, and Moegele told him to forget about it, it was no big deal. They wound up on "The Ed Sullivan Show" together, and Moegele even admitted to being a little stunned by the fact that somehow Lewis came out of the thing looking like a hero when he should have been the goat.
And before you ask, I know it has happened at least twice more since then. In 1984 it happened in one of those small games (it involved either UConn or Nevada IIRC), and I think it was a coach. It also happened sometime late in the 1990s. Ironically, nobody even remembers those for the most part.
One of his teammates is in the same REC as i am and he has told the whole story about that play. After Tommy tackled Moegel, he went behind the rest of the team and hid with embarassment. His teammates kept all sideline photographers from getting pictures of him. I thought that was a very classy thing for them to do.
Rice Stadium was opened in 1950, and was one of the larger stadiums in the country (70,000 or so) at the time. It was the biggest stadium in Houston until Reliant was opened for the Texans. Super Bowl VIII was played at Rice. Jess Neely had quite a program during the '50s, but, like Vanderbilt, they faded into oblivion with two platoon football.
Maybe I should qualify my statement a tad. Rice was not so much a "powerhouse," they were a lot like Don Nehlen's West Virginia teams or Mike Price's Wazzu accomplishments: every 3 or 4 years a real good year or two.
1949: 10-1
1950 : 6-4
1951: 5-5
1952: 5-5
1953: 9-2
1954: 7-3
1955: 2-7-1
1956: 4-6
1957: 7-4
From 1960-63, Rice had three winning seasons out of four.
They didn't have a winning season after 1963 until a 6-5 year in 1992.
Yes, please continue your prayers for Mr. Lewis. He is not doing well and needs our prayers.
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