why is alabama's mascot an elephant

The origin of Alabama's elephant mascot and its association with Crimson Tide football is a popular conversation topic among fans and outsidersalike. None of us even have close to a full scholarship. You see a lot of tigers, a lot of dogs. The story of how Alabama became associated with the "elephant" goes back to the 1930 season when Coach Wallace Wade had assembled a great football team. Big Al is the costumed elephant mascot of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The elephant, named John Heisman, after the famous coach, was a big hit with students and fans. Although Big Al . While the specific origin of why an elephant was chosen as Alabamas mascot is unknown, there are several theories. He makes appearances at university functions and events, he stars in commercials and public service announcements, and he even has his own line of merchandise. [Related: Top 10 college football live mascots ft. Auburn's "War Eagle"]. The tradition continues to this day, with fans often bringing their own elephants to games or buying them from vendors outside the stadium. The more you return and the more you dedicate to the program, the more you get in scholarship money. Even the Alabama Crimson Tide's elephant mascot, Big Al, is considered the GOAT when it comes to the big, furry friends that roam college football's sidelines. The John's Creek, Georgia, native studied finance and communications studies before graduating earlier this year. . [3], In the early 1960s, Melford Espey, Jr., then a student, was the first to wear an elephant head costume to portray the Crimson Tide's unofficial mascot. We talked to two Big Als -- one who currently plays him and one who used to -- to understand exactly what life as 'Bama's mascot is like. Why is an elephant alabama's mascot? The team went on to be named National Champions, according to rolltide.com. Why is the Alabama mascot an elephant? It appears that the SSL configuration used is not compatible with Cloudflare. The first shift is Quad. I never felt like I was going to be dropped. How much does a 8 week old cocker spaniel weight? The Alabama Crimson Tides elephant mascot is one of the most recognizable symbols in college football. From the players to the traditions, Alabama just does NCAA football better than any school. In the 1960s, student Melford Espey would wear an elephant costume to games, much to the delight of legendary coach Paul Bear Bryant. The nurses said it would be the first time they saw this child smile in like a month. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. We always say if you can see the camera, Big Al is looking somewhere else. Since then, the Crimson Tides elephant mascot has been represented in a variety of ways, from costumed mascots to cartoon characters. Q: Something tells me Big Al is pretty busy on Saturdays. When those big brutes hit you I mean you go down and stay down, often for an additional two minutes. So that's a cool thing that we get the respect from the university. It shut out eight opponents and allowed only 13 points all season while scoring 217. "At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, he wrote, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. It was a regular on gamedays, and for several years it would carry that year's homecoming queen onto the field prior to the game. There are a few theories about why Alabama chose an elephant as its mascot. There is a story that Alabama got its colors from a ball on campus when UA was still a military school, wearing gray, black and white uniforms. The Million Dollar Band. We have five different assignments for every game day split between all five of us. He'll come out and do the fourth quarter things, the traditions. The tradition of using an elephant as a mascot has continued ever since. Since the early 1900s, the University of Alabama has been associated with the elephant. It's just kind of a little thing we do. The team went on to be named National Champions, according to rolltide.com. We were up for all of those morning shows. Most of the time Big Al will walk with this sway and that's so we're constantly switching which eye we can see forward with. Big Al wears a white jersey for the fourth quarter of football games. Roll tide. Given that they are not indigenous to the North American continent, let alone the general Tuscaloosa area, it may seem odd that an elephant serves as the mascot for the University of Alabamas football team. The first day consists of an interview and clinic, where the candidates learn to emulate the character and walk of Big Al. The University of Alabama is home to many of the bests. The first time an elephant was mentioned in relation to Alabama athletics was in 1907, when then-head football coach Eugene Beaumont called his squad a great big blue elephant. The nickname stuck, and in 1931, then-sports editor Everett Strupper of the Atlanta Journal wrote that Alabamas football team had the biggest, grandest show on earth.. Well, the story goes all the way back to the 1930 National Championship team. So how did one of college football's blue bloods on the path to win its third national title in four years come to be represented by an animal most often associated with the circus, Dumbo and the Republican Party? As a result of DJ Al's popularity, a campaign was started on campus to name the mascot after him, and that campaign succeeded at the polls. Despite their large size and weight, elephants are capable of running at up to 25 km/h (16 mph). Since then, Alphie has been a fixture at Alabama sporting events, accompanying the football team onto the field before every home game. That would go to us. Strupper and other writers continued to refer to the Alabama linemen as "Red Elephants," the color referring to the crimson jerseys. The biggest thing to look for in someone who wants to be a Big Al is are they creative enough to think on the spot and are they animated enough? All rights reserved (About Us). The 1930 team posted an overall 10-0 record. The gray, anthropomorphic elephant has been the team's official mascot since 1979, when Bear Bryant finally approved the trunked animal despite a history that dates back to 1930. But the history of the Crimson Tide's mascot began decades earlier at an Alabama-Ole Miss football game. In 1979, he was meeting with the homecoming chairman, Ann Paige, as they were trying to come up with something different for the school's homecoming parade. Even though the elephant served as a symbol for the team, it took decades for the Big Al mascot to come to fruition. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. The gray, anthropomorphic elephant has been the team's official mascot since 1979, when Bear Bryant finally approved the trunked animal despite a history that dates back to 1930. Performance & security by Cloudflare. [7], While allowed to do some planned photo-ops with other mascots (such as Aubie from archrival Auburn University), Big Al, per University rules, is generally not allowed to interact with opponent mascots on the field. If it's a close game he won't body surf, because we don't wanna count our chickens.". If you picture your vision on a clock from 9-3 you can't see from 11-1 o'clock. He's a very large person, and so usually we have people on the team that are very athletic build. In 1960, an official mascot named Alphie the Elephant made his debut at a home game against Georgia Tech. This could happen for a several reasons, including no shared cipher suites. how big is a woolly mammoth compared to an elephant. Each candidate performs their skits for a score, and then there is a final cut before A-Day. [7] The scripted fight suddenly became unscripted after Seymour deviated from the set rules, and a raucous fight on the sidelines between the two ensued. As part of their efforts, they decided to hire . Instead, the UA spirit committee started hiring elephants, often from traveling circuses passing through or by Tuscaloosa, for every homecoming. I don't know how else to put it.". ", Webster: "I think it's on the website too but if a corporate company wants Big Al its $400 to the university. Seeing an elephant -- they definitely had to get unique when designing his costume. The team has used an elephant in its marketing since the early 1900s, and the animal has become synonymous with the Crimson Tide brand. The best experience I ever had as Big Al was when I was at a children's hospital. After a few rounds, he got dropped. So at halftime we usually prepare a little short skit where like a costume that Big Al will wear. In any case, elephants have long been associated with both Alabama athletics and the state of Alabama as a whole. Big Al walks in to the room and he has to interact with the props in multiple different ways, but he can't use any of the props for their intended purpose. Tusks grow throughout an elephants lifetime; an individuals tusk length is a useful criterion for age determination as elephants reach physical maturity at around 15 years old. ", Webster: "It's definitely crazy hot. William Webster poses with a fellow Big Al during the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on January 7, 2019. The cheerleaders will tumble through the end zone. ", Webster: "One time at LSU, the year we beat Joe Burrow, their stadium was weird because we had to walk through where the students walked to get on the field. He wrote, "That Alabama team of 1930 is a typical [Coach Wallace] Wade machine, powerful, big, tough, fast, aggressive, well-schooled in fundamentals, and the best blocking team for this early in the season that I have ever seen. It's pretty much a part-time job. Q: I'm guessing you fell in love with it. They were telling me about how much I made their day. It's the interactions you get to have with people in other circumstances you would never get to meet. Big Al is the costumed mascot of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They play the Green Day song ["Basket Case"]. Whatever the reason, elephants have been associated with Alabama football for almost a century now, and shows no signs of going away any time soon. After box visits, Big Al will come back in a white jersey. He became Big Al in the spring of 2019 and is currently one of five students on the Big Al team. That's when I realized this isn't just for fun. It's something that people do for like a scholarship. Even the Alabama Crimson Tide's elephant mascot, Big Al, is considered the GOAT when it comes to the big, furry friends that roam college football's sidelines. "At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, he wrote, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. Q: OK, what's it like wearing that suit? 4 Oklahoma square off in Orange Bowl for national title bid. (He was portrayed by a different student, of course, as Espey had long since graduated.). A sportswriter named Everett Strupper wrote about how head coach Wallace Wade's Alabama team's big and aggressive linemen resembled elephants after pounding . Why Did Alabama Pick an Elephant as a Mascot Alabama, like most universities, chose an animal as their mascot to represent their school. The history of the Alabama Crimson Tide's elephant mascot is a long and storied one. This isn't just something that people come to the tryout to be Big Al for two days. Finally, elephants are social animals that live in close-knit herds. It's the controversy over whether Alabama freshman phenom Brandon Miller should be playing basketball after his role in a tragedy the . Bryant said he thought elephants were very smart and a little slow, but approved the funds for the elephant costume. And then second quarter is kind of their own thing and that will bleed into halftime depending on how long it takes to set up props for the person doing the halftime skit. 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