The 1951 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

in the

1951 college football season The 1951 college football season finished with seven unbeaten major college teams, of which five were unbeaten and untied. Ultimately, the Tennessee Volunteers were voted the best team by the Associated Press, followed by the Michigan State Sparta ...

. It was the Crimson Tide's 57th overall and 18th season as a member of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). The team was led by head coach

Harold Drew Harold Delbert "Red" Drew (November 9, 1894 – October 20, 1979) was an American football, basketball, and track and field coach for over 40 years. He was the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team from 1947 to 1954, compiling a r ...

, in his fifth year, and played their home games at Denny Stadium in

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ho ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Ladd Stadium Ladd or Ladds may refer to: People * Ladd (surname) * Brent Ladds (born 1951), Canadian ice hockey administrator Places ;In the United States * Ladds, Georgia, an unincorporated community *Ladd, Illinois, village * Ladd, Missouri, an unincorporat ...

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

and at the

Cramton Bowl Cramton Bowl is a 25,000-seat stadium located in Montgomery, Alabama. Cramton Bowl opened in 1922 as a baseball stadium and has been home to Major League Baseball spring training and to minor league baseball. Today, however, its primary use is fo ...

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

. They finished with a record of five wins and six losses (5–6 overall, 3–5 in the SEC). The Crimson Tide opened the season with an 89–0 victory over Delta State, and the 89 points were the most scored by an Alabama team since the 1922 squad defeated

Marion Military Institute Marion Military Institute, the Military College of Alabama, (MMI, sometimes Marion Institute, Marion Military, or simply Marion) is a Public college, public military junior college in Marion, Alabama. Founded in 1842, it is the official state mil ...

110–0. However, the Tide followed the victory up with a four-game losing streak that included losses against

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, Vanderbilt, Villanova and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Alabama then evened its record at 4–4 with victories over

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and , but then lost to

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

to secure their first losing season since 1903. The Crimson Tide then closed the season with a 25–7 victory over

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

. The game against Delta State at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery marked the first year of a four-year period in which Alabama, which was already regularly playing games in Mobile and Birmingham as well as Tuscaloosa, began playing "home" games in four different cities.

Schedule

Game summaries

Delta State

*Source: To open the 1951 season, Alabama shutout the Delta State Statesmen 89–0 at the Cramton Bowl in the only all-time meeting between the schools.1951 Season Recap The Crimson Tide scored multiple touchdowns in all four quarters in what was the largest margin of victory for Alabama since a 110–0 win over the

to open the 1922 season. In the first quarter, touchdowns were scored on a 30-yard Bobby Marlow run, a 27-yard James Melton run and an 11-yard Clell Hobson pass to Joe Curtis for a 21–0 lead. In the second quarter, touchdowns were scored on a 36-yard Larry Chiodetti run and a three-yard Joe Compton run for a 35–0 halftime lead. In the third quarter, touchdowns were scored on a 51-yard Marlow run, a 15-yard George McCain pass to Chiodetti, a one-yard Bobby Luna run and a 46-yard Luna pass to Thomas Tharp for a 63–0 lead. In the fourth quarter, touchdowns were scored on a 63-yard Tommy Lewis run, a 44-yard Luna run, an 11-yard Tharp run and a 19-yard Hobson run to make the final score 89–0. In total, the Crimson Tide outgained the Statesmen in total offense 553 to 163 yards.

LSU

*Source: To open conference play for the 1951 season, Alabama was defeated by

13–7 at Ladd Stadium in Mobile. After a scoreless first quarter, LSU took a 6–0 halftime lead when James Barton threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Warren Virgets. The Crimson Tide responded to take a 7–6 lead in the third after Bobby Marlow scored on a one-yard touchdown run. However, their lead was short lived as Leroy Labat scored the game-winning touchdown for the Tigers on an 18-yard run for the 13–7 victory. The loss brought Alabama's all-time record against LSU to 13–6–3.

Vanderbilt

*Source: In what was their first road game of the season, the Crimson Tide lost to the Vanderbilt

Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

by a final score of 22–20 in Nashville. After Alabama took a 7–0 lead in the first quarter on a one-yard James Melton run, Vanderbilt took a 12–7 lead in the second quarter on a Richard Foster run and a four-yard Charles Wade pass to Ted Kirkland. The Crimson Tide responded with a one-yard Bobby Marlow touchdown run late in the second to take a 13–12 halftime lead. The Commodores rebounded in the third to retake the lead 22–13 after Foster scored on a 10-yard run and later kick a 46-yard

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

. A four-yard Marlow touchdown in the fourth made the final score 22–20 in favor of the Commodores. The loss brought Alabama's all-time record against Vanderbilt to 16–14–1.

Villanova

*Source: On a Friday night in the first Tuscaloosa game of the season, Alabama was defeated by the Villanova

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

, 41–18, at Denny Stadium in the only all-time meeting between the schools. After a scoreless first quarter, Villanova took a 21–0 lead into halftime with touchdowns scored on touchdown runs of eight-yards by Robert Haner, two-yards by

Dick Bedesem Richard V. Bedesem Sr. (January 22, 1931 – October 6, 1999) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Villanova University from 1975 to 1980 and at Delaware Valley College from 1987 to 1991, compiling a ...

and 38-yards by Benjamin Addiego. Alabama opened the third with their first points of the game on a two-yard Bobby Marlow touchdown run. However, the Wildcats responded with a four-yard William Brannau touchdown pass to Joseph Rilo to make the score 28–6 as the teams entered the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, each team scored a pair of touchdowns and made the final score 41–18 in favor of the Wildcats. Alabama scored on a pair of long touchdown passes from Clell Hobson to George MacAfee from 75 and 67 yards and Villanova scored on touchdown runs of one yard by Bedesem and five yards by Addiego. The loss marked the first time the Crimson Tide lost three consecutive games since the 1927 season, ended a 20-game winning streak at Denny Stadium and the 41 points allowed to the Wildcats were the most scored by an Alabama opponent since a 54–4 loss to

Sewanee Sewanee may refer to: * Sewanee, Tennessee * Sewanee: The University of the South * ''The Sewanee Review'', an American literary magazine established in 1892 * Sewanee Natural Bridge * Saint Andrews-Sewanee School See also * Suwanee (disambiguati ...

in 1907.

Tennessee

*Sources: Alabama lost 27–13 to the rival

Volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

and it marked both their first loss to Tennessee at Legion Field since the 1940 season and the first four-game losing streak for the Crimson Tide since the 1910 season. Alabama took a 7–0 first quarter lead on a one-yard Bobby Marlow run only to see Tennessee tie the game 7–7 at halftime after

Bert Rechichar Albert Daniel (Bert) Rechichar (July 16, 1930 – July 19, 2019) was an American football defensive back and kicker who played with the National Football League (NFL)'s Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts, and Pittsburgh Steelers from to . He als ...

scored on a 20-yard

Hank Lauricella Francis Edward Lauricella, known as Hank Lauricella (October 9, 1930 – March 25, 2014), was a real estate developer from suburban New Orleans, Louisiana, a college football legend, and a member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature ...

touchdown pass in the second quarter. The Volunteers then took a 14–7 lead in the third on a three-yard Dick Ernsberger run before they closed the game with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth. In the final period Tennessee touchdowns were scored by Lauricella on a 35-yard run and on a 20-yard Harold Payne pass to Vince Kaseta; the lone Alabama touchdown was scored on a second, one-yard Marlow run to make the final score 27–13. Although the first Alabama game to be televised occurred in their matchup at Fordham in 1939, this game was broadcast on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and was the first Alabama game to be broadcast over network television. The loss brought Alabama's all-time record against Tennessee to 17–12–4.

Mississippi State

*Source: At Starkville, the Crimson Tide shutout the

Maroons Maroons are descendants of African diaspora in the Americas, Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples, eventually ethnogenesi ...

7–0 to end their four-game losing streak at Scott Field. The only points of the game came in the second quarter when Clell Hobson threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Larry Chiodetti for Alabama. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Mississippi State to 27–7–2.

Georgia

*Sources: In their final road game of the season, Alabama defeated the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose. After a scoreless first quarter, the Bulldogs took a 7–0 halftime lead after Conrad Manisera returned a punt 72-yards for a second-quarter touchdown. The Crimson Tide responded over the final two quarters with a pair of Clell Hobson touchdown passes to George McCain from 14 and 21-yards and a 21-yard Harold Lutz

for a 16–7 lead. Georgia then scored the final touchdown of the game late in the fourth on a two-yard Manisera run to make the final score 16–14. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Georgia to 19–15–3.

Mississippi Southern

*Source: After the Mississippi Southern Southerners took a 7–0 lead, the Crimson Tide responded with 40 unanswered points for the 40–7 victory at Denny Stadium. The lone Southern touchdown came early in the first quarter on a two-yard Granville Hart run for their brief 7–0 lead. Alabama responded with touchdowns on 58-yard Virgil Willis

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

return and runs of 53 and five yards by George McCain for a 19–7 Crimson Tide lead at the end of the first quarter. They then closed the game with touchdowns on a four-yard Bobby Marlow run in the third and two-yard Thomas Tharp run and 21-yard Clell Hobson pass to Bobby Luna in the fourth quarter. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Mississippi Southern to 5–0.

Georgia Tech

*Source: After Alabama held

to only six first half points, the

Yellow Jackets Yellowjacket or yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera '' Vespula'' and '' Dolichovespula''. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of th ...

scored three second half touchdowns en route to a 27–7 victory at Legion Field. The only first half points were scored on a 17-yard Elbert Crawford touchdown pass to Lambert Knox in the second quarter for a 6–0 halftime lead for Tech. The Yellow Jackets continued their scoring into the fourth quarter with touchdowns on a two-yard Windle Hardeman run and 21-yard Crawford pass to Jake Martin in the third and a 31-yard Crawford pass to Knox in the fourth for a 27–0 lead. The only Alabama points were scored late in the fourth on a one-yard Larry Chiodetti run to end the Tech shutout bid. The loss brought Alabama's all-time record against Georgia Tech to 17–13–3.

Florida

*Source: On

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

in Tuscaloosa, 17 unanswered points by

in the second half gave the Gators 30–21 win at Denny Stadium. The teams traded touchdowns in the first half to give Alabama a 21–13 halftime lead. Crimson Tide touchdowns were scored on a 10-yard Clell Hobson run, a 73-yard George McCain pass to Al Lary and a six-yard James Melton run; Gators touchdowns were scored on Buford Long touchdown runs of 10 and eight-yards. Florida then closed with game with a 45-yard

Haywood Sullivan Haywood Cooper Sullivan (December 15, 1930 – February 12, 2003) was an American college and professional baseball player who was a catcher, manager, general manager and club owner in Major League Baseball. From May 23, 1978, through Novembe ...

touchdown pass to James French and a 14-yard Richard Casares

in the third and a one-yard Sullivan touchdown run in the fourth for the 30–21 Gators victory. The loss brought Alabama's all-time record against Florida to 8–4.

Auburn

*Source: For the third time in four years since the revival of the

series, Alabama defeated the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

25–7 at Legion Field. The Crimson Tide took a 13–0 halftime lead on touchdown runs of seven-yards by Bobby Marlow in the first and of three-yards by James Melton in the second. Third quarter Marlow touchdown runs of 39 and 22-yards gave Alabama a 25–0 lead before Auburn scored their only points on an eight-yard Homer Williams run in the fourth to make the final score 25–7. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Auburn to 7–8–1.

Personnel

Varsity letter winners

Coaching staff

References

General * Specific {{Alabama Crimson Tide football navbox

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Alabama Crimson Tide football seasons

Alabama Crimson Tide football The Alabama Crimson Tide football program represents the University of Alabama (variously Alabama, UA, or Bama) in the sport of American football. The team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Asso ...