Bama grad and PGA Tour chaplain Stephen Bunn is Ryder Cup bound

It was, as they say, the call of a lifetime. Just a few days ago, on Tuesday, July 25, around 1:00 p.m., Stephen Bunn had just returned to his Vestavia Hills home from a trip when his phone buzzed. Calling was his friend Zach Johnson, 12-time PGA tour winner (including the 2007 Masters and the […]

Who’s witnessed more Alabama basketball games than anyone in history? This guy.

As the Alabama basketball team plays its first-round NCAA tournament game today in Birmingham, there’s no better time than now to reveal the Crimson Tide’s best-kept secret. He’s been a member of the Alabama “team” for 40 basketball seasons (and 39 football seasons), yet for the most part remains in total obscurity to many Tide […]

Content? Or Committed?

From Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, Rich Wingo learns a valuable life lesson “No one’s ever been kicked off the team and allowed back on except Joe Namath. And you ain’t Joe Namath.” Student trainer Tim Garl to Rich Wingo, August 1977 . On a hot, humid day in August 1977, a day that he says […]

Laslie’s Long-Gone National Championship Ring Finds its Way Back Home

For Mary Lou Laslie Henry, the phone call sounded too good to be true. Way down in Alabama, on the other end of the line was Fred Martinez, claiming he was in possession of her father’s long-gone University of Alabama 1965 national championship ring. “That’s impossible,” said Mary Lou, a Virginia resident and the only […]

Forty Years, Forty Memories (Part Five)

Good morning, Tide Nation, it’s game day! Season openers have been quite kind to the Crimson Tide over the past 129 years. During this span, Alabama is 103-21-3 in openers (with no teams being fielded in 1898 and 1943). Our home record is a sparkling 73-11-2. The road record for openers is 18-10-1, while the […]

Forty Years, Forty Memories (Part Four)

Thus far in my blog reflecting on 40 memories in my 40 years at the University of Alabama, I’ve covered early 1982 (the year I was hired in the UA Alumni Office) through the Tide’s 1992 football national championship. Today, I start with a rather strange event that everyone still talks about today, especially around […]

Forty Years, Forty Memories (Part Three)

Two blogs in, and I’ve only covered 11 “memories” over a five-year span (1982-1986). I guess I’d better get movin’, so here goes. #12 – From the Alumni Office to the Athletic Department In my case, change was good, altering my life in ways of which I could’ve only dreamed. In a rather bizarre chain […]