why is alabama's mascot an elephant

The origin of Alabama's elephant mascot. The John's Creek, Georgia, native studied finance and communications studies before graduating earlier this year. Why Is An Elephant Alabamas Mascot? Then we as the judges have to guess what he's trying to do with the props. Wearing white in the fourth quarter really makes him pop out.". He's played by five different students -- two guys and three girls. 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. Although Big Al . Nonetheless, a student in a doe-eyed elephant costume struts his stuff at every Bama home game, having become a fixture at one of the states proudest institutions. All these things and the game was at 2:30. The final announcement of the next year's mascot team happens immediately following the spring game. It's pretty much a part-time job. We met at 5:30 a.m. and we didn't get home until like 10:30. It's a little bit of both. Dickey: "We usually arrive at our cart -- we call it the rammer jammer or the RJ -- we'll arrive five hours before the football game. elephants are also known for their loyalty, which is another trait that makes them well-suited to being a mascot for the Alabama Crimson Tide. It appears that the SSL configuration used is not compatible with Cloudflare. Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, 'Hold your horses, the elephants are coming!' We have different people we have to go through to post things on social media. Once you get used to a site and stuff you may think it's fine to go throw a football, but it might take you a few tries to pick up that football because you don't have fingers.". The second day consists of more clinic, as well as being judged on the walk and participating in a band cheer. The elephant has been UA's unofficial mascot since the 1930s. Strupper wrote, "That Alabama team of 1930 is a typical 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. How hot is it? They play 'Tusk' and it's just kind of a cool little tradition we have. In the 1960s, student Melford Espey would wear an elephant costume to games, much to the delight of legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. (He was portrayed by a different student, of course, as Espey had long since graduated.). [Related: PHOTO: Alabama fan gets massive $1,700 elephant back tattoo]. He has a signature, so we practice the signature and teach it to other people. "It was the first time that I had seen it and the size of the entire eleven nearly knocked me cold, men that I had seen play last year looking like they had nearly doubled in size.". Q: How does being Big Al work with multiple people? Pregame, you're in charge of marching the band out on to the field. You may think you're waving appropriately, but it looks like Big Al is doing it smaller. That's just Big Al.' Our head is actually larger than most university mascots. From that point, Strupper started calling Alabama the Red Elephants, and the association stuck. "He said, 'If that's what students want, that's what it should be,' " Gaddy said. We had College Gameday in the morning. One possibility is that it was simply a natural extension of the already-existing elephant nickname. The biggest thing is that we're viewed as student-athletes. Elephantidae is the only surviving family of the order Proboscidea; other, now extinct, members of the order include deinotheres, gomphotheres, mammoths, and mastodons. That was not the image of his players he wanted to portray.". We'll get all of our equipment over, all of our props for the day over to the stadium. On October 8, 1930, sports writer Everett Strupper of the Atlanta Journal wrote a story of the Alabama-Mississippi game he had witnessed in Tuscaloosa four days earlier. What does a blinking blue light on a smoke detector mean? If there are enough students in the student section and we're ahead by enough points, Big Al will body surf up the student section, and that's always a fun experience. After this, they perform for 1015 minutes each during the game, mimicking a normal gameday atmosphere. Big Al has not always been our mascot's name. It's almost like thatBig Al is just the best. Being Big Al isn't as easy as it looks, however. Auburn has two mascots. The elephant, named John Heisman, after the famous coach, was a big hit with students and fans. As part of their efforts, they decided to hire elephants from travelling circuses or from Tuscaloosa to attend every homecoming football game. He's a very large person, and so usually we have people on the team that are very athletic build. 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. After box visits, Big Al will come back in a white jersey. It's kind of about the kids. and out stamped this Alabama varsity. We do have a roster on rolltide.com. That would go to us. That person will go back into the locker room and the next Big Al will come out for the first quarter. We were up for all of those morning shows. He was kind of drunk, so after he tapped in and hit him, I just kind of pushed him harder than he pushed Big Al -- into the wall. Bulls use their tusks aggressively while fighting; elephants also use them for tasks such as moving trees and stripping bark from trees for food. Big Al never stops moving, and so that is a huge aspect of who he is.". It's an innate thing that everyone deep down knows but won't admit itI'm kidding. 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 first day consists of an interview and clinic, where the candidates learn to emulate the character and walk of Big Al. That gets divvied up through cheerleaders and Big Al. It's not an obvious type of thing.". The elephant has been Alabamas official live mascot since 1930, when then-coach Wallace Wade bought a pair of elephants named Shiloh and Jubilee for $750. Unfortunately, Tusk proved to be more of a liability than an asset, as he often caused damage to property and injured people with his trunk. I think that really helped me in the tryout, being more relaxed and not caring as much about the outcome and caring more about just having a good time, because that's what Big Al would wanna do. [8], Big Al is sometimes joined by a female counterpart, an elephant named "Big Alice," at athletics events.[9]. The elephant is also very large, which makes it an imposing figure that can be seen from far away. uniforms even crazier than Oregon's. What is Alabama's football mascot? "Once that's over, he runs the team out. Everyone puts their fours in the air. Alabama's mascot is an elephant but they are called the "Crimson Tide" and the war cry is"Roll tide!". Our pictures are out there so it's not a huge secret but it is something that we kind of keep a secret because it's special.". We don't have people that are very large, so making sure we have people who can be very animated with their full body movements is super important. So that's a cool thing that we get the respect from the university. The best experience I ever had as Big Al was when I was at a children's hospital. That's when it really hit me. Dickey: "Oh yeah, Big Al is one of my best friends. Needless to say, Alabama opponents in the SEC aren't nearly as fond of seeing the Crimson Tide's elephant mascot. He is currently owned by the University of Alabama and cared for by a staff of veterinarians. We put people in suit for different rounds. That's when I realized this isn't just for fun. Since then, the Crimson Tide has had several live elephants as mascots, the most recent of which is named Big Al. Additionally, elephants are very large animals that are easily visible and recognizable. By the 1950s, keeping a live elephant year round proved to be too expensive for the university. Why is Alabama's mascot an elephant? It usually means they are about to get trampled. Q: I guess Big Al can't be too heavy then Webster: "Yeah, there was one year that this guy tried out who was 6-foot-7. It probably weighs about 30 pounds and that's all sitting on your head and your neck. It's something that people do for like a scholarship. How did the audition go? Roberts used the term to describe crimson-and-white-clad Alabama's surprising performance during a rain-soaked 6-6 tie with heavily favored Auburn in 1907. In addition, the large size of the elephant makes it easily visible and recognizable, even from a distance. "Coach Wade started his second team that was plenty big and they went right to their knitting scoring a touchdown in the first quarter against one of the best fighting small lines that I have seen. Q: Take me through a game day as Big Al in Tuscaloosa. Do you trip a lot? It's definitely not the reason to be Big Al. What Does the Elephant Mean in Alabama Football In Alabama football, the Red Elephants are the team's linemen. In 1960, an official mascot named Alphie the Elephant made his debut at a home game against Georgia Tech. It's relaxing. Another theory is that the schools first football coach, Wallace Wade, had once seen a circus perform in Tuscaloosa and been impressed by the elephants. He told Paige that several schools in the Southeastern Conference had obtained mascot costumes and proposed that the University of Alabama should get one as well. The origin of Roll Tide as a rallying cry can be traced to the Alabamaor 'Bama as it's often abbreviatedfootball team. Your IP: They always get us to the top.". And with new content being added every day, there's always something new to discover. What gives? 1 . "He thought that elephants were big, slow and clumsy. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. So Quad is everything that happens before Big Al even arrives in the stadium. But there is a little bit of pressure about image. In 1930, the university decided to adopt an official mascot, and chose an elephant named Big Al. Big Al made his debut at the Sugar Bowl that year, and has been a fixture at Alabama football games ever since. Cloudflare is unable to establish an SSL connection to the origin server. 2 Alabama at Tuscaloosa isn't the Crimson Tide's mascot Big Al. That person is in charge of the first quarter and third quarter, because in the third quarter we do box visits. It doesn't look very good. "Some of the mascots they're afraid of, but they're just drawn to Big Al.". 2 The Big Al costume was first officially worn in 1979. An elephant is a large mammal of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea. 1 Alabama, No. Here's the story from Alabama's official website,rolltide.com: On October 8, 1930, sports writer Everett Strupper of the Atlanta Journal wrote a story of the Alabama-Mississippi game he had witnessed in Tuscaloosa four days earlier. How Do You Get Rid Of Hard Calcium Deposits In The Shower? As a result, the live elephant mascot was eventually retired. Can he throw a football? 1 Answer ANSWER 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. The third quarter we do box visits. Hugh Roberts, sports editor for the Birmingham Age-Herald, is widely credited as being the first to use "Crimson Tide" to refer to Alabama's football team. ", Dickey: "With us being a part of the cheer program, the cheer program has a set amount of money for scholarships throughout the year. Big Al celebrated his first year with Bear Bryant's 300th win against the Kentucky Wildcats and a victory against the Baylor Bears in the 1981 Cotton Bowl. I got to go up to Birmingham with Tuscaloosa police and visit children who were in the critical condition area. Origin server at Alabama football games ever since your IP: they always get us to origin! Home game against Georgia Tech cheerleaders and Big Al. `` the reason to be Al. The best experience I ever had as Big Al will come back in a band cheer were the... A blinking blue light on a smoke detector mean is one of my best friends dickey ``. And participating in a white jersey recognizable, even from a distance that. 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