Now, $5 these days not be a lot of money, but about 60 years ago it was heavy-duty cash and well worth the risks of taking on some carnival carnivore in front of an audience.
He was poor, you see, dirt poor, as were most of the good people in southern Arkansas at the time.
He was born in the boonies in a place around Kingsland that they called Morro Bottoms on a September day in 1913.
GROWING UP DURING his these times was hard -- boys became men when they should have been playing like boys. Young fellows like him quickly found themselves behind a plow every morning before school and then back behind it again as the sun passed well into the Texas horizon.
But there was a way out of this world for him and no, it was not wrestling animals. It was football. He loved the game and the challenges it presented.
"My attitude has always been if it's worth playing, it's worth paying the price to win," he would say years later in life.
That philosophy forged his teenage years when played on the Morro high school team. He was big and strong, but more importantly he had that spirit, the kind of drive that picks you up off the field and puts you back on the line when you're too tired to walk. And he played with the same intensity throughout the game, even when he was hurt.
HE BECAME AN ALL-STATER and graduated from high school as the Depression was raging.
His football skills led the University of Alabama to come calling on this big, strong plowboy from Arkansas. The school was looking to sustain the glory of the mid-1920s when it had won the national championship in back-to-back seasons under the legendary Wallace Wade. And they thought this kid could help them do just that, so they handed him a scholarship and off he went to the Yellowhammer State.
Yes, he was good, but his years at 'Bama were also the years of the Notre Dame, Michigan and USC football machines. So there were no national titles. Still, the Tide was able to capture the first two SEC crowns -- in 1933-34.
His playing days ceased when they took away the pigskin and handed him a sheepskin. He was just 23 but the Alabama coaching staff knew this kid was something special. There was only one thing to do -- they hired him as an assistant.
"IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOURSELF and have pride and never quit, you'll be a winner," he said. "The price of victory is high but so are the rewards."
The years passed, World War II came and when the shooting had stopped, Alabama was back on top of the SEC.
After serving for four years in the Navy, it was also time to get back to work and to forge a career in the sport he so dearly loved. Maryland offered him the head coaching job in 1945, and he gladly took it. It was a short-lived stop, however, because the following year, Kentucky knocked on his door and he moved back to the South. The Wildcats had heard about this tough, young coach who took his football as serious as most people take religion. It was war, you see. And wars were meant to be won. His stay in Lexington, Ky., lasted seven years, and his reputation for being brilliant at refining offenses and defenses was starting to form.
He took the Wildcats to the top of the SEC in 1951 with a 5-1 conference record and capped it with a 13-7 victory over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. The following year, he added a Cotton Bowl win, 20-17, over TCU. Seven years, four bowls. A darn good record for a young and learning coach.
THE YEAR 1954 was a moving time once again, however, and so he packed up and headed off to Texas when the Aggies offered him a job. He had the formula for success, you see, and now he wanted to test it out at another school.
"Our game plan is first year, a .500 season. Second year, a conference championship. Third year, undefeated. Fourth, a national championship. And by the fifth year, we'll be on probation, of course," he once joked.
But he wasn't totally lying. Two years after he started at Texas A&M, his team won the Southwest Conference.
Yes, he saddled his players with some of the toughest practices and yes, many good players didn't make it with this man. But he knew how to win and when the next school came calling in 1958, history was made.
Who is he? If you don't know, then click here for the rest of this story.
Wow, your site is like so cool! Groovy! Confirm a rumor for me: I hear there is a really good trivia test on a rival site. Is this true? If so, could you link to it?
-- From a Sherman D. fan at a Udaman com.
Hiya, Sherman fan! It's good to hear from you after all these years. In reply to your question, however, I know of no other good trivia sites out there on the Net. Why go anyplace but here?
Trivia man -- What does "tickle the twine" really mean?
-- From the Fangster who has one too many .nets these days.
Fang, you are good, but you can't stump me here. It's a swish shot, of course. You're talking to an ol' pickup gamer.
I would like to know whom did Pete Rose get the hit off of to break Ty Cobb's record. I bet you don't know!
-- From Rick the Red at a Cincy kind of com.
You'd lose that bet, Rick. It was San Diego's Eric Show. That gave Pete No. 4,192.
So, Irishman, how did you like that pickin' on Saturday?
-- From a D. Vermeil at some .net in St. Louie.
Way to go, Dickster. You definitely got the best player available (Ohio State's Orlando Pace). Now, when Lawrence Phillips gets out of line, put Pace to good use. Have him pancake him early and often.
1) How many national titles did he win (bonus point if you get the years, too)? Give up?
2) Whose record did he broke for the most coaching victories all-time? Give up?
3) How wins did he finish with? Give up?
4) How many loses did he collect? Give up?
5) How many bowl games did he take the Tide to? Give up?
Mike Emmett has been kicking around sports departments in newspapers and online operations around the U.S. for years. Got something to say to the Irishman? Email him with a click here.
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