Clash of Titans

A native of Tennessee, Wallace Wade played guard at Brown University from 1914-16 under Hall of Fame Coach Edward Robinson. "Coach Robinson taught me a lot about football," Wade recalled. "He was a good coach who stressed fundamentals like blocking and tackling, and he was a good organizer. Many things I learned under Coach Robinson I used later in my coaching career."

Wade returned to Tennessee after college and a two-year stint in the Army to coach football at the high school level. His success caught the eye of Dan McGugin, the football coach at Vanderbilt who ran the most accomplished program in the South. McGugin hired Wade as a coach and director of athletics. Doing more of the day-to-day coaching than his boss, Wade helped make the Vandy defense even more formidable. The Commodores shut out their opponents in 13 of the 17 games they played while Wade was McGugin's assistant.

Alabama Hires Wade

Both Kentucky and Alabama were in the market for new head coaches for the 1923 season. Both schools contacted Wade. He interviewed for the Kentucky job first. After the interview, the athletic committee asked him to leave the room so they could talk. After waiting three hours, Wade stormed into the room and told them to forget it. He was going to Alabama. He also vowed, "The University of Kentucky will never win a football game from a team of mine." Wade would go 11-0 against the Wildcats in his years at Alabama and Duke.

Dr. George Denny became president of the University of Alabama in 1912. He saw football as a recruiting tool not only to bring players to campus but also students. He wanted to make Alabama a nationally-known school.

Denny hired Xen Scott to coach football in 1919 right after World War I. The move paid off as Scott compiled an 29-9-3 record over the next four years. During that period, student enrollment increased from 1,165 to 2,683. Other schools in the South imitated Denny's plan over the next decade, and Southern football improved dramatically during the early 1920s.

In 1923, Wade inherited a solid Alabama program from Scott, who resigned to battle the mouth and tongue cancer that would take his life less than two years later at age 41.

A perfectionist who hated to lose, Wade led the Crimson Tide to a 7-2-1 record in 1923. A season-ending upset at the hands of Florida cost the Tide the Southern Conference championship.

Wade was actually the first "Bear" to coach Alabama. That was what his players called him. "Not to his face, though," said Fred Sington, an outstanding lineman in the early 1930s. "He was rough and tough, and that's why we called him Bear."

"All the boys were scared of him," said Hoyt Winslett, a star on Wade's 1924, '25, and '26 teams. "They called him Bear because they feared him."

1924 Tide Lives Up to Wade's Hope

Wade had high hopes for his 1924 team led by two outstanding junior running backs: Johnny Mack Brown and Pooley Hubert, who was elected captain.

L-R: Xen Scott, Wallace Wade, Johnny Mack Brown, Grant Gillis
(University of Alabama Corolla Yearbook Class of 1925)

Featured Player

Pooley Hubert might never have played for Alabama if the Southern Railway had run to Athens, Georgia. The native of Meridian MS dropped out of high school to fight in World War I. Then he attended Missouri Military Academy where he played football.
"I had a scholarship to Princeton," he recalled, "but I got up there too late. ... Then I decided I'd try to go South. I stopped off at Virginia for a couple of weeks, but I didn't especially like it. I went to Georgia Tech and stayed around two or three days, but I was too late, and they didn't let freshmen play.

"Coach Alexander recommended I go to the University of Georgia... I asked him if the Southern Railway went to Athens, and he said no. So I asked him what was the next school on the Southern, and he said Alabama."

Alabama used single-wing, spread, and short punt formations. Wade moved his backs around like checkers. "I played fullback, blocking back and tailback. (Grant) Gillis played wingback and tailback. Brown played wingback and tailback, and Barnes played blocking back and fullback."
"Gillis could throw well. Brown couldn't pass at all but was a good receiver and running back."

Pooley Hubert

The 1924 Crimson Tide won their first four games by a combined score of 140-0. The only solid team they faced was Sewanee in Game 4, which the Tide won by just 14-0. Next came a much more formidable challenge–Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

Georgia Tech 4-0

Bill Alexander's fifth Georgia Tech team was also undefeated in four games but with a tie to Florida in Game 3. The Golden Tornado were coming off a 15-13 victory over Penn State that left them battered.

Bobby Dodd, who followed Alexander as head coach at Tech, described Bill this way: "Alex could growl and snap and carry on something awful. He would chase a visiting photographer off the field. Then he'd try to get a local photographer to help out the fellow he chased. When it came down to an emergency, he was your guy."

Dodd continued, "He had the football know-how of Knute Rockne, the sense of humor and storyteller ability of Mark Twain, the storehouse of miscellaneous information of a John Kieran or Oscar Levant, and the sympathetic understanding of Dorothy Dix."

Georgia Tech's star player was junior FB Doug Wycoff. As a sophomore, Wycoff made the All-Southern team. He was not only an excellent runner and passer but was also an outstanding defensive back and punter.

L-R: Bill Alexander, Doug Wycoff, Grant Gillis
(Georgia Institute of Technology Blueprint Yearbook Class of 1925)

Hundreds of Crimson Tide fans arrived in Atlanta by train Saturday morning. They paraded downtown behind the celebrated Alabama Million Dollar band and joined the 15,000 in the stands at Grant Field on a cool, overcast afternoon.

Bama Scores First

The teams sparred in the first half with neither side coming close to scoring. Finally, in the last minutes before intermission, Wycoff punted over Alabama's goal line. Starting from the 20, Brown gained seven, and Hubert added five more for a first down. Brown then got loose on a 31y dash to Tech's 37. Grant Gillis took the next snap and fired a long pass that Brown caught over his shoulder in stride on the seven and took into the end zone with less than 30 seconds left in the half. William Buckler kicked the goal. Alabama 7-0

Wycoff lamented years later, "We outgained them all afternoon but could not score. Then, on the last play of the half, Hubert lateral to Grant Gillis who passed to Johnny Mack Brown. The play went 28y for a touchdown, but to this day I believe he stepped out of bounds."

Johnny Mack Brown dashes 31y to the Tech 37.
(University of Alabama Corolla Yearbook, Class of 1925)

Bama Doubles Its Lead

The Tornado started the second half strong with a drive that reached the Alabama six. But a penalty set them back, and the Tide line held fast and took over on downs.

Alabama doubled their lead in the fourth quarter as dusk set in. "Midget halfback" David Rosenfeld sparked the drive with a "remarkable" 43y run from his 48 to the Tech nine. Hubert gained four and then two before Rosenfeld got the six points from the three. Buckler again kicked goal. Alabama 14-0

The Golden Tornado took to the air to no avail, and the game ended with Alabama on Tech's ten following an interception by Emile "Red" Barnes.

FINAL SCORE: ALABAMA 14 GEORGIA TECH 0.

Alabama's defeat of the team that had beaten Penn State the year before earned the Tide national acclaim.

It was Tech's first defeat at the hands of a southern team since Auburn turned the trick in 1919. "It was the height of frustration losing that game," said Wycoff years later.

References:
Great College Football Coaches of the Twenties and Thirties, Tim Cohane (1973)
The Crimson Tide: A Story of Alabama Football, Clyde Bolton (1973)
The Ramblin' Wreck: A Story of Georgia Tech Football, Al Thomy (1974)
Century of Champions: The Centennial History of Alabama Football, Wayne Hester (1991)
Always Alabama: A History of Crimson Tide Football, Don Wade (2006)
Wallace Wade: Championship Years at Alabama and Duke, Lewis Bowling (2010)
Sixteen and Counting: The National Championships of Alabama Football, ed. Kenneth Gaddy (2017)