Captain Joe Sharpe | 1931 record 9–1 (7–1 SoCon) | |
Home stadium Denny StadiumLegion FieldCramton Bowl | ||
The 1931 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1931 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 38th overall and 10th season as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The team was led by head coach Frank Thomas, in his first year, and played their home games at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, at Legion Field in Birmingham and at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. They finished the season with a record of nine wins and one loss (9–1 overall, 7–1 in the SoCon).
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The Crimson Tide won the Southern Conference championship, the 1931 Rose Bowl and a share of the national championship in Wallace Wade's final year at Alabama. The Crimson Tide lost all of the starters from their 10–0 1930 team except for Johnny Cain, but still played almost as well. With Frank Thomas hired as Wade's successor, Alabama won their first three games of the 1931 season against Howard, Ole Miss and Mississippi A&M before they suffered their only loss of the season against Tennessee. The Crimson Tide responded from the loss to win their final five regular season games against Sewanee, Kentucky, Florida, Clemson and Vanderbilt. Alabama then competed in a pair of charity games scheduled in early November to follow the regular season finale against Vanderbilt. In these two games, the Crimson Tide defeated Chattanooga and then three separate Washington, D.C. schools in an exhibition that featured an all-star collection of former Crimson Tide players.
Although Alabama did have considerable success on the field, tragedy did strike the team on November 17 when freshman center James Richard Nichols died from complications due to a spinal injury he suffered during a football practice. His death was the first major accident associated with the Alabama football program in its history.
Before the season
Prior to the start of the 1930 season, head coach Wallace Wade announced his resignation in order to become the head coach at Duke. On July 26, 1930, former Chattanooga head and then Georgia assistant coach Frank Thomas was announced as Wade's successor by the University Athletic Committee. Signed to a three-year contract, Thomas would take over as head coach on January 1, 1931, with the 1931 season being his first as head coach. In the 1930 season, Alabama finished the season undefeated, with a victory in the 1931 Rose Bowl and as national champions. For the 1931 season, coach Thomas retired Wade's single-wing offense and installed the Notre Dame Box formation that he learned as both a player and assistant coach at Notre Dame under Knute Rockne.
Schedule
Charity games
In early November, University officials announced the football team would participate in a pair of charity games after the scheduled season finale against Vanderbilt. The two games included one against Chattanooga where the 1931 squad would compete, and an all-star exhibition in Washington, D.C. that would feature graduating seniors and former Crimson Tide players. Each of the two games was played as part of a national campaign to raise money for unemployment relief due to the effects of the Great Depression.
Chattanooga
In the first of the two scheduled charity games, Alabama defeated the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion Chattanooga Moccasins 39–0 at Chamberlain Field. Alabama scored its first touchdown on the second play of the game on a 67-yard Howard Chappell run. In the second quarter, touchdowns were scored on a 41-yard Leon Long run and a five-yard Ben Smith run for an 18–0 halftime lead. The Crimson Tide then closed the game with three second half touchdowns: a 53-yard Long run, a Johnny Cain pass to Hillman Holley and on a short Chappell run. Both coach Thomas (from 1925 to 1928) and assistant coach Harold Drew (from 1929 to 1930) had previously served as head coach at Chattanooga. Although this was played as a charity game, Alabama does include the win in its all-time record. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Chattanooga to 4–0.
Washington charity game
After the first charity game against Chattanooga, an all-star team of former Alabama players was assembled to compete in the second charity game to benefit the unemployed. The game was played at Griffith Stadium and featured three separate contests against George Washington, Catholic University and Georgetown. Each of the three games consisted of two, ten-minute halves, and because the Alabama team was playing three separate squads, the Crimson Tide was allowed to make unlimited substitutions.
The players on the Alabama team were primarily from the current and 1930 team that captured the national championship, and were led by coach Thomas and assistant coach Hank Crisp. The players selected included: Dave Boykin, Herschel Caldwell, John Campbell, Joe Causey, C. B. "Foots" Clement, Edgar Dobbs, Jess Eberdt, Albert Elmore, Ellis Hagler, Frank Howard, Allison Hubert, Max Jackson, Leon Long, Ralph McRight, John Miller, Claude Perry, Clyde "Shorty" Propst, Joe Sharpe, Fred Sington, Ben Smith, Earl Smith, John Henry Suther, John Tucker and Jennings B. Whitworth.
With all three played on December 12, Alabama faced George Washington in the first contest. Although the game ended in a 0–0 tie, Alabama had several long plays that included a pair of successive runs by John Campbell for 75 yards and a 55-yard passing play from Allison Hubert to Campbell. The Crimson Tide then defeated Catholic University in the second game 7–0. The only score of the game was set up after Leon Long intercepted a Catholic pass at their own 42-yard line. After five runs for 31 yards by Hubert and one by Herschel Caldwell for three yards, Long scored the game-winning touchdown on a three-yard run. In the final game, Alabama tied Georgetown 0–0 after Long intercepted a Hoyas pass in the endzone on a fourth-and-three play late in the second period.