AP No. 4 Captain Leroy Monsky | 1937 record 9–1 (6–0 SEC) | |
Conference Southeastern Conference Head coach Frank Thomas (7th year) Home stadium Denny Stadium
Legion Field | ||
The 1937 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1937 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 44th overall and 5th season as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team was led by head coach Frank Thomas, in his seventh year, and played their home games at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa and Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. They finished the season with a record of nine wins and one loss (9–1 overall, 6–0 in the SEC), as SEC champions and with a loss against California in the 1938 Rose Bowl.
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The Crimson Tide opened the season with three consecutive shutouts against Howard, Sewanee and South Carolina. In their fourth game, Alabama surrendered their first points of the season on defense in their 14–7 victory over Tennessee. They then shutout their next two opponents, George Washington and Kentucky prior to their game at Tulane. Against the Green Wave, the Crimson Tide won 9–6 on a game-winning fourth-quarter field goal by Hayward Sanford. After their sixth shutout of the season against Georgia Tech, Alabama won their second game of the season on a fourth quarter Sanford field goal against Vanderbilt, and clinched the SEC championship with the win. With their undefeated regular season, Alabama accepted an invitation to play in the 1938 Rose Bowl where they lost 13–0 to California.
Before the season
After the 1936 season, the first expansion of Denny Stadium was undertaken. The stadium originally opened for the 1929 season, and the concrete stands had a seating capacity of 12,000. The 1937 expansion included the construction of a 6,000 seat eastern addition that was utilized primarily by students. Its construction was financed with a combination of funding from both the university ($140,000) and a grant from the Public Works Administration ($90,000). Designed after the Yale Bowl, at the time of this expansion the school envisioned a build-out of Denny Stadium at a capacity of 66,000.
Schedule
Awards
After the season, Leroy Monsky was a consensus selection and both Joe Kilgrow and James Ryba were selected to various 1937 College Football All-America Teams.
NFL Draft
Several players that were varsity lettermen from the 1937 squad were drafted into the National Football League (NFL) between the 1938 and 1940 drafts. These players included the following: