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Faith is one thing that Alabama has, and feeding it is a highly organized operation renowned not only for its success, but also its profitability. 'Bama football has paid for half of a $4.9 million coliseum, an indoor pool, a $1.1 million track complex and a prairie of varsity tennis courts. But these bonuses come after costs like $175,000 a year in airfare to out-of-town games. Alabama football is a way of life—first class.
For the Bear's players, wearing the red jersey means being part of a tradition that reaches back to Don Hutson, Bart Starr, Lee Roy Jordan and Joe Namath. Says Defensive Back Andy Gothard: "Football at Alabama is earthly heaven." For the majority of students, the equation seems simple: by their football you shall know them. Cleo Thomas, Alabama's first black student-body president, says: "A national identity from football is all we have. If we had a losing season, we'd be nobody. We're gambling our pride and respect for the school on one thing—athletics." To participate in the quest for identity, students endure a struggle for out-of-town-game tickets that rivals a World Series. Lines form 20 hours before the ticket windows open. Patient under umbrellas, students will gladly wait out a long night and a lashing storm for the privilege of paying their $8.
Game Fixture. The archetype of the Alabama fan—indeed of all football-seized Southerners—is Birmingham Hardware Distributor Tony Brandino, who never attended the university. Since 1954 he has made it to 239 Crimson Tide games in a row, traveling as far as California and forgoing, among other things, a free trip to Switzerland and the mourning period for his mother-in-law. Brandino recalls: "The first time I ever heard about football, I was nine years old and it was a radio broadcast of the 1925 Rose Bowl—Alabama v. Washington. I've been hooked since." Brandino and his crimson-and-white 28-ft. motor home are a fixture at Alabama games. Friends, former players, curious passers-by stop by for drinks as Superfan grills pregame steaks. Says Brandino: "Football is a passion around which we order our lives. We make friendships over football and we strain friendships. But mostly, football holds us together—especially when we beat one of those big Northern schools." On this year's schedule: Notre Dame. Roll, Tide!