After watching Alabama and rival Auburn play to a 6-6 tie in Birmingham in November 1907, Roberts reportedly described the game as a “crimson tide” after Auburn was expected to win, but Alabama played its rival to a draw in muddy conditions. The term became associated with Alabama football.
The origin of the phrase is not known with certainty, but it may have been coined by either W. C. Halstead or John David Parker. Both men were sports writers for the Montgomery Advertiser who covered games between 1907 and 1909. They argued about which team was superior, Alabama or Auburn. In their columns they used the terms “red tide” and “crimson tide” to describe the dominance both teams had in their respective states at the time. It is believed that they may have been trying to insult each other’s audiences by calling Alabama’s players red-shirted ones while referring to Auburn’s players as true ones.
There are two theories about why they called Alabama’s players red-shirted ones. One theory is that it had something to do with an agreement between the schools not to recruit students from the other school. In other words, if one school recruited better than the other school, that school would give its players the opportunity to play early. This is possible, but there is no direct evidence that such an agreement existed.
Hugh Roberts, the Birmingham Age-sports Herald’s editor, is largely credited for coining the term “crimson Tide” to describe to Alabama’s football squad. Roberts coined the phrase to describe Alabama’s unexpected performance in a rain-soaked 6-6 draw with widely fancied Auburn in 1907. The following year, the Crimson Tide went on to win its first national championship.
Roberts used the word “crimson” to describe the color of the uniforms worn by Alabama during its first season of play. The word had been used previously by other publications to describe the Crimson Rose Society club at the University of Alabama. However, it was Roberts who is credited with popularizing the word “crimson” to describe the team itself.
The age of television has only served to enhance the fame of the Crimson Tide. Since the 1950s, Alabama has appeared in over 100 televised games and has never lost. The average attendance at Legion Field during this time was 52,000, which makes Alabama one of the most popular teams in sports.
In addition to being one of the most popular teams in Alabama, the Crimson Tide is also among the most successful. From 1907 to 2011, Alabama played in 10 bowl games and won eight times. The Tide’s overall record is 92-40-3.
Although Columbia did not go undefeated during its season, many consider the 1892 team to be the first true champion of college football.
After initially going by the names “varsity,” “Crimson White” (the school colors), and “The Thin Red Line,” Birmingham Age-Herald sports editor Hugh Roberts coined the term “Crimson Tide” in 1907 to describe ‘Bama’s heroic effort in holding heavily favored Auburn to a 6—6 tie in a mud-soaked game that had the ‘Bama players chanting “CRIMSON TIDE!” as they marched off the field victorious.
An early 20th-century edition of Webster’s Dictionary defined the word as “a massing together of many small forces into something larger; a group.” Today, the definition has evolved along with the word’s usage to include “an accumulation or gathering of many things.” As a metaphor, it is often applied to describe an unstoppable force that overwhelms its opponents.
In 1945, English author ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER CLARKE popularized the term in his novel CRIMSON TELEGRAM. The story was set during World War II in England, and the phrase was used to describe a secret message system based on the color red sent from one station to another to warn of an attack or other emergency situation.
Hugh Roberts, former sports editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald, is credited with coining the name “Crimson Tide” in an article chronicling the 1907 Iron Bowl, in which Auburn was the big favorite to win. The contest took place in a sea of red dirt, which dyed Alabama’s white uniforms scarlet. The headline writer for the Daily News (now the Birmingham News), where Roberts worked at the time as sports editor, may have been influenced by the term’s usage in describing Roberts’ writing.
The nickname has since become synonymous with dominance on and off the field. In addition to its use by Alabama fans, it is also popular among students of other universities that compete with the Tide for sports supremacy. Examples include: Penn State’s Blue Tide; Michigan’s Wolverine Greyhound; Ohio State’s Buckeye Bullet; Florida’s Gators; California’s Golden Bears; Miami (Ohio) University’s Redhawks; and Wichita State’s Wichita Eagle Boys Basketball Team.
An early reference to the name can be found in a newspaper article from October 30, 1911. The Montgomery Advertiser reported that during the previous season Auburn had adopted as its mascot a crimson tide that had swept through the city after the university’s football team defeated Alabama 7-6 in 1910. It is believed that this is the first use of the name in print.
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