View all Streaming Sites. More Movie News ». More FS Movie News ». View all Movies Sites. More TV News ». More FS Entertainment News ». View all TV Shows Sites. More Reality TV News ». In a recent ranking of college mascots , Big Al was ranked 20th. While it was an honor to make the list, Big Al still deserves more respect. There is a lot that makes a college mascot great. Most mascots are cliche. Lions and tigers and bears have a history of being used in all sports.
The beauty of a mascot is that it takes an intimidating team name and creates a friendly persona. While other mascots do this as well, there is something about the cuteness of a silent elephant that shakes his stomach and poses with young fans during games. In the Sugar bowl, Alabama presented the Big Al elephant mascot for the first time. However, the University had been associated with the elephant since the season.
On October 8, , sports writer Everett Strupper of the Atlanta Journal wrote a story of the Alabama-Mississippi game he had witnessed in Tuscaloosa four days earlier.
When those big brutes hit you I mean you go down and stay down, often for an additional two minutes. Espey, who died in , told the Tuscaloosa News that Bryant said "never to let that big rat get anywhere near me. A letter to the editor in the CW again called for a mascot citing "a sultry piece of poultry," down at Auburn.
Though nobody seems to know what or where it came from, there are photos floating around of a white costumed bear on the sidelines of the Iron Bowl. Another crude attempt at a crimson elephant appeared at the Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Penn State. It was all crimson with a boxy head. Alabama won It would be a few more years until anything now recognizable appeared. Big Al is born. Bryant, still resistant to mascots in the late s, got another pitch from students.
This time it worked and Disney was commissioned to make the suit. Big Al debuted at the Sugar Bowl. Hugh Dye was the first to wear the now-iconic outfit as Alabama beat Arkansas to win the national title. It looks fairly similar to the version of the suit Mosella wears today. He said pictures of the original Big Al included the cheek vents still used in the Big Al. At one point, mascot fights were a big deal and Big Al was involved in one of the more famous tussles. His extended conflict with the Southern Miss golden eagle in still exists in video form.
Today, there's somewhat of a gentleman's agreement to avoid physical contact between the masked adversaries within the SEC.
Big Al of the 21st century is a long way from the stray dogs of the s, the donkey of the s and the actual elephants of the s and 50s.
It has a carefully crafted image that's become a dominant symbol not just for the football program, but the university as a whole. The original Big Al costume now stands, fittingly, in the museum named for Bear Bryant. Flanked by photos of a few early attempts, the exhibit honors the late 20th century of Alabama mascots.
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