Who has played the most significant role in Alabama sports history?
Motivated by a discussion on ESPN earlier this week, we are attempting to respond to that query. Most significant is a rather arbitrary term that we interpret to encompass not only physical prowess on the field but also notoriety and cultural influence.
Given that this state has produced numerous outstanding individuals in the sports world throughout the years, it’s not an easy undertaking. However, we have selected ten that, in our opinion, best address the aforementioned query.
Those who were born and raised in Alabama, or who established their careers in the state, were taken into consideration for this list. Therefore, we do not include sports legends like Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, and Mia Hamm who were born in the state but departed as young children to pursue their careers elsewhere.
This is our list:
10. Vonetta Jeffery Flowers
Born in Birmingham, Flowers was a seven-time All-American track and field sprinter and long jumper at UAB who helped pave the way for African-Americans and women in winter sports. She became the first Black athlete (male or female) from any nation to win gold at the Winter Olympics in 2002 when she and Jill Bakken won the Olympic gold medal in the two-person bobsled in Salt Lake City. After competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and winning a bronze medal at the 2004 World Championships, Flowers took a break from sport to raise a family with her husband, Johnny. In 2011, she was chosen to join the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
9. Bobby Allison
During his peak in the 1970s and 1980s, Allison, the head of NASCAR’s Alabama Gang, contributed to the transformation of stock-car racing from a local business to a national phenomenon. For more than 20 years, Allison was one of the most well-liked drivers on the circuit, racing alongside brother Donnie Allison, Red Farmer, Neil, and David Bonnett, who were all from Hueytown, as well as later sons Davey and Clifford Allison. In addition to his 85 Cup title victories (including four at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway), he won the Winston Cup points title in 1983 and the Daytona 500 three times. Allison was voted one of the 75 Greatest Drivers in the sport in 2023 and is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame.
8. Satchel Paige
The exploits of Paige, the timeless Mobile native who may be the greatest pitcher of all time, are largely responsible for what we know about the Negro Leagues, despite the fact that Major League Baseball and independent researchers have done a good job in recent years of highlighting pre-integration Black baseball in this country. Paige is said to have won close to 2,000 games during his career, which included barnstorming demonstrations, international competition, and formal league competitions. His career continued until he was almost 60. Along with being a well-known showman and eccentric figure, he is also recognized for his Six Rules for Staying Young, which have become part of popular culture.
7. Bobby Bowden
Born in Birmingham and a graduate of Howard (now Samford), Bowden left his home state to become one of the best college football coaches in history. He won 316 games, 21 bowl games, 12 conference crowns, and national titles in 1993 and 1999 during his 34-year tenure at Florida State, which ran from 1976 to 2009. From 1987 until 2000, Bowden’s Seminoles consistently placed in the top five of the final national rankings. In addition, he won 73 more games at Howard and West Virginia, bringing his career total to 389 wins. In 2006, Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame after winning two national Coach of the Year awards.
6. Charles Barkley
Barkley, who was born in Leeds, won the SEC Player of the Year award at Auburn in 1984. During his 16-year NBA career, from 1984 to 2000, he was named an All-Star 11 times and won the league MVP award. Additionally, he played a significant role in the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team, which won the Barcelona tournament and contributed to the game’s global boom. After his playing career ended, the outspoken Barkley, who was a member of the NBA’s 50th and 75th anniversary all-time teams, gained even more notoriety as a broadcaster on the Emmy Award-winning Inside the NBA studio show on TNT and as an advertising pitchman.
5. Willie Mays
Mays, arguably the greatest baseball player in history, was born and raised in Birmingham’s Westfield district. At the age of 17, he played for the Black Barons of the Negro American League before joining the New York Giants in 1950. In a 22-year career, he was the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year, a 24-time All-Star, a 12-time Gold Glove winner, and a two-time National League Most Valuable Player. His 660 career home runs rank sixth in MLB history. A member of MLB’s All-Century Team and an induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, Mays is mainly famous for his incredible catch in deep center field in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, which many consider to be the greatest spectacular defensive play in the history of the game.
4. Nick Saban
During his 17-year career at Tuscaloosa, Saban, a native of West Virginia, brought Alabama football back to its former glory and assembled what may have been the longest run of continuous coaching success in college football history. His Crimson Tide teams won six national titles, nine SEC titles, and 206 games with just 29 losses. Saban’s record seven national titles as a coach includes 2003 at LSU. While at Alabama, Saban was the SEC Coach of the Year four times, coached three Heisman Trophy winners, and produced 76 first-team All-Americans. He also earned at least one national Coach of the Year Award in six different seasons. After retiring at the end of the 2023 season, Saban entered the broadcasting industry and earned an Emmy for his first year of work on ESPN’s College GameDay pre-game show. He will be enshrined into the College Football Hall of Fame in December.
3. Bo Jackson
Jackson was the most well-known athlete on the planet in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was a baseball and football star and a common advertising pitchman. The Bessemer native startled many when he publicly said he would pursue two sports at the professional level, something no one had done successfully in decades. He did this after winning the Heisman Trophy and the SEC Male Athlete of the Year award at Auburn in 1985. Jackson was selected to the Pro Bowl with the NFL’s Los Angeles Raiders the following year and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1989 MLB All-Star Game. However, a serious hip injury sustained in a January 1991 postseason game terminated Jackson’s football career. Nevertheless, he played baseball for a few more years with the California Angels and Chicago White Sox, hitting a home run in his first at-bat after hip replacement surgery in 1993.
2. Paul Bear Bryant
Even though Saban broke a lot of his records, Bryant’s contributions during his 25-year stint from 1958 to 1982 laid the groundwork for Alabama football as it exists today. Bryant was born in Arkansas, played end for the 1934 Rose Bowl-winning Crimson Tide, and more than 20 years later, he was back at his alma mater as head coach. Bryant retired as the most successful coach in major-college football history, having won 323 games over 25 seasons, 13 SEC Championships, and six national titles. During his heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, Bryant became a household name in Alabama and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986. He was also a 12-time SEC Coach of the Year and a three-time National Coach of the Year. His burial in 1983, when he passed away just 28 days after coaching the Crimson Tide’s final game, was a day of sadness for the entire state, with hundreds of people attending ceremonies and thousands more following the parade as it traveled from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham.
1. Hank Aaron
For over 30 years, Hammerin Hank, a native of Mobile, held the most renowned record in all of sports. Throughout his career with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers, Aaron was a 25-time All-Star, National Rookie of the Year, MVP, and World Series champion. On April 8, 1974, he hit his 715th home run, surpassing a record many believed would never be broken and surpassing Babe Ruth as baseball’s Home Run King. Despite being inundated with racial hate mail and even death threats, he handled it with dignity and humility. Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s home run record in 2007, but he still owns MLB career records for extra-base hits (1,477), runs batted in (2,297), and total bases (6,856). In addition to being chosen to MLB’s All-Century Team in 1999, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.
Honorable mention
(in alphabetical order)
John Heisman, Wendell Hudson, Wilbur Jackson, Ralph Shug Jordan, Joe Namath, Ozzie Newsome, James Owens, Sarah Patterson, Bruce Pearl, Bart Starr, Pat Sullivan, Wallace Wade, Gene Bartow, Sylvester Croom, Alice Coachman Davis, Mike Donahue, Pat Dye, Rowdy Gaines, and John Heisman.
Having written about sports for numerous media since 1994, Creg Stephenson has been employed at AL.com since 2010. Contact him via email at [email protected].
