1909 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

The 1909 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1909 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 17th overall and 14th season as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA). The team was led by head coach J. W. H. Pollard, in his fourth year, and played their home games at the University of Alabama Quad in Tuscaloosa and the Birmingham Fairgrounds in Birmingham, Alabama. They finished the season with a record of five wins, one loss and two ties (5–1–2 overall, 4–1–1 in the SIAA).

1909 Alabama Crimson Tide football
Conference	Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
1909 record	5–1–2 (4–1–1 SIAA)
Head coach	J. W. H. Pollard (4th season)
Captain	Del Pratt
Home stadium	The Quad Birmingham Fairgrounds

1909 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Sewanee $	4	–	0	–	0			6	–	1	–	0
Vanderbilt	4	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Alabama	4	–	1	–	1			5	–	1	–	2
LSU	3	–	1	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
Georgia Tech	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Auburn	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	2	–	0
Howard (AL)	2	–	2	–	0			5	–	2	–	1
Clemson	2	–	2	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Ole Miss	1	–	2	–	1			4	–	3	–	2
Georgia	1	–	4	–	1			1	–	4	–	2
The Citadel	0	–	1	–	1			4	–	3	–	2
Mississippi A&M	0	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Mercer	0	–	4	–	0			3	–	5	–	0
Tennessee	0	–	5	–	0			1	–	6	–	2
$ – Conference champion

Defensively, Alabama had six consecutive shutouts to go 5–0–1 before they surrendered their first touchdown against Tulane in their 5–5 tie.[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
October 2	Union (TN)*	The Quad Tuscaloosa, AL	W 16–0
October 9	Howard (AL)	The Quad Tuscaloosa, AL	W 14–0
October 16	Clemson	Birmingham Fairgrounds Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	W 3–0
October 23	at Ole Miss	Mississippi State Fairgrounds Jackson, MS (rivalry)	T 0–0
October 30	at Georgia	Ponce de Leon Park Atlanta, GA (rivalry)	W 14–0
November 13	at Tennessee	Waite Field Knoxville, TN (rivalry)	W 10–0
November 20	at Tulane*	First Tulane Stadium New Orleans, LA	T 5–5
November 25	LSU	Birmingham Fairgrounds Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	L 6–12
*Non-conference game

[2][A 1]

Game summaries

Union (TN)

1 2 Total Union 0 0 0 • Alabama 0 16 16 Date: October 2, 1909 Location: The Quad • Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Alabama opened the season with this 16–0 victory over Union University at Tuscaloosa.[1][4] Although scoreless at the end of the first half, Alabama was in position several times to score. The Crimson Tide lost a fumble at the Union five yard line and Derrill Pratt missed field goals of 40, 45 and 53 yards.[4] Alabama scored its first touchdown on a short Jere Austill run early in the second half after the Crimson tide blocked a Union punt at their five-yard line.[4] Pratt and David Palmer scored Alabama's other two touchdowns later in the half en rote to the 16–0 win.[4] The victory brought Alabama's all-time record against Union to 1–0.[5]

Howard

1 2 Total Howard 0 0 0 • Alabama 7 7 14 Date: October 9, 1909 Location: The Quad • Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Against the Bulldogs, Alabama secured their second consecutive shutout to open the season with this 14–0 victory over Howard College (now known as Samford University).[1][4]

The victory brought Alabama's all-time record against Howard to 3–0.[6]

Clemson

Clemson was beaten by a 52-yard Del Pratt field goal.

Ole Miss

Ole Miss and Alabama fought to a scoreless tie.

Georgia

Georgia was beaten 14–0.

Tennessee

Tennessee was beaten 10–0.

Tulane

Tulane and Alabama tied 5–5.

LSU

Alabama completed their season with a 12–5 loss to LSU at Birmingham to finish 5–1–2.[1]

Roster

Alabama Crimson Tide 1909 roster[1]
	Backs Jere Austill Randall R. Brown Farley Moody Joseph Paul Mudd Thomas W. Palmer Del Pratt Adrian Van de Graaff		Ends Robert H. Bumgardner Ewing Carter Broox Cleveland Garrett Clarence S. Hurd Tackles H. W. Arant W. A. Barnes Louis Malone Finlay Owen Garside Gresham		Guards E. D. Greene W. H. Lumley John Miller G. W. Pratt Center C. C. Countess Kicker Everett Wilkinson Coaching staff J. W. H. Pollard – Head coach Hood Craddock – Manager

Notes

1. For the 1909 season, point values were different from those used in contemporary games. In 1909 a touchdown was worth five points, a field goal was worth three points and an extra point (PAT) was worth one point.[3]

References

General

• "1909 Season Recap" (PDF). RollTide.com. University of Alabama Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-02. Retrieved February 22, 2012.

Specific

1. 1909 Season Recap
2. "1909 Alabama football schedule". RollTide.com. University of Alabama Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original on December 2, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
3. "Scoring values". RollTide.com. University of Alabama Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original on December 2, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
4. "Alabama wins only by rally". Montgomery Advertiser. NewsBank: America's Historical Newspapers. October 3, 1909. p. 13.
5. "Alabama vs Union (TN)". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
6. "Alabama vs Samford (AL)". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on 2011-10-23. Retrieved November 2, 2014.