NONFICTION
“Rising Tide: Bear Bryant, Joe Namath & Dixie’s Last Quarter”
by Randy Roberts and Ed Krzemienski
Grand Central Publishing, 437 pages, $28
When Bear Bryant ordered University of Alabama freshman Joe Namath to climb up the coach’s tower high atop the practice field in 1961, it signaled a partnership that launched a new era in college football.
It was apparently the first time that Bryant had allowed anyone — player, coach or visiting dignitary — to join him in his private sanctuary. Randy Roberts and Ed Krzemienski describe the ensuing meeting, in which Namath could barely understand a word the coach spoke, as a clash of cultures: “North and South, young and old, brash and conservative.”
Despite their differences, the hard-nosed coach and his free-spirited quarterback would combine to put the Crimson Tide on a path to becoming not only a successful college team but also a source of pride to people in Alabama and throughout the South.
Their years together fueled the growing popularity of college football and coincided with the unfolding of the civil rights struggle that emerged as the defining news story of the early 1960s. “Rising Tide” weaves the two elements in an informative and entertaining narrative with broad appeal.
Football and race were the top concerns among white Alabamans during this time, and the two would quickly intersect. While Bryant and Namath were making history on the gridiron, Alabama dominated front-page headlines with the dispatch of federalized National Guardsmen to integrate the university, the Birmingham church bombing that killed four girls and civil rights demonstrations that led to the historic march at Selma.
The book chronicles all of Namath’s games at Alabama and offers a comprehensive account of the ethics scandals that threatened to derail Bryant’s career. The narrative ends with Namath signing a $427,000 contract with the New York Jets, a staggering figure intended to burnish the upstart American Football League. By contrast, Bryant was getting $17,500 a year as Alabama’s coach and athletic director.
This book is sure to appeal to the legions of Alabama fans, as well as others for whom the SEC is a football conference and not a securities regulator. By weaving the events of the civil rights movement into the story, the authors will likely draw in readers whose interests go beyond the sports pages.
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