Gene Stallings is still going. At 89 years old, he’s moving a bit slower, but still has a crusher of a handshake, strength that betrays his time as a football player, and a rancher, north of Paris, Texas.

The man who coached Alabama from 1990-96 was in Tuscaloosa on Thursday, attending a fundraiser for children at the UA RISE Center. Stallings said he’d left his ranch behind for the evening to make the trip.

“Instead of working the cattle, I just drive around and look at them now,” Stallings said. “Without my golf cart I’d be lost, but I like to drive around and just look at things and remember the way things were a long time ago when I first bought it.”

The RISE Center helps young children with disabilities. Stallings began supporting it shortly after becoming the Crimson Tide’s head coach back in 1990.

The mission was personal for Stallings, who raised a special needs son of his own. These days, the RISE Center sits on Johnny Stallings Drive in Tuscaloosa, in honor of his late son.

Sitting in a chair at the NorthRiver Yacht Club, Stallings spoke of his love for the program.

“What a joy it is to be affiliated with the program,” he said. “It gives them lots of opportunities for youngsters to go to school where they wouldn’t have that chance ordinarily.”

Stallings visited Tuscaloosa during a time of transition for the program he won a national title with in 1992. Kalen DeBoer just took over for Nick Saban, who had revived the Tide, ending a lull that followed Stallings’ tenure and building one of the sport’s greatest dynasties.

The main advice Stallings had for DeBoer was to avoid his start. Stallings lost his first three games at Alabama.

“I do not advise anybody go into Alabama and start out (0-3), Stallings said. “We finished pretty good, but we didn’t start out that way.”

Stallings said DeBoer had an excellent run at Washington. However, he cautioned that the SEC is a different animal.

The old coach also acknowledged the unique challenge UA’s new leader faces.

“I think he got a good job,” Stallings said. “But following coach Saban’s going to be extremely tough.”

After Stallings visited with local media, he was off to see some of his former players, a reunion he said would be a “joy”. Thursday evening’s agenda included a silent auction for the RISE Program at the yacht club.

He planned on flying back to Texas on Friday. At his age, the coach said he wasn’t extending his trip back to Tuscaloosa.

“When you get 90 years old, no place like home,” Stallings said