An incredible streak of Iron Bowl dominance began for Alabama in ’59

EDITOR’S NOTE: Every day until Aug. 29, Creg Stephenson is counting down significant numbers in Alabama football history, both in the lead-up to the 2025 football season and in commemoration of the Crimson Tide’s first national championship 100 years ago. The number could be attached to a year, a uniform number or even a football-specific statistic. We hope you enjoy.

Alabama has had some dominant runs in the Iron Bowl over the years.

The Crimson Tide beat Auburn nine consecutive years from 1973-81, a period in which it won seven SEC championships and three national titles. Alabama will carry a five-game winning streak against its in-state rival into the 2025 Iron Bowl.

But no run in the more than 75 years of the modern Iron Bowl has matched what Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Alabama teams did vs. Auburn from 1959-62. Not only did the Crimson Tide win all four of those games, but Auburn didn’t even score.

Alabama won 10-0 in 1959, snapping Auburn’s five-game winning streak in the series. The Crimson Tide edged the Tigers 3-0 in 1960 before turning up the juice in the latter two years.

Alabama won 34-0 in 1961 and 38-0 in 1962, the first of those two years part of a national championship season. Auburn would finally snap the streak with a 10-8 victory in 1963, but Alabama then reeled off five more in a row from 1964-68.

The four-game Iron Bowl shutout streak was part of Bryant’s Alabama program beginning to assert itself, and letting the rest of the SEC know what was in store over the next 25 years. His first Crimson Tide team finished 5-4-1, ending its season with a 14-8 loss to defending national champion Auburn at Legion Field on Nov. 29.

Alabama’s 1959 season began with a sputter, a 17-3 loss at Georgia. But the Crimson Tide went 6-0-2 after that, tying Vanderbilt and Tennessee (7-7 in each game).

Auburn was 7-2 coming into the Iron Bowl, with a 3-0 loss to Tennessee and a 14-13 defeat to Georgia. Ralph “Shug” Jordan’s Tigers had been 19-0-1 combined in 1957 and 1958, a 7-7 tie vs. Georgia Tech in the latter year keeping Auburn out of the running for back-to-back national championships (LSU, which finished 11-0, took home the title that season).

Tommy Brooker’s 27-yard field goal and Bobby Skelton’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Marlin “Scooter” Dyess accounted for all the points in the 1959 Iron Bowl. No. 19 Alabama’s defense held No. 11 Auburn to a mere 131 total yards, only 17 passing.

Both teams were ranked again coming into the 1960 Iron Bowl, Auburn No. 8 at 8-1 with its lone loss to Tennessee 10-3 in the opener. Alabama was ranked No. 17 and 7-1-1, having tied Tulane and also lost to Tennessee (20-7).

This one turned out to be the lowest-scoring Iron Bowl in history, with Tommy Brooker’s 12-yard field goal midway through the second quarter accounting for the only points of the game. Again Alabama’s defense put the clamps down on Auburn, limiting the Tigers to just 134 yards of offense and five first downs.

Auburn took a step back in 1961, carrying a 6-3 record and no national ranking into the Iron Bowl on Dec. 2. Alabama, on the other hand, was surging, with Bryant’s first great team asserting itself as a national power.

The top-ranked Crimson Tide allowed just 22 points in its first nine games, including four straight shutouts heading into the Auburn game. Alabama had beaten Tennessee 34-3 in October, and blanked longtime nemesis Georgia 10-0 two weeks before the showdown with the Tigers at Legion Field.

This Iron Bowl was a laugher, as Alabama’s defense forced five turnovers in a 34-0 romp. The Crimson Tide had a relatively big game offensively, with Billy Richardson rushing for two touchdowns and quarterback Pat Trammell accounting for one each passing and running.

Alabama quarterback Pat Trammell is shown with coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant during the 1961 Iron Bowl against Auburn at Legion Field in Birmingham. (Photo courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum)

Three days later, Alabama was voted No. 1 in both the final Associated Press and coaches’ polls. The national championship was the first of six the Crimson Tide would win in 25 years under Bryant (Alabama beat Arkansas 10-3 in the Sugar Bowl to finish an 11-0 season).

Alabama was very nearly as good in 1962, though a 7-6 loss at Georgia Tech on Nov. 17 ended its hopes for a second consecutive national title. The No. 5 Crimson Tide took out its frustrations on Auburn, which was limping to another less-than-stellar finish after losing to Florida and Georgia and tying Florida State.

This game was over nearly from the opening kickoff, which Alabama’s Butch Wilson returned 92 yards for a touchdown as part of a 38-0 rout. The Crimson Tide this time forced seven Auburn turnovers, Bill Battle recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown and sophomore quarterback Joe Namath threw three scoring passes. (Alabama beat Oklahoma 17-0 in the Orange Bowl to finish the season at 10-1.)

Freshmen weren’t eligible to play varsity sports until 1972, which means two full classes of Alabama seniors not only went undefeated against Auburn — they went unscored upon in the three Iron Bowls in which they played. The 1961 seniors, a group that included Trammell, Brooker, Richardson and All-America tackle Billy Neighbors, outscored the Tigers by a combined 47-0.

The 1962 class, which included Battle, Wilson, Charley Pell and All-America linebacker Lee Roy Jordan, beat their in-state rivals by a total score of 75-0. Bragging rights don’t get much more definitive than that.

Coming Thursday: Our countdown continues with No. 58, when an unparalleled quarter-century of excellence began for Alabama.

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