For 46 years, the Tuscaloosa home of Alabama football had a simple name.

Christened as Denny Stadium in 1929, the 12,000-seat structure remains the foundation for the coliseum that’ll soon have a name that’s nearly a sentence. By Saturday, Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium will be the third version of the venue that’s now the focal point of Alabama football culture.

That, however, wasn’t the case when the place got a hyphen nearly 50 years ago. Legion Field was still home to all the big Crimson Tide games when the state legislature moved in 1975 to add its still-coaching icon to the nameplate.

Newspaper accounts from the time tell the story of political maneuvering, rivalry mudslinging and a coach who wasn’t exactly lobbying for his name to go on the sign.

It began in late July 1975 when state Sen. Bert Bank of Tuscaloosa introduced a bill to rename the place “Paul Bryant-Denny Stadium.” Bank had several claims to fame, including founding what is now the Crimson Tide Sports Network.

Two years earlier, the same legislative bodies approved a resolution to rename Auburn’s home stadium to include active coach Shug Jordan’s name. To this day, it’s known as Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Well, there were murmurs of discontent from the Auburn delegation when the Bryant resolution was introduced in 1975, according to a July 22 story in the Alabama Journal.

“Auburn partisans were quieted, however, when Tuscaloosa Sen. Bert Bank suggested renaming the stadium might hasten the retirement of Coach Bryant,” the story read, though he’d ultimately coach eight more seasons and win two more national titles.

The Bryant-Denny Stadium bill passed the Senate but remained untouched by the House into September when Rep. Ed Robertson of Tuscaloosa threatened to block it. A story in the Birmingham News quoted his opposition was not on the bill’s content but a protest against the Senate’s inaction on other bills.

Another legislator made an attempt at humor in the process. Rep. Gary Cooper “drew a chorus of boos,” The Alabama Journal reported, when he jokingly suggested adding Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian’s name next to Bryant’s.

Any efforts at obstruction ultimately ended and by Sept. 4, the bill passed both houses and was sent to Governor George Wallace’s desk for a signature. A Sept. 5 story in the Alabama Journal quoted Bryant as saying he was “highly flattered but somewhat embarrassed” by the effort to rename the stadium.

By Sept. 20, the Crimson Tide was set to play its first game in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

There would be no ceremony or celebration for the grand renaming.

“On the field dedication ceremonies have been postponed to a more appropriate time after signs have been erected, etc.,” A Sept. 18, 1975 Montgomery Advertiser story read. “The Board of Trustees will introduce an official resolution at their meeting Saturday morning making the change, but there won’t be anything live at the game.”

Bryant actually attended that trustees meeting on the morning of that Sept. 20 game as the final resolution was approved. An Associated Press account of the meeting stated, “Bryant later excused himself from the meeting saying he’d better rejoin his squad ‘before they get things going for the game and find out they can do it without me.’”

With him, Alabama crushed Clemson, 56-0 with more than 58,000 witnesses in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Bryant ultimately lost just two games in the Tuscaloosa — one against Florida in 1963 before a 57-game winning streak ended in his final season. Southern Miss broke that streak in 1982, handing Bryant his only loss in the stadium when it carried his name just weeks before retiring.

The move to add “Saban Field” didn’t require an act of the legislature as the trustees on July 19 voted unanimously to make a second update to the signage.

Naming the field inside a stadium is not uncommon. Auburn moved in 2005 to rename the playing surface “Pat Dye Field” to honor the coach from 1981-92, but Jordan-Hare Stadium remained the name conversationally.

Unlike in 1975, a pregame ceremony will be held at approximately 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday at the head of the Walk of Champions. A new sign will be unveiled before a second ceremony will be held at halftime on the field.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.