1931 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

1931 Alabama Crimson Tide football
ConferenceSouthern Conference
Record9–1 (7–1 SoCon)
Head coach
CaptainJoe Sharpe
Home stadiumDenny Stadium
Legion Field
Cramton Bowl
Seasons
← 1930
1932 →
1931 Southern Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 2 Tulane $ 8 0 0 11 1 0
No. 3 Tennessee 6 0 1 9 0 1
Alabama 7 1 0 9 1 0
No. 6 Georgia 6 1 0 8 2 0
Maryland 4 1 1 8 1 1
Kentucky 4 2 2 5 2 2
LSU 3 2 0 5 4 0
South Carolina 3 3 1 5 4 1
Duke 3 3 1 5 3 2
Auburn 3 3 0 5 3 0
Sewanee 3 3 0 6 3 1
Vanderbilt 3 4 0 5 4 0
North Carolina 2 3 3 4 3 3
Washington and Lee 2 3 0 4 5 1
Florida 2 4 2 2 6 2
Georgia Tech 2 4 1 2 7 1
VMI 2 4 0 3 6 1
NC State 2 4 0 3 6 0
VPI 1 4 1 3 4 2
Clemson 1 4 0 1 6 2
Ole Miss 1 5 0 2 6 1
Virginia 0 5 1 2 6 1
Mississippi A&M 0 5 0 2 6 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from Dickinson System

The 1931 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1931 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 38th overall and 10th season as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The team was led by head coach Frank Thomas, in his first year, and played their home games at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, at Legion Field in Birmingham and at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. They finished the season with a record of nine wins and one loss (9–1 overall, 7–1 in the SoCon).

The Crimson Tide won the Southern Conference championship, the 1931 Rose Bowl and a share of the national championship in Wallace Wade's final year at Alabama. The Crimson Tide lost all of the starters from their 10–0 1930 team except for Johnny Cain, but still played almost as well. With Frank Thomas hired as Wade's successor, Alabama won their first three games of the 1931 season against Howard, Ole Miss and Mississippi A&M before they suffered their only loss of the season against Tennessee. The Crimson Tide responded from the loss to win their final five regular season games against Sewanee, Kentucky, Florida, Clemson and Vanderbilt. Alabama then competed in a pair of charity games scheduled in early November to follow the regular season finale against Vanderbilt. In these two games, the Crimson Tide defeated Chattanooga and then three separate Washington, D.C. schools in an exhibition that featured an all-star collection of former Crimson Tide players.

Although Alabama did have considerable success on the field, tragedy did strike the team on November 17 when freshman center James Richard Nichols died from complications due to a spinal injury he suffered during a football practice.[1][2] His death was the first major accident associated with the Alabama football program in its history.[1]

  1. ^ a b "U. of A. freshman football player dies of injuries". The Tuscaloosa News. November 17, 1931. Retrieved March 28, 2012 – via Google News Archives.
  2. ^ "Football injury fatal". The New York Times. November 18, 1931. Retrieved March 28, 2012.