HUNTSVILLE — As the Crimson Tide moves up and down the football rankings, fans will be able to keep track in a unique way.
Ahead of Bama’s “Third Saturday in October” clash with Tennessee, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a first-of-its-kind Alabama Crimson Tide Football Top 25 Ranking Tracker Bobblehead.
The Alabama Crimson Tide (5-1, 3-0 SEC) are ranked No. 6 and the Vols (5-1, 2-1) are No. 11 heading into the Saturday night showdown in Tuscaloosa.
“We’re excited to add Alabama to our Top 25 Ranking Bobblehead Series which has been very popular with college football fans across the country,” said Phil Sklar, National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO. “This bobblehead will be the perfect way for Alabama fans to track the team’s ranking each week for many seasons to come and a great way for fans, alumni, students, faculty, and staff to show off their school pride all year long.”
The unique bobblehead featuring Alabama’s mascot, Big Al, will let fans change Alabama’s ranking each week for seasons to come. The officially licensed bobbleheads are being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, an official licensee of the University of Alabama.
Big Al bobblehead description
- The bobbleheads, which are expected to ship in February, are $40 each plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order.
- Each bobblehead will be individually numbered to 2,025.
- Standing on a football field base, the Big Al bobblehead is positioned on numbered blocks that can be adjusted when Alabama’s ranking changes. Big Al is also holding a football adorned with the Alabama logo.
- Big Al, the costumed elephant mascot of the University of Alabama, made his debut in 1980, but the elephant became UA’s unofficial mascot in the 1930s. On Oct. 8, 1930, Atlanta Journal sportswriter Everett Strupper wrote a story about the Alabama-Ole Miss game he had witnessed in Tuscaloosa four days earlier. In describing the big, powerful Alabama team coached by Wallace Wade, Strupper wrote: “At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, ‘Hold your horses, the elephants are coming!’ and out stamped the Alabama varsity.” Strupper and other writers would continue to refer to Alabama as the “Red Elephants” with the red as a nod to the players’ crimson jerseys. The name stuck throughout what became a national championship season and beyond. Despite the nickname, it would be nearly five decades before Alabama recognized the animal as its official mascot.
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee opened to the public on Feb. 1, 2019. The HOF and Museum produces high quality, customized bobbleheads for retail sale as well as organizations, individuals, and teams across the country.
To view the available bobbleheads, click here.
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