On October 8, 1930, a sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal, Everett Strupper, wrote about the previous weekend's Alabama-Ole Miss football game.

Strupper, using the flair for the dramatic common in sportswriting at the time, wrote, "At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow.

[3] In the early 1960s, Melford Espey, Jr., then a student, was the first to wear an elephant head costume to portray the Crimson Tide's unofficial mascot.

[4] The mascot known as "Big Al" today was the brainchild of University of Alabama student Walt Tart, member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

He told Paige that several schools in the Southeastern Conference had obtained mascot costumes and proposed that the University of Alabama should get one as well.

By contacting the University of Kentucky and a few other schools, Tart discovered that their mascots were designed and constructed by the Walt Disney Company.

Student Hugh Dye earned the honor to bring "Big Al" back to life in New Orleans, followed by Kent Howard and Maury Smith to kick off the inaugural 1980 season and roam the sidelines.

As the Crimson Tide does not feature a prominent logo on their helmets or uniforms, Big Al's likeness appears on much of the merchandise.

Every April during the weekend of the A-Day spring football game, there is a three-day tryout process for UA students who want to become Big Al.

The first day consists of an interview and clinic, where the candidates learn to emulate the character and walk of Big Al.