In his senior season, he led the 1961 Alabama Crimson Tide football team to a perfect record of 11–0 and the national championship, and finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy.

A third-generation physician, he died of metastatic testicular cancer at age 28, shortly after earning his medical degree.

Trammell was the starting varsity quarterback at Scottsboro High School, where he earned All-County, All-State, All-Southern and All-American honors during his four year prep career.

Trammell had actually planned to attend Georgia Tech, after being heavily recruited by Hall of Fame head coach Bobby Dodd but at this point, made a career-altering decision that would change the rest of his life.

Bryant had promised the team in the fall of 1958 the impossible notion that they would win a national championship within four years, if they could "stick it out", as told by team-mates Billy Neighbors, Bill Oliver and Mal Moore.

The black tie event was hosted by Bob Hope and was also attended by General Douglas MacArthur, Vince Lombardi, head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Sidney L. James, the founding editor and publisher of Sports Illustrated and dozens of other College Football Hall of Fame Inductees.

[citation needed] (Of interest, a similar semi-fictional scene was digitally remastered in Winston Groom's film, Forrest Gump, in 1994, with President John F. Kennedy digitally morphed into the set with Tom Hanks, who played Forrest Gump, a celebrated fictional Alabama football player, who had accepted a handshake from the President and was asked "how does it feel to be an All-American?".

Although the Birmingham Touchdown Club SEC player of the year award did not begin until 1979, he has been publicly honored and recognized by this organization on multiple occasions.

By becoming the 1961 permanent Team Captain, Pat Trammell had his hand prints and cleat-prints stamped into the Walk of Fame in 1961 as "most outstanding player" on the ingress of Denny Chimes on the Quad at the University.

[7] Several interviews of family members and players that knew him best gleaned some light on what made him so exceptional and "unbeatable".

He had mastered the cognitive component of the fundamentals of the game by using his unique gifts of an eidetic "photographic" memory, "sixth sense" and "field presence".

[8][9][10] p. 88, p. 90 Teammate Billy Neighbors ('59–'61) would later say that Pat Trammell was the "smartest and best football player I'd ever played with .... period.

When later comparing him to his teammates in the NFL, such as Johnny Unitas and Fran Tarkenton, Wilson would say that Trammell was the toughest, most competitive quarterback with whom he had ever played.

"[citation needed] Before the Draft, Vince Lombardi would pressure Coach Bryant to persuade Pat to come to play for him with the Green Bay Packers after graduation.

[citation needed] Coach Bryant responded, "Pat is too smart to play professional football ... he will go on to medical school to fulfill his personal goals."

Trammell majored in Chemical Engineering and Pre-Med and would graduate from the University of Alabama with the highest honors possibly attainable including the President's List, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude and Jason's Men's Honor Society.

[5] Trammell died of complications from metastatic testicular cancer on December 10, 1968, at the age of 28 – only two years after earning his M.D.

The following is an excerpt from the eulogy at his funeral spoken by the then University President Dr. Frank Rose:[18] Pat lifted us to great heights on the football field, but perhaps his greatest moment of all came at the Football Hall of Fame dinner where we were receiving the highest honor, the MacArthur Bowl [trophy].

He casually walked up to the microphone in front of this huge crowd and told everyone there he was very appreciative of what everyone had done for him, coach Bryant and the University.