December 2, 1972: One of college football's biggest rivalry is played at Legion Field in Birmingham: The Iron Bowl.
The annual football game between the University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, and Auburn University is called the Iron Bowl because of the iron and steel production in Alabama. The State's largest city, Birmingham, and 2 others, Leeds and Sheffield, are steel production cities, and were named after steel production cities in England, all of them in love with a game they call football, but which Americans call soccer.
Football became a way of life in Alabama. and the University of Alabama, the Crimson Tide, built a great program in the 1920s. Auburn's took longer to get going, with coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan (and that's pronounced JUR-din, not JOHR-din) leading them to a share of the 1957 National Championship with Ohio State.
Paul "Bear" Bryant, who had played on 'Bama's 1934 National Championship team, became their head coach in 1958, and, for many people, even outside the South, became the college football coach. He won more games than any coach before him, and more than most coaches since him. He won 6 National Championships, probably should have been awarded at least 1 more, made his houndstooth hat an icon of American sports, and inspired this joke: "In Alabama, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant."
Bryant and Jordan were still the opposing coaches in 1972. The Alabama Crimson Tide went into the game 10-0, ranked Number 2 in the country; the Auburn Tigers, 8-1, having lost only away to Louisiana State University (LSU), and ranked Number 9.
Alabama had already wrapped up the Southeastern Conference title. Given that the University of Southern California (USC) were Number 1, and were locked into a Rose Bowl matchup with Number 4 Ohio State, 'Bama could have gotten the National Championship with USC if they beat Auburn and then won the Sugar Bowl over Number 3 Oklahoma if USC lost, or maybe split the polls if both teams won and 'Bama's bowl win was more impressive than USC's.
With most of the country's other major rivalries having been played the preceding 2 Saturdays, this was easily the biggest game of the afternoon. (USC and Notre Dame was also a matchup of 2 Top 10 teams, but it was played in prime time.)
Alabama led 16–0 with 10 minutes left in the game. An Auburn drive stalled and managed only a field goal, which made it 16–3. Jordan later joked that his decision was derided by all the faithful in attendance: Auburn fans booed for the appearance of giving up, while Alabama fans joined in because the field goal ruined the point spread.
On the ensuing possession, Alabama was forced to punt. Auburn's Bill Newton blocked Greg Gantt's punt, and his teammate, David Langner, ran the ball back 25 yards for an Auburn touchdown, narrowing the score to 16–10. Gantt and Langner were classmates and teammates at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham.
With about 2 minutes left, Alabama was forced to punt again. Like the previous time, Newton blocked the punt, and Langner returned it for a touchdown. Gardner Jett kicked the extra point to give Auburn a 17–16 lead.
With the clock winding down, Langner intercepted an Alabama pass to stop their attempted comeback. When Langner reached the sideline, he found Jordan upset. Langner reportedly said, "But, coach, I intercepted the pass!" To which Jordan said, "Yeah, but our plan was to make them punt."
The game became known as "Punt Bama Punt." In June 2007, it was ranked #55 by ESPN.com in its list of the 100 defining moments of college football. A month later, CollegeFootballNews.com ranked the game #85 on its list of the 100 Greatest Finishes. In August 2010, ESPN.com ranked the game as the 8th most painful outcome in college history.
Alabama still won the SEC title, with a 7-1 record, to Auburn's 6-1 and LSU's 4-1-1. But their shot at the National Championship was gone. They turned down their bid to the Sugar Bowl, and instead took a Number 4 ranking into the Cotton Bowl against Number 7 Texas. Texas beat them, 17-13, and so they ended the season ranked Number 7. It should be noted that, in that game, Gantt, the victimized punter, tied what was then the Cotton Bowl record with a 50-yard field goal.
Auburn rose to Number 6, but did not get invited to one of the traditional New Year's Day bowl games. They went to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, and beat Number 13 Colorado, 24-3, finishing 10-1 and Number 5 in the country.
Fumble returner Langner was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1974, but never played pro football. He became a car dealer, and also an assistant coach at Auburn under Pat Dye, and died in 2014. Punt blocker Newton ran a gas and oil business. As of December 2, 2022, he is still alive.
Bill Newton (left) and David Langner, on the 40th Anniversary, 2012
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December 2, 1972 was a Saturday. These other college football games were played:
* Rivalry: Number 1 USC beat Number 10 Notre Dame, 45-23 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC went on to beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, and win the National Championship.
* Rivalry: Number 3 Oklahoma beat Number 20 Oklahoma State, 38-15 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma rose to Number 2, and beat Penn State in the Sugar Bowl.
* Rivalry: Number 11 LSU beat Tulane, 9-3 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.
* Rivalry: Number 12 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt, 30-10 at Dudley Field (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.
* Rivalry: Army beat Navy, 23-15 at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia.
* Rivarly: Boston College beat Holy Cross, 41-11 at Alumni Stadium outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
* Rivalry: Georgia beat Georgia Tech, 27-7 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.
* Rivalry: Florida beat Miami, 17-6 at Florida Field (now Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) in Gainesville, Florida.
* Rivalry: Southern Methodist University (SMU) beat Texas Christian University (TCU), 35-22 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.
* Baylor beat Rice, 28-14 at Baylor Stadium (later Floyd Casey Stadium) in Waco, Texas.
* San Diego State beat Iowa Stadium, 27-14 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium).
* And Stanford beat Hawaii, 39-7 at Honolulu Stadium.
Baseball was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Buffalo Braves, 119-94 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Boston Celtics beat their arch-rivals, 131-120 at the Boston Garden.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 89-80 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings beat the Houston Rockets, 114-109 at Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston. Nate "Tiny" Archibald scored 36 points for the Kings.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 112-103 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Jerry West and Jim McMillian each scored 29. Wilt Chamberlain, in what turned out to be his final season as a player, scored only 6, but grabbed 17 rebounds. Rick Barry scored 38 in defeat.
* And the Atlanta Hawks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 106-103 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:
* The Virginia Squires beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 111-107 at the Hampton Coliseum outside Norfolk in Hampton, Virginia.
* The Dallas Chaparrals beat the Carolina Cougars, 108-101 at the Greensboro Coliseum.
* The Denver Rockets beat the Memphis Tams, 127-99 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver.
* And the Utah Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 111-105 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.
There were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Montreal Canadiens and the Atlanta Flames played to a tie, 4-4 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 2-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres, 8-6 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the California Golden Seals and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
And there were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association:
* The New York Raiders lost to the Houston Aeros, 7-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New England Whalers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 7-2 at the Boston Garden.
* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the Philadelphia Blazers, 8-2 at the Cleveland Arena.
* And the Los Angeles Sharks beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-2 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.
And in English soccer, Arsenal defeated Yorkshire team Leeds United, 2-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
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