The1937 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented theUniversity of Alabama in the1937 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 44th overall and 5th season as a member of theSoutheastern Conference (SEC). The team was led by head coachFrank Thomas, in his seventh year, and played their home games atDenny Stadium inTuscaloosa andLegion Field inBirmingham,Alabama. They finished the season with a record of nine wins and one loss (9–1 overall, 6–0 in the SEC), as SEC champions and with a loss againstCalifornia in the1938 Rose Bowl.

The Crimson Tide opened the season with three consecutiveshutouts againstHoward,Sewanee andSouth Carolina. In their fourth game, Alabama surrendered their first points of the season on defense in their 14–7 victory overTennessee. They then shutout their next two opponents,George Washington andKentucky prior to their game atTulane. Against the Green Wave, the Crimson Tide won 9–6 on a game-winning fourth-quarter field goal byHayward Sanford. After their sixth shutout of the season againstGeorgia Tech, Alabama won their second game of the season on a fourth quarter Sanford field goal againstVanderbilt, and clinched the SEC championship with the win. With their undefeated regular season, Alabama accepted an invitation to play in the1938 Rose Bowl where they lost 13–0 toCalifornia.

After the 1936 season, the first expansion ofDenny Stadium was undertaken. The stadium originally opened for the1929 season, and the concrete stands had aseating capacity of 12,000.^[1] The 1937 expansion included the construction of a 6,000 seat eastern addition that was utilized primarily by students. Its construction was financed with a combination of funding from both the university ($140,000) and a grant from thePublic Works Administration ($90,000).^[1] Designed after theYale Bowl, at the time of this expansion the school envisioned a build-out of Denny Stadium at a capacity of 66,000.^[1]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 25	Howard (AL)*		Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL	W 41–0	7,500	[2]
October 2	Sewanee		Legion Field Birmingham, AL	W 65–0	7,000	[3]
October 9	South Carolina*		Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL	W 20–0	9,000	[4]
October 16	atTennessee		Shields-Watkins Field Knoxville, TN (rivalry)	W 14–7	25,000	[5]
October 23	atGeorge Washington*	No. 2	Griffith Stadium Washington, DC	W 19–0	24,666	[6]
October 30	Kentucky	No. 3	Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL	W 41–0	13,000	[7]
November 6	at No. 19Tulane	No. 2	Tulane Stadium New Orleans, LA	W 9–6	30,000	[8]
November 13	Georgia Tech	No. 3	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	W 7–0	26,000	[9]
November 25	at No. 12Vanderbilt	No. 4	Dudley Field Nashville, TN	W 9–7	22,000	[10]
January 1, 1938	vs. No. 2California*	No. 4	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	L 0–13	89,650	[11]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings fromAP Poll released prior to the game

^[12]

To open the 1937 season, Alabama outgainedHoward (nowSamford University) in total yards 198 to 6, and defeated the Bulldogs 41–0 at Denny Stadium.^[13][14] The Crimson Tide scored a pair of touchdowns in each of the first two quarters to take a 28–0 halftime lead. First-quarter touchdowns were scored on a 21-yardJoe Kilgrow touchdown pass to George Zivich and on a Perron Shoemaker blockedpunt returned 15-yards for the score.^[13] In the second, touchdowns were scored by Herschel Mosley on a 91-yard punt return and on a 10-yard Mosley to Bud Waites touchdown pass.^[13] The Crimson Tide then closed the game with a pair of second half touchdowns for the 41–0 victory.Charlie Holm scored on a four-yard run in the third and Alvin Davis scored on a 19-yard run in the fourth.^[13] The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Howard to 15–0–1.^[15]

In the conference opener, Alabama defeated theSewaneeTigers 65–0 at Legion Field in rainy conditions.^[14][16] In the game, Alabama outgained the Tigers 600 to 27 yards in total offense with bothCharlie Holm andJoe Kilgrow each having gained over 100 yards rushing.^[16] The Crimson Tide also scored ten total touchdowns with Silas Beard, Kilgrow, Herschel Mosley and Billy Slemons each scoring two and both Holm and George Zivich each scoring one in the victory.^[16] The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Sewanee to 16–10–3.^[17]

Against theSouth CarolinaGamecocks of theSouthern Conference Alabama won 20–0 at Denny Stadium in what was the first all-time meeting between the schools.^[14][18][20] Touchdowns were scored byJoe Kilgrow on a short run in the first, on a 33-yard Kilgrow pass to Silas Beard in the second and on a one-yard Hal Hughes run in the third.^[18]

In Knoxville, Alabama defeatedrivalTennessee 14–7 at Shields-Watkins Field one year after theirscoreless tie atLegion Field.^[14][21] The overflow crowd of 25,000 includedTennessee GovernorGordon Browning andAlabama GovernorFrank M. Dixon.^[21] After a scoreless first quarter, the Crimson Tide took a 7–0 lead in the second quarter after a Carey Coxinterception set up the scoring drive.^[14] The touchdown was scored byVic Bradford on a two-yardquarterback sneak to complete a 60-yard drive.^[21] In the third, Alabama extended their lead to 14–0 after Hal Hughes scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak.^[21] The Volunteers responded in the fourth with their only points, a three-yardGeorge Cafego touchdown pass to Edwin Duncan to complete an 85-yard drive.^[21] The Tennessee touchdown was the first points allowed by the Crimson Tide defense of the season.^[21] The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Tennessee to 13–5–2.^[22]

As the entered their game againstGeorge Washington, Alabama was ranked No. 2 in the first AP Poll of the 1937 season.^[24] In the contest, the Crimson Tide defeated theColonials 19–0 atGriffith Stadium.^[14][23] For the second week in a row, Alabama was held scoreless in the first quarter, however a pair of second-quarter touchdowns gave the Crimson Tide a 13–0 halftime lead. In the second, touchdowns were scored by Joe Kilgrow on a 35-yard pass to Perron Shoemaker and Kilgrow on a six-yard run.^[23] The final points of the game were scored by Charlie Holm in the third after he returned aninterception 30-yards for a touchdown.^[23] The win improved Alabama's all-time record against George Washington to 3–0.^[25]

As Alabama entered theirhomecoming contest againstKentucky, they dropped one place to No. 3 in the weekly poll.^[27] In the game, the Crimson Tide defeated theWildcats 41–0 before 13,000 at Denny Stadium.^[14][26] AfterCharlie Holm scored on a 27-yard touchdown run in the first, the Crimson Tide scored three second-quarter touchdowns for a 27–0 halftime lead.^[26] The second-quarter touchdowns were scored by Gene Blackwell on a six-yard run, Joe Kilgrow on a 20-yard run and on a ten-yard Herschel Mosley pass to Johnny Roberts.^[26] Alabama then closed the game with a pair one-yard touchdown runs in the second half for the 41–0 win. The first was scored by Billy Slemons in the third and the second by W. L. Waites in the fourth.^[26] The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Kentucky 16–1.^[28]

After their victory over Kentucky, the Crimson Tide moved up one position and regained the No. 2 spot in the weekly poll.^[30]Tulane was ranked No. 19 in the poll after their victory overOle Miss.^[30] In the contest, the Crimson Tide defeated theGreen Wave 9–6 after they converted a game-winningfield goal late in the fourth quarter.^[14][29] Tulane took a 6–0 lead in the first when John Andrews scored on a one-yard run three plays after William Kirchem blocked an Alabamapunt to give the Greenies possession at the Tide's 18-yard line.^[14] Alabama did not score until early in the third whenVic Bradford completed an 87-yard drive with his one-yard touchdown run, and after a missedextra point the game was tied at six.^[29] With less than two minutes remaining in the fourth,Hayward Sanford kicked a 23-yard field goal to win the game.^[29] The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Tulane to 11–3–1.^[31]

After their close victory over Tulane, the Crimson Tide dropped one position to the No. 3 spot in the weekly poll in spite of having more first-place voted than No. 2 California.^[33] In their game againstGeorgia Tech, the game remained scoreless before a fourth-quarter touchdown gave Alabama the 7–0 victory over theYellow Jackets at Legion Field.^[14][32] In the fourth, Joe Kilgrow threw the game-winning two-yard touchdown pass to Erin Warren with only four minutes remaining in the game for the 7–0 win.^[32] The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against Georgia Tech to 11–10–2.^[34]

After their victory over Georgia Tech, Alabama had abye week prior to their annualThanksgiving Day game againstVanderbilt. Prior to their game, Alabama dropped to No. 4 and Vanderbilt moved up to No. 12 in the weekly AP Poll.^[36] In the game against theCommodores, Alabama won their second game of the season with a fourth quarterfield goal in their 9–7 win at Dudley Field.^[14][35] After a scoreless first, the Crimson Tide took a 6–0 lead in the second quarter on a Joe Kilgrow touchdown pass to Erin Warren.^[35] The Commodores took a 7–6 lead in the third when Hardy Housman scored on a one-yard run and Joe Agee kicked theextra point.^[35] However, late in the fourthHayward Sanford kicked the 27-yard game-winning field goal to give the Crimson Tide the 9–7 win.^[35] The victory clinched the SEC championship for the Crimson Tide and improved Alabama's all-time record against Vanderbilt to 10–9.^[37][38]

On November 30, Alabama accepted an invitation to play in the1938 Rose Bowl against theCaliforniaGolden Bears.^[40] In the game, the Crimson Tide were defeated in their only game of the season after their 13–0shutout loss before 87,000 fans at Pasadena.^[39]Vic Bottari scored both touchdowns for the Golden Bears on runs of four-yards in the second and five-yards in the third.^[39] In the loss, the Crimson Tide turned the ball over eight times, on fourfumbles and fourinterceptions.^[39] Alabama had two scoring opportunities end inside the California ten-yard line, one on a fumble at the one-yard line and another at the six-yard line.^[39] The loss was also Alabama's first in theRose Bowl Game.

After the season,Leroy Monsky was a consensus selection and both Joe Kilgrow and James Ryba were selected to various1937 College Football All-America Teams.^[41][42]

Several players that werevarsity lettermen from the 1937 squad were drafted into theNational Football League (NFL) between the 1938 and 1940 drafts.^[43][44] These players included the following:

General

Specific

• 1937 Southeastern Conference football season
• Alabama Crimson Tide football seasons
• Southeastern Conference football champion seasons
• 1937 in sports in Alabama

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