Coach Gene Stallings - SEC Championship Game, 1992

92sec1nba_bbc0bf20bc.jpg

Title

Coach Gene Stallings - SEC Championship Game, 1992

Subject

Football coaches
Stallings, Eugene Clifton, 1935 -

Description

Coach Gene Stallings receives a victory dunk after the Crimson Tide defeated the Florida Gators in the first ever SEC championship game which was held at Legion Field in Birmingham. (In 1994 the SEC Championship game was moved to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA.)

Gene Stallings (1935 - ) was a football player and coach who is best known as the head football coach at the University of Alabama. He led the Crimson Tide to an undefeated season and a national championship in 1992. A statue of Stallings stands in the Walk of Champions outside the Bryant-Denny Stadium in honor of winning a national championship.

Eugene (Gene) Clifton Stallings was born on March 2, 1935, in Paris Texas to Eugene E. and Nellie Moye Stallings. He attend Paris High Scholl and was the captain of the football team his senior year. He attended Texas A & M. In his sophomore year Bear Bryant was hired as head coach to improve the football program. In 1958 he followed Bryant to the University of Alabama rising to the position of assistant head coach. Stallings returned to Texas A & M to serve as head coach. He also coached for the Dallas Cowboys and the St. Louis Cardinals.

In January 1990, Stallings was hired as the University of Alabama head football coach after the departure of Bill Curry. He led the team in 1992 to its first national championship since Bryant’s 1979 championship. In 1993 the revelation of a player’s ineligibility led to sanctions by the National Collegiate Athletic Association resulting in the forfeiture of nine games. In 1996 Stallings announced his resignation. In retirement he has remained active as a motivational speaker and member of various boards.

As a result of caring for their son, John Mark (Johnny), who was born with Down syndrome and a heart defect, Stallings and his wife worked to promote awareness of the needs of developmentally disabled Individuals.

Additional information can be found in the Encyclopedia of Alabama: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3434

Source

Tuscaloosa News Archive

Date

December 5, 1992

Contributor

Elizabeth Bradt (Description)

Type

Photograph

Identifier

286

Coverage

Birmingham (AL)

Original Format

Photograph

Physical Dimensions

10 inches by 8 inches