Where were you for the greatest moments in Mobile sports history?

Hank Aaron, Satchel Page, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams, Ozzie Smith, Kenny Stabler and Robert Brazile are all in the Major League Baseball or Pro Football Hall of Fame. But that doesn’t mean they’ve produced the most memorable sports moments in the history of Mobile.

One of the few great things about not having live sporting events to watch is that it provides time for a bunch of great sports debates. One of the best of these: What are the most iconic sports moments in Mobile sports history?

For this discussion we will consider sports feats that took place in Mobile or Baldwin County, plus any event produced by one of our own even if it took place away from the Gulf Coast.

This is entirely subjective, but I’m willing to take a shot at the most sensational seven moments in Mobile sports history.

1. Hank Aaron hits career home run No. 715. On April 8, 1974, Aaron stepped to the plate at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium and blasted a home run off of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Al Downing to break Babe Ruth’s record, becoming the all-time home run king. Not many sporting events are celebrated around the world, but this one is.
2. Paul “Bear” Bryant debuts as Alabama’s coach in Mobile. When “Momma called” in 1958, Bryant left as coach at Texas A&M to return to his alma mater. Before his tenure was over with the Crimson Tide, he would become the winningest coach in college football history. But you wouldn’t have known it based on his first game. On Sept. 27, 1958, Bryant’s first game as head coach at Alabama ended in a 13-3 loss to LSU. A crowd of 34,000 saw the game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Alabama went on to a 5-4-1 record that season, but things soon got much better for the Tide.  
3. Satchel Paige makes his Major League debut after his 40th birthday. Paige was one of the greatest players in Negro leagues history, but he was past his prime by the time baseball integrated, and he was finally given an opportunity to pitch in the Major Leagues. On July 7, 1948, on what is believed to have been his 42nd birthday, Paige signed with the Cleveland Indians to become the first African American pitcher in the American League and the seventh African American Major Leaguer overall. His exact age was always a matter of conjecture.

Despite his advanced years, he pitched effectively for the Indians, finishing the season with a 6-1 record and a 2.48 ERA.

4. McCarron to Yeldon for the win. A.J. McCarron won two national championships as a starting quarterback at Alabama and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. But the most iconic moment for the St. Paul’s graduate came on Nov. 3, 2012, in Baton Rouge, La., when McCarron drove the Tide to a 21-17 comeback win over LSU. The game-winning play was a 28-yard screen pass to Daphne’s T.J. Yeldon. The win propelled the Tide to a second consecutive national championship.
5. South Alabama crashes March Madness. Any win in the NCAA Tournament is a big deal. But South Alabama’s only March Madness win came with the added level of notoriety because it came against The University of Alabama. The Jaguars rallied from a huge deficit in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament to beat the Tide 86-84 on a last-second, three-point shot by star Jeff Hodge.

South Alabama came close to extending the magical season even further before falling 91-82 to eventual national champion Michigan in the next round.

6. Vigor wins mythical football national championship. The team widely considered the best in Alabama high school history outscored opponents 387-44. They gave up only seven total points in five postseason wins. The highlight of the season came in the finale, a 41-7 drubbing of Stan White and Berry High at Birmingham’s Legion Field in the state championship game. After the season, USA Today crowned the Wolves national champions, the only time a team from Alabama has been named national champion.
7. Marshall wins one of the most remarkable bowl games ever. Marshall and East Carolina piled up the points in the third GMAC Bowl. The 64-61 Marshall win on double overtime marked the most points ever scored in a bowl game at that time. Future NFL quarterback Byron Leftwich passed for 576 yards on 41 of 70 passing. He passed for four touchdowns in rallying the Thundering Herd back from a 30-point halftime deficit. The game featured four defensive touchdowns and 1,141 total combined yards.

Randy Kennedy, who has been a leading voice on the Gulf Coast sports scene for 18 years, writes a weekly column for Lagniappe. His sports talk show airs weekdays on the new Sports Talk 99.5 from 7-10 a.m. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @kennedy_randy.