The Auburn Spirit: Why I’m an Auburn fan

An Auburn fan since birth, my father discusses the Auburn spirit and how he remains a fan of Auburn football and all things Auburn.

I had breakfast recently with former Auburn president William Muse, and we later had an email discussion of the “Auburn spirit.” It got me thinking about what it means to me as it relates to its Auburn’s sports teams.

Auburn fans, particularly its football fans, are a loyal bunch, as are the fans of most college teams. They cheer the wins, and they suffer with the losses, sometimes in silence.

For the most part, they are a patient group as well, which is why Shug Jordan was able to coach for the university for 25 seasons, including back-to-back mediocre seasons in the 1960s. It’s why we support players who have not had a good performance in the hopes that will turn around eventually. It’s why we like Jeremy Johnson despite his less-than-stellar play at times.

Here are 10 times I’ve seen the Auburn spirit with its sports teams, and why it means I will always be an Auburn sports fan despite any other issues I might have with the university:

The Meaning of the Auburn Spirit

1. My mother worked in the School of Education at Auburn when Pat Sullivan was the team’s quarterback, and he was an education major. As part of his 1971 Heisman effort, there were “Pat Who?” stickers all over Auburn, and Sullivan signed one for my mom to give to me. It remains one of my most cherished possessions.

2. My family listened to the “Punt, Bama, Punt” game on the radio in our home on East Glenn Avenue. When Auburn won, our mom drove us downtown to see the fans rolling Toomer’s Corner. We saw J&M employees giving away orange and blue paint for free to students, who painted every car they could.

3. As an Auburn freshman, I attended a basketball game against No. 1 Kentucky in 1984 with my Magnolia Hall dorm mates. We watched Charles Barkley and Chuck Person destroy Melvin Turpin and Sam Bowie in the old Memorial Coliseum. I’ve never heard an Auburn basketball crowd that loud before or since.

4. The 1983 Iron Bowl at Legion Field, when they made the cheerleaders turn off their electrical systems on the sidelines because of the rainstorm in which most of the fourth quarter was played. But every single Auburn fan I was sitting around stayed in the stands, soaked to the bone, and was rewarded with a 23-20 victory.

5. The “Save Sonny” effort by the 1984-85 basketball team, which won the SEC tournament to earn a spot in the Big Dance after starting the season 13-7, leading to Coach Sonny Smith’s resignation. The team won two games in the NCAA and forced Smith to rescind his departure. I’ve never seen an Auburn team play together and with so much passion

6. The two years I spent in graduate school at an Auburn rival, Florida. The Tigers made my stay much much enjoyable by sweeping the Gators in football, basketball and baseball during my time in Gainesville. Those teams never knew how important that was for me, and probably don’t care. But it meant all the world to me being in enemy territory.

7. Taking my youngest son to the homecoming game in 2010 just so that we could see Cam Newton in person during that magical season. I would then take him to at least one Auburn home game every year for the next four years. I did this so that he could experience for himself the chills you get when the eagle soars down to the field and when the crowd yells “War Eagle” during the opening kickoff.

8. Watching the 2013 Iron Bowl on television at my house and sitting on the couch in shock for a good hour after the game ended. Not sure I’d seen what I’d just seen and feeling proud of a team that hadn’t given up and had found an unbelievable way to win, just as it had against Georgia earlier that month. I then thought of all of my friends who were there and got to see it in person.

9. Getting texts from that youngest son, now a sophomore on the Plains, after Auburn beat LSU this past year when the referees ruled that the last play didn’t get off before the game ended. And then getting pictures of him at Toomer’s and the trees.

10. Walking up to my gate at Raleigh-Durham International Airport last month wearing an Auburn sweatshirt and making eye contact with the guy wearing an Auburn baseball cap. It was Alex Smith, a running back for Auburn from 1988 to 1992. We shook hands, swapped stories and reminisced. We’d both put on a few pounds, but we both were still proud of our association with Auburn.

Next: All-Time Auburn Baseball Rotation

That’s what the Auburn spirit means to me.