Daily Dose of Crimson Tide: Hank Crisp

Although he never played for the University of Alabama, nor ever became head coach of the football program, few people left such an indelible mark on the Crimson Tide as Hank Crisp.

Despite losing his right hand at age 13 cutting corn to fill a silo, “Hustlin Hank” became a standout running back at Virginia Tech and captained the 1918 team. In 1921, he was hired by his former head coach Charles A. Bernier, who had resigned from then-VPI to become the head basketball coach and athletic director at Alabama, becoming an assistant coach for Xen Scott and head coach for the track team.

He stayed at the Capstone until 1967.

Not only was Crisp a line coach for Scott, Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Red Drew, and J.B. Whitworth, but he also coached the basketball team from 1924 to 1942 and again in 1946. His 19-year run resulted in a 264–133 record that included the Crimson Tide’s last undefeated season, when it went 20–0 in 1930.

Crisp served as athletic director twice, once for eight years and again for three, but stepped down to make way for the return of Paul W. “Bear” Bryant.

Bryant had known Crisp since 1930, when as a player he helped lead Fordyce High School to an Arkansas state championship. Crisp was recruiting two of his teammates, but while visiting met Bryant and offered him a scholarship without having seen him play. Because Bryant hadn’t completed his coursework he wasn’t academically eligible, yet was allowed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to complete his courses at Tuscaloosa High School while having his expenses paid by the university (that rule has since been changed).

Crisp looked out for him, but the game that gained Bryant perhaps the most recognition as a player, when as a senior in 1935 he played with a broken leg against Tennessee, was primarily due to Crisp. Bryant recounted in his autobiography what the assistant coach said during a pregame speech:

“I’ll tell you gentlemen one thing. I don’t know about the rest of you, you or you or you. I don’t know what you’re going to do. But I know one damn thing. Old 34 will be after ’em, he’ll be after their asses.

“In those days they changed the players’ numbers almost every week...to sell those quarter programs. So he’s up there talking about old 34, and I look down, and I’m 34! I had no idea of playing.”

So when Alabama was courting Bryant at Texas A&M, one of the few hurdles to be cleared was Bryant’s concern about Crisp, whom he did not want to offend. Instead, Crisp flew to Houston, where Crimson Tide officials were meeting with Bryant, stood before him, and supposedly said, “Now come on. Get your ass back to Alabama so we can start winnin’ some football games.”

Crisp’s career spanned six Rose Bowls, two Cotton Bowls, an Orange Bowl, 184 wins, 64 losses, and 15 ties.

Not only is he enshrined in the Helms Hall of Fame, but he was voted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in the Class of 1970. Approximately an hour before the ceremony, he and his family attended a cocktail party at the Birmingham Museum of Art, where the 75-year-old collapsed and died.

Later that evening, Hank Crisp Jr. accepted the award on his father’s behalf and received an emotional standing ovation. He tearfully told the crowd, “This was the happiest day I’ve ever seen him have.”

In 1991, Alabama dedicated the newly constructed Hank Crisp Indoor Facility in his honor.

Some of this post originated from "100 Things Crimson tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die," published by Triumph Books