Editor’s Note: Rob Shuler is a former Auburn offensive lineman who was a four-year letterman on Coach Pat Dye’s teams from 1982-1985. Shuler lives in Nashville where he runs All-American Holdings, a private equity fund that buys troubled American and European companies. Shuler is a regular on the AUTigers.com message boards and is wrote this Thanksgiving column about a friend in need who has lost family members in a traffic auto accident.
I learned to hate Alabama early in my career at Auburn. Being from Atlanta my main concern before arriving on the Plains was to beat Georgia. It all changed my first November in the Iron Bowl (Auburn 23, Alabama 22). The passion the players on both teams (most of them growing up in Alabama) displayed in the game was at a level of intensity I had never experienced. It was deeper than Georgia vs Georgia Tech (the rivalry I grew up watching in my backyard).
As our fans tore down the goal posts that afternoon I began to understand that this game was a build up of 365 days of waiting. It was what both Alabama fans and Auburn fans pointed towards the whole year not just in the football season.
After graduating from Auburn I eventually made my way up to Nashville, Tenn. Life would throw its share of curves at me and I ended up divorced and in an apartment eight years ago. And isn’t God funny, he would give me a new neighbor, Jim Farmer, the former great Alabama basketball player.
Jim and I bonded immediately. He was an athlete who understood what it took to be great--he had dealt with life after sports and he had had his share of failed relationships. We’d joke with each other about the Iron Bowl, but as former athletes we both appreciated and respected the investment each player on both teams had put into the game.
For the most part we were unbiased in our observations about good play and bad play for our respective teams. I served as an usher just a few years ago in Jim’s wedding, and wouldn’t you know it, I had to walk down the isle with another usher, Mark Gottfried (Yes the head coach of Alabama and Jim’s former roommate).
It was around this time Jim and I played in a celebrity golf tournament in Destin. At this tournament I would meet a guy who would become one of my closest friends, former Alabama running back Siran Stacy. Siran’s smile lit up the room as he talked with me and others. He radiated a joy few people have.
Shuler: Thanksgiving Prayer for Former Rival
I learned to hate Alabama early in my career at Auburn. Being from Atlanta my main concern before arriving on the Plains was to beat Georgia. It all changed my first November in the Iron Bowl (Auburn 23, Alabama 22). The passion the players on both teams (most of them growing up in Alabama) displayed in the game was at a level of intensity I had never experienced. It was deeper than Georgia vs Georgia Tech (the rivalry I grew up watching in my backyard).
As our fans tore down the goal posts that afternoon I began to understand that this game was a build up of 365 days of waiting. It was what both Alabama fans and Auburn fans pointed towards the whole year not just in the football season.
After graduating from Auburn I eventually made my way up to Nashville, Tenn. Life would throw its share of curves at me and I ended up divorced and in an apartment eight years ago. And isn’t God funny, he would give me a new neighbor, Jim Farmer, the former great Alabama basketball player.
Jim and I bonded immediately. He was an athlete who understood what it took to be great--he had dealt with life after sports and he had had his share of failed relationships. We’d joke with each other about the Iron Bowl, but as former athletes we both appreciated and respected the investment each player on both teams had put into the game.
For the most part we were unbiased in our observations about good play and bad play for our respective teams. I served as an usher just a few years ago in Jim’s wedding, and wouldn’t you know it, I had to walk down the isle with another usher, Mark Gottfried (Yes the head coach of Alabama and Jim’s former roommate).
It was around this time Jim and I played in a celebrity golf tournament in Destin. At this tournament I would meet a guy who would become one of my closest friends, former Alabama running back Siran Stacy. Siran’s smile lit up the room as he talked with me and others. He radiated a joy few people have.
Shuler: Thanksgiving Prayer for Former Rival
