Alabama Football All Access Vault [Hardcover]

Tommy Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2009

From the first game in 1892 through the 2008 season, The University of Alabama All-Access Football Vault® explores the history of the Crimson Tide football program, as Tommy Ford writes a special story not found in any other book about Bama football. But what makes this detailed scrapbook unique are the vintage photographs, artwork and memorabilia discovered on campus, including at the Paul W. Bryant Museum. Throughout this book, Tide fans will find reproductions of old game program covers, historic tickets, vintage bumper stickers and much more. Replicas include a ticket to the 1894 Auburn game, a newspaper clipping from the 1926 Rose Bowl, a 1930 Georgia game booklet, a 1950s-style pennant, a 1960s Bryant bumper sticker, a press pass to the 1966 Orange Bowl, a 1980s Roll Tide poster and a 2008 season-ticket sheet. No Crimson Tide fan should be without this home archive of Alabama s long and illustrious football history.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Whitman Publishing (August 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0794828000
• ISBN-13: 978-0794828004
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 12.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even If You Have the Other, This is THE VAULT Every Alabama Fan Should Have, November 18, 2009

By 

George McAdams (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alabama Football All Access Vault (Hardcover)

Several years ago, Jay Barker, one of Alabama's most beloved, yet, underrated quarterbacks, put together the University of Alabama Football Vault: The Story of the Crimson Tide,1892-2007. It was a good. It covered the territory, but, quite frankly, I was disappointed. A number of other schools in the SEC, namely Tennessee and Georgia, had published a similar "vault" around the same time, and in looking through the others along with the Alabama one, I felt if you had changed some of the colors and replaced a couple of photographs, you could have retitled to reflect the football programs at any school. It contained some "neat" stuff, but when it comes down to it, it was too "neat." One of my dictionaries says, and I'm paraphrasing here, that "neat" is "orderly in appearance and in a clean condition." The previously vault was that, but if you are like me, and maybe this is a problem pack rats like me have, while I have plenty of Alabama mementos and books, and they are arranged in a somewhat orderly fashion, if you can call having football stuff on one shelf and all other sports on another shelf "orderly," they aren't "neat." Clippings are stuffed in books, and ticket stubs are book marks, and programs have line-ups detached, etc.

Now, this is not to say that Tommy Ford's edition of the vault, THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA ALL-ACCESS FOOTBALL VAULT, is a cluttered mess without any organization; it's just that every other page seems to have one or two more things added to it. Sort of like when he was reviewing it, probably for the umpteenth time, he said to himself, "I've got a little space here, let me add this," and there's a little tidbit about a big game, or a ticket stub, or a bench pass, or program cover. It has the look of a scrapbook, albeit the scrapbook of Champions, but make no mistake about it, though, the writing within it is superb, and it should be. Tommy Ford is an excellent writer and knows his Alabama football having served as sports editor of the "Crimson-White" while he was in school, and at the University he has worked in the Athletic Department as the ticket manager, director of Tide Pride, and currently serves as director of Donor Programs for the Alabama Athletic Department. On top of all of that, he previously wrote ALABAMA'S FAMILY TIDES, a book about Alabama football as seen through the "eyes of 50 or so former Tide 'family' members, either in father-son relationships or brother relationships," to quote from its preface.

If you have the previous "vault," you might think this one would be redundant. After all, why have another if you already have the first, but I can assure you this one is not a duplication of the other. And, if you don't have the first, you shouldn't even be hesitating over whether to buy this one.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Memorabilia, January 29, 2011

By 

Rene Gunter (Montgomery, AL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alabama Football All Access Vault (Hardcover)

I bought three of these as Christmas gifts for my father- and brothers-in-law, and they said it was the best present ever. Excellent overview of the history at Bama, plus sample tickets from games, bumper stickers, pins, etc., from times past. I was impressed with the quality and beauty, and any Bama fan will covet this. My husband and I liked it so much that we got the championship version for ourselves! An excellent value: Fair price for a great product.