The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(02-05-2015 12:22 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Good fodder though.

Most certainly. If nothing else, it keeps the negativity surrounding them floating around the interwebs.

(02-05-2015 10:12 AM)uabbean Wrote:  The Actual context is that Fob James was in a run off with Bill Baxley.

Fob ran the first TV commercial and a gimmick campaign - road around in a little yellow school bus. Baxley was seen as a old timey political insider - part of the three Bs (Baxley, Brewer & Beasley) plus actually had the nerve to put KKKs in jail,

Fob (an auburn graduate and all american)was winning in early poles by about 25 points. He spoke at an Auburn alumni gathering. He stated he would use school reform as a smoke screen to take down Tuscaloosa and even make Tuscaloosa a branch campus of Birmingham (got a big laugh on tape). Even the bear came out against Fob. Fob still won based on rural redneck areas but it was close.

PS The character Forrest Gump was based in part on Fob. Because The author could not believe anyone that dumb was elected governor.

I guess Winston Groom hasn't met Bentley yet.

(02-05-2015 11:18 AM)rook360 Wrote:  

(02-05-2015 11:16 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  For athe second time, they are not posters. It is a campaign pamphlet. And it is a verified fact that Bear endorsed Baxley because he was afraid if Fob won, state money would go to Auburn and UAB. Makes since that his son would head up a political committee.

This pamphlet is authentic.

If Memphis says it's authentic then I believe him. he may be many things, but he's not one to just toss out false info or hearsay and not verify it.

Oh yeah, it's authentic. Coach Bryant talks about the election in his autobiography. He specifically says that he was not for Fob because he was an Auburn guy and would favor Auburn over UA. After Fob won he met with him and discussed it.

If I had my copy of the book I'd look it up

I wonder what BBF is doing tonight. There are a lot of fun yarns in Alabama political history that can be spun about Lt. Governor Baxley between his endorsement from Coach Bryant, telling the Klan to kiss his *** on state stationary and his eventual loss to Guy Hunt in 86 in what was a stolen primary election. He had some weird experiences.

(05-21-2015 10:06 PM)TPBlaze84 Wrote:  I wonder what BBF is doing tonight. There are a lot of fun yarns in Alabama political history that can be spun about Lt. Governor Baxley between his endorsement from Coach Bryant, telling the Klan to kiss his *** on state stationary and his eventual loss to Guy Hunt in 86 in what was a stolen primary election. He had some weird experiences.

Guy Hunt beat Bill Baxley fair-and-square in the 1986 General Election -- the same elections in which Richard Shelby beat Jeremiah Denton, so you could say the Tide went 1-1 that day.

The "stolen primary" drama involved Baxley and Charles Graddick, IIRC.

I never met the man and don't claim to have any non-public knowledge about him, but Baxley's status as Bryant's pet always caused me to distrust him.

(05-22-2015 12:22 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(05-21-2015 10:06 PM)TPBlaze84 Wrote:  I wonder what BBF is doing tonight. There are a lot of fun yarns in Alabama political history that can be spun about Lt. Governor Baxley between his endorsement from Coach Bryant, telling the Klan to kiss his *** on state stationary and his eventual loss to Guy Hunt in 86 in what was a stolen primary election. He had some weird experiences.

Guy Hunt beat Bill Baxley fair-and-square in the 1986 General Election -- the same elections in which Richard Shelby beat Jeremiah Denton, so you could say the Tide went 1-1 that day.

The "stolen primary" drama involved Baxley and Charles Graddick, IIRC.

I never met the man and don't claim to have any non-public knowledge about him, but Baxley's status as Bryant's pet always caused me to distrust him.

Should have fleshed out my sentence more. The "stolen primary election" referred to his primary victory over Graddick that allowed him to then lose to Hunt in the general election. I voted for Hunt over Baxley easy, contesting the primary results didn't sit well with a lot of people.

The 1980s were a time of change in Alabama politics. George Wallace was effectively the governor of Alabama from Jan.,1963 to Jan., 1979. The latter years of this period saw the rebirth of the Alabama Republican Party as white conservative Democrats abandoned their party and fled in great numbers to the Alabama Republican Party. Many of these new Republicans expressed the position that they could not remain in the "new Democratic Party" but would continue to support Wallace who ran for president as an independent in every state except his own where he ran as a Democrat every time.

Instead of Alabama being run by conservative Democrats, it now was run by conservative Republicans - the same people with the same policies and taxation programs.

The 1980s brought Reagan to the Presidency with his "Southern Strategy" (Atwater was his campaign manager) so the South (and Alabama) has moved more and more into the "Red State" list ever since. During this time, Guy Hunt was offered up as almost a "sacrificial lamb" but due to the fuss described above, won - or rather the Democrats lost due to their infighting. They have never recovered.

(05-22-2015 12:22 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(05-21-2015 10:06 PM)TPBlaze84 Wrote:  I wonder what BBF is doing tonight. There are a lot of fun yarns in Alabama political history that can be spun about Lt. Governor Baxley between his endorsement from Coach Bryant, telling the Klan to kiss his *** on state stationary and his eventual loss to Guy Hunt in 86 in what was a stolen primary election. He had some weird experiences.

Guy Hunt beat Bill Baxley fair-and-square in the 1986 General Election -- the same elections in which Richard Shelby beat Jeremiah Denton, so you could say the Tide went 1-1 that day.

The "stolen primary" drama involved Baxley and Charles Graddick, IIRC.

I never met the man and don't claim to have any non-public knowledge about him, but Baxley's status as Bryant's pet always caused me to distrust him.

You are correct. Graddick really won the Democratic Primary over Baxley. The Dems simply ignored the results and said "Baxley is the nominee".

Tie that into a dynamic where there had never been a Mobilian elected Governor (there has only been one from South Alabama - ever - Don Siegelman) and by 1986 only one Mobilian ever elected Senator (Denton), and you had some very angry folks down in Mobile. This was around the time that the state tried to take USA's oil/gas revenues too.

I'm pretty liberal. I don't know anyone in Mobile who voted for Baxley. Pretty much everyone in Mobile was like "I really don't care who Hunt is...I'm voting against Baxley". If you looked at the vote totals, I'd be willing to bet you would have seen a massive number of split tickets (for GOP Hunt for Gov, Dem Shelby for Senate) out of Mobile/Baldwin.

(05-22-2015 08:06 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  You are correct. Graddick really won the Democratic Primary over Baxley. The Dems simply ignored the results and said "Baxley is the nominee".

I was there. Smiling Al sold the Dem. Exec Committee on the rationale that many Republicans had crossed over to vote for Graddick, violating the pro forma "loyalty oath" on the bottom of the primary ballot. They were pretty horrified by Charlie - who I liked a great deal personally - who had campaigned on "fry them 'til their eyeballs pop out." Which might actually fly in 2016 but was way over the top in 1986.

The state ended up having to pulp that year's print run of Alabama History textbooks, which said Charlie Graddick was elected governor in 1986.

(05-22-2015 08:40 AM)58-56 Wrote:  

(05-22-2015 08:06 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  You are correct. Graddick really won the Democratic Primary over Baxley. The Dems simply ignored the results and said "Baxley is the nominee".

I was there. Smiling Al sold the Dem. Exec Committee on the rationale that many Republicans had crossed over to vote for Graddick, violating the pro forma "loyalty oath" on the bottom of the primary ballot. They were pretty horrified by Charlie - who I liked a great deal personally - who had campaigned on "fry them 'til their eyeballs pop out." Which might actually fly in 2016 but was way over the top in 1986.

The state ended up having to pulp that year's print run of Alabama History textbooks, which said Charlie Graddick was elected governor in 1986.

I still have my Graddick pencil. For people down in Mobile/Baldwin it was about having a seat at the table. We really didn't care who it was. Prior to 1978, there had never been anyone from Mobile or Baldwin elected to US Senate, Lt Governor, Governor, or Attorney General (save one Lt Governor during reconstruction - and he had only lived in Mobile for 4 years).

Things changed...By 1999, the Governor, Lt Governor, Attorney General, and one Senator were Mobilians.

BTW - and I'm a Dem - They tried the same cr*p when Patricia Todd won a State Rep seat in Birmingham. That time - thankfully - they failed.

---

1986 was a case of an arrogant bunch of power hungry pricks thinking that they could ignore everyone because they had all the power thumbing their noses at a marginalized urban group....and in that ONE case...it blew up in their faces.

Lets hope history repeats itself re UAT's BOT.