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Copied from an Auburn message board around 2006:
They say those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
So many of us who view and post on this board recall the Dye years, Eric
Ramsey, Charlie Dare and other situations that arose during that time. Not many
of us are experienced enough to recall the days prior to that, when similar
situations arose due to the tactics of our cross-state rival. Anytime Auburn
began to dominate, they always found a way to knock us back. This is relevant
to the present day as, although the tactics have changed with the times, the
same attitude exists. If we do not understand the other side, and the lengths
to which they will go, we are destined to suffer the same fate.
As Auburn Defensive coach Hal Herring, who had been in the middle of the first
probation in 1956, said, "If you're doing too well somebody is always
trying to trump up something to knock you down. Instead of doing it on the
field, they want to do it on the sly."
Sound familiar? It still applies today.
I challenge you to read the book Shug: The Life and Times of Auburn’s Ralph
‘Shug’ Jordan, By Rich Donnell, Owl Bay Publishers , 1993. It is must reading
for all Auburn fans, and will help you gain a better understanding of what we
have been, and are currently, up against.
I challenge you to educate yourself on:
- Guntersville QB Don Fuell.
- Bama Assistant Coaches posing as encyclopedia salesmen.
- Ralph Draughon and the statement “in the interests of another institution.”
- Hueytown QB Richard Rush.
- Gadsden/Emma Sansom RBs Robert and Harry Beaube (Bama offers a furnished
apartment, Auburn gets penalized).
- Bama reps contacting the SEC office with fabricated and planted information.
- Bama hiring private investigators to steer players away from Auburn (actually
offering inducements for them to attend another school – anywhere but Auburn).
A taste of what you may find is below. In my opinion, it is important to:
1) Understand what we are dealing with, and that it is not some fabricated
conspiracy theory.
2) Know that Auburn is not the multi-probation, dirty program of the past that
Bama fans will make it out to be. Although there were several fines and
probations, you have to dig a little deeper for the real story. How and why?
Were the infractions fabricated? What were the other schools doing?
Auburn Head Coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan at the conclusion of the Don Fuell case:
Jordan, quiet throughout the long investigation, made the most dramatic
statement of all:
“The Southeastern Conference missed a great opportunity to grow up and become a
real conference today - The commissioner missed a great opportunity to grow up
and be a real commissioner, The Southeastern Conference has (in the past)
backed up its stand that no school ever will be convicted on hearsay, suspicion
and supposition. The commissioner has repeatedly made that statement. But
that's what we were convicted on today. I am still fully convinced that Auburn
is innocent of any wrongdoing or illegal recruiting in Donald Fuell's
case."
And Fuell (years later):
“Auburn was on top of the SEC at that time in football, basketball, baseball,
had great wrestling, swimming, just an all around good program, and for kids to
be punished for that was a tough thing to handle.”
“…I was prostituted, though not to the same degree by Auburn as I was by the
other universities that recruited me. Probably the two worst violators of the
rules of recruiting when I came along were Alabama and Georgia. What they did I
think was take the heat off themselves and put it on everybody else by feeding
the NCAA all kinds of rumors.”
Other comments on the Fuell case:
(Coach Ralph “Shug”) Jordan, to his death, scratched his head over the
probation. "There was fragmented, circumstantial evidence and it was
vindictive," he said. "With the courts like they are today, that
would probably end up in the Supreme Court ... I know it knocked us perhaps out
of four big bowls and it cost Auburn a lot of money."
(Auburn Athletics Director Jeff) Beard later said, "The more I got into
it, the madder I got. I knew it was an injustice. I fought it so hard that the
case was widely publicized. Maybe if I'd kept my mouth shut it wouldn't have
attracted so much attention."
A day after the SEC decision Jordan sought to get back to business. "As
far as Auburn football is concerned, we'll be making every effort to have the
same good football team that we have had for the past five years."
But Don Fuell's case was one Auburn people would never forget.
Auburn has a strong history and tradition in football, and athletics in
general, but think of what it would be without the constant undermining of our
cross-state rival. Think of what could have been and learn from it. Better yet,
think of what we can do to keep it from happening again.
I know that our current staff understands this, and is smart enough to not get
caught up in their web. It is not just a coincidence that we do not go
head-to-head with Alabama for as many prospects as you would expect. Our staff
knows the value of trying to identify where an in-state kid stands before we invest
too much, and before a problem could come up. They clearly understand. The more
Auburn people understand and remember the problems we have encountered in the
history of the rivalry off the field, the less likely we are to repeat them.
