With the nation’s 35th president looking on, Bear Bryant and the Tide steamrolled one of college football’s most storied programs.
President John F. Kennedy sits in his box seats at the Orange Bowl to watch Alabama play Oklahoma on Jan. 1, 1963. to watch the Tide, having attended the Jan. 8, 2018, national championship game between the Tide and Bulldogs in Atlanta and the Alabama-LSU game on Nov. 9, 2019, in Tuscaloosa -- both times when he was the sitting president.
Except for the box seats and the entourage accompanying him, Kennedy was just another face -- albeit the most famous face -- in a crowd of 73,379 fans. Alabama quarterback Joe Namath throws a pass as Cotton Clark tries to get open during the 1963 Orange Bowl. Namath passed for a touchdown and Clark ran for another in the Crimson Tide's 17-0 shutout of the Oklahoma Sooners. The president, though, wasn’t at the Orange Bowl to cheer on the Tide as much as he was there to show his support for his friend Wilkinson.
“It was really good for both publicity-wise – for JFK because Wilkinson was a Republican,” Barra, author of the Bryant biographysays. “Here he’s asking advice on stuff: ‘Coach, what do you think about our physical fitness program?’ It was a coup for Kennedy, no matter how you looked at it.” The Jan. 2, 1963, editions of The Birmingham News featured these photos of Alabama cheerleader Martha Campbell, in the left photo, and President John F. Kenndy, sitting with Florida Gov. C.. Farris Bryant in the right photo. Campbell got to meet the president at halftime of the 1963 Orange Bowl between Alabama and Oklahoma.
Sports Alabama Football John F. Kennedy Lee Roy Jordan Joe Namath Orange Bowl Evergreen
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