Saturday will be the 90th playing of the Auburn vs. Alabama football game. The stakes may not be as high this year with Alabama having already secured a berth in the conference title game and Auburn laying a foundation for the future. Regardless, there will absolutely be no shortage of passion for either team.

This is the 54th anniversary of my first Iron Bowl, and I’ve attended more than half the games during that period in three different venues, Birmingham, Auburn, and Tuscaloosa.

Why is it called the Iron Bowl, who named it that, and why? In 1964, Auburn’s Coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan said the “Iron Bowl against Alabama would be Auburn’s bowl game,” and the moniker has stuck tightly ever since. But why?

First of all, it was played at the time in Birmingham’s Legion Field, the “Football

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