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The Missing Ring: How Bear Bryant and the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide Were Denied College Football's Most Elusive Prize
"Keith Dunnavant's triumph is that he takes us into the heart of Alabama, into the darkness and the light, and there we see Joe Namath, Kenny Stabler, Ray Perkins, and their band of brothers play football for Bear Bryant the way life should be lived, at full throttle, indomitably."
---Dave Kindred, author of Sound and Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship
The Missing Ring is more than a football book. It is both a story of a changing era and of an extraordinary team on a championship quest.
Very few institutions in American sports can match the enduring excellence of the University of Alabama football program. Across a wide swath of the last century, the tradition-rich Crimson Tide has claimed twelve national championships, captured twenty-five conference titles, finished thirty-four times among the country's top ten, and played in fifty-three bowl games.
Especially dominant during the era of the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant, the larger-than-life figure who towered over the landscape like no man before or since, Alabama entered the 1966 season with the chance to become the first college football team to win three consecutive national championships. Every aspect of Bryant's grueling system was geared around competing for the big prize each and every year, and in 1966 the idea of the threepeat tantalized the players, pushing them toward greatness. Driven by Bryant's enthusiasm, dedication, and perseverance, players were made to believe in their team and themselves. Led by the electrifying force of quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler and one of the most punishing defenses in the storied annals of the Southeastern Conference, the Crimson Tide cruised to a magical season, finishing as the nation's only undefeated, untied team. But something happened on the way to the history books.
The Missing Ring is the story of the one that got away, the one that haunts Alabama fans still, and native Alabamian Keith Dunnavant takes readers deep inside the Crimson Tide program during a more innocent time, before widespread telecasting, before scholarship limitations, before end-zone dances. Meticulously revealing the strategies, tactics, and personal dramas that bring the overachieving boys of 1966 to life, Dunnavant's insightful, anecdotally rich narrative shows how Bryant molded a diverse group of young men into a powerful force that overcame various obstacles to achieve perfection in an imperfect world.
Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the still-escalating Vietnam War, and a world and a sport teetering on the brink of change in a variety of ways, The Missing Ring tells an important story about the collision between football and culture. Ultimately, it is this clash that produces the Crimson Tide's most implacable foe, enabling the greatest injustice in college football history. "Keith Dunnavant has written yet another fabulous book about the fabled Alabama football program. You will be amazed at how one of the great injustices in the history of college football cost them their rightful place in history. And you just thought the system was screwed up now."
---Jim Dent, author of The Junction Boys
"Keith Dunnavant nails all the sacrifices the 1966 Alabama team made to win three national championships in a row, and how we were robbed at the ballot box."
---Jerry Duncan, one of the boys of 1966
"Dunnavant infuses reportage and passion into a tale that every Alabamian of a certain age For all the crying about Penn State in 1969, Penn State in 1994, or Auburn in 2004, no team ever got shafted the way the 1966 Crimson Tide did. It's all the churning legs, the churning stomachs, and the dreaded gym classes where Bear Bryant's boys made the sacrifices he demanded in order to become champions. They conquered their opponents on the field, but proved to be no match for the politics of the day off the field. The '66 Tide is still waiting for the Missing Ring. Thanks to Dunnavant, we don't have to."
---Ivan Maisel, senior writer, ESPN.com, and co-author of A War in Dixie
"Absolutely stunning. The Missing Ring left me breathless. Keith Dunnavant has proven again why he is one of America's greatest sports authors and historians. With so much having been written about Bryant and Alabama, I had my doubts going into this book that there was something I didn't know or hadn't read. Yet Dunnavant has managed to strike gold with The Missing Ring in every way and shape imaginable. His quiet prose goes down as effortlessly as bourbon and branch water. Fans of college football will marvel at his painstaking research. Dunnavant turned the clock back forty years and it was 1966 all over again. The pain and the glory, the pride and the prejudice, all brought to life in the pages of this extraordinary book."
---Paul Finebaum, Paul Finebaum Radio Network
---Dave Kindred, author of Sound and Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship
The Missing Ring is more than a football book. It is both a story of a changing era and of an extraordinary team on a championship quest.
Very few institutions in American sports can match the enduring excellence of the University of Alabama football program. Across a wide swath of the last century, the tradition-rich Crimson Tide has claimed twelve national championships, captured twenty-five conference titles, finished thirty-four times among the country's top ten, and played in fifty-three bowl games.
Especially dominant during the era of the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant, the larger-than-life figure who towered over the landscape like no man before or since, Alabama entered the 1966 season with the chance to become the first college football team to win three consecutive national championships. Every aspect of Bryant's grueling system was geared around competing for the big prize each and every year, and in 1966 the idea of the threepeat tantalized the players, pushing them toward greatness. Driven by Bryant's enthusiasm, dedication, and perseverance, players were made to believe in their team and themselves. Led by the electrifying force of quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler and one of the most punishing defenses in the storied annals of the Southeastern Conference, the Crimson Tide cruised to a magical season, finishing as the nation's only undefeated, untied team. But something happened on the way to the history books.
The Missing Ring is the story of the one that got away, the one that haunts Alabama fans still, and native Alabamian Keith Dunnavant takes readers deep inside the Crimson Tide program during a more innocent time, before widespread telecasting, before scholarship limitations, before end-zone dances. Meticulously revealing the strategies, tactics, and personal dramas that bring the overachieving boys of 1966 to life, Dunnavant's insightful, anecdotally rich narrative shows how Bryant molded a diverse group of young men into a powerful force that overcame various obstacles to achieve perfection in an imperfect world.
Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the still-escalating Vietnam War, and a world and a sport teetering on the brink of change in a variety of ways, The Missing Ring tells an important story about the collision between football and culture. Ultimately, it is this clash that produces the Crimson Tide's most implacable foe, enabling the greatest injustice in college football history. "Keith Dunnavant has written yet another fabulous book about the fabled Alabama football program. You will be amazed at how one of the great injustices in the history of college football cost them their rightful place in history. And you just thought the system was screwed up now."
---Jim Dent, author of The Junction Boys
"Keith Dunnavant nails all the sacrifices the 1966 Alabama team made to win three national championships in a row, and how we were robbed at the ballot box."
---Jerry Duncan, one of the boys of 1966
"Dunnavant infuses reportage and passion into a tale that every Alabamian of a certain age For all the crying about Penn State in 1969, Penn State in 1994, or Auburn in 2004, no team ever got shafted the way the 1966 Crimson Tide did. It's all the churning legs, the churning stomachs, and the dreaded gym classes where Bear Bryant's boys made the sacrifices he demanded in order to become champions. They conquered their opponents on the field, but proved to be no match for the politics of the day off the field. The '66 Tide is still waiting for the Missing Ring. Thanks to Dunnavant, we don't have to."
---Ivan Maisel, senior writer, ESPN.com, and co-author of A War in Dixie
"Absolutely stunning. The Missing Ring left me breathless. Keith Dunnavant has proven again why he is one of America's greatest sports authors and historians. With so much having been written about Bryant and Alabama, I had my doubts going into this book that there was something I didn't know or hadn't read. Yet Dunnavant has managed to strike gold with The Missing Ring in every way and shape imaginable. His quiet prose goes down as effortlessly as bourbon and branch water. Fans of college football will marvel at his painstaking research. Dunnavant turned the clock back forty years and it was 1966 all over again. The pain and the glory, the pride and the prejudice, all brought to life in the pages of this extraordinary book."
---Paul Finebaum, Paul Finebaum Radio Network
336 pages, Hardcover
First published August 22, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 13, 2011
I have no particular stake for or against Alabama football. I picked up the book because I love college football history. I enjoyed the book's discussion of the history of the program and the personalities of the coaches and players. I am glad I read the book for that reason. However, the book's treatment of the Notre Dame-Michigan State game, and Ara Parseghian, is bad history, bad football, and borderline hysterical. The book's treatment of the context in which Alabama played in the 1960s is almost as bad. Alabama got its ring in 1964 when Arkansas could have written its own book of the same title and made a case. I would have strongly preferred a balanced look at the subject matter.
January 25, 2014
I enjoyed this book and the premise upon which it was written. The information about the players from Alabama, coaching staff and Bear Bryant was very interesting. However, I thought the point about outside perceptions of the state of Alabama tainting the decisions made in the polls was made too many times and over emphasised. Once the point was made there was no need, I felt, to labour the point to the detriment of some more balanced considerations. Overall though I really enjoyed the read and the knowledge it has provided me for a different time in the sporting world.
August 10, 2011
I am an unabashed 'Bama fan even though I never attended the university. Bear Bryant was a hero as a kid - this tall, stone-faced gentleman in the houdstooth hat. This story is about the young men denied the 1966 national title even though they capped an undefeated season.
March 12, 2013
As a Notre Dame fan I had to take a lot of this book with a huge grain of salt. Although we Irish fans are really biased towards our team, we aren't nearly as biased as the 'Bama people quoted here were. It was a very interesting read though.
November 25, 2011
Great story. Dunnavant does an excellent job of describing what the team was going through, the actual games, and what the mood of the era was.
May 8, 2022
This is the story of the University of Alabama’s 1966 football team, which went undefeated and untied but was denied the national championship by sports writers who preferred Notre Dame, with Michigan State second, and Alabama third, after ND and MSU played to a famous 10-10 tie. Many criticized ND Coach Ara Parseghian for the way he handled the MSU game because, late in the Fourth Quarter, the Fighting Irish got the ball back with enough time to march down the field and score but Parseghian kept the ball on the ground and ran out the clock, playing for the tie with MSU rather than the win, no doubt knowing that a defeat would doom ND’s chances for a national championship while a tie would keep them in the running.
This was still the time when the pollsters selected the mythical national champion before the post-season bowl games were played so, even though Alabama dismantled Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl to remain undefeated, it didn’t matter because ND, which at that time had a school policy of not playing in bowl games, had already been named the AP and UPI national champions.
The author’s thesis is that the Alabama team was a victim of the times, that the national sportswriters eschewed voting for the Crimson Tide because of the state’s declared policy of segregation behind Gov. George Wallace. Part of the appeal of this argument is that there is really no other credible explanation for why the Crimson Tide, behind Kenny Stabler at quarterback and Ray Perkins at wide receiver, were denied the title. They ended the season with a better record that ND and MSU. It is also true that undefeated Alabama teams had won the national championship in 1964 and 1965 so maybe some sportswriters were reluctant to give it to the same school three years in a row but, if so, that was absolutely not fair to the players and coaches who produced the undefeated 1966 season, which should have stood on its own merit.
As someone who grew up following college football, l I enjoyed this book and found it quite interesting but parts of it were very difficult to read. The physical rigors that the Alabama coaches made the players suffer through were appalling. Many players quit the program and went home rather than endure the tremendous hardship but the opprobrium associated with that move caused others to stick it out and keep practicing and following the rules, acquiescing to the almost superhuman demands of the program run by head Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and his assistants. It is clear from the book that Coach Bryant approached each season with only one thing in mind: winning a national championship. Anything less was a disappointment. I guess the pursuit of excellence requires that kind of single-minded determination but the physical and mental toll it took on some of the players made me question such a narrow approach to college sports. Given all the players had to endure, it is no wonder that they felt cheated when the pollsters denied their undefeated team the national championship.
The author contends - and he convinced me - that Coach Bryant himself was not an avowed segregationist, that he would have preferred having talented African-American players on his teams. However, he apparently felt that it was too early to make that move in the mid-60’s, that the state and the people of Alabama were not ready for it. Integration of the football team came eventually but it was too late to affect the unsatisfying outcome of the 1966 season.
This was still the time when the pollsters selected the mythical national champion before the post-season bowl games were played so, even though Alabama dismantled Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl to remain undefeated, it didn’t matter because ND, which at that time had a school policy of not playing in bowl games, had already been named the AP and UPI national champions.
The author’s thesis is that the Alabama team was a victim of the times, that the national sportswriters eschewed voting for the Crimson Tide because of the state’s declared policy of segregation behind Gov. George Wallace. Part of the appeal of this argument is that there is really no other credible explanation for why the Crimson Tide, behind Kenny Stabler at quarterback and Ray Perkins at wide receiver, were denied the title. They ended the season with a better record that ND and MSU. It is also true that undefeated Alabama teams had won the national championship in 1964 and 1965 so maybe some sportswriters were reluctant to give it to the same school three years in a row but, if so, that was absolutely not fair to the players and coaches who produced the undefeated 1966 season, which should have stood on its own merit.
As someone who grew up following college football, l I enjoyed this book and found it quite interesting but parts of it were very difficult to read. The physical rigors that the Alabama coaches made the players suffer through were appalling. Many players quit the program and went home rather than endure the tremendous hardship but the opprobrium associated with that move caused others to stick it out and keep practicing and following the rules, acquiescing to the almost superhuman demands of the program run by head Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and his assistants. It is clear from the book that Coach Bryant approached each season with only one thing in mind: winning a national championship. Anything less was a disappointment. I guess the pursuit of excellence requires that kind of single-minded determination but the physical and mental toll it took on some of the players made me question such a narrow approach to college sports. Given all the players had to endure, it is no wonder that they felt cheated when the pollsters denied their undefeated team the national championship.
The author contends - and he convinced me - that Coach Bryant himself was not an avowed segregationist, that he would have preferred having talented African-American players on his teams. However, he apparently felt that it was too early to make that move in the mid-60’s, that the state and the people of Alabama were not ready for it. Integration of the football team came eventually but it was too late to affect the unsatisfying outcome of the 1966 season.
November 17, 2019
Fascinating look into the 1966 Alabama football team by a deeply conflicted author. The Tide had won National Championships the prior two years and went undefeated in ’66 but because Bear was linked in the public consciousness with George Wallace and was on the wrong side of the civil rights movement (the team remained segregated), writers weren’t inclined to show them any favors. The author is infuriated that Notre Dame was awarded the title despite settling for a tie in their last game and not going to a Bowl Game. Both they and the #2 team (Michigan State) had integrated. From a purely football standpoint, he makes a great point - Notre Dame was totally lame and Bama should’ve had a chance to play them. However, the author acknowledges that Bryant had such sway in the state, he could’ve moved public opinion enormously but chose not to largely because he believed it would offend his major donors and majority of fans. It was only after the team’s performance suffered on the field for 3+ years against integrated teams that Bama finally relented. Credit to the Bear for the equanimity of player treatment after being forced to integrated (from all reports, he treated everyone equally harshly, regardless of race) - and the superb results in the 70’s. But I leave the book feeling the ’66 ‘robbery’ through the lens of history may be just a misdemeanor.
January 17, 2022
Really like the style in which this book was written. More than just a chronological account of the 1966 season, the way that the back stories of each key player was woven into the sequence of the weekly adventures of the Crimson Tide during a tumultuous time in our nation's history made for a compelling read from start to finish. The power of the media isn't new to the 2020s. It had a deciding and permanent impact upon the way that the 1966 football season was portrayed and perceived.
This book taught me more about Bear Bryant's personalized leadership style, tailored to each player's individual strengths and weaknesses; I learned the exact details of why Notre Dame is held in such low regard across the state of Alabama, even 50+ years later; and I was pleased to read about the generous scholarship that Bear Bryant provided to the child of each of his players from 1958-1982.
This book breathed new life into the legacy of Coach Bryant, highlighting the fact that he was not just a famous football coach. He was an outstanding human being on and off the field, worthy of the reputation and respect that his name still commands today.
This book taught me more about Bear Bryant's personalized leadership style, tailored to each player's individual strengths and weaknesses; I learned the exact details of why Notre Dame is held in such low regard across the state of Alabama, even 50+ years later; and I was pleased to read about the generous scholarship that Bear Bryant provided to the child of each of his players from 1958-1982.
This book breathed new life into the legacy of Coach Bryant, highlighting the fact that he was not just a famous football coach. He was an outstanding human being on and off the field, worthy of the reputation and respect that his name still commands today.
October 17, 2022
Very good book on the 1966 season on how politics came into college football to deny the 2 time back to backs champions, from being the first three peat champions, even though they started out #1, and went undefeated
April 28, 2020
In your hearts, you know we were #1.
May 23, 2016
Growing up in Alabama as a child in the 60's I always wondered where the anti-Notre Dame sentiment came from. Now I know. I also grew up "knowing" the polls were rigged somehow to favor teams not from the South. This book gave a great historical perspective explaining how these impressions were created. Keith Dunnavant has an engaging style that made reading this book a delight.
January 11, 2013
Probably only Bama fans are going to love this one as it's a cry for that championship the Tide should have been awarded in 1966. Worthy read, but a whole book about the subject may have been a stretch. Roll Tide.
September 12, 2010
Suggested for any hardcore Bama fan. This story will make you outraged and shocked at times but delivers a positive ending.
Read
August 10, 2011Great synopsis of the highway robbery of a title for the 1966 Alabama football team. If you don't hate Notre Dame already, you will after reading this book.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews