Thom Gossom, Jr. - Walk-On (2)

I conclude this marvelous book. Thom Gossom writes of growing up in mostly segregated Birmingham, going to John Carrol HS when it was on the Southside, and then walking on the football team at Auburn. He was reshirted his first year and played from 1971 to 1974. He earned his scholarship after walking on, which is hard to do.

I especially enjoyed reading about the 1972 team, the Amazin's they were called, because after the Sullivan-Beasley years, Auburn wasn't to supposed to have anything in 1972 yet that team lost only one game. We beat Alabama 17 to 16 in the famous two-blocked-punt game.

In what seems comically antique now, Coach Jordan came down hard on facial hair in 1974, but finally relented somewhat. The few black players were ready to quit the team over not being allowed to sport facial hair. The Coach had his rules dating from 1951 and he was slow to change.

Gossom is remembered for that touchdown catch in the 1974 Alabama game which would have won the game for the Tigers (Alabama won 17 to 13), but the score was nullified when an official all the way across the field said that Gossom has stepped out of bounds and came back on the field to catch the pass, which was illegal in 1974. Two years later, the rule was changed which would have made the catch legal. It was a tough loss for that team. In this book, Gossom doesn't really say much about it---I think he's not sure if he stepped out of bounds or not---he only plays up the referee way away from the play making the call while the official closest to the catch ruled touchdown.

Thom Gossom has gone on to do acting jobs in various TV shows and movies. He has done well for himself.