This is the first in a series of interviews with past Tigers who go beyond the game film highlights to share their love of Auburn University, wearing the blue jersey, as a message to the 2009 players, coaches, and fans. Enjoy this deeper dive into their Auburn experience as the 2009 edition of Tigers ready for war. – Eagle5
Hanau, West Germany, a hotbed of Auburn football recruiting. Hardly, but the military base in Hanau was the childhood home to Auburn Tiger great Thomas Bailey, Jr. prior to the family relocating to Enterprise, Alabama. Bailey’s father, Thomas Bailey, Sr. was proudly serving his country in three tours of duty in Frankfurt, Giessen, and Hanau, West Germany.
An unlikely travel route to the Plains for the wide receiver and return specialist who proudly wore the blue jersey from 1991-1994, and seized a place in AU memory for his important role in The Swamp, circa 1994. Bailey played his junior and senior high school seasons at Enterprise High School.
“In high school at Enterprise, I was unaware of my talent in football, and fully intended to follow Dad’s footsteps and enter the army,” Bailey said. “Then one day, my high school coach showed me a big box of letters from over 300 colleges who were recruiting me. I was just having fun playing in high school; I had no idea I was good enough to earn a college football scholarship.”
Al Gore obviously had not invented the Internet as yet in 1990. As a high school rising senior today, Thomas Bailey would have already published his offer and visit list, and fans would be arguing over his star rating.
“James Daniels, the tight ends coach at Auburn, was my recruiter, and had previously coached at Enterprise,” Bailey said. “He played a big part in getting me a look by Coach Pat Dye. Coach Dye called me several times, and told me he wanted me at Auburn. He came to our home, sat down and had dinner with our family. My Mom loved him. He was very straight up with us, and didn’t shoot my parents any B.S. about me playing as a freshman. He just told my parents he was going to take care of me and make sure I got an education. My parents and I were sold.”
Like the majority of freshmen, Bailey arrived at Auburn with the lofty goal of early playing time. He had to deal with disappointment in the coaches’ decision to redshirt him, even as his roommate, current NFL player Tony Richardson, and James Willis, saw the field as true freshmen. “In time, I learned that redshirting was actually a blessing in disguise, as I was able to get ahead on studies, and put some size on to play in the SEC,” Bailey said.
Fast forward to the emotionally draining 1992 season, to be Coach Dye’s last, leading up to the transition to Coach Bowden. Like all the younger players on the team, Bailey knew little about Ramsey-gate, and in fact, had never met Eric Ramsey. “I remember very well the week of the ’92 Iron Bowl, Coach Dye called a mandatory team meeting to announce what was going on,” Bailey said. “It was a very emotional meeting, and the team made up our minds that we were going to win the Iron Bowl for Coach Dye.” While coming up short that day, the team forged a bond that would ease the transition to Bowden and carry over into the magical 1993 season.
The majority of football fans, understandably, blur the context of events and coaching changes as they peer into the rear view mirror years into the past. Bailey recalls when Terry Bowden was announced as Dye’s successor: “I remember someone asking me how I felt about Bowden coming to Auburn. Initially, I thought, who is this guy? I thought maybe they meant Bobby Bowden!”
But make no mistake – Bailey, like the majority of college football players, has his head coach’s back, even today. “The key component to our ’93 success and turnaround was that every player bought into Coach Bowden’s vision,” Bailey said. “We believed in each other as players. Where it may seem silly in 2009, we believed in Coach Bowden’s team words (Attitude, and its successors) and his philosophy. Regardless of who we were playing, we had enormous confidence. Almost all of that coaching staff – at every position, are still coaching somewhere today.” Bowden would become the first Division I head football coach to lay claim to an undefeated season in his first season. Delirium had visited the Plains again, and the ancient oaks at Toomer’s strained under the weight of the Charmin’. Thomas Bailey counts himself blessed to make that wild ride that delighted fans and reminded the again arrogant Crimson “nation” that 1992 was a blip, not a trend.
There are football fans, and then there are football fanatics. Aficionados of the gridiron. Connoisseurs of the X’s and O’s; the Jimmies and Joes. You know them, and have seen their breed in these parts – the football guru who commits to memory a seemingly irrelevant play in a big game, knowing that in big games, there are no irrelevant plays. What appears a ho-hum 3rd and 8 conversion sustained a drive, set up a play later in the game, or added three minutes to time of possession while changing field position.
Thomas Bailey, Jr. is the thinking fan’s player to remember. The improbable 1994 shocker in The Swamp, a heart-throbbing 36-33 Auburn upset of the No. 1 ranked Florida Gators makes the point.
Anticipating the deafening crowd noise of the Swamp in what was billed as a certain revenge game after the 1993 38-35 upset, the Tigers called off any quarterback audibles by Patrick Nix at the line. They would go low risk, and run the play called in from Bowden. On the Tigers’ first scoring drive, the Tigers faced a 3rd and 11. Bailey laid out to haul in Nix’s pass over the middle, and kept the drive alive. Nix soon threw the first middle screen to tight end Andy Fuller, a play which would prove to burn Florida defensive coordinator Ron Zook all game. From the Gator 32 yard line, Bowden dialed up a Nix boot and throw with Bailey as the primary receiver on a fade route to the end zone.
“I had a step on the defender,” said Bailey, “and the linebacker, Ben Hanks had dropped off. Coach Tommy Bowden had challenged us all week by asking who was gonna make a big play? When the ball went up, I was determined to haul it in, because I knew it would set the tone for the game.”
Indeed it did. Football connoisseurs know. It’s a team sport at every turn. But on that opening AU drive alone, Bailey delivered on two critical plays that silenced the partisan crowd and would put the Evil Genius on his heels. Later on THE DRIVE, Bailey would haul in a Nix bullet for one of the biggest 4th and 10 completions in Auburn football lore. His teammate and friend, Frank Sanders, knows what thinking fans know. No clutch Bailey catch, no Nix to Sanders YouTube legend.
“We always held hands in the huddle,” said Bailey. “On the winning drive, you could just feel the energy in the huddle. I still get chills talking about it today. There was a look in the eyes of every player in the huddle. All the bad press from probation, from Coach Dye resigning, all we fought for . . . poured into this moment. THIS IS IT. We can do something here!” All the Tigers did on that day was knock off a Florida team that had not lost to an SEC team in the Swamp in 15 consecutive games.
From Hanau, West Germany to Enterprise, to the Loveliest Village. For Thomas Bailey, Jr. it was a life-changing ride that made him an Auburn man, and no one would trade that blessing. “My Mom (Shirley Bailey) always told me to savor and remember my time in Auburn – it’s hard to get it back,” said Bailey. “How wise were her words. Last year, I took my brother-in-law to an Auburn game, and he was in awe from the Tiger Walk, and the AU fans. I literally cried that day at the feeling of being back in “my home” – Auburn. That’s where I became a man.”
Thomas Bailey, Jr. and his wife, Jacqueline hold down an Auburn base in Big Ten Country in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Thomas is a regional manager for several properties. Keep an eye out for # 18 at the Auburn vs. West Virginia tilt on September 19th!
