The children and grandchildren of Tommy Lewis thinks Harvey Updyke is too full of s**t.
“For Updyke to compare his passion for Alabama to Tommy Lewis’s is heartbreaking to us,” wrote Kathy Lewis McCool, Lewis’ daughter, in a letter to the editor published last week in the Opelika-Auburn News.
Lewis, who played for the Crimson Tide in the 1950s, is best known for his off-the-bench tackle of Rice’s Dickey Moegle in the 1954 Cotton Bowl. Lewis said he couldn’t believe what he had done, but that he couldn’t help it— “I’m just too full of Bama.”
Updyke regularly uses the same language to explain his maybe-I-did poisoning of the Toomer’s oaks, and in ESPN’s new documentary on the Auburn-Alabama rivalry, he specifically cites Lewis as a kindred spirit.
Now the Lewis family is spiritually disowning him.
“Dad had an abundance of beloved Auburn friends,” McCool writes. “He had great respect for coach Shug Jordan and admonished us every season to “pull for Auburn when they are not playing us. Always be proud of your state schools.'”
“He was a stranger to the bitterness the rivalry has taken on in recent years, and would have been puzzled and disappointed by it. Updyke’s hateful act perpetrated upon Auburn’s proud old oaks at Toomer’s Corner would have appalled him, as it has stunned and horrified us all — Auburn and Alabama supporters alike.”
McCool says the family has no ill will toward Updyke and hope for “his continued healing and rehabilitation.”
“But mostly, we hope for the health of the beautiful oaks at Toomer’s Corner. Dad has long since lost his memory and lives in a nursing home, but we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, he would be the first to fight for those storied oaks at our proud state school — Auburn University.”
Photo via.
Related: Takeo’s Court.
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Wow, that’s strong. Good stuff.
A little sanity in the Stupid Storm…
I know it is a snapshot, so I am not sure how long the Rice player has been on the ground, but it looks to me that Oliver (#33) or even DiLaurentis might have had a real chance to Moegle. I have no clue how fast Moegle was compared to those guys, but it is not like he was all alone at the 40 in this picture!
Good for the Lewis clan!
I am glad to see this.
My granddaddy (second time I have mentioned him on here. He is the patriarch of my family’s Auburn heritage) is from Clay County and he used to tell me a story about one time at a Clay County High School game when he was a little boy, the team they were playing hit a play where their back broke loose down the sideline headed for the end zone. A handicapped guy who helped out on the Clay County football team reached out and tripped the back and kept him from scoring. A big fight broke out between the two teams and eventually the fans, and before it was over my granddad, who may have been 6 at the time, and some old woman were the only two people not down on the field in the scrap.
That story always reminded me of Tommy Lewis. I guess this guy from Clay County just had too much Panther in him.
I don’t blame the McCool’s, I wouldn’t want my name associated with Harvey either.
To the family of Mr. Tommy Lewis, in the words of the British House of Commons … “HEAR, HEAR”!
Thank You!
Time to get a war damn toomers tshirt!
War Damn Toomers tshirt