The 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic American football game featured two of the nation’s best teams that year, the Rice University Owls and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Rice came into the New Year’s Day game in Dallas, Texas, as the co-champions of the Southwest Conference with a record of 8-2. Alabama, on the other hand, was the Southeastern Conference champ, undefeated in conference play, but with also two losses on the season. Their record was 6-2-3.
The game started well for Alabama. After a trade of punts by the two, Rice began a drive that approached mid-field when the Tide’s defensive back (and quarterback), Bart Starr, intercepted an errant pass from the Rice quarterback. The ensuing Alabama possession saw the team’s prize running back, a young man named Tommy Lewis, score a two-yard touchdown run for his side. With his team up 6-0, Lewis’s Alabama side seemed to have the momentum. A punt in the second quarter pinned the Owls deep in their own territory, and a stop by Alabama could give them great field position with the lead.
That’s when Rice’s running back, a speedster named Dicky Moegle, took over the game. The halfback slashed and cut up the Alabama defense and scored for Rice to even the score and swing the momentum back to the Owls. Alabama seemed to not have an answer for the swift running back. It was midway through the second quarter when the Tide pinned Rice back to their 5 yard line. A stop there could give Bama the ball back and potentially the lead. That’s when Moegle took another handoff and turned up field.
It seemed that he was gone for a 95 yard touchdown the moment he crossed the line of scrimmage. Not one Alabama defensive player laid a hand on him. He was headed for a score that could potentially crush the life and fight out of the Tide that afternoon. That’s when Tommy Lewis made a play that will live in not only Alabama lore but also college football history. He seemingly came out of nowhere to make a perfect tackle of Moegle near the Alabama 40. Both teams were stunned. It seemed that no one could have caught up with the Rice speedster. But, Lewis had stopped him. When you see it on film (it’s on YouTube) today, you notice right away that Lewis used perfect technique to wrap up Dicky Moegle and bring him to the ground cleanly.
The fans were stunned. The radio announcer stumbled for what to say about what had transpired on the play. The players on both benches couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed. The referees huddled for several minutes about the play. The Rice bench was screeching at the men in the striped shirts because of the tackle. Finally, the head ref, still shaking his head over what he’d witnessed, moved to the center of the field and raised both his arms straight over his head to signal touchdown for Rice.
Dicky Moegle finished that day with 265 yards on 11 carries and three touchdowns. He would go on to be named an All-American for that season. Rice defeated Alabama 28-6 in the Cotton Bowl that day, and it would mark the last time Alabama would make it to a bowl game for the next several years.
But what about Tommy Lewis and the tackle? Well, you see, the reason Moegle was awarded the touchdown despite Lewis’s perfect tackle was that, when Tommy stopped the Rice runner, he had done so by leaving the team’s bench and running onto the field to make the stop.
After the game, even though Rice won handily, the press wanted to talk to Tommy Lewis. They asked him why he’d done what he’d done; what possessed him to leap from his sidelines and stop what was a sure touchdown for Rice when he wasn’t even in the game. His answer is one of the rallying cries for the Crimson Tide to this day.
“I guess I’m just too full of Alabama,” Tommy Lewis said sheepishly.
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