When Wallace Wade decided to leave Alabama after the 1930 season, he picked his own successor. His choice was Frank Thomas, a young coach who had played quarterback at Notre Dame for Knute Rockne in the early 1920s and roomed with George Gipp.
A new offense
Thomas did not just take over Wade's team, he changed how it played. He retired the single-wing offense Alabama had won with and installed the Notre Dame Box, the shifting formation he learned under Rockne. His first team went 9–1.
The 1934 team
Three years later Thomas had one of the best teams in the country. The 1934 Crimson Tide went 10–0, beat Stanford 29–13 in the Rose Bowl and was named national champion. One of its ends was an Arkansas kid named Paul Bryant, who was known as "the other end" to the more famous Don Hutson. After his playing days, Bryant joined Thomas's staff as an assistant.
Thomas kept winning. Alabama went back to Pasadena after the 1937 season. In 1941 the Tide won another national title. After the 1945 season, an unbeaten Alabama team beat USC 34–14 in the Rose Bowl.
Coaching from a trailer
By then, Thomas's health was failing. Heart trouble left him unable to stand on the practice field for long, and in his last years he ran practice from a trailer at the edge of the field. He stepped down after the 1946 season and stayed on as athletic director. He died in Tuscaloosa in 1954, at 55.
Why he's forgotten
His Alabama record was 115–24–7 over 16 seasons. That's two national championships, two Rose Bowl wins and a College Football Hall of Fame induction in 1951. The problem is timing. He followed the coach who put Alabama on the map, and his best-known player became the most famous coach in the sport. Wade and Bryant cast long shadows, and Thomas stood right between them.