Setting the Stage

This is the story of those who worked together to establish the sport we know and love today. Auburn football is big business. In the mist of rapidly changing times, Auburn's leaders overcame the objections of faculty members who demanded more funding, and religious leaders who thought the sport would be too dangerous, to field its first football team.

The book begins just before the Civil War. The Methodist Church of Alabama agreed to sponsor two new colleges in Alabama. One would become what we commonly refer to as Auburn. Most Alabamians saw the winds of war brewing but believed it would only result in a minor skirmish along the northern Virginia border. No one believed that there would be any impact on Alabama. They were wrong. The war quickly escalated into the State of Alabama forcing Auburn to close its doors. While other colleges in Alabama were burned to the ground, the school was spared and even served as a hospital for Confederate soldiers injured in battle. Reopening its doors after the conclusion of the war, Auburn struggled to stay afloat, but its leaders could see light at the end of the tunnel. In the mist of rapidly changing times, Auburn's leaders overcame the objections of faculty members who demanded more funding, and religious leaders who thought the sport would be too dangerous, to field its first football team. This is the story of those who worked together to establish the sport we know and love today.

Neal Whitt was born in 1948, and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a graduate of Auburn University and Cumberland School of Law, located on the campus of Samford University. In addition, he obtained a Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Alabama. After practicing corporate and taxation law for over ten years in a small firm, he left the practice to join a Birmingham company engaged in the construction materials industry. Now fully retired and extremely happy, he is engaged in the arts community and shows his work in whimsical clay sculpture in galleries across the Southeast. He and his wife, Melinda are extremely proud of their four children, Trey, Vann (now deceased), Mindy and Carrie, and six grandchildren. All have been successful in their careers and live in Birmingham, Alabama.