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In 2001, the week three games of the regular season were not played due to the terrorist attacks on September 11. Those games were rescheduled for the first weekend in December.

My assigned game was to be played at Arkansas, in Fayetteville. The FAA had called for a complete ground stop of US airlines. Before the decision was made to postpone these games, Harold Mitchell and I had decided to drive to Fayetteville together. We both lived north of Atlanta, and we were on the same crew that year. The previous weekend, we had been in Syracuse, New York, for their game against Central Florida. That Saturday was September 8.

Bobby Gaston, the coordinator of football officials, had to make a lot of modifications to the crews for several reasons. It turned out that I didn’t go to Arkansas with my crew. I was switched out and put in the Southern Mississippi game against Alabama in Birmingham. This crew’s head linesman had a previously scheduled trip to Hawaii, or some exotic destination like that. This game got moved up to Thursday night, November 29^th.

I drove to Birmingham early on Thursday morning. The weather forecast was not looking good at all. I checked into the Sheraton, across from the Civic Center and SEC conference office. I used the parking deck that is shared with the SEC office.

My dad happened to be in town for the game. He was an ambassador for the Peach Bowl and Alabama was on their list of potential teams. We got to visit briefly and then he was off to go do his thing.

Bill Goss was the referee that night. He was not overly enthusiastic about working this game. Looking at how the weather was going to be, I was not really excited about things myself. We went about our pregame meeting, got dressed, and headed for Legion Field around 4 o’clock for our 6:30 kickoff. As we were driving to the stadium, it began to rain, right when the weatherman said it would.

The closer we got to the start of the game, the harder it rained. We were now under a winter weather advisory. The temperature at kickoff was 35 degrees and falling.

We, as officials, never sent anyone out an hour before the game to monitor the teams during the warmup period. I sure as hell wasn’t going to go out there.

When it was time to go, Bill and I stood in the tunnel watching the water cascade down the stadium forming a wall of water for us to run through. He turned to me and said, “After you.” Off we went.

The field was an absolute mess just from warmups. There was nobody in the stadium except for those in the press box and a few fans under the upper deck areas. ESPN was there and the camera operators looked completely miserable.

We get the game underway, and the first half was close. Alabama led 7 to 6. The passing game was non-existent for both teams. The game was played between the tackles for most of the evening.

When you stood on the sidelines, you could hear a bubbling sound. It was the drain tiles under the turf as the water was being pumped down and out of the playing area. Muddy water was almost over the top of my shoes. My white knickers were ruined. It was a miserable experience. The temperature fluctuated between 33 and 34 degrees for the entire game. Snow might have been better.

To make matters worse, Jeff Bowers, the head coach for Southern Mississippi, decided to start giving me grief. His team was giving Alabama all they wanted. Their defense even forced the Tide into a safety.

This game was difficult to work and having a coach start in on me was more than I wanted to deal with. At one point, Coach Bowers says, “I get screwed every time I’m in a game with SEC refs.” I didn’t hesitate one bit. I replied, “Coach, you’re four for four when I’ve had your games. You beat Mississippi State, Ole Miss and LSU twice. I don’t want to hear it.”

Jeff was bent over with his hands on his knees when he started in on his rant. After I had my say, he turned to look at me with a big smile on his face. I didn’t hear another word from him the rest of the game. Alabama won 28 to 15.

The next morning, I was walking through the parking deck to my car. I saw the SEC commissioner, Roy Kramer. When we got close, he says, “Hey Gus, looks like y’all got a little wet last night.” I shook his hand and replied, “Soaked, Good to see you. I hope it ranis on everybody else this weekend.” The commissioner had a big smile come across his face.