{"id":229581,"date":"2025-10-16T17:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/229581\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T17:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:59:09","slug":"dixieland-delight-when-did-hit-song-debut-at-an-alabama-football-game-at-bryant-denny-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/229581\/","title":{"rendered":"Dixieland Delight: When did hit song debut at an Alabama football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most significant moment in the history of \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d<\/a> at Bryant-Denny Stadium didn\u2019t happen in 2018.<\/p>\n

Sure, that might have been the most enthused and memorable singing of the Alabama football staple. A release of pent-up Tide fandom, if you will. The song had been banned for multiple years<\/a> because of the explicit add-on lyrics. Then, UA brought it back with a loud \u201cBEAT AUBURN\u201d pumped into the stadium on Oct. 13, 2018, for the homecoming game against Missouri during a fourth quarter timeout. That night shouldn\u2019t go down as the most historic, though.<\/p>\n

A different day, years prior, deserves that title \u2014 the day \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d was first played at Bryant-Denny Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The problem is, there\u2019s no official record of it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no \u201cthis date in history\u201d tied to when a song was first played at an Alabama football game. That\u2019s the case with many traditions in college football. Traditions usually start organically.<\/p>\n

As a result, figuring out when Bryant-Denny Stadium first encountered \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d proves difficult.<\/p>\n

After phone calls, texts and emails with about a dozen people involved in the music selection, research into newspaper archives and old game footage, here are the findings of our investigation.<\/p>\n

\u2018A sweet, soft, southern thrill\u2019<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the cold hard facts and work our way backward.<\/p>\n

By 2015, \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d became such a constant at Bryant-Denny Stadium that most in the stadium knew the add-on lyrics, such as \u201cmunch, munch, munch,\u201d \u201cagainst the wall,\u201d and \u201cF— Auburn, and LSU and Tennessee too.\u201d The cursing became so loud by the 2014 Iron Bowl that Bill Battle, the athletic director at the time, issued a statement<\/a> saying that the usage of it would be reviewed.<\/p>\n

The \u201cand LSU and Tennessee too,\u201d wasn\u2019t noted on video until 2013. Videos from 2012 included fans yelling \u201cF—Auburn\u201d but no other schools.<\/p>\n

Video can be easily found on YouTube as far back as Sept. 24, 2011, of \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d being played at Bryant-Denny Stadium. <\/p>\n

That was about a month after Jennifer Martin left UA.<\/p>\n

You need to know Martin because from 2005 to 2011 she oversaw plenty of gameday elements, including in-stadium music. Her job, she explained, was not only to get fans to games but also make sure they had a good time.<\/p>\n

Music played a role in that. Specifically, the 1983 hit song from the band Alabama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever it happened, it wasn\u2019t one of those moments in life where you\u2019re like, \u2018this is the moment that I\u2019m making a mark\u2019 or \u2018this is it,\u2019\u201d said Martin, who now works in health care in New York. \u201cYou have those moments in life but this wasn\u2019t one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin, upon receiving AL.com\u2019s inquiry, checked in with one of her former student assistants, Justin Slaton. He\u2019s now the director of development for the Culverhouse College of Business. If his memory serves correctly, UA was looking for a song to play in second halves that had some elements of tradition and one the fans could get into. The group wanted to supplement the gameday atmosphere. That would have been about 2007, the year Nick Saban<\/a> arrived. A few songs came up, including \u201cDixieland Delight.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, we\u2019ll try it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we did,\u201d said Martin, an LSU graduate. \u201cAnd people liked it. I think that that was the first time that we played it in the stadium, but I\u2019m going to be honest. I don\u2019t remember doing it \u2026 If someone said they did it before me, I would be like, \u2018OK. Maybe it was.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alabama football fans cheer from the Bryant-Denny Stadium stands and other sights from the Crimson Tide’s 56-7 win over Middle Tennessee State in Tuscaloosa Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023. \u00a0Ben Flanagan \/ AL.com<\/p>\n

Martin and her team\u2019s decision to highlight \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d during games might have fueled it and turned it into the tradition it became today. David Crane, a 1994 UA grad who went on to spend 11 years with Crimson Tide Sports Network before leaving in 2007 to become the voice of UAB, would \u201calmost swear\u201d the song didn\u2019t become a tradition until Saban\u2019s tenure. And maybe so. But all of that information wasn\u2019t enough to close the investigation.<\/p>\n

When Martin got the message from AL.com<\/a> in October, she shared the inquiry with one of her New York coworkers who is an Alabama graduate. He shared what he recalled.<\/p>\n

I remember them playing it occasionally before.<\/p>\n

He left UA in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u2018Got a little jingle\u2019<\/p>\n

Daniel Hopper chuckled sheepishly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah that kind of happened during our time,\u201d he said via phone from Rock Hill, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

He never heard \u201cand LSU, and Tennessee too\u201d added to \u201cDixieland Delight,\u201d but the \u201cF— Auburn\u201d part he did.<\/p>\n

Hopper worked in marketing at UA until 2007, dating back to 1996, when he was in graduate school. He held Martin\u2019s job as director of marketing and trademark licensing from 1999 until the end of his tenure. Hopper recalled the ad-on lyrics happening more so in the back half of his time at UA. He estimated the new words, profane and otherwise, had evolved by 2004-06. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bama fans at the 2002 Iron Bowl at Bryant-Denny Stadium.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t hear those add-on lyrics in the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the first time we played it,\u201d Hopper said. \u201cIt was kind of the student section. You hear some \u2018Roll Tide\u2019 and it\u2019s pretty loud. The next game we play it again and it\u2019s even louder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first couple of times, Hopper recalled they started at the meat of the song, not the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when we kind of noticed,\u201d he said, \u201coh my gosh, this thing might have legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fans, Hopper said, are the ones who ultimately make the decision for what music works and what doesn\u2019t. And \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d worked. <\/p>\n

The exact dates of all that transpiring gets foggy, though. It comes down to human memories of events from almost 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

Hopper recalled playing \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d starting in 1996. That would track with the first year UA deployed Click Effects, a computer system that provided the ability to play all sorts of music and sound effects in stadiums. That\u2019s when Jeremy Lull, then the director of marketing and trademark licensing and Hopper\u2019s boss, estimated the Crimson Tide added the computer program.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alabama fans cheer on their team against Louisiana Monroe at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, Sep. 6, 2025. \u00a0Will McLelland | AL.com<\/p>\n

This is where our investigation hits a snag; Lull doesn\u2019t remember playing \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d during his time at UA.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I 100% know it didn\u2019t have all the people screaming to it in all their own words,\u201d said Lull, who\u2019s now in Atlanta. \u201cI would have remembered that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why? His reasoning is simple; He would have heard about it from his boss considering he was there when Rammer Jammer was banned because of the inclusion of the word \u201chell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lull estimated the chances of \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d playing during his time were \u201cless than 10%.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a guess,\u201d said Lull, an Auburn graduate. \u201cIf I\u2019m being honest, I would put more value on what Daniel\u2019s saying, just because he\u2019s connected further out to Jennifer (Martin), and that\u2019s a little closer to the timeline it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lull\u2019s last season was 1998, and he left right before the 1999 season. Then Hopper took the top job in the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we played it in \u201896,\u201d said Hopper, a Kentucky graduate. \u201cI know we did it then. When did it really catch on? I would say \u201997 or \u201998. There are three games it would have been: Tennessee, Florida or Auburn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopper called those games the \u201cbig matchups at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

How confident is he that \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d caught on during one of those games?<\/p>\n

\u201cI would almost bet my life it was one of those three,\u201d Hopper said.<\/p>\n

Hopper was also certain it would have been a game in Tuscaloosa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt almost would have had to have been Bryant-Denny when it happened,\u201d Hopper said. \u201cLegion Field games were nice. You still had the home-field advantage, but you didn\u2019t have \u2026 we had just got the jumbotron, the video board, everything. I would have to say it would have been at Bryant-Denny Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using Hopper\u2019s criteria (Florida, Auburn or Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium) during the years he listed (1996-98), only one game would fit.<\/p>\n

Florida on Oct. 3, 1998, when Jesse Palmer and coach Steve Spurrier beat Shaun Alexander and coach Mike Dubose 16-10.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt very well could have been that Florida game then,\u201d Hopper said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fans pull out their cell phone lights as the stadium goes dark at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, Sep. 6, 2025. \u00a0Will McLelland | AL.com<\/p>\n

But that conflicts with Lull\u2019s memory. That was his final season with UA. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say for argument\u2019s sake, it could have been 1999 or 2000. Close enough, even if not directly in the years Hopper listed. He later noted it was \u201centirely possible\u201d the song could have caught on at a game outside of 1996-98. <\/p>\n

Tennessee played in Tuscaloosa in 1999. Auburn played in Tuscaloosa in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guarantee you,\u201d Hopper said, \u201cit was one of those three opponents when it really, really took off and became incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

But was that the beginning of \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d at Bryant-Denny Stadium? <\/p>\n

\u201cIf it were before my time you would need to reach out to Wade Howell,\u201d Hopper first messaged in response to the inquiry. \u201cI know we began doing it in 1996, but not sure if it was prevalent before then.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, we reached out to Howell.<\/p>\n

\u2018Fits my life, oh so right\u2019<\/p>\n

Before Lull worked as director of marketing and licensing trademarks, he interned for Howell.<\/p>\n

Howell served as promotions director for UA athletics from 1992-95.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember (\u2019Dixieland Delight\u2019) being played at games,\u201d Howell said.<\/p>\n

Howell added that during his time the music was \u201call band\u201d at football games. Others involved in athletics in the 1990s have backed that up. So \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d couldn\u2019t have been played before 1996. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think Lull and Daniel probably cover from 96-06,\u201d Howell said, \u201cso it had to fall within that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alabama football fans cheer from the Bryant-Denny Stadium stands and other sights from the Crimson Tide’s 56-7 win over Middle Tennessee State in Tuscaloosa Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023. \u00a0Ben Flanagan \/ AL.com<\/p>\n

\u2018Free as a feeling in the wind\u2019<\/p>\n

The investigation didn\u2019t give us a concrete answer of date and game, but here\u2019s what we know with a fair amount of certainty:<\/p>\n

\u201cDixieland Delight\u201d wasn\u2019t played at Bryant-Denny Stadium before 1996.It\u2019s possible the song wasn\u2019t played until 1999 at the earliest.The song was played at some point between 1996-2006, but it unequivocally became a tradition during Saban\u2019s tenure.By 2011 at the latest, \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d became an Alabama gameday staple.The complete list of add-on lyrics as fans know them today didn\u2019t start until 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cDixieland Delight\u201d will once again blast for thousands of fans at some point during the fourth quarter on Saturday, when No. 6 Alabama faces No. 11 Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium<\/a>. Maybe like it was played during the game against the Vols in 1999.<\/p>\n

Or maybe not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what adds to it, to the lore,\u201d Hopper said. \u201cYou can\u2019t really pinpoint it. Now here we are 30 years later, and it\u2019s like oh my gosh, this is something that has become so relevant.\u201d <\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The most significant moment in the history of \u201cDixieland Delight\u201d at Bryant-Denny Stadium didn\u2019t happen in 2018. Sure,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[128276,399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-229581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-alabama-names-project","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}