AuburnFamilyNews.com: NumerAUlogy — 39 Days

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

NumerAUlogy — 39 Days

Growing up as an ‘End of the Streak’ baby, I really didn’t get to enjoy much of the most dominate decade of Auburn Football, the 1980s. I did get to be at some of the final big games of the decade, the Florida and Alabama games in 89 but also I knew the names that, even then, were larger than life. The Bo Jacksons, the Tracy Rockers, the Lawyer Tillmans, the Gregg Cars, and the Kurt Crains. Crain came to Auburn as a transfer from Memphis State and quickly became loved by Auburn fans, but especially Head Coach Pat Dye. He was the quintessential player that Coach Dye loved: hard-nosed and fearless and yet humble at the same time. In 1987, Crain would serve in what I believe is the best Linebacker corps Auburn has ever trotted out, with Quentin Riggins, Aundray Bruce and Edward Phillips. All told, they would account for 460 tackles, 23 TOL, 14 sacks and 9 interceptions.

One of those interceptions is what leads us to today in the countdown. We go to the 1987 matchup with Mississippi State.

After his playing days at Auburn, Crain would go on to have two years in the pros before beginning his coaching career at Auburn and going on to work with several school. The Auburn Family lost Crain way too young at the age of 47. Our own aubtigerman had an excellent write up on the life of Kurt Crain back when that happened and you can dive into that here.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t reach out to stalwart of #AuburnTwitter Jake Crain, aka @TheJBoyShow, for a comment on his dad:

So today we honor Kurt Crain, the embodiment of what an Auburn football player was in the 1980s.



from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2021/7/27/22593086/numeraulogy-39-days

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