Where Football Is King

the long version

Arguably the best football conference in America, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) contains some of the most storied programs in the history of college football. In Where Football is King, Christopher J. Walsh provides a team-by-team history of the SEC and describes the classic games, players, and coaches in the conference's seventy-three-year history. The genesis of the SEC was the introduction of football to the University of Georgia in 1891 by a chemistry professor, Charles Herty. While Georgia's first game was against Mercer University that fall, the South's oldest rivelry was born when Georgia took on Auburn on February 20, 1892, at Atlanta's Piedmont Park. From there, Walsh recounts, the sport took off like wildfire, and the SEC was able to formally oganize some four decades later. Originally a thirteen-team conference, through attrition and addition the SEC eventually comprised Georgia, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Florida, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Auburn. From his unique vantage point as beat writer for Alabama football for the Tuscaloosa News, Walsh provides insight into the culture and traditions of football in the South where, it is said (and widely believed), the game is "greater than religion." Legendary figures and legendary games pass through the pages of Where Football is King - players such as Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, Herschel Walker, and Peyton Manning, and games such as the "Iron Bowl," the intense annual riverly between Auburn and Alabama. As colorful as the SEC is competitive, this history will be essential reading for any football fan. -- from dust jacket.