Alabama or Clemson? Clemson Head Coach's hometown wrestles with friendship over Tide loyalty
Dabo Swinney has made things tough on the Alabama fans in his hometown. (AP photo)
By John Talty | jtalty@al.com
Pelham, AL
Gary Waters is in a tough spot this week.
Waters has to choose between fandom and personal connection when Alabama plays Clemson in Monday's national championship game. Waters is a huge Alabama fan and would root fervently for Alabama and only Alabama in any other circumstance.
That can't be the case this week when you are the mayor of Pelham and your city's favorite son will be on the opposite side of Alabama. Dabo Swinney, born and bred in Pelham, looms large over a blue collar city that typically bleeds crimson. When Monday night rolls around, residents have to decide whether they'll stick with the team they root for year after year, or one of their own.
Waters remembers meeting an eight-year old Swinney – he and his brothers were just "local yokels," the mayor says – and has kept up with him through the years. He wants Swinney to do well and knows how much he means to his community.
"What I like about Dabo is he's real people," Waters says. "What you see is what you get. There's no pretention. He's just Dabo."
Who will Waters root for on Monday? In a politically savvy move, Waters says he can't lose no matter who wins.
In the Coosa Mart on Pelham Parkway, night clerk Lou balks at the question.
Root for Clemson over her beloved Crimson Tide? Listen, Lou says, she doesn't even personally know Dabo Swinney. Even if she did know him, she's not picking the Tigers.
"That's a national championship," she says emphatically. "We can't give that up for no one, no matter what."
She knows there are Alabama fans that are pulling for Swinney over their favorite team. She's had a few customers come into the gas station and tell her as much. She was incredulous recounting one woman telling her Clemson "ought to win" because of Swinney.
"No, you silly girl," Lou says. "This ain't some regular game. This is the national championship."
Lou was actually an Arkansas fan for a long time but made the switch to Alabama when she followed her daughter and moved to the state in 2005. She thought she should embrace the home team and is now as emphatic a fan as you'll find.
As she's explaining her position, a customer walks in that she recognizes.
"You're an Alabama fan, right?" she asks the man and he nods yes.
She asks him if he'll be rooting for Clemson because of Swinney and he shakes his head no. He explains there really isn't a feasible scenario where he'd root for another school over Alabama.
Lou, seemingly satisfied with the response, turns to the reporter and says "There you go."
Donnie Sisk remembers Swinney standing in the First Baptist Pelham foyer in August, shaking hands and offering hugs to anyone who came over to talk to the Clemson head coach. Swinney was back in town for his father Ervil's funeral, a man Swinney had only reconnected with in recent years after a strained relationship due to Ervil's alcoholism. With no cameras or press around him, Swinney acted the same as he always did.
That moment still resonates with the church's associate pastor for outreach and recreation. It's why come Monday night Sisk is all in for the Clemson Tigers.
"I don't know if I would have ever been a cheer for Clemson kind of person, but I'll be cheering my heart out (Monday)," Sisk says.
Sisk served as Pelham High School football team chaplain for more than a decade and became close with members of the Swinney family. One year, Dabo Swinney spoke at the football team's end-of-year banquet and stayed long after his speech was over, taking photos with anyone who wanted one. That's just who Dabo is, Sisk says, and why he's so beloved in Pelham. He never forgot his Pelham roots.
The common refrain Sisk has heard this week is, "I want Alabama to win so badly but not at the expense of Dabo."
"He's that local boy who scored big," Sisk says. "I think every community likes to identify with it. It's challenging here because people are so passionate about Alabama."
Larry Palmer explains the Clemson t-shirt he is wearing says it all. The Pelham chief of police is "an Alabama fan through and through" but has so much love for the Swinney family he's wearing Tigers gear a few days before the national championship.
Palmer worked closely with Tracy Swinney, Dabo's brother, who worked in the Pelham police department for 25 years. After Tracy retired from the force, he joined his brother at Clemson.
Palmer says he still talks to both Swinney brothers on a frequent basis
"I've known the Swinneys for a long time personally," Palmer says. "They are a great family. They mean a lot to me personally."
The Pelham police department is full of ardent football fans, making this week a non-stop ribbing and verbal jabbing session among offices ahead of the big game. Palmer's force has your usual Alabama and Auburn fans with single LSU and Ohio State fans sprinkled in. There has been a lot of discussion about who to root for on Monday given the department's ties to the Swinney family but no definitive solution.
"We are laughing about it," the police chief says. "We will walk down the hallway and say Alabama needs to win and then Clemson needs to win. Dabo is real close to us. There will be a part of us that will be pulling for that Clemson side of it."
Palmer already has a menu planned, and his seat picked out for Alabama-Clemson. He's eager for the game to start already, wishing he could skip the next two days if he could to start the game already. "It's almost like waiting on a Christmas morning," he says.
Palmer dances around who he wants to win but offers an answer that embodies what quite a few Pelham residents will feel when the game finally kicks off.
"This is a dream game for me as an Alabama team I support so much is playing a Clemson team that is coached by an individual I support so much," he says. "It's kind of hard."
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