Tide fans have chance to meet their heroes

By: Ken Rogers | Dothan Eagle
Published: February 16, 2010

Alabama never stopped giving its fans a little extra effort this season. That performance continued Monday.

First-team All-American placekicker Leigh Tiffin, linebacker Cory Reamer and — as an 11th-hour addition — first-team All-American Javier Arenas visited Dothan for an autograph session.

Arenas said he found out he was coming “about an hour” before getting on the plane.

“That’s a nice bonus,” Ron Nelson of Ozark said of the addition of Arenas. “I’m glad they do things like this.”

Nelson was in line with nephew Jeremy Balkcom early before the 4 p.m. session began. They, along with hundreds of other Crimson Tide, had footballs and other memorabilia from the national championship season.

Chris Williams, 12, clutched a football and the national championship edition of Sports Illustrated. He made it to two games this season.

Asked which player he most wanted to see, he said, “Javy.”

Another 12-year-old, Adam Maddox, stood in line by himself.

“My mom is here, but she dropped me off,” he said.

Inside the car was an enviable location.

Paula Kennamore was seriously rethinking her wardrobe as she waited.

“I was headed to the gym to work out,” she said, wearing a sweatshirt and shorts on a breezy, biting, but cloudless, February afternoon.
“My son wanted me to see Leigh Tiffin,” Kennamore said.

Drew, 14, wanted her to tell him he was going to be Alabama’s kicker in four years.

Tiffin was a popular figure among fans.

Jake Gillilan took his cousin, Tiffin Gillilan, to meet the players.

Tiffin was named for Van Tiffin, Leigh’s father. He let Jake, a Texas fan, do the talking on Monday.

“But I’ve been hearing about it since the championship game,” Jake said. “He knows all about Alabama’s players.”

So did Meg May, who waited in line with her daughters, Hannah and Heather. Meg and Hannah saw a number of Alabama games in person, including the title game at the Rose Bowl. Heather, who recently had a baby, is looking forward to next season.

Meg didn’t single out a favorite player.

“I like all of them,” she said.

The school’s first championship in 17 years is hardly a novelty for May.

“I was a student at Alabama when we won two national championships in a row,” she said. “This has been great. People aren’t going to be able to stand me for the next year.”

Reamer noted there’s one thing still missing from the perfect season.

“We’re waiting on those rings,” the linebacker said. “When we get the rings I think it’ll remind us every day we look at them what we accomplished.”

He had a pretty good indicator of that based on Monday’s crowd. The line was cut off at 6 p.m. and there was at least an hour wait from that point for the session that started before 4 p.m. The players didn’t seem to mind.

“Doing these makes you realize what you’ve done and how important it is to so many people,” Reamer said.