Tiger Stadium’s atmosphere evokes a feverish frenzy marked with folklore, mystique and the indescribable allure of Saturday nights under the lights.
Author and former LSU center John Ed Bradley does his best to encapsulate the magic of LSU football in his ESPNBooks memoir, “It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium.” The title alludes to the common, although frequently debunked myth, that rain fails to fall on the sacred field of Death Valley.
Fortunately for readers, Bradley’s best is pretty darn good. Fans may be quick to overlook a football player’s literary effort, but the Opelousas native boasts more than his athletic prowess. A former Washington Post staffer and Sports Illustrated writer, Bradley seamlessly blends personal anecdotes, both on and off the field, to depict life before and after LSU football.
“It ends for everybody,” Bradley writes. “It ends for the pro who makes ten million dollars a year … It ends for the high school kid who never comes off the bench … For me, it ended on December 22, 1979, at the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, [Fla.].”
After the 34-10 Tangerine Bowl victory against Wake Forest, Bradley famously hoisted LSU coach Charles McClendon on his shoulders and carried him off the field.
The heart of Bradley’s story is his relationship with McClendon, the winningest coach in the program’s history. But at the time, fans criticized McClendon for failing to win the “big games,” such as contests against Alabama coach Bear Bryant.
The LSU Board of Supervisors voted to extend McClendon’s contract for only one season, “effectively firing him” in 1979 after 18 seasons as head coach.
“I wasn’t sure how much I was responsible for Mac’s demise, but it did gnaw at me … ,” Bradley writes. “I might’ve felt less guilty had I not been one of his last captains.”
LSU students will appreciate Bradley’s humorous account of life within Broussard Hall, which was the designated dorm for football players.
“I knew one player who got married for the sole reason of being excused from having to live in Broussard,” Bradley writes.
McClendon kept a close watch on his players – banning females from their rooms, mandating 11 p.m. curfews and sending coaches to unexpectedly check on athletes’ studying habits.
“Priorities, fellas. Always remember your priorities,” Bradley writes McClendon would say.
Bradley struggled to find his own priorities after his LSU football career ended, before eventually pursuing his novelist dream with full force.
“One day you’re on the team, the next you’re a guy with a pile of memories and a feeling in his gut that he is seriously done,” he writes.
When driving across the Mississippi River, Bradley cannot bear to look at Tiger Stadium. He avoids any LSU gatherings and stays away from former teammates and coaches.
“Seeing them would only have reminded me of what I lost,” he writes.
The near-300 page book reads quickly but could be trimmed to eliminate some lengthy passages on Bradley’s high school football experience.
The most emotional part of the memoir depicts Bradley’s final meeting with his beloved “Coach Mac,” who was bedridden, suffering from cancer in 2001. McClendon died just three days later.
Bradley concludes in the most appropriate way – vividly describing the famous run through the “chute,” or tunnel, into Tiger Stadium. It’s enough to send chills up the spines of the Tiger faithful and a fitting conclusion to a book rich with emotion and tradition.
—Contact Amy Brittain at [email protected]