When you think about the pageantry, the tradition and the strength of Southern football, you naturally think about Birmingham, Alabama.
And for those who know the history of football in Birmingham, they naturally think about Fred Sington.
Native son. Two-sport star. All-American. Business owner. Civic leader. Spokesman and representative for the city and the state.
Fred Sington was all of those things … and more. It’s not a stretch to say that Birmingham’s football legacy, including the Birmingham Bowl, might have been much different without his leadership and influence.
For most of the 20th century, the lives of Sington and the City of Birmingham were intertwined.
He was born in Birmingham on February 24, 1910, the son of Max and Hollye (Spiro) Sington. He graduated from Phillips High School and entered the University of Alabama in 1927.
He is most remembered for the 1930 football season. Sington helped Alabama to a 9-0 record, outscoring their opponents, 271-13. The team followed that with a 24-0 drubbing of Washington State in the Rose Bowl. He was consensus first-team All-American.
Legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice summed up his thoughts on Sington.
“He was alert, fast, aggressive and in addition, he was capable of many outside duties,” he said.
His on-campus accomplishments equaled his athletic success. A member of Zeta Beta Tau social fraternity, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, served as student body vice-president, and in 1931, won the award for Best Student at the university.
He also played baseball, earning All-American. In later years, he was named to the Crimson Tide All-Century team in both sports.
After graduation, he turned down professional football offers to play baseball. For ten years, he played for the Atlanta Crackers, Washington Senators and Brooklyn Dodgers. In six major league seasons, he batted .271 with seven home runs.
Sington married Nancy Napier on December 4, 1933. They had three sons – Fred, Jr., David and Leonard. He entered the United States Navy as a lieutenant junior grade when World War II started, serving from 1942 until 1946. In 1947.
After his stint in the Navy, he started Fred Sington Sporting Goods with the first store located in downtown Birmingham. The company expanded with multiple locations throughout Alabama.
Over the next five decades, Sington established an unsurpassed record of civic, business and community leadership. He served as Birmingham Chamber of Commerce president, Alabama State Fair Authority president, Birmingham Kiwanis Club president and chairman of the Downtown Birmingham YMCA.
He was on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement, Salvation Army, the Boy Scout Council and the Sertoma Foundation, and was state chairman of the Heart Fund. He was president of the National Sporting Goods Association and served as a board member for City Federal Savings and Loan Association and Vulcan Life Insurance Company. Sington was deacon at Independent Presbyterian Church in Birmingham and was named the Birmingham Man of the Year in 1970.
In 1955, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1972, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1978, he became a member of the Alabama Academy of Honor.
Fred also served as Captain of the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in 1951. Years later it would be the Monday Morning Quarterback Club (known as “the team that never lost a game”), led by Fred Sington, that served as the driving force behind Birmingham’s initial bowl game.
The inaugural Hall of Fame Classic was held at Legion Field in 1977, in no small part due to Sington’s vision, diligence and influence. He continued to actively support the game, even after its name was changed to the All-American Bowl in 1986, continuing through 1990.
Bob Lochamy was the first executive director of the Hall of Fame game, serving through 1981.
“It was due to Mr. Sington’s leadership and direction that so many of these things happened,” Lochamy recalled. “It was an honor and privilege to work with and for him and to be associated with his sincere interest and commitment, not only to Birmingham, but also to our state and its potential as a sports market.”
Since its inaugural season, the bowl has awarded the outstanding player of the game with the Fred Sington Most Valuable Player Award, honoring the memory of one Birmingham’s all-time greatest sports ambassadors.
Fred Sington passed away on August 20, 1998.
Story written by Lyn Scarbrough, Lindy’s Sports & edited by Birmingham Bowl staff
