Sports, faith, and writing in the heart of Crimson Tide country
Learn more about writing with Alabama author Tommy Ford. He'll be a workshop leader at the upcoming Southern Christian Writers Conference.
When Tommy Ford was a student at the University of Alabama in the 1970s, he served as the sports editor for the student newspaper. Fast forward many decades later and Ford has authored 11 books related to Alabama football and other sports (with another coming out this upcoming Fall).
He laughingly credits former Alabama head coach Nick Saban for keeping his book projects going. “Without his leading the Tide to multiple national championships, the list of books would be about half of what it is,” he said.
Ford’s books are: Bama Under Bear: Alabama’s Family Tides (published in 1982), Alabama’s Family Tides (1992), The University of Alabama All-Access Football Vault (2009), The Alabama-Auburn Rivalry Football Vault (2009, co-authored with David Housel), Bear Bryant on Leadership (2010, co-authored with Pat Williams), Tornado to National Title #14 (2012), Crimson Domination (2013, co-authored with Mark Mayfield), A Season to Remember: Faith in the Midst of the Storm (2014, co-authored with Carson Tinker), Crimson Mission (2016), The University of Alabama Football Vault (2017), Alabama National Champions (2018), HISTORY MADE (2021) and Remember the Rose Bowl (coming in Fall 2025). See all of Tommy Ford’s books here.
Ford has also authored numerous articles in a variety of publications and will speak at the upcoming Southern Christian Writers Conference on “Writing Compelling Stories.” (Learn more about the conference here. And register for it here.) He also worked as an associate athletics director at the University of Alabama for many years and now hosts a sports podcast.
I recently talked with him about his background in sportswriting, his plans for the conference and the role of faith in his work.
Tell me about your writing background. How did you get to it from the work you did in Alabama athletics?
In 1976, as a UA student, I felt that the student newspaper, The Crimson White (CW), was not giving Alabama’s world-class swimming team (and its Olympic coach Don Gambril) enough coverage. So, I took my concerns to Mark Mayfield, who was then CW sports editor. Hoping he’d say something like, “I agree, we’ll get right on it,” he instead said, “You’re right, we don’t cover it enough. Why don’t YOU cover the team for us?” I was stunned.
I was a finance major and I hadn’t written anything substantial since high school. Plus, other than the four basic strokes, I knew nothing about swimming. So the next meet I attended was not as a fan, but as a reporter. When my story was published and I saw the byline “By Tommy Ford, CW Sportswriter,” I felt pretty proud of myself. Until, that is, I read my own story. It was pitiful. Swimming is very quantitative and my story was about as boring as a story could be. It was basically no more than a listing of the different races, the top three finishers in each event, and the times of each race (all the way down to the 1/100th of a second).
I went to Mark and expressed my ineptness and wondered if I’d bitten off more than I could chew. But he encouraged me and gave me some pointers for the next meet I would cover. So prior to that next meet, I set up an appointment with Coach Gambril to learn a little about the strategy of swimming. Then, following the meet, I got a few quotes from the swimmers and from Coach Gambril. In my story, I still included those boring results, but they were accompanied by some quotes interspersed throughout the story. From that point on, I got to know the swimmers and coaches on a personal level, and before I knew it, I’d become the CW’s swimming reporter. Although thrown to the wolves, per se, my love of writing exploded. Similar to being able to play music without knowing how to read music, with no formal writing or journalism background I learned from scratch how to write.
Long story short, at the end of my junior year, Mark became CW editor and a few days later, chose me as sports editor. I served as CW sports editor for the 1977-78 school year and in the process made connections in the journalism and athletics world that I’m convinced eventually led to my being hired at UA in 1982, first in the National Alumni Association office (1982-87), then in the Athletics Department (1987-2019).
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? Was it before this experience on campus?
Well, I never wanted to be a full-time writer. (Unless of course, I could write the proverbial All-American novel.) Writing has always been hobby, a “side gig.” During my 38 years at UA, I certainly used my writing and editing skills to craft many documents, letters, publications, etc., but never has it been my profession. Even the books I’ve written have been on my personal time and never related to my jobs in the Athletic Department.
You also write for publications, and your SCWC session will be on creating compelling stories. Without giving too much away, what are some tips on how to do that? How do you make a story interesting?
Be observant in every walk of life. Even a casual stroll in the park, or a grandchild’s baseball game, or a hike on a mountain trail can open up many opportunities for a story.
Regardless of the subject and in most cases, be prepared to research the topic. If “facts” conflict, dig deeper. Treat any story you write as if your high school English teacher is sitting there with red pen in hand. (One thing’s for sure – your readers have pens in hand!)
Be creative. Try to find something that hasn’t been written about before, then work hard to relay its uniqueness to your readers.
Tell me a little bit about your podcast.
In spring 2024, a friend connected me with Rick Morton, vice president for Lifeline Children’s Services in Birmingham. Rick is a huge Alabama fan and for a couple of years had had a vision to create a podcast on University of Alabama athletics. After being introduced, we hit it off and began planning what would become the Crimson Chronicles podcast.
In doing some preliminary research on podcasts about Alabama athletics, I quickly found that there were at least 20 or so out there. BUT, they were all about how practice went today, or who’s in the transfer portal, or how recruiting is going. I had no interest in doing that. My first love is Alabama athletics HISTORY. Rick agreed 100 percent, so that became the premise for Crimson Chronicles. Our goal is to inform the younger generation of Alabama’s illustrious athletics history, as well as to invoke great athletic memories to our “seasoned” listeners. We began the weekly podcast in late July 2024 and to date have had 35 episodes. We are on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Check out Crimson Chronicles here.
Tell me a little bit about your family and life outside writing.
Robin and I have been married for almost 41 years. We have one adopted son, 27-year old John Michael, who is a Certified Flight Instructor in Pensacola. Following my retirement from UA in 2019, my nephew and his brother-in-law (the president and owner of Spaces Management and Realty in Tuscaloosa) approached me about my getting a real estate license and coming to work for them, primarily selling condos. So, for the past four years, I’ve been “dabbling” in real estate in the Tuscaloosa area. I enjoy walking, hiking, and playing golf.
How does faith intersect with your writing?
Obviously my books are all sports-related, so in them I have rarely delved into faith. The exception is the book Carson Tinker and I co-authored about the loss of his girlfriend in the 2011 tornado, his long recovery, and his being on both the 2011 and 2012 Crimson Tide national championship teams. It is very faith-based, which explains why it was published by Broadman & Holman in Nashville.
BUT, my faith is critical in everything I do, including my writing. I won’t go so far as to say that God has given me the gift of writing, because I consider my writing “good,” not “great.” But I do thank Him for giving me the skills of writing and editing. Regardless of the topic, I try to follow the words of Colossians 3:23: Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people…
With that in mind, as any writer I have dreams and aspirations of writing and publishing a faith-based non-fiction book. The topic? I have a list of about 10-15 potential topics!
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Read more about Ford in this article from The Gadsden Times.
Learn more about the Southern Christian Writers Conference here. You can register using this form.
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Cheryl Wray is the coordinator of the Southern Christian Writers Conference and editor of The Ready Writer. She’s also the author of numerous books on the craft of writing.