Had he been less focused, he might have allowed himself to reminisce. To think back to that morning some forty years earlier in this same restaurant when the Man had asked him to come home. Instead, he drank coffee and thought about increasing the firm’s case load. He had, by his count, eaten at the Waysider at least once a week since he started. He had also eaten once a week at the City Café in Northport. Getting out and about and being noticed. Keeping his ear to the ground in the hopes of landing the home run case. That was the name of the game. The life of the plaintiff’s lawyer.
Fifteen minutes later, he was getting out of his car in the firm parking lot. Before going in, he stopped and looked at the sign that had replaced Rick’s shingle a week ago.
McMurtrie & Drake, LLC.
Thomas Jackson McMurtrie breathed the cool Tuscaloosa air and allowed himself a second to smell the roses. He was sixty-nine years old. Last night, he and Ruth Ann had eaten dinner at the Cypress Inn. They had been dating now for a few months, and Tom was happy, knowing in his heart that Julie would want him to keep living. This morning, he had walked Lee Roy around the block. Though not as big as Musso at this age, Lee Roy Jordan McMurtrie had promise. And a hell of a lot of spirit. Sometimes, Tom wasn’t sure who was walking who.
Now Tom was about to practice his calling. After forty years of teaching – none of which he regretted – Thomas Jackson McMurtrie, the Professor, was a trial lawyer again.
Tom smiled, thinking of something Jameson Tyler had said a few months earlier and then saying it out loud as he opened the door and ran up the stairs, not caring if anybody heard him.
“The old bull still has a little gas in the tank.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Professor would not have happened without the love, support and patience of my wonderful wife, Dixie. For eight years, she put up with the alarm clock going off at 4am almost every morning, jarring her from sleep and many times waking up one of our three children. She read three different re-writes of the book, patiently wading through each one and offering encouragement and constructive criticism along the way. The Professor simply could not have happened without her, and I am so blessed to have her in my life.
My agent, Liza Fleissig, was my guardian angel on this trip, and her tenacity, enthusiasm and persistence made my dream come true. A writer could not have a more loyal advocate than Liza.
Thanks to Emlyn Rees and everyone at Exhibit A Books and Angry Robot Publishing. Emlyn’s ideas and careful editing improved my story, and I will be eternally grateful to Emlyn for giving me and my story a chance.
My parents, Randy and Beth Bailey, have taught me, inspired me and encouraged me in everything I’ve tried to do in life, and they were there for me every step of the way during this process. I am so grateful for them.
My brother, Bo Bailey, was one of my earliest readers and his constant encouragement has been a blessing.
Thanks to my father in law, Dr Jim Davis, for his insights on urology and bladder cancer, and for reading the book and being a lightning rod of positive energy.
I am eternally indebted to my wonderful friends, Bill and Melanie Fowler, Rick Onkey, Mark Wittschen, Steve Shames and Will Powell for reading the book and offering their ideas and encouragement.
Thanks to fellow authors Winston Groom, William Bernhardt and Brian Haig for blurbing the book when it didn’t even have a publisher.
Thanks to Davidson College, where my dream of being a writer first hatched, and to the University of Alabama School of Law, where so many of the ideas for this book were formed.
I am so blessed to have been born in the great state of Alabama, and to have been raised on Alabama football and its legends. Coach Bryant passed away when I was nine years old, but his spirit lives on at the University and throughout the state.
Finally, my children, Jimmy, Bobby and Allie, are my inspiration and the greatest joy in my life. I thank God for them… and for everything.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Bailey was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the son of a builder and a schoolteacher. From the time he could walk, he’s loved stories, especially those about Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide football team. Robert obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History from Davidson College in North Carolina. Law School at the University of Alabama followed, where Robert made Law Review, competed on the school’s trial team and managed to watch every home football game. For the past thirteen years, he’s been a civil defense trial lawyer in his hometown of Huntsville. He’s married to the incomparable Dixie Bailey and they have two boys and a little girl. When Robert’s not writing, practicing law or being a parent, he enjoys playing golf, watching Alabama football and coaching his sons’ little league baseball teams.
robertbaileybooks.com
twitter.com/rbaileybooks
AUTHOR NOTE
In drawing the character of Tom McMurtrie, my aim was to create a legendary figure. A man of exceptional integrity, strength and class. One of the ways I sought to achieve this purpose was to include Tom on Alabama’s famed 1961 football team.
Though Tom and the events of this novel are entirely fictional, the 1961 Alabama football team was very much real. As a lifelong Alabama football fan, I can say that all Alabama teams are, in some way, measured by the ‘61 team. This team formed the bedrock of Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Alabama football dynasty, and their names echo in crimson lore even today. Names like Billy Neighbors, Lee Roy Jordan, Pat Trammell, Darwin Holt, Mike Fracchia, Billy Richardson, Benny Nelson, Bill “Brother” Oliver, Mal Moore, Charley Pell, Bill Battle and Cotton Clark just to name a few.
Part of the historical significance of the ’61 team is how far the football program had come since Coach Bryant’s arrival. In 1958, Coach Bryant, an Alabama alumnus who played on the 1934 national champions, left Texas A&M to become the head coach of Alabama, famously proclaiming that “Mama called.” Despite inheriting a program that had suffered four consecutive losing seasons, in his first meeting with the team in 1958, he promised them that they would win a national championship for Alabama.
Just three years later, the 1961 team fulfilled Coach Bryant’s promise, going 11-0 and defeating Arkansas 10-3 in the Sugar Bowl to win the national championship. It was Coach Bryant’s first of six national championships at Alabama, and began an amazing run of excellence. From 1961-1966, the Crimson Tide went 60-5-1 and won three national championships (1961, 1964 and 1965) and four southeastern conference championships.
Perhaps an even bigger part of the legend of the 1961 team is the special bond that Coach Bryant shared with the players. Pat Trammell, the team’s starting quarterback, is widely regarded as Bryant’s favorite all-time player. At Trammel’s funeral in 1968 after his untimely death from cancer, Bryant escorted Trammel’s mother from the church with tears in his eyes. It is the only time Bryant is ever reported to have cried in public. Billy Neighbors, who started on the offensive and defensive line, became Bryant’s stock broker and close confident. Bill “Brother” Oliver and Mal Moore both became assistant coaches for Bryant.
Even after Coach Bryant’s death in 1982, players from the ’61 team have continued to have a dramatic impact on the University. Mal Moore, backup quarterback and defensive back on the ’61 team, became athletic director in 1999 and held the position until 2013. In 2007, Coach Moore probably made the most significant coaching hire at Alabama since Bryant, luring Nick Saban away from the Miami Dolphins. After Moore’s death in March 2013, Alabama suddenly had to replace the best athletic director in the country. It seems only appropriate that the University turned to Bill Battle, Moore’s friend and teammate on the ’61 team, to be his replacement.
Finally, the lasting legacy of the ’61 team was its dominant defense. Even Coach Bryant, not prone to overstatement or hyperbole, proclaimed of the ’61 defense: “We weren’t just a good defensive team. We were a great defensive team.” The ’61 defense recorded six shutouts and allowed only three touchdowns to be scored against them. Indee
d, opponents scored just 25 points against Alabama the entire ’61 season.
The legend of the ’61 team endures today. On January 8, 2012, I sat with my parents in the Superdome in New Orleans as Alabama won its fourteenth national championship, defeating LSU 21-0. The 2011 team was led by a defense that was first in every statistical defensive category. There were three NFL first round draft choices on the 2011 defense and one second rounder. But when I declared to my father that the 2011 defense had to be the greatest of all time, he just shook his head and, with misty eyes, said, “Not like ’61. Hell, son, that team only gave up 25 points…the whole year.”
EXHIBIT A
An Angry Robot imprint
and a member of the Osprey Group
Lace Market House,
54-56 High Pavement,
Nottingham NG1 1HW
UK
PO Box 3985
New York
NY 10185-3985
www.exhibitabooks.com
A is for Alabama!
Copyright © Robert Bailey 2014
Robert Bailey asserts the moral right to be
identified as the author of this work.
Cover photograph: xxxx; design by Argh! Oxford
All rights reserved.
Angry Robot is a registered trademark, and Exhibit A, the Exhibit A icon and
the Angry Robot icon a trademark of Angry Robot Ltd.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and
incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or
localities is entirely coincidental.
Ebook: ISBN: 978 1 90922 359 2
UK Paperback: ISBN: 978 1 90922 357 8
US Trade Paperback: ISBN: 978 1 90922 358 5
Contents
Title page
Dedication
Prologue
Part One: Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Part Two
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Part Three
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Part Four
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Part Five
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Author Note
Imprint Page