Auburn Honors Rod Bramblett

Death is natural in life, but some deaths are no doubt more difficult than others. Losing anyone in a tragic manner is something you simply can’t prepare yourself for. The Auburn community was presented with this situation over the weekend once again.

Rod Bramblett, the Voice of the Auburn Tigers, and his wife Paula tragically lost their lives on Saturday evening in a car wreck. According to reports, the Bramblett SUV was rear-ended and injuries were extensive.

Bramblett was named the Voice of the Auburn Tigers, becoming the lead announcer for Auburn football and men’s basketball, following legendary Jim Fyffe’s passing in May 2003. Rod, the Director of Broadcast Operations for Auburn Sports Properties, had called Auburn baseball games since 1993.

Rod and Paula are survived by their two children, Shelby and Joshua.

To honor the two Auburn University graduates, Auburn baseball will be wearing memorial decals on their batting helmets starting in NCAA Tournament Regional play at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The decals include the Rod’s initials with a microphone.

The decals will also be worn on the caps.

Per our limited Auburn baseball uniform research, the Tigers have only worn one memorial patch on their uniforms. In December 2003, W. James Samford, the namesake for Auburn’s Samford Stadium and the great-grandson of Samford Hall’s William J. Samford, passed away at age 53 from a lengthy illness. The stadium at Plainsman Park was named in his honor in April 2003. Samford, a longtime Auburn Board of Trustee, helped in the efforts to build the park in 1996 and renovate in 2001.

A black sleeve patch with JS was worn during the 2004 season.

Auburn has a lengthy history of memorializing deaths on uniforms.

Most recently, Auburn wore black ribbons during the last five games of the 2014-15 men’s basketball season following the passing on New York Knicks star, Anthony Mason. Mason’s son, Antoine, was playing for the Auburn team at the time and missed a handful of games following his father’s passing. Anthony passed the night before Auburn played on the road at Texas A&M, so the A&M equipment team helped sew black ribbons onto the team uniforms.

The Auburn football team wore small #31 decals on the side of their helmets for the 2014 Outback Bowl after freshman tight end Jakell Mitchell was murdered at an off-campus party.

In November 2008, Virgil Starks, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Support Services, passed away from a heart attack. Most Auburn teams added a special VS logo to their uniforms for the remainder of the athletic year.

Frank DuBose, basketball legend, passed away at 100 in 2006. The basketball team wore a black memorial band over the left chest in his honor for the last few games of the season and SEC Tournament. The SEC was celebrating the 80th anniversary of conference basketball with a league-wide throwback uniform program.

Pat Dye took over the football program in 1981 and had two such incidents early on in his tenure. Late in his first season as head coach, the week before the Iron Bowl, Alan Manley and Cary Condray were killed when their car collided with a diesel tanker truck and caught fire in Florida. The two freshman were honored during the rivalry game with Auburn wearing black tape above the AU logo on the right side of the helmet.

Two years later, in 1983, Auburn fullback Greg Pratt collapsed during practice. The team wore large #36 decals on the back of the helmets for the entirety of the season.

Sometimes, the mourning of beloved public figures doesn’t make it on a uniform.

In June 2014, fan-favorite tight end Phillip Lutzenkirchen was killed in a car wreck. I wrote back then what I believed was the right way to honor the former Tiger. I’m still surprised that Auburn didn’t wear #43 decals. I believe the football team would have worn something if Lutz’s death was closer or during the season.

Bramblett’s predecessor, Jim Fyffe, passed in May 2003 from a brain aneurysm. Auburn played 11 baseball games following Fyffe’s passing. Lack of photographs from this period make it difficult to confirm or deny the use of a memorial patch, but none of been found at this point.

The Bramblett family will no doubt be missed in the Auburn community. Auburn football, baseball, and men’s basketball games will never be the same without Rod on the call.

Featured image via Auburn Baseball