Just A Minute: A Review of the 2020 Alabama National Championship Book 'History Made'

Tommy Ford's latest championship compilation is a must-own for Crimson Tide fans for the photos alone, but there something extra with this book.

Being someone who has done a national championship book, I know firsthand how tricky and difficult they can be to do, especially considering the limitation that one often faces. 

Tommy Ford has been able to successfully hurdle those with another national title commemorative collection, if you will, History Made: The 2020 National Championship Alabama Crimson Tide

Like some of the others he's done before, this is a coffee-table style book. It would only take about an hour or so to read, and it delivers on what it promises, a fun reflection of Alabama's amazing season and epic national championship run. 

Chapter 1 is titled: "Bring on the Asterisk." So right there you know what you're getting into. 

There's a look back at each game, including thee team posters from each win. The postseason games are broken into their own chapters, and there's an impressive forward by quarterback Mac Jones.

Visually, it's stunning, including never-seen-before photos by the Alabama staff including Kent Gidley, Robert Sutton, Rodger Champion and Jeff Hanson.  

That alone makes it a must-own for Alabama fans. 

However, my favorite thing in the book is easily the least glamorous or eye-popping visually. 

In the front section, paired with the forward that Jones clearly put some effort into, there's a four-page printout of something the quarterback put together with his father, Gordon, following his redshirt 2017 season. 

The title is "A Vision for Mac" and it spells out his goals at Alabama. It provides a greater insight into him than any interview or anything else that you'll read. 

Again, four pages, single-spaced, mapping out not necessary what he wanted to accomplish, but how he wanted to grow and develop as a player and person. 

It just might be the perfect holiday gift for Crimson Tide fans.


Published
Christopher Walsh
CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of BamaCentral, which first published in 2018. He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004, and is the author of 26 books including Decade of Dominance, 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Nick Saban vs. College Football, and Bama Dynasty: The Crimson Tide's Road to College Football Immortality. He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.