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A spirit that is not afraid

Play-by-play announcer Bramblett reflects on football turnaround and two special calls

Rod Bramblett talks with head football coach Gus Malzahn during a "Tiger Talk" radio show in 2013. (Photo contributed by Auburn Athletics)
Rod Bramblett talks with head football coach Gus Malzahn during a "Tiger Talk" radio show in 2013. (Photo contributed by Auburn Athletics)

Few Auburn fans will forget the shock they felt when Ricardo Louis hauled in Nick Marshall's 4th and 18 Hail Mary against Georgia.
Even fewer will forget the pandemonium that followed Chris Davis' 109-yard Iron Bowl winning field goal return.
The plays lasted just a combined 29 seconds, but Auburn broadcaster Rod Bramblett's passionate radio calls forever captured the collective shock and pandemonium that rippled through, not only a fanbase, but the entire nation.
"It's the type of moments that, as a broadcaster, you get in the business and you try to prepare yourself for those kind of moments," Bramblett said. "The majority of us never get a moment like that, much less two, much less two, in back-to-back games."
One year after Auburn had finished a program worst 3-9, which Bramblett described as the "hardest job that I've ever had to do," back-to-back 'miracles' and a turnaround season had thrust Auburn back into the national spotlight.
Standing alongside in that spotlight was the voice of those Auburn Tigers.
"I'm not going to lie to you, it was cool," Bramblett said. "I was happy for our broadcast crew and for Auburn to get all that positive attention out of the national media. Auburn was the darling of the country there for about a week."
While the ending to the Iron Bowl may have convinced some that the world stopped spinning, Bramblett was back on the job early the next morning, unaware of the impending media storm.
"I had to get up the next morning to fly to Ames, Iowa to do basketball," Bramblett said. "From the time I got on the plane in Auburn and I got off the plane in Ames, it had just gone off the deep end. I think part of it was the way that it ended.
"You just don't ever see that, the ramifications of the game, and then the call and reaction afterwards."
In a week he described as a total "blur," Bramblett made numerous appearances on national radio and television shows, including Fox and Friends, the Dan Patrick Show and the Tim Brando Show.
The national media swarmed over Bramblett, hungering to hear from the man who'd been the voice for what was being deemed one of the greatest endings in sports history.
"It got to the point where I had to start telling people I couldn't do it," Bramblett said. "That whole following week was just surreal.
"It was one of those things when you look back that you wish there was a way you could've just recorded every single thing you did because you will never have another moment like that."
All in all, Bramblett's radio calls from the Iron Bowl and Georgia games earned the 11-year veteran the Alabama Sportscaster of the Year and Sports Illustrated Play-by-Play Announcer of the Year awards.
Those awards, Bramblett said, speak as much about the quality of color commentator Stan White and the rest of the Auburn IMG broadcast team.
"We all get along so well that it's kind of like having a second family in the fall," Bramblett said. "On the air, Stan brings that expertise that I will never have because he's been through it. I totally rely on him for the X's and O's, why they're doing this or that. It's something I have no knowledge of."
Though Bramblett received most of the notoriety for the Iron Bowl call, White's shrieking 'Oh my God' is a perfect addition to the Iron Bowl call, according to Bramblett.
"What's funny is when he says 'Oh my God,' our engineer turns his microphone off," Bramblett said. "It's an unwritten rule that on a big play like that that you don't step on the play-by-play guy.
"I thought it was perfectly timed, it was just enough and the funny thing is that even though his microphone is off, you can still hear him in the background."
The Tigers eventually came up one miracle short in the BCS National Championship Game, but Bramblett said he has never experienced anything quite like the 2013 season.
"Win or lose, that last game, the national championship game, I said, 'This season was probably the most fun and rewarding season that I've been a part of,' just because of where they came from and where they ended up," Bramblett said. "Most teams will have that game where they either don't show up or take a step back, but this team just got better every single week, and that was really neat to watch."


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