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Whether it’s wearing houndstooth, yelling “Roll Tide,” singing Rammer Jammer and Dixieland Delight, or even the Walk of Champions, Alabama football is full of traditions.
Even the Sabans have their own tradition. A tradition that started over a decade ago.
If you’ve ever seen Nick Saban on an Alabama game day, you may see him walking around with a focused look on his face while wearing an Alabama polo and khaki pants. But there’s one thing always with him during every single gameday that many don’t even know about: a lucky penny.
Nick Saban himself talked about the lucky penny earlier this week in a press conference and had this to say: “It means a lot. I hate to admit that I’m superstitious. It’s worked pretty well in the past, and hopefully, it will continue to work. I don’t think people understand what Kristen goes through sometimes to get that penny to me, especially this week. She’s got a new grandbaby that she has to take care of and she had to go through a lot to get that penny to me, and I appreciate it.”
Once I heard that small part of the story, I knew that I needed to message Kristen myself to get the whole background story on the penny. And that’s exactly what I did. I reached out to Kristen to try to get a better understanding of how this started, and well, why a penny.
“It started in 2003/2004 for my dad’s first National Championship with LSU vs. Oklahoma. The tension was high that week and I knew I wanted to do something special to bring him and his team luck, so I thought about a lucky penny…The old tale is you find one heads up, it’s lucky, etc. So I found the shiniest penny I could find and the rest is history!”
And if you’re out there wondering if Kristen has ever missed a single game of giving her dad a penny, the answer is simply, no.
“Even if it’s an away game that I am unable to travel to, I always make sure I get it to him the day before the team leaves.”
If these stories don’t prove how important the penny is to both Kristen and Nick, nothing will:
“When I was in college at UA, there had been times that I was unable to give him the penny the night before due to sorority functions, night classes etc. So one late evening after an event, I went over to his office in my PJs and left it with a note in his office on his desk! And another time, I had to meet him on the sideline as the team was running out of the tunnel and hand it to him, nearly getting run over by the huge players haha. I’m 5’2 so that was intense! There’s been some close calls, but I always make the delivery happen. If I had to parachute out of a helicopter to get it to him, I would do it without hesitation.”
And in the 13 years that she has been doing this, not only has she never missed giving him one, but she also makes sure to give him a new penny every single week.
“The “rule” is that it has to be nearly brand new and shiny with the current year printed on it. No one else besides us can touch it before or at the handoff (unless it’s in the card I tape it to and sealed in it’s envelope and Cedric is delivering)”
Kristen means business, y’all. And it’s for a good reason.
The penny has seemed to help Nick and the Crimson Tide, that’s for sure.
In his 14 years at Alabama, he has only lost 23 games.
To put that in a different perspective, Saban has won 158 of 181 games that he has coached for the Crimson Tide.
Besides that, he has also won:
- 5 national titles
- 7 SEC West titles
- 6 SEC Championship titles
And he’s nowhere near stopping.
Maybe it truly is the lucky penny, or the fact that Saban is simply one of the best coaches to ever coach college football.
Regardless, this tradition of the weekly penny is a tradition that will continue for as long as Saban coaches.
And if you’re wondering what Saban does will all of the pennies Kristen has given him…
“I believe he has a drawer full at his office and at home. As you can imagine, the accumulation of pennies for the last 16 years has made quite the pile up! During the game though, he keeps that week’s penny in his pocket.”
To some, it may just be a penny. But to Nick Saban, it’s worth so much more.
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