The Ballad Of Shorty Price: Alabama's Clown Prince Of Football, Politics

“You have to quit confusing a madness with a mission"

― Flannery O'Connor, "The Violent Bear It Away"

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Sports fandom truly is a funny and bizarre concept, capable of bringing out the best and the worst in each of us.

And while many are quick to insist that frothing zealotry over athletics isn't a concept any one sports franchise or academic institution can lay sole claim to, few would argue that there's just something about the Alabama Crimson Tide football experience that does something different to its fans.

Where else would you find characters like the infamous Harvey Updyke, who pleaded guilty to poisoning Auburn's iconic trees at Toomer's Corner in 2010 ... and only after he admitted his crime to a national audience on Paul Finebaum's syndicated radio show.

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Indeed, it was Updyke who used his own version of a quote from former Alabama fullback Tommy Lewis to justify his actions, remembering back to when Lewis — an offensive player — jumped off the bench to make an illegal tackle against Rice University in the 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic.

Lewis later said he was "just too full of Alabama" — a phrase Updyke repurposed to say that he simply had "too much Bama in me."

Conversely, you have Alabama super fans like the late Cameron Luke Ratliff.

Affectionately known as Fluffopotamus, Ratliff was credited with being a positive and energizing presence for the oft-overlooked Alabama men's basketball program. Even head coach Nate Oats praised Ratliff for being so instrumental in rallying fan support for a program that has once again become a national competitor, thanks in no small part to the dogged efforts of committed fans like Ratliff.

Sadly, Ratliff lost his life to COVID-19 in April 2021 at only 23 years old, but not before leaving an indelible legacy that Tide fans are sure to embrace, emulate and honor for years to come. His love for the Tide was pure and his mission was to share that passion with anyone who would listen. Any fanbase of any sport would be lucky to have such a dedicated supporter.

But somewhere between the genuine positivity left by Fluff and the black eye dealt to Alabama football fandom by Updyke, there's a man named Shorty Price.

Likely holding some kind of record for most defeats on a statewide ballot and the most ejections from Alabama football games, Ralph "Shorty" Price remains a complicated character amid the pantheon of Crimson Tide folk heroes.

Depending on who you ask, he may be painted as an affable, good-time Charlie who just liked to be the center of attention when he cheered on the Tide. Others might insist he was nothing more than a small town charlatan with a drinking problem and misplaced political ambitions that he used for personal financial gain.

This author found the truth to be somewhere in between — much like the place he occupies in the annals of Crimson Tide fandom.

ORIGINS OF A SUPER FAN

It's the memory that comes up more often than any other when those in the Crimson Tide community hear the name Shorty Price.

It was an unseasonably warm afternoon, according to weather reports from the day, with temperatures in the 80s on Oct. 20, 1979 as the Tide came out of the tunnel at Birmingham's Legion Field to face off against the rival Tennessee Volunteers.

The finer details of the story are debated to this day, but the foundation of the narrative has endured through the years.

Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the belly full of Budweiser beer Price was lugging around. Maybe it really was like he would later tell a circuit court judge ... that his pants had simply fallen down because he was cheering so intensely.

Or maybe he just "had too much Bama" in him that day.

Whatever the inspiration, though, at one point in the game Price dropped his trousers to expose his bare backside to the Volunteers marching band, much to their chagrin. He was promptly jailed for public intoxication and disorderly conduct, in addition to being slapped with a $125 fine.

As the story now famously goes, Circuit Judge William Cole issued the fine and told Price "see you next year."

"I don't think that I ever recall a time that I didn't see him get escorted out," longtime Crimson Tide football staffer Gary White told Patch in an interview. "He would cause enough chaos that I would turn around and look and the police would be escorting him out. I'm not sure he ever saw a full game."

White is one of the few remaining legends to truly experience the full arc of the Bear Bryant Era, starting his career at the University of Alabama in 1957 — the year before Bryant left Texas A&M to return to his alma mater and change the course of college football forever.

When asked about the rise of Shorty Price as Alabama's first true "super fan," White speculated that the excitement generated by Bryant's success was the likely catalyst that made it possible.

"I think Coach Bryant brought it out more than anyone else because we had six national championships under him and he was such a visible and charismatic leader that people were just drawn to him," White said. "He had that old Arkansas drawl and folks just wanted to be near him."

Price was one such fan.

William Ralph Price was born on Oct. 3, 1921 in Louisville — a town of less than 500 people in Barbour County, Alabama.

After graduating from Louisville High School in 1940, he attended the University of Alabama before receiving his draft notice in 1942 and fulfilling his service to his country. In this reporter's search for confirmation of his height, his draft card lists Price at 5-feet, 1/4 inch tall.

Following his military service, he returned to attend law school in Tuscaloosa and this seems to be where the obsession began.

Indeed, Price was elected by his peers to serve as a "cheerleader" for the Crimson Tide football team sometime in the early 1950s, setting up a Crimson Tide fixture that would be visible for the next three decades. Price lived a life of political ambitions separate from football and he would later refer to the moment as the only election he ever won.

"I remember him at football games standing on the concrete border with the bushes," recalled Alabama alumna and former Tide volleyball player Patsy Howell. "He was quite the character and riled everyone up ... I do remember his spirt and enthusiasm."

Former Alabama lawmaker and popular syndicated political commentator Steve Flowers was also a student at The Capstone during the height of Bryant's success and Price's public visibility.

"I was a freshman at Alabama in 1970 and Shorty was a cheerleader," Flowers told Patch in a phone interview. "He just was a gross old guy and was funny as hell."

Flowers has written extensively about Price's love of the Tide and his political ambitions, mentioning how the small, fiery man could always be picked out of a crowd at football games by spotting his black suit, a black hat with a round top, his Alabama tie and flag.

"I do not know if Shorty actually had a seat because he would parade around Denny Stadium or Legion Field posing as Alabama’s head cheerleader," Flowers penned in 2018. "In fact he would intersperse himself among the real Alabama cheerleaders and help them with their cheers. There was no question that Shorty was totally inebriated; in fact, I never saw Shorty when he was not drunk."

Flowers also spoke to Price's love of Coach Bryant and his hatred of Tennessee, before providing a story that is far too vivid to not be grounded in truth.

Flowers writes:

"As always, Shorty was prancing up and down the field. I was a freshman at the University on that fall Saturday. Shorty even in his drunken daze recognized me. I had a beautiful date that I was trying to impress and meeting Shorty did not impress her. Shorty pranced up the aisle and proceeded to sit by me.

His daily black suit had not been changed in probably over a year. He reeked of alcohol and body odor and my date had to hold her nose.

After about 20 minutes of offending my date, Shorty then proceeded to try to impress the crowd by doing somersaults off the 6-foot walls of Legion Field. He did at least three, mashing his head straight down on the pavement on each dive, I thought Shorty had killed himself with his somersaults.

His face and his head were bleeding profusely and he was developing a black eye. Fortunately, Shorty left my domain and proceeded to dance with Alabama cheerleaders that day as bloody as he may have been."

Another memory provided by Flowers takes the reader back to the 1973 national championship game in the old New Orleans Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame.

It was a night game with an electric atmosphere, Flowers recalled of sitting in the stands that evening. But it was Price who grabbed the crowd's attention when he made his way onto the field and tried to lead the Alabama football team out to face the Fighting Irish.

"As was customary, Shorty was drunk as Cooter Brown," Flowers wrote. "He started off by beating an Irish puppet with a club and the next thing I knew, two burly New Orleans policemen, two of the biggest I had ever seen, picked up Shorty by his arms and escorted him off the field. They did not know who Shorty was and did not appreciate him. Sadly, Shorty, one of Alabama’s greatest fans, missed one of Alabama’s classic games [a 24-23 loss to Notre Dame] sitting in a New Orleans jail."

Despite his passion for Alabama football during the fall season, though, Price primarily kept himself busy the rest of the year with his true calling: Politics.

"I Ain't Nothing But A Loser"

After all, Price entitled his 1980 autobiography "I Ain't Nothing But A Loser" — a play on Coach Bryant's famous phrase "I ain't never been nothing but a winner."

"He would run for governor every time it seemed like," Gary White said with a laugh. "I'm not sure he got many votes, but he was always running for something."

It's worth noting that Price's home of Barbour County produced another politician who was a contemporary of Price and would even be his roommate for a brief time at the University of Alabama — segregationist governor George Wallace.

"He hated George Wallace," Steve Flowers said. "Him and Wallace were from the same county, so he would always cuss George Wallace."

It's unclear just what Price's true political endgame was, apart from grabbing headlines for his antics and humor aimed at his fellow Barbour County native. Still, this became his brand, along with his zero-filter approach in interviews on the campaign trail.

Some of his more famous campaign sayings:

"Smoke Tampa Nugget cigars, drink Budweiser beer and vote for Shorty Price.”

"Honest government is worth the price, and the right price is Shorty Price."

"If elected governor, I will reduce the governor’s tenure from four years to two years. If you can’t steal enough to last you the rest of your life in two years, you ain’t got enough sense to have the office in the first place.”

"Shorty, Shorty, he’s our man. George Wallace belongs in the garbage can."

Flowers dubbed Price the "the most colorful political clown" to ever stumble his way onto the Alabama political stage, mentioning that he not only ran for governor in every election he could and used recycled campaign signs, but also sought other offices as a way to make his living.

"He would travel from town-to-town, mostly in southeast Alabama and panhandle for contributions and soon after collecting the few dollars that folks would give him, he would convert his campaign contributions into a purchase of a Budweiser beer," Flowers wrote in a column earlier this year. "Ole Shorty usually got about 2% of the vote and usually finished last. He was really kind of proud of his usual last-place finish."

In speaking with Patch, Flowers also recalled the time that political columnist Bob Ingram erroneously reported that Price had finished 13th out of 14 candidates in one of his many governor’s races. It was a simple mistake most candidates would likely overlook, but not Shorty Price.

"He got mad about it, called and said he ran 14th," Flowers said. "He always wanted to run last."

Another easily overlooked moment in Price's life could be seen when he encouraged his wife Delores to qualify to run for governor in 1966 — the same year George Wallace would do the same thing with his wife and eventual governor, Lurleen B. Wallace.

While Price's wife would eventually withdraw her candidacy, she will always hold the distinction of being the first woman to qualify to run for governor in Alabama.

It remains unclear exactly how many unsuccessful campaigns Price pursued apart from his 13 attempts at the state's highest office. But in 1978 he grabbed headlines once again by saying he would run for governor a final time before retiring from political life to focus solely on selling insurance in the off-season and his longtime love of Crimson Tide football.

"I'm tired of hitting these pot holes, I bought me an old bus and I was coming down there a while ago and I hit one of those potholes and my $300 teeth about came out of my mouth," he said of the state's infrastructure in an interview ahead of his last push for office.

In providing another glimpse into his political ideologies, Price also spoke out in staunch opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) — a long-stalled piece of legislation that aimed to provide basic, common sense equal rights for women in society and the workplace.

"I am not for ERA," he said in a television news interview with WSFA. "I love the women, my mother was a lady. I have four sisters and I know a lot of lovely ladies, but look here, the Bible says that a woman's place is in the home. And I've been through that situation where my wife wanted to work — my ex-wife — just see it that way."

Unsurprisingly, Price finished at the bottom of the crowded field. He then set his focus back to cheering on the Tide to quench his unceasing thirst for any spotlight he could find.

END OF THE SHOW

Despite expressing his intentions to retire as "Alabama's head cheerleader" following Bear Bryant's inevitable 315th career win, Price would be a noted absence when the Tide defeated the Auburn Tigers in Legion Field on Nov. 28, 1981 — a win that secured Bryant as the winningest football coach in college football history.

Instead, Shorty Price was killed on Nov. 1, 1980 when his car ran off the road and crashed into a bridge on I-65, roughly 9 miles south of Montgomery.

He was 59 years old.

Debate persists over the events leading up to his final day, with some even speculating a possible conspiracy involving his lawsuit against police in Birmingham he had formally accused of beating him up at a past football game.

Still, the most consistent narrative — a fitting one as Alabama prepares to host Mississippi State on Saturday for Homecoming — insists that Price wrecked his car as he was making the trip to Jackson, Mississippi to watch the Tide take on the Bulldogs.

Without Price causing commotion in the stands, Alabama was upset by the Bulldogs 6-3 in a game that snapped a winning streak going back to September 1978.

The news coverage of his death was minimal, relegated to briefs buried deep in the Tuscaloosa News the day after the crash and concerning his subsequent burial on election day in Alabama.

In the closest thing to an obituary that Price received, his longtime adversary George Wallace was the only individual quoted.

It's an odd sentiment considering their tumultuous relationship and Price's sustained attacks on the controversial segregationist governor, which included accusing Wallace of starting a "vicious rumor" that he was shorter than Price.

Wallace was quoted in the story of Price's burial saying he always felt close with Price and never took the humorous criticism personally.

"I am so sorry and grieved at his death, and I extend my sincere sympathy to his family for their loss to all of us," Wallace told a reporter.

The legacy of Shorty Price, if there is indeed one to consider, is no doubt a complicated one. But omitting the questionable antics, archaic political ideologies and outright buffoonery, it must be admitted that Price took Alabama football fandom to a new level of individuality — at a time when the team on the field was trending in the same direction.

Gary White looks back fondly on those Bryant Era years and how some things have remained unchanged, such as fans not rushing the field in the moments following a big win. Shorty was the only fan who consistently attempted such a feat in good times or bad, and that became his unofficial place in the sun.

"The tradition here is just so rich, there's nothing else like it," White said. "You look all over the United States and there's no college like Alabama. You either love it or you hate it and [Shorty Price] was engrained in it. I think his allegiance to Alabama was such that on game day, he would get so happy and it would get him into trouble."

Veteran journalist and longtime Alabama football beat writer Kirk McNair provided a different perspective when asked about the necessary ingredients to foster an environment capable of producing a personality like Shorty Price.

"It's probably not unique," he said in a phone interview with Patch. "I think probably lots of schools have people like that who want to be in the limelight, want to attach themselves to success. It's kind of an easy thing to do it if you don't have any self respect."

While McNair said his contact with Price was limited, he also didn't try to hide the fact that he was no fan of the Clown Prince of Alabama Football.

"At some point when I was assistant sports information director at Alabama in the early 1970s I was quoted in the Crimson-White as saying that Price was an embarrassment to The University," he recalled. "A day or so later [Price] barged into my office demanding to know why I had said that. I told him because he was an embarrassment to The University."

Still, McNair conceded that regardless of how he feels, Price's popularity amongst the Alabama fanbase was impossible to deny.

"It's hard for someone who's not like that to get into the head of someone who is," he said. "As I will certainly agree to, there were a lot of people who were entertained by Shorty Price, I just didn't happen to be one of them ... it would be like when you go to the circus and you're entertained by the clowns, but you wouldn't want to see them at work."

Again, it's obvious that the legacy of Shorty Price is one that, warts and all, stands in this reporter and Tuscaloosa native's view as an accurate reflection of the most committed Bama die-hards of the day.

In a way, the story truly is part-Fluffopotamus, part-Harvey Updyke — a Jekyll and Hyde dynamic in one person that represents both a burning passion for the team and the influence that passion is capable of exerting over the most ravenous sports fans.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com