LOOKING BACK | This week in West Alabama History: Dec. 28, 2020
The Tuscaloosa News
Fifty years ago this week
• Alabama coach Paul W. Bear Bryant made it perfectly clear: he would return as head coach the following year. “No one is going to coach football at Alabama except me for a long, long time,” Bryant said firmly while in Houston preparing for the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl game against Oklahoma. Bryant was given the “Touchdown Award” by the Houston Touchdown Club.
• The Alabama-Oklahoma game ended in a 24-24 tie. Alabama’s Jeff Rouzie was named the outstanding lineman in the game.
• Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County gained in population according to the final 1970 census results. The county population jumped from 109,047 in 1960 to 116,029; city population grew from 63,370 to 65,733.