True icons are hard to come by but ask just about anyone in Alabama and even if they’re not an Auburn fan they’ll tell you that Rod Bramblett was an icon. An icon as a broadcaster. An icon as the voice of Auburn sports. An icon as a man who put family first. A man of this caliber more than deserves special recognition which is why the Alabama Broadcasters Association respectfully inducts Rod Bramblett into the ABA Hall of Fame.
“Rod actually grew up as a Georgia fan,” says Andy Burcham, Bramblett’s color analyst and currently the Voice of the Auburn Tigers. “He worked at his grandfather’s cotton mill during the summer and at some point, there was an interest in local radio.”
“He came to Auburn eventually and majored in political science and actually taught a bit as a graduate assistant, but radio was never far from Rod. He went into radio fulltime and became the voice of the Auburn Tigers after Jim Fyfe passed away in 2003.”
Burcham says Bramblett was a natural for the job. “He had a really good voice. I mean, he had a good commanding voice,” he says. “He was a smart man. He knew what he was doing.”
Through the years Bramblett had the opportunity to make some singular calls which helped to seal his iconic stature.
“There was the National Championship call in 2010 – the run Cam Newton made during that season against LSU which kind of became Cam’s Heisman Trophy run,” says Bramblett. “And Rod’s call against LSU in 2004, and of course the 2013 ‘Kick Six’ play in the Iron Bowl against Alabama. You have to be fortunate enough to get a play like that, but it’s what you do with that play that makes it iconic. And every time Rod had a big play to call, he was prepared for it.”
“I was standing alongside him the first time he had a call like that. And that was in 1997. We were doing Auburn baseball in the NCAA tournament and Auburn fans are well aware of the home run call of David Ross against Florida State. He had a walk off home run that in great measure propelled Auburn to the College World Series.”
“That’s Rod’s first great call,” continues Burcham. “And I was with him when it happened. I was doing the color and how did he handle that one? The same way for all of his great calls. He never had anything written down.”
“Obviously things that Rod had to describe – he couldn’t have scripted the kick six … somebody catching the ball on a deflection and carrying it into the end zone for a touchdown,” says Eli Gold, the Voice of Alabama, and an icon in his own right. “You know, those things you just see, and you open your mouth and pray that your experience will carry you through.”
Bramblett’s friends know that he would have been honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
“Oh, he would’ve been thrilled, but he would’ve said, I’m not worthy,” says Gold. Burcham agrees. “I think he would’ve been humble about it because that was his nature, but I also think he would have appreciated it as well.”
“Rod wasn’t just waiting for that big opportunity,” says Burcham. “It wasn’t the easiest way
to make a living, but Rod never stopped working hard and doing his very best at every level that he worked. And you know, at the end it paid off for him.”
“Rod lived and breathed and did everything for Auburn,” says Gold. “And you know the fans loved him because his devotion to the Auburn Tiger program came through the broadcasts, right through the radio speaker into the homes of the Auburn Faithful. That right there is enough to qualify you for Hall of Fame status.”
