This year’s Tallassee NOW! will have a special addition to this year’s lineup of events. Saturday at 10 a.m. former players and friends and family will join together to celebrate Coach J.E “Hot” O’Brien and the impact he made on the City of Tallassee.
Coach O’Brien passed away in 1977 but his legacy lives on in this close-knit community. This is why Bill Patterson and Frank Britt have been working tirelessly to bring former players of Coach O’Brien and their friends and family together to celebrate the great Coach O’Brien.
The last time the group met to celebrate Coach O’Brien was 15 years ago in 2001.
Under Coach O’Brien, the Tallassee Tigers carried a record of 57-0-1. This would go to be one of the greatest winning streaks in the state of Alabama. In 1947 the Tigers surpassed the national record for most games without a defeat with 53 consecutive wins. During the winning streak Tallassee averaged 30 points per game and allowed only 2.7 while shutting out 39 of their 57 opponents.
While Coach O’Brien certainly changed the face of Tallassee football, he also made an incredible impact on the lives he touched during his time in Tallassee.
“I have good memories of Coach J.E. “HOT” O’Brien. Not only was he coach of the Tallassee Tigers, but he also spent a lot of time assisting Coach Davis and Coach Hines coaching at the Tallassee Colored School, which was later named R.R. Moton Bulldog Football team,” said Councilman Charles Blaylock. “Many days Coach O’Brien, along with Jackie Williams would come to the Bulldogs practices. Teaching us the same plays no different from the Tigers, to run and he would often say to us, ‘If things were only different what a great program we would have.’”
Blaylock has many fond memories of Coach O’ Brien.
“I remember Coach O’Brien and Jackie traveled with us to Lanett, Alabama for a game. It was customary at that time, when the visiting team arrived on campus the host team would come to greet and escort them to their dressing room,” he said. “Well. We arrived, the first two people off the bus was Coach O’Brien and Jackie, and we could hear one of the host players remark, “Man this team got white coaches.” We all laughed and went on to our dressing room. After the game, it was said that the white coaches must have helped because we won the game 13-7.”
Ms. Betty Watkins moved to Tallassee in 1950. She and her husband, Ed, spent much of their time with “Hot” and his wife, Clara Lee.
“On Friday night during football season, Ed and I picked up Clara Lee, always an hour or more early, and we would go to the football field and we always sat together. This went on for 36 years,” she said. “Oh what would I have done without Clara Lee? Most people thought she was my mother because when she was not at her church we were together, especially when they bought a house on Hudson Place. Ed loved “Hot” like a brother and if he ever needed anyone to talk to it was “Hot”.
After “Hot” and Clara Lee moved to Hudson Place, Watkins recalls what good times they shared with the O’Briens’.
“All the neighbors came to their yard every night and what laughing and talks were told. George Girdner had the Quick Freeze so we had some kind of good meat at least once a week. My job was to make rolls and I’d make 57 every time we ate. We all loved Brownie, their dog. Hot and Ed also enjoyed fishing so we had fresh fish, which Ed and Clara Lee cleaned often.”
Watkins recalls what a good sport “Hot” was.
“When “Hot” got sick he never complained, and the saddest birthday I ever had “Hot” died. They were so good to us and we loved them dearly,” she said. “I was asked to write about “Hot” but everyone knew about him. But he would not have been the “Coach” he was without Clara Lee. Our lives were so much happier knowing them.”
Bill Goss, Tallassee Historian, also has fond memories of Coach O’Brien. “He is a Tallassee legend! He was one of Alabama’s most outstanding football coaches. He is also a legend in Alabama high school football circles and the nation for a 57-game winning streak in the 1940’s. He not only had a winning streak in football, but also a superlative overall coaching record in basketball and football.”
On August 16, 1969, Tallassee’s football stadium was named after the great Coach. During the dedication ceremony, J. Wilson Patterson stood in front of the large crowd and said, “Coach O’Brien chose to cast his lot with the people of Tallassee on the banks of the Tallapoosa River, and today his cup runneth over, both in professional success and in personal living. I believe Hot O’Brien would have succeeded at any vocation in any location. I believe he could have established a world record in any direction he set heart. Tallassee is the benefactor for his decision to cast his lot with us, and her citizens, their children and grandchildren are better because of him. In the years 1941-47 a national football record was set with 57 games without a defeat. Those are memorable years never to be forgotten by those who played and witnessed.”
J. Wilson Patterson’s son Bill played for Coach O’Brien and he recalls a time when he and Coach O’Brien pulled a fast one on Alvin McCraney, a teacher at Tallassee high School.
“We had a teacher who was real popular at the high school, Alvin McCraney, he had an A Model that he wanted to sell me. I had just turned 16. I should have bought it, but when he sold it to someone else he went out and bought a Volkswagen for gas mileage. So Coach O’Brien and I did, everyday I’d go down here to five points and fill up a little gas can and I kept that Volkswagen full of gas everyday. So he would drive it and drive it and drive it and it stayed full of gas. So after about two weeks he said ‘Y’all wont believe this. I’ve been driving that Volkswagen for two weeks and it hasn’t used a drop of gas. I went to fill it up and it won’t hold any gas.’ We just died laughing, but Coach O’Brien and I pulled that little trick on him.”
These are just a few memories of Coach O’Brien. If you would like to share your personal memories of Coach O’Brien, you are invited to attend J.E. “HOT” O’Brien Day, which is Saturday at the field house next to J.E “HOT” O’Brien Stadium. The celebration is part of Tallassee NOW! and anyone who played for Coach O’Brien or friends and family of those who did are encouraged to join this joyous event.