��������

MOMENT IN TIME? MEMORIES FADE. STORIES CHANGE. TIME MOVES ON. BUT THE SNAP OF A CAMERA, THE STROKE OF A BRUSH, THE SHADING OF A PENCIL, A MOMENT IN TIME CAN BE SKETCHED INTO HISTORY. SOMETIMES IT’S NOT LIKE SO MUCH AS WHAT PAIN, IT’S HOW TO PAINT IT. OTHER TIMES THERE ARE THINGS THAT WELL, FOR INSTANCE, TAKE GRAVE DIGGER. IT HAPPENED THE THROW HAPPENED, AND THE CATCH HAPPENED. SO HOW DO YOU SHOW THAT IN ONE IMAGE? FOR OVER FOUR DECADES, ARTIST DANIEL ATMORE HAS BROUGHT TO LIFE IMAGES IMMORTALIZING ALABAMA AND AUBURN STARS AT HIS NEW LIFE ART STUDIO IN HOOVER. SOME OF THESE I REMEMBER GOING TO THE GAMES AND COVERING AS WELL AS AN ARTIST, BECAUSE I WAS ON THE FIELD FOR SOME OF THOSE, LIKE LIBERTY, IT’S 19 DEGREES IN MEMPHIS. FELT LIKE 19 BELOW TO ME. YOU KNOW, YOU IF YOU RECALL, COACH BRYANT HAD THAT BIG, YOU KNOW, NAVY ISSUE PARKA WITH THE FUR. YOU KNOW ON AND IT WAS THAT COLD AS AN ALABAMA ALUM. SOME OF HIS BEST WORK ALSO HAD A PERSONAL CONNECTION. 1985 MY DAD AND I WENT TO THE GAME WHERE VAN TIFFIN NAILED THE GAME WINNER. WE WERE JUMPING UP AND DOWN LIKE TWO HIGH SCHOOL KIDS, AND THAT WAS A GREAT MEMORY TO HAVE. I SAID, WELL, DAD, I THINK I’VE GOT SUBJECT MATTER FOR MY NEXT PAINTING, WHICH WAS THE KICK MORE PUTTING HIS FANDOM ASIDE WHEN THE TIGERS TOPPED THE TIDE LIKE IN THE KICK SIX, THE OLD PLAYER IN ME WANTS TO SAY, HEY, GOOD JOB, WELL DONE. GOOD GAME. YOU KNOW THAT WAS THE TIP OF THE HAT TO AUBURN. CRAZY ENDINGS. IT’S SOMETHING TIDE AND TIGERS FANS HAVE COME TO EXPECT IN THE IRON BOWL. MOST GAMES I CAN LOOK AT IT, YOU KNOW, PRETTY MUCH OBJECTIVELY, BUT THAT GAME, AFTER WE HAD FUMBLED AND YOU KNOW, THE SNAP AND ALL THE CATASTROPHE I WAS I WAS IN A GRAVE. I MEAN, I WAS SUNK DOWN SO LOW IN MY COUCH. HONESTLY, I HAD ALMOST GIVEN UP ON HIM. I THOUGHT, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. AND THEN LO AND BEHOLD, NOT ONLY I WAS RESURRECTED, BUT ALABAMA WAS RESURRECTED. YOU KNOW, I BOILED IT DOWN TO, WELL, YOU GOT TO HAVE THE PASS AND YOU GOT TO HAV