AUBURN, Ala. -- Sixteen years ago, Rod Bramblett called his first Auburn football game as the Voice of the Auburn Tigers. It was a hot and sunny afternoon in Jordan-Hare Stadium, and the Tigers were hosting USC. Rod's wife, Paula, was eight months pregnant with their second child.
"It's one of the few times that I've been nervous to the point where I was a little bit worried that words would come out of my mouth," he said during an interview from last year.
Words did come out. Spoken with eloquence and passion. The famous "Touchdown Auburn" phrase wasn't used that game. Bramblett had to wait until the third game that season to carry on the tradition that began with Jim Fyffe before him. But it was the start of a new era, an era filled with memories and calls that would go down in Auburn lore.
There was "Go crazy, Cadillac! Go crazy," from that first season and Bramblett's first Iron Bowl. There was the 2010 BCS title game when Bramblett called Auburn's second national championship in the program's history. And then there was the 2013 season where in a span of three weeks, Bramblett made two of the most iconic calls in college football history with the Prayer at Jordan-Hare and the Kick Six.
Fans still get goosebumps when they hear, "There goes Davis."
"Rod's passion and his prep work allowed him to make those great calls," said Andy Burcham, Rod's longtime friend and the new Voice of the Auburn Tigers. "The '97 home run by David Ross, the Kick Six and the Miracle at Jordan-Hare. The fact that Rod was prepared, I think in part, along with his incredible talent, allowed him to make those iconic calls."
"The one thing that I admire so much about what Rod did is he took his role as the voice of Auburn and embraced it wholeheartedly throughout his whole time," added Bramblett's broadcast partner, Stan White. "Off the air, on the air, he loved it. He felt that was his calling, and he never took it for granted. He took pride in it and he realized the importance of it."
The role didn't change Bramblett either. He grew up nearby in Valley, went to college at Auburn and outside of one year in Tennessee, he spent his whole life in the Auburn area. It didn't matter that he was the voice of Auburn or that he earned celebrity status following the 2013 season and the Kick Six call. To those that knew him, he was the same old Rod.
His wife, Paula, made sure of that.
Paula, who worked 26 years as an IT specialist in the Office of Information Technology at Auburn, talked to her husband after the Kick Six and told him, "You're still taking the trash out when you get home tonight."
"Paula was Roddy's rock," Burcham said. "They had lunch together nearly every day, much to the chagrin to those of us who worked with Rod and loved his company over a meal."
"She was such a super sweet person," added Barbara Helms, one of Paula's co-workers. "Big heart, kind, thoughtful, all those things. But her family – that was her. She wouldn't have wanted it any different, but she loved that family and she was so dedicated. That was her life. That family was her life – those children and Rod."
In May, Rod and Paula were tragically killed in a car accident. They left behind two children, Shelby and Joshua. As the Auburn community attempts to move on, there are constant reminders of the loving couple everywhere you look.
Maybe it's Amsterdam Café where Paula used to love to go to lunch. Maybe it's one of the many press boxes Rod called games in or the third-floor lobby at Beard-Eaves Coliseum where Rod would hold court with his co-workers every Monday morning and talk about the week ahead. The Brambletts were part of the fabric that makes Auburn so special, and they will forever be part of the Auburn Family.
But now it's Burcham's turn. Just like when Rod took over for Jim Fyffe 16 years ago and carried on his legacy, it's up to Burcham – as the new Voice of the Auburn Tigers – to carry on the legacy Rod built, to carry on the legacy of both Rod and Paula.
"It's the most important job that I've ever had in my life," Burcham said. "It carries a great deal of responsibility, but it's also a job that I've worked for, for my entire career, and I'm thrilled to be the new voice for Auburn Tigers, recognizing that if the accident hadn't occurred on May 25, none of this would be happening at this moment."
And just like Rod 16 years ago on that hot and sunny afternoon in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Burcham was a little nervous before calling Saturday's victory over Oregon. But you wouldn't have known it when he delivered his "Touchdown Auburn" call after Bo Nix threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Seth Williams.
It's a call that would've made Rod proud.