Remembering Dr. Lloyd Nix: 'He defined Auburn'

AUBURN, Ala. – You could always count on seeing Dr. Lloyd Nix on the Jordan-Hare Stadium sideline before the Auburn Tigers played.

Season after season, decade after decade, the quarterback of Auburn’s 1957 national championship team came back to the Plains.

“Because of what Auburn did for him,” said former Auburn athletic director David Housel. “Because Auburn opened up possibilities for him. He knew that he owed Auburn a debt of gratitude and he spent a major part of his life trying to repay that debt. He defined Auburn.”

Born Dec. 7, 1936, in Carbon Hill, Alabama, Nix passed away Nov. 22 at the age of 87.

“I don’t know anybody in this world who ever said a bad thing about Lloyd Nix,” Housel said. “He was as honorable of a man as I have ever known.”

A 1994 Alabama Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Nix moved from halfback to quarterback before the 1957 season, his junior year, finishing second in the SEC in total offense while leading the Tigers to a 10-0 record and the program’s first national championship.  

The next year as a senior and team captain, Nix led the conference in total offense, helping Auburn compile a 9-0-1 record and No. 4 ranking in the Associated Press poll.

Playing both offense and defense, Nix was twice named to the All-SEC team, earning a record of 19-0-1 as Auburn’s starter.

“He never lost as a starting quarterback,” Housel said. “He was a leader, and he was an inspiration to both of those undefeated teams.”

A two-sport standout, Nix was the first baseman on Auburn’s SEC baseball championship team in 1958 and was named to the All-SEC team. During the 1959 season, Nix posted a 9-0 record as a pitcher and won the Cliff Hare Award as Auburn’s outstanding senior athlete.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Nix became a dentist, practicing for 35 years in Decatur, Alabama, where he and wife of 66 years, Sandy, raised their daughters, Denise and Natalie, and treasured their six granddaughters and five great-grandchildren.

Always giving back to Auburn, Nix served as president of the Auburn Alumni Association’s board, as well as a member of the Auburn University Foundation board among other volunteer roles at his alma mater.

Nix received Auburn’s Walter Gilbert Award, presented to a former student-athlete for achievements after graduation. In 2008, he received the Auburn Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

Throughout his life, Nix influenced countless others, including fellow Walter Gilbert Award recipient Steve Wilson, a star high school player from Huntsville who played linebacker on Shug Jordan’s 1972 Amazins.

"I came down here when I was a junior in high school," said Wilson, impressed by former Auburn football standouts Nix and 1957 national championship teammates Morris Savage. "Auburn had Morris and Lloyd and nobody else did. They affected my life tremendously, and I'm sure a lot of other boys."

Housel was one of those boys.

“Lloyd’s always been one of my heroes,” Housel said. “He became an example, and I wanted to follow. I wanted to have the honor, integrity and commitment like Lloyd Nix. He was an example in every way.”

Family and friends celebrated a life well lived in Decatur two days before Thanksgiving. Guests were encouraged to wear two colors.

Orange and blue.

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer