Portrait of Alabama football legend Kenny Stabler unveiled in Tuscaloosa
Showcasing the new Kenny Stabler painting at the Bryant Museum are, from left, artist Steve Skipper, boxer Deontay Wilder, Kendra Stabler Moyes, Kim Ross Bush and University of Alabama Athletics Director Bill Battle. (Nik Layman / Alabama NewsCenter)
His painting was revealed; his presence was felt.
Family, friends and fans were in Tuscaloosa Saturday, Aug. 20 to honor the late Kenny Stabler, star quarterback for the University of Alabama, with the unveiling of his portrait at the Paul W. Bryant Museum.
Titled “Unforgettable,” the painting by renowned Alabama artist Steve Skipper shows the dynamic No. 12 in action, leading his team over the University of Nebraska in the 1967 Sugar Bowl with a play that Stabler chose to be memorialized.
But the colorful man known as “Snake” was more than just an image on a canvas.
“Any amazing event that we were lucky to do this past year, he’s always been right there, we can definitely feel him,” said his daughter Kendra Stabler Moyes.
Painting of Crimson Tide legend Kenny Stabler by artist Steve Skipper is unveiled at the Paul W. Bryant Museum from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
“Obviously, I wish Kenny was standing here with us, but he is here with us,” said his partner Kim Bush.
“I definitely felt his presence here today,” said Skipper.
After playing for Coach “Bear” Bryant for three years, including an 11-0 season his junior year, Stabler went on to a swashbuckling 15-year National Football League career, highlighted by a 1977 Super Bowl win with his Oakland Raiders over the Minnesota Vikings.
Still, the Foley, Ala., native was remembered for much more than his gridiron greatness.
“I looked for ego out of him, because he’s an icon. Never found it,” said Skipper. “He’s one of the most down-to-earth people you ever met in your life.”
“I think he learned very early in his life that giving back really felt better than getting, and he was a champ at that, too,” said Bush.
In 2015, the nonprofit XOXO Stabler Foundation, founded by the quarterback, took up the cause of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated or severe blows to the head.
Stabler, who died in 2015 at age 69, suffered from football-related brain trauma.
“Everything we do now will be towards the goal of making the game safer for the players, and education for the players and parents and coaches,” said Bush. “And so part of the proceeds of this project are to fund this foundation, and that’s what we will do.”
Several speakers noted Stabler’s posthumous induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year. He was elected by the Veterans Committee in February and inducted on Aug. 6.
“We were proud that he was honored. We wish it would have happened in his lifetime,” said University of Alabama athletic director Bill Battle.
“The bottom line is, the story is right now, history is correct, and that’s meaningful,” added Bush.
Of course, stories were also traded about the larger-than-life character who scrambled to avoid trouble both on the field and off. One person noted the irony of unveiling Stabler’s portrait in front of Bryant’s old desk and couch, where the quarterback logged many hours in the coach’s “doghouse.”
Nevertheless, Skipper noted that Bryant was “like a father” to Stabler.
“He (Stabler) told me that when the team first got to the stadium it had been pouring down rain, like today,” said Skipper. “But when he walked onto the field with Coach Bryant, the sun came out, and he knew what kind of coach he had.”
The artist’s next project is a portrait of Stabler as a Raider, to be unveiled in Oakland, Calif.
“Oakland has a lot to look forward to,” said Skipper. “The play that he picked is from the Super Bowl.”
But on this day, the Crimson Tide community united in appreciation of the legendary player and man and the college campus that fostered him.
“I just know how much this place means to him,” said Moyes. “The NFL is great, but I know that this is his special place.”
