2013 SEC Media Days 2013 - Alabama

Alabama Coach Nick Saban visits with fans on the way out, signing numerous autographs during the SEC Media Days 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham - The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Ala., Thursday July 18, 2013. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

HOOVER, Alabama -- The wooden nesting dolls reside in a plastic bag with a neatly-tied bow. Each doll is decorated to commemorate a journey in Nick Saban's college career. They increase in size at every job, from Toledo to Michigan State and one doll for each of Saban's national titles at LSU and Alabama.

Hannah Braswell, a high school art teacher in Dothan, brings them to SEC Media Days not for Saban to autograph. They're a gift to Saban, who won three of the past four national titles and carries larger-than-life status in Alabama evoking Bear Bryant comparisons.

This is the third straight year Braswell attempts to give Saban a gift -- or rather, his handler -- at The Wynfrey Hotel from behind a rope. In the past two years, she says she successfully gave him an Alabama and LSU wooden football and swears she saw the Alabama ball behind Saban's desk during a TV shot of his office.

"I just think fans should give back to him and let him know how much we appreciate him," Braswell says. "Instead of just getting, getting, getting, I thought someone should give to him."

The tsunami that is the Saban autograph scene today lasts three minutes in the hotel lobby. That's the culmination of an eight-hour wait for some fans hoping to interact with Saban for a fleeting moment.

Lee Allen says he has more than 100 autographs of Nick Saban, whom he compared to Hitler -- as a compliment. (Jon Solomon/jsolomon@al.com)

"He's a winner, he just does what he wants to do," says Lee Allen, an Alabama fan from Decatur. "He's kind of like Hitler. He's a dictator. He brought us back to the top and I figure we're going to be here for a while. Money well spent."

Wait, what? Hitler? You mean that as a compliment? "Yeah," Allen says in between discreetly spitting tobacco juice into a water bottle in the lobby.

Allen, a college student, arrived in Hoover on Sunday with his RV, even though SEC Media Days didn't begin until Tuesday. "I had nothing else planned this week," he says.

Allen estimates the trip to SEC Media Days will cost him about $800, including $150 to park the RV at The Hoover Met. He has been to SEC Media Days for seven straight years -- the byproduct, he says, of years of going with his dad to sporting events to get autographs.

The Saban autograph rush annually creates a unique scene in the lobby of an upscale hotel. After one hotel guest checks out today and finds her path to the elevator blocked by the Alabama crowd, she mutters, "Oh grand."

How does The Wynfrey feel about Alabama fans occupying its lobby one day a year?

"I don't know how to answer the question," says Andy Peters, the hotel general manager. "Any time I've got somebody in the hotel at our hotel, it's a good thing. Some people get out of control and that's uncalled for. As long as it's good spirited and everybody is in that right spirit, it's a good thing."

Hannah Braswell with her gift of wooden nesting dolls for Nick Saban. (Jon Solomon/jsolomon@al.com)

Braswell, the nesting doll woman, isn't the first fan to give Saban gifts at SEC Media Days. Back in 2009, Saban had an incredulous look on his face when a fan presented him with a bottle of hot sauce for Saban and LSU beads, Michigan State beads and an Alabama yellowhammer cap for his wife, Terry.

Braswell's sixth straight trip to SEC Media Days saw her arrive at 6:30 this morning. Saban didn't come until 11 a.m. and didn't sign until 2:50 p.m.

"He's so inspiring, the words that he says and wants to accomplish," Braswell says. "Not only do I use that with my kids as inspiring words, but I use it in coaching, too. I think he will end up as beloved as Bear Bryant. I view him that way."

Saban brushes aside the Bryant comparisons. "I don't think I have any reason that anybody should do that," he says.

Braswell had her students at Houston Academy stain the Saban nesting dolls. She thought of including one doll for Saban's time coaching the Miami Dolphins, "but I didn't have enough nesting dolls and saved one for when he gets back to back to back."

As Alabama players Anthony Steen, C.J. Mosley and AJ McCarron depart the hotel, Braswell gives them wooden Alabama eggs she made. She goes outside to give McCarron his egg after he leaves without stopping, having earlier signed autographs.

Now comes the gift for Saban. Braswell positions herself on a couch where she projects Saban to be, but he's moving quickly and Braswell senses the opportunity is slipping.

"Driver!" she shouts at a Saban handler while holding out the gift. "Driver!"

And like that, Saban is gone. Braswell shrugs her shoulders.

"I'll send it to him."