Alabama fans of a certain age will never forget The Kick.

With his dramatic, game-winning field goal, kicker Van Tiffin cemented his name in Crimson Tide lore, and artist Daniel Moore preserved the moment for posterity with his iconic painting that hangs above fireplaces throughout the state.

But without The Drive, The Kick never would have happened.

And whether you were there at Legion Field on that last Saturday in November in 1985, or you watched that epic Alabama-Auburn classic on TV, you really had to see it to appreciate just how miraculous it was.

Had receiver Greg Richardson not stretched to get out of bounds with six seconds left, or if quarterback Mike Shula hadn't made that key block on flanker Al Bell's reverse on fourth down, or if running back Gene Jelks hadn't made that clutch catch out of the backfield on third and long -- well, if any one of those things had gone wrong, you can forget about The Kick.

Alabama came into the 50th anniversary Iron Bowl that day with a 7-2-1 record, having tied LSU and lost to Penn State and Tennessee by a combined four points. Auburn, which had started the season ranked second in the AP poll, was 8-2, with losses to Tennessee and Florida.

So neither a national title nor an SEC championships was at stake. Just state Bragging Rights for the next 365 day.

After a relatively calm first three quarters that ended with Alabama leading 16-10, the game got wild in the fourth period, with four lead changes and momentum-shifting plays every few snaps.

Late in the game, the Tigers methodically marched 70 yards in 11 plays to take a 23-22 lead -- the identical score by which Auburn beat Alabama three years before to end a nine-game losing streak to the Tide.

But 57 seconds remained on the clock.

And with 80 yards of Legion Field turf in front of them, the Alabama offense -- which had driven 71 yards with 50 seconds left to come from behind to beat Georgia in the season-opener -- had a quiet confidence that it would get the job done again.

Just as he had been against Georgia earlier that season, Alabama quarterback Mike Shula was cool under pressure to lead the Crimson Tide on its game-winning drive to beat Auburn in the 1985 Iron Bowl. (Birmingham News file photo)

'You've got 57 seconds'

"Here's the deal," Wes Neighbors, the starting center on that 1985 Tide team, said in an interview with AL.com. "You've got 57 seconds. You go on the field knowing all you need is a field goal. You've got a good field-goal kicker. We had a great two-minute offense. We had a great leader. So the whole thing is to get the first first down."

On the first play, Shula dropped back to pass and threw incomplete to tight end Thornton Chandler, who was surrounded by four Auburn defenders. Alabama was fortunate it wasn't intercepted.

"There were more blue shirts around the ball, and Chandler was off balance and probably would not have caught it under any circumstances," ABC's Keith Jackson said on the broadcast.

On second and 10, Shula couldn't find an open receiver, danced around to try to avoid the Auburn rush, and then got sacked for an eight-yard loss -- draining 13 precious seconds off the clock. Alabama had to use its final timeout.

The Legion Field scoreboard, missing a few bulbs, flashed 37 seconds.

Now facing third and 18, those Alabama players who were so confident just two plays before realized their margin for error was precariously thin.

Guard David Gilmer, a senior, reassured his teammates.

"David Gilmer said something in the huddle," Neighbors recalled. "And all he said was, 'Remember, Georgia.'"

Alabama running back Gene Jelks, a freshman playing in his first Iron Bowl, had the game of his life against Auburn in 1985, including a 74-year touchdown gallop that gave the Crimson Tide a momentary lead in the frantic fourth quarter. (Birmingham News file photo)

'It was so loud'

Just as they had done that night in Athens, Shula and Bell would play key roles in what was about to happen.

First, Shula calmly floated a pass to Jelks coming out of the backfield. A freshman playing the game of his life, Jelks had sprinted 74 yards on a sweep to give the Tide a momentary lead the previous possession. This time, he made a nifty finger-tip grab and ran out of bounds after a 14-yard gain that made fourth down manageable.

Up in the press box, Alabama offensive coordinator George Henshaw called for a reverse to the flanker Bell -- the same play Penn State had used on its game-winning drive to beat the Tide earlier in the season.

"When he calls the reverse, I'm thinking, 'We're about to win this game,'" Neighbors said. "Everybody thinks we're going to run the sweep because we're the sweeping-est running team ever."

As planned, Shula tossed the ball to Jelks on a sweep to the right, and then Jelks handed off to Bell, who had looped around and was headed to his left.

An Auburn lineman twisted around the end and stood ready to blow up the play in the backfield. But Shula -- narrowly avoiding a clip -- cut back and made the perfect block to shield Bell from the tackle. With a head of steam, Bell rounded the corner and raced up the sideline for a 20-yard gain and a huge first down.

On the Auburn side of the field, cornerback Kevin Porter had spotted Bell lined up in a short-split formation and anticipated the reverse. But he couldn't do anything to stop it.

"We'd been practicing it all week," Porter said later. "I was trying to motion to the linebacker, but it was so loud."

Alabama wide receiver Greg Richardson, pictured here on a 62-year punt return early in the 1985 Iron Bowl, made the key catch that set up Van Tiffin's game-winning field goal to beat Auburn. (Birmingham News file photo)

'We're going to win'

So just like that, the momentum had begun to tilt in the Tide's direction again. The Alabama players had their swagger back.

"We're talking in the huddle, 'Hey, guys, we got it now; let's keep 'em out; they don't get a sack,'" Neighbors recalled. "It's pure confidence now. We know we're going to win the game. It isn't 'believe.' We know. We're going to make a play, and we're going to win this game."

The Tide, though, still needed another 20 yards or so to get within Tiffin's field goal range. Tiffin had nailed a career-best 57-yard field goal on the same field earlier in the year against Texas A&M, but he had also missed wide left on a 52-yarder with the wind at his back earlier in this game. This time, he would be kicking into a slight breeze.

On the sideline, the Alabama field-goal unit already had the "white" call on -- meaning they all had their helmets on and were standing ready to run onto the field when the time came. They had practiced the drill for emergency situations such as this.

On first down, Shula threw over the middle to Richardson, who collided with Auburn cornerback Luvell Bivens, and the pass fell incomplete. It was an inconsequential play, but it cost Alabama another six seconds.

Now the Tide was down to 15 seconds, with no times outs, and still 20 yards away. Alabama had time for one more play before lining up for the possible game-winning kick.

"They're not getting to the quarterback," Neighbors said. "We're going to give him all day. 'Do your job.' That's what it's all about. Nobody had big eyes. We had been there before, and we knew what was at stake."

Keith Jackson, left, and Frank Broyles called the 1985 Iron Bowl for ABC. "That's the most fabulous fourth quarter I've ever seen in my life," Broyles said after the game. "I don't ever remember such a fantastic finish." (Birmingham News file photo)

'Throw it! Throw it'

Protected by a wall of offensive linemen, the left-handed Shula dropped back in the pocket and patiently waited for Richardson to get in position to make a catch and get out of bounds to stop the clock.

The 5-foot-9 Richardson, whose quarterback called him "Little Richard," had been clutch in that comeback against Georgia, and earlier in this game, he returned a Lewis Colbert punt 62 yards to set up a field goal. But up to this point, he had not caught a pass all day.

Shula waited and waited and waited for just the right moment to deliver a strike to the streaking Richardson. The play only last nine seconds but it seemed to take place in slow-motion for Tide fans.

"I will never forget this for the rest of my life," Neighbors said. "Me and (tackle) Larry Rose end up double-teaming the nose guard. He never gets off the line of scrimmage, but he starts sliding (to the right) and Larry starts blocking me.

"And at the same time, I'm seeing Greg (Richardson) come across my face, and Larry is looking down the field yelling, 'Throw it! Throw it! Throw it!'"

Richardson caught Shula's pass in stride near the right hash-mark at the Auburn 45, and then he cut up field to pick up some valuable yards. Auburn's Bivens tried to make the tackle at the 40, but with Bivens wrapped around his thighs, Richardson fought to get out of bounds at the 35-yard-line.

"I saw Richardson come across, headed for the sideline," the laid-back Shula said after the game. "I simply threw him the ball."

Now it was Van Tiffin's turn to be the hero.

Alabama holder Larry Abney (10) hugs kicker Van Tiffin while Auburn's Kevin Porter walks off the field after Tiffin's 52-yard field goal lifted the Crimson Tide to a 25-23 over the Tigers in the 1985 Iron Bowl. (Birmingham News file)

'It's good! It's good!'

If the previous play appeared to happen in slow-motion, this next one seemed to be on fast-forward.

Executing the "white" call to perfection, the field-goal unit raced onto the field, and Tiffin placed his kicking tee on the right hash-mark at the 42-yard-line.

"My heart won't stand it, Keith," ABC's Frank Broyles told his broadcast partner.

Butch Lewis snapped the ball to holder Larry Abney, and with Auburn's Kevin Porter diving at his feet trying to block the kick, Tiffin, all 160 pounds of him, drilled a 52-yarder.

As the ball sailed into the night and through the uprights, the Alabama radio team of play-by-play announcer Paul Kennedy and color man Doug Layton took turns shouting, "It's good! It's good! It's good! It's good!"

It all happened so fast, though, that the offensive unit hardly had time to get off the field before Tiffin delivered the game-winner to make it Alabama 25, Auburn 23.

"I literally had taken two steps off the field, and I look up and the kick is already in the air," Neighbors recalled. "And, of course, I knew it was good when he hit it.

"And then I don't remember anything," he added. "I kind of remember Coach (Jimmy) Fuller jumping on my back and then me going and trying to find my dad (Alabama legend Billy Neighbors) because he was on the sideline."

The Legion Field scoreboard, which is missing a few lights, flashes the final score of the 1985 Iron Bowl, in which Alabama came from behind in the final minute to beat rival Auburn. (Birmingham News file photo)

'I love ya, Van Tiffin!'

In the mayhem, Alabama head coach Ray Perkins fought through a crush of photographers and a couple of hundred Alabama fans who had managed to crash the field. Perkins found Tiffin, embraced him with a bear hug and lifted him off the ground.

"Van!" he shouted. "Van Tiffin! I love ya, Va Tiffin! I love ya!"

In the Auburn locker room, head coach Pat Dye tried to find the right words to heal his hurting team.

"Today, our players displayed all the things we teach out there," Dye said after the wild finish. "It was a great college football game. Time just ran out on us.

"A game like this, Alabama players will remember the rest of their lives," he went on. "Auburn players . . . it'll eat their guts out the rest of their lives."

Auburn running back Bo Jackson, who would win the Heisman Trophy a few days later, played his fourth and final Iron Bowl with two broken ribs but still ran for 142 yards on 31 carries.

He had done all he could do, but it wasn't enough.

"It's like you're at the top of a ladder and at that last step before you get to the top, somebody pulls the ladder from under you," Jackson said after the game.

Neighbors -- who was part of the team that went 5-6 the year before, the first losing season at Alabama since the infamous "Ears" Whitworth era -- never grows tired of being reminded of that glorious finish, and what it took to get there.

"It taught me a lot about life," he said. "You just never give up. Anything can happen. If you believe in the people beside you and you work hard, good things happen."

It also taught him a lot about sportsmanship.

"Although I was elated that we won the game, after the game, I kind of felt sorry for the people on the other side," he said. "I knew that they had fought just as hard as we did. We just had the ball last."

Some of the quotes and details for this story originally appeared in The Birmingham News on Dec. 1, 1985, and were reported by News sports writers Clyde Bolton, Jimmy Bryan, Wayne Hester, Charles Hollis, Kevin Scarbinsky and Alf Van Hoose.