TUSCALOOSA | The 1961 University of Alabama football team, the first national championship squad for legendary coach Paul W. 'Bear' Bryant, gathered at UA over the weekend for a 50-year reunion.

And if a 50-year reunion of a 1961 rival had been around, one got the sense the Crimson Tide defense would have been glad to dig in to play again.

Led by linebacker Lee Roy Jordan, the 1961 team fielded what remains, 50 years later, one of the most dominant defenses in program history.

'We had some great defensive players around us like Billy Neighbors and Charley Pell and Bill Battle,' Jordan said, 'guys that really believed in the defensive concept, which was a team defense.'

In 1961, Alabama recorded six shutouts and allowed only three touchdowns. Opponents scored just 25 points in 11 games.

Bill Oliver, who later became an assistant coach at UA, tied for the team high in interceptions on that team with two. Oliver said the high level of coaching that Bryant and his staff provided was evident to players.

'In 1958, when I came with a lot of other great guys who are here today, you could just tell the way they taught things, that it was special,' Oliver said. 'It was something you wanted to work extremely hard to perfect, because they knew what they were doing. They were light years ahead of everybody.'

Another member of that defensive unit, Tommy Brooker, said the goal line was where mettle was made.

'I don't know how many times we made goal-line stands, but we brought that back,' Brooker said. 'We'd sit on the bench for two quarters, and if someone threatened to score a touchdown, (Bryant) would say, 'Give me the red bunch.' And we came off the bench cold, and nobody could score.'

But while the 1961 defense was one of the program's best ever, the offense had its way as well, scoring 35 points against Vanderbilt, 34 against both Tennessee and Auburn and 32 against Georgia.

'It's amazing how many points we scored on offense, and I'm talking about against the good teams,' Oliver added. 'People say Coach Bryant was mainly a defensive coach, but I disagree with that. He had a great offensive mind, a great imagination.'

Jordan said more than 40 members of the 1961 team attended the reunion.

'We hadn't had a full get-together like this since we left here 50 years ago,' he said.

Reach Chase Goodbread at chase.goodbread@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.