A symbol of hope

For many people who love the University of Alabama, Big Al is the mascot of a great tradition. As much a part of game day as tailgate tents, barbecue sandwiches and houndstooth hats, the big gray elephant is a symbol of the victory Alabamians expect from their Crimson Tide.

But for one little girl from Bessemer, Ala., Big Al is much more than a tradition. He is a symbol of hope.

Peyton Sheheane is a 4-year-old bundle of energy. With her dark brown pigtails swaying from side to side, she smiles as she talks of the elephant she loves so much.

"What does Big Al do on the field?" her mother, Tara, asks.

"He shakes his booty!" Peyton giggles, as she acts out one of Big Al's signature moves.

For Peyton, everything is about Big Al. Her dozens of stuffed animal elephants are each named Al. Dumbo is really Al, just in cartoon form. The elephants at the zoo are not from anywhere but Tuscaloosa, Ala. Every elephant, no matter the size or the form, is Al.

For each "Big Al game," Peyton walks around the UA campus dressed in Alabama colors from head to toe holding a big sign that reads in silver and red glitter, "I love Big Al!" This year, to herald the coming of a new coach, the sign also reads, "And Coach Nick."

At 4, Peyton thinks Big Al is a real elephant, but one day she will understand the history of Al and how he came to be a symbol of the Crimson Tide.

The legacy

Big Al became the mascot for the University on Jan. 1, 1980, when Alabama played Arkansas. The idea to use an elephant as the mascot, however, dated back five decades before.

"Dating back to the 1930s, Alabama teams were referred to as the red elephants when an official in the Ole Miss game wrote in a weekly column that the team was so big and talented that they looked like a herd of elephants coming on to Denny Stadium," director of athletics Mal Moore said.

Moore said since 1980 Big Al has become an integral part of the University's athletic events, alumni gatherings and charity fundraisers. But, he said, Big Al's most important job is to make game days unique for the children.

The position of Big Al requires a special kind of person. The four students who play Big Al each year endure nearly unbearable heat, unruly fans and the constant call of just one more photo.

But if you were to ask any of the students who make Big Al the loveable mascot he is, they would all tell you that every obstacle they face is worth the simple smiles of the lives they touch.

Tyler Carnathan, a junior majoring in telecommunication and film, is Big Al for the first time this year. Never a mascot in high school, he tried out to be Big Al at the suggestion of a former Al.

"He knew I wasn't quite right [in the head], so he said I should try out," Carnathan said.

Carnathan said the process of becoming Big Al is a difficult one. The students trying out perform a skit in front of judges and go through training on how to walk and act in the suit.

"[Tryouts] are definitely hard," Carnathan said. "I'm surprised something didn't catch aflame."

Carnathan said he thinks the most important part of being Al is the impact on the children. He cited a moment during the fourth quarter of the Western Carolina game this year.

He said he went to see the fans in the area across from the student section and was surrounded by kids.

"I felt this tugging on the knee of my suit, and I looked down and there was a little girl wearing a baseball cap," he recalled. "She said, 'Big Al, I love you.'"

He said her mom asked for a picture, and he realized while taking the photo that the little girl was wearing the cap because she had no hair. She had cancer.

"I was just bawling inside the suit," Carnathan said. "It was emotional to know I could make the girl smile and laugh and know that I could make her forget if only for a few minutes."

Butch Hallmark, a third-year Big Al and a junior majoring in secondary education and Spanish, said he thinks the most rewarding part of being Al is getting to represent the University of Alabama.

"I think being a representative of the students and of the University is my favorite part," he said. "You're one of four people who get to make contact with so many people. More people know who Big Al is than they know who the governor is."

Allison Jacobs, also a third year Big Al and a junior majoring in English, was a mascot in high school, and said she knew coming in to college that she wanted to be Big Al. Being Al, she said, is still exciting.

"My heart starts pounding every single time," Jacobs said. "This is something I've wanted to do for so long. It's such a rush every time."

The four students who play Big Al this year all said the most important part of being Al is maintaining the character.

"Once I get the suit on, I'm no longer me," Carnathan said. "I become Big Al. It's kind of an overwhelming feeling. I go from Tyler, who's just this guy, to this celebrity. Every time I go to put [the suit] on, I get butterflies."

Hallmark said being Big Al is like "playing everybody's best friend."

"Imagine being a child and waking up on Christmas morning and Santa brings you everything you ever wanted," he said. "That's what being Big Al is like to me."

Jacobs said it is important to her to preserve the integrity of the character. She said she once had the zippers on her feet come undone while crowd surfing in the student section.

She said she ran to the changing room and just cried.

"All I could think was, 'I just ruined some poor kid's dream,'" she said. "I was probably as traumatized and upset as any kid who had seen it.

"You want to keep that for them. Little kids think you are an elephant. You aren't a person in a suit. You're Big Al."

A visit to Peyton

Peyton is one of those kids who thinks Big Al is a real elephant. And her Al is not just any elephant. He is special. When she needed him the most, Big Al was there.

On March 7, 2007, the day after her fourth birthday party, Peyton was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

"All I could think was, 'What is happening?'" Tara said. "Our world just came crashing down around us."

After five and a half hours of surgery a few days later, the doctors removed a mass the size of a baseball from Peyton's colon.

On an X-ray it was visible that the mass had been touching every vital organ in Peyton's abdomen. Somehow, the mass had never spread.

Peyton went home five days later, free of cancer.

"It was basically just a miracle," Tara said. "We knew God was going to take care of her."

A couple of days before Peyton's surgery, Tara contacted Debbie Greenwell, the cheerleading coach and adviser to Big Al.

"I don't know what possessed me to e-mail Debbie Greenwell, but I wanted to do something to make [Peyton] happy," Tara said.

Tara asked in her e-mail to Greenwell if it would be possible for Big Al to come visit Peyton in the hospital.

Greenwell said they would try, and not long afterward Hallmark contacted the Sheheanes. He said he would be happy to come visit Peyton.

On March 14, the day after Peyton's surgery, Hallmark arrived at the hospital. He said he first walked into Peyton's room without wearing the suit, and Peyton's parents introduced him as Big Al's friend.

Peyton just looked at him. She was on a morphine drip, and the pain she was feeling was apparent on her small face. Behind her head were about 20 elephants, Hallmark said. They were watching guard over her as she lay there helpless and hurting.

Hallmark went and changed into the suit and this time reappeared as Al.

"When I walked in, her face lit up," he said. "Big time."

He said everyone in the room got a little teary-eyed at the fact that Peyton was smiling, which was something she hadn't done in days.

"They were all so excited to see Big Al there," Hallmark said. "There was a Georgia fan, an Auburn fan, but all that was thrown out the window because Peyton was smiling.

"When she smiles at Big Al, it makes you want to cry."

Tara said she couldn't believe Hallmark had taken time out of his spring break to come visit a little girl he didn't know.

"I wouldn't have expected what we got out of Butch," Tara said. "It definitely made us forget about everything for a short while."

As Peyton sits on her living room floor and reads a Christmas book to a stuffed elephant the size of her, Tara asks her a question.

"Your tummy doesn't hurt anymore, does it?" Tara says.

Peyton looks up from the book and replies with a smile that lights up the room, "No."

Peyton has nothing to worry about. Her Big Al, her best friend, is watching over her.