Once again, Thom Gossom moved across the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium wearing No. 49, just like he did more than four decades earlier.
Gossom, who in 1975 became Auburn's first African-American student-athlete to graduate, was surrounded by fifth-graders from his hometown of Birmingham, each wearing their own No. 49 jerseys.
Minutes earlier, the Auburn Athletics department surprised Gossom and the students during a tour of the locker room.
"The jersey blew me away," Gossom said. "That was incredibly special. And all the jerseys for the kids."
The students from C.J. Donald Elementary school visited Auburn University at Gossom's invitation as part of Better Basics, a literacy program based in Birmingham.