TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama’s national championship football team returned home Tuesday to a state where the Crimson Tide’s BCS victory over LSU had special meaning after last year’s deadly tornado outbreak.
Hundreds cheered at Tuscaloosa’s airport as the team arrived from New Orleans on two charter jets. Fans stood with umbrellas and red-and-white shakers in a steady rain just a few miles from neighborhoods devastated by a tornado that killed more than 50 people in the city, including several students.
A pilot held a ‘Bama flag out a cockpit window as the plane rolled to a stop. Coach Nick Saban walked to a fence to greet fans.
The team boarded white charter buses emblazoned with the words “national champion.”
The university is making plans for a celebration to mark the team’s second national championship in three years.
