When his time at Auburn was done, Lorino went on to play in the CFL and to be a Southeastern Conference official for a quarter of a century. In recent years, he lived in Panama City, enjoying his two sons and five grandchildren. He and Nix, college roommates, and Burkett were frequent golfing pals. More than that, they were friends, as close as brothers.
On Thursday, Lorino called Nix to tell him he would miss a Friday night Hall of Fame reception because he was going to watch his grandchildren play baseball. On Saturday, he called and said he was feeling nauseous and dizzy and wouldn’t be able to make the induction. On Sunday, he was gone. He’d been rushed to the UAB Medical Center, but doctors had been unable to save him.
“It’s a great loss to me and a lot, lot of folks,” Nix said when we talked early Tuesday morning. “We played golf every chance we got. He was such a great friend. It’s just a great
loss for me.”
Lorino was at Jordan-Hare Stadium in April when former captains were honored at the A-Day game. At a reception that morning, accompanied by his granddaughter, Katherine Lorino, he was in good spirits. He was fit, happy and healthy. He proudly said that he was two pounds over his playing weight.
Last September, Lorino, Nix, Burkett and the rest of the living players from the 1957 team gathered for a reunion and were honored before the Jacksonville State game at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“He was the greatest teammate,” Nix said. “We roomed together on our trips and in Graves Center. We never had a cross word. In the games, he was always wanting me to run him more. All my ends wanted me to throw to them more. We got along so well.”
Nix, from little Kansas, Ala., and Lorino, from Bessemer, arrived at Auburn together in the summer of 1955. A friendship was born that grew only stronger as the years and decades went by. They helped take Auburn football where it had never been.
They were both halfbacks at first, Nix on the left and Lorino on the right. Lorino averaged 8.44 yards a carry in 1956, a record that still stands.
After Nix moved to quarterback in the summer of 1957, they never lost another game together, going 19-0-1 over the next two seasons. In 1957, Lorino’s interception return for a touchdown sparked a 40-0 rout of Alabama that lifted Auburn to the national championship.
“We’ve been close ever since we met at Auburn,” Nix said. “We played the same years, left the same years, played baseball together. As a freshman, they said you can run left and throw right and Tommy can run right and throw right. We practiced that all the time, but we never did it.”
Nix, even in his sadness, could chuckle about so many memories of those Auburn days, happy memories about a group of young men who came together and did great things. Later this week, they’ll come together again to say farewell to one of their own.
“He was just one of the greatest guys, greatest teammates, greatest friends,” Nix said. “He’s up playing some good golf courses now. I guarantee you that.”