Bama fan of the day retrieves Nick Saban’s golf ball from a creek and requests autograph

What if I told you a grown man waded into a creek to retrieve a ball just to get an autograph from Alabama head coach Nick Saban on it? That’s exactly what happened on Wednesday during the Regions Tradition Pro-Am, which Saban and some other college football coaches played in. AL.com spoke with the Bama fan, Michael Graydon, who went into the water to retrieve a ball that Saban hit into a creek on one of his holes.

Apparently, the hole was a Par 5, and Saban’s first shot off the tee was hit to the right. His second shot went right into the water. Some fellow Crimson Tide fans looked for the ball but were unsuccessful. Graydon says he knew where it would have landed since he had played the same hole before.

A tournament official and Saban’s public relations coordinator looked for the lost ball for about a minute. Anxious to continue playing, Saban took a drop and hit a new ball near the green. Several Alabama fans went hunting for Saban’s lost ball but in the wrong place. Graydon found it after the crowd following Saban moved down the fairway.

“I’ve been in there plenty of times,” Graydon said. “I knew where to look.”

Saban shot in the water here, but he can’t be that awful at golf — in an interview with CBS Sports this week, he said during a recent round at Augusta National, home of the Masters Tournament, he was able to make two birdies on the course. Overall, he said he shot a score around “88 or something.”

But back to the more important story here — this fan wading into a creek for an autograph. Over the next few holes, Graydon was finally able to get an autograph from the head coach.

“What the heck?” Saban said via AL.com, looking down at the ball he was about to sign. “This is my ball.”

AL.com’s story is more than just one about this fan retrieving Saban’s golf ball in the water. Graydon’s daughter is actually undergoing a kidney transplant in July. She had both of her kidneys removed when she was just two months old due to a rare disease called congenital nephrotic syndrome. You can check out Joseph Goodman’s full story here.