Last November marked 16 years since the most heartbreaking football loss in Alabama history, which occurred during coach Nick Saban's first season.

In their final home game of the 2007 season, the Crimson Tide lost to Louisiana-Monroe, 21-14. The Tide also lost in the Iron Bowl, finishing the regular season 6-6.

Speaking at the Irondale Mayor's Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Mayor Saban recounted a memorable conversation he had with a convenience store clerk after getting gas after the game.

Makes me wonder what happened to that guy 😂

Nick Saban tells a funny story about a loss to ULM in his first season at Alabama and what happened after the game. #Rolltide pic.twitter.com/Lc2tj4m8t2

— Alabama Crimson Tide | AL.com (@aldotcomTide) May 2, 2024

“It was probably the most humiliating loss of my coaching career. We played horribly in the game. It was almost embarrassing representing our university and our program, dropping the ball six times,” Saban said.

“So everybody's disappointed — the fans, the coaches, the players — but as a coach, you have to go in the locker room after the game and try to motivate your players when they didn't perform very well. Then you have to go to the press conference and explain to everybody why they played so badly. Then you have to go in the recruiting room and tell the freshmen that it's not going to be like that again,” he said.

“And then after that humiliation, I went to drive home and I had no gas left, so I had to stop at a self-service gas station and get gas. I had my Louisiana State national championship ring on. So I went to pay, and the cashier said, 'Wow, what's that ring?' And I said, 'That's a national championship ring. Let's do the same thing at Alabama.'”

“And the guy (who didn't recognize Saban) looked at me and said, 'As long as Nick Saban is the coach, we'll never do that.'

Michael Browner is a senior sports analyst and contributor to Yellow Hammer News. You can follow him on Twitter. translation: