How Did Jimmy Buffett Wind Up in an Alabama Swimming Shirt on a Post-Card?

American singer/songwriter superstar and lifestyle mogul Jimmy Buffett died on Saturday from lymphoma, a secondary cancer that developed from a Merkel Cell skin cancer that he was diagnosed with four years earlier. He was 76 years old.

Buffett was a rare breed among music superstars. He’s sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, yet somehow managed to arrive at the finish line without major scandal. He parlayed his success on the guitar to a business empire that includes a record label, restaurant chain, and a number of other business ventures that left him as a billionaire and one of the world’s richest musicians.

An everyman’s billionaire, Buffett loved people, music, cheeseburgers, beer, football, and swimming. So much so that he even wrote a song called “Beautiful Swimmers” on his 2009 album Buffet Hotel, released when he was 63 years old. In the song, he marvels at the way beautiful swimmers are able to glide across the water, where he says that “life is just a water ballet.”

Upon news of his death, teacher and swim coach Kevin Ahearn remarked that in Key West one time, he stumbled upon a postcard that featured Buffett wearing a University of Alabama swimming t-shirt.

I was shopping in the Margaritaville store in Key West back in the ‘80’s and found a postcard with Jimmy wearing an Alabama Swimming t-shirt. Bought it and now have no idea where it ended up.

— Kevin Ahearn (@KevinAhearn) September 2, 2023

This picture has floated around a few times in the past, but it begs the question: how did a guy who learned to play guitar as a freshman at Crimson Tide mega-rivals Auburn University wind up in an Alabama swimming shirt?

Buffett started his career at Auburn before transferring to Southern Mississippi, where he graduated in 1969 with a degree in history.

Rip Jimmy. pic.twitter.com/GtyUOGV3UL

— SwimSwam (@swimswamnews) September 2, 2023

As with most things in American swimming in the last 50 years, especially in the SEC, Brian Gordon had the answer. University of Alabama swimming & diving team manager David Bannister gave Buffett the shirt when he played a concert in Tuscaloosa “around 1981 or 1982.” His SetList.fm listing shows regular appearances there, with a confirmed show in 1979.

Gordon is a former Alabama coach, among many, many other appointments in the sport, including most recently as the NCAA Swimming & Diving rules editor and as a public address announcer for SEC Swimming & Diving.

Buffett obviously thought enough of the gift to keep it and wear it in his daily life, among the myriad of gifts he likely received during his career.

Braden…..one of our managers, David Bannister gave him the shirt when he played in Tuscaloosa around 1981 or 1982.

— Brian Gordon (@bg637) September 2, 2023

Buffett was born in Mississippi (his father was in the Army Corps of Engineers) and spent much of his childhood in Mobile and Fairhope, Alabama.

Swimming was a recurring theme in Buffett’s life. In 1994, he crashed his seaplane in Nantucket, but was able to swim to safety — meaning that swimming literally saved his life.