7x national champ Nick Saban once revealed hardships he faced trying to get a date with Miss Terry

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban, a seven-time national champion, once shared the story of how he wooed his wife, Terry.

The couple has been married for more than half a century, celebrating their 52nd anniversary on Dec. 18. Terry, who was born in the same West Virginia town as Nick, tied the knot with him in 1971. She is affectionately known as "Miss Terry" among the Alabama fans.

In a speaking engagement with American football head coaches in 2021, Nick Saban narrated the story of how he met his wife. He explained that he met Terry when they were in the seventh grade, but she was not interested in him at first. She had a long-term boyfriend named Mickey Schafer, who was from the city and attended a bigger school than Nick, who lived in the country and worked at his father's service station.

“She had this guy named Mickey Schafer that she was always boyfriend with,” Saban said.

Nick was always greasy from his job, and he struggled to get a date with Terry.

“I just could not get a date…”, said Saban. “In those days…somebody comes in, pumps your gas, you collect the money. I mean, you had to clean and window, check the oil, change tires, mufflers, grease cars. I mean. I was filthy dirty, black fingernails all the time, could never get a date.”

It was only when he became a star football player in high school and beat Terry's school that she finally noticed him and agreed to go out with him.

“When I got in high school we were pretty good. We always played them and we beat them like a drum,” he added. “She finally noticed me, and I finally got a date.”

Many years later, when they were married and Nick Saban was the head coach of Alabama, they went back to their hometown for a reunion.

Saban decided to drive by Mickey Schafer's service station, where he still worked, and tease his wife about her choice. He said to her:

"See there, honey, there's your boy Mickey Schafer. If you'd have married him, that's where you'd be now."

But Terry Saban had a witty comeback. She said:

"Bullsh*t, if I'd married him, he'd be the head coach at Alabama now," told Nick Saban in a throwback video.

Nick Saban is the father of two adopted children

The legendary college football coach has two adopted children with his wife Terry: Nicholas and Kristen. Nicholas is a businessman who graduated from college, while Kristen used to work for her father at the University of Alabama.

The duo also runs a charity called "Nick's Kids," which helps children in need. Terry Saban said in a statement that Alabama will always be their home, and they will always support the Crimson Tide.

“It has been an incredible run these last 17 years at the University of Alabama and we take with us many amazing memories.”

Saban, who has retired, holds an all-time college coaching record of 292-71-1, while Alabama's new HC, Kalen DeBoer, his replacement, boasts an all-time record of 104-12.