DAPHNE, Ala. — The United States Sports Academy will showcase and auction 41 paintings of the Alabama-Auburn football rivalry at 5 p.m. Thursday at the academy’s campus.

Painter Daniel Moore will also unveil the 2009 College Football Game of the Year painting at the art show. The University of Alabama’s 32-13 victory against the University of Florida in the Southeastern Conference Championship game is the subject of the painting.

Moore was the American Sport Art Museum and Archives 2005 Sport Artist of the Year. He donated 41 of his paintings to the museum. There will be a silent auction for each painting. The paintings depict each of the Alabama-Auburn games, the rivalry which is called “The Iron Bowl.” The paintings are of games played from 1948-1988.

The academy’s game of the year is selected annually by an expert committee headed by Jack Lengyel, the former Marshall University head football coach who rebuilt the program after a plane crash. His story is told in the 2006 film “We Are Marshall.”

The game of the year painting will not be auctioned off, Leigha Bolton, the academy’s communications coordinator, said.

The committee also includes Hall of Fame Coach Vince Dooley from the University of Georgia; Dr. Homer Rice, the former head coach at Rice University; and Ron Dickerson, the first African-American head football coach in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-A history.

Moore’s book “Iron Bowl Gold” includes paintings on display and will also be available for purchase at the event.

“Everything that is raised goes to the American Sport Art Museum Archives, which is part of the museum,” Bolton said. “We have what we believe to be the largest collection of sports art around.”

The academy will also sell bricks at the art show to support the Iron Bowl Monument, the latest addition to the academy’s Sport Sculpture Park. Designed by Bruce Larsen of Fairhope—the 2009 Sport Artist of the Year for Sculpture—the monument honors the Iron Bowl rivalry and is displayed on the east side of the academy campus.

“Right now (the Iron Bowl monument) is just two figures, but we hope to build on to it,” Bolton said. “All of our projects are completely funded by donations, so it is important to do things like the silent auction and selling bricks so we can continue to fund our missions.”

Bricks can be purchased for a tax-deductible donation of $50 and can be personalized.

For more information about the event, call the Academy’s communications department at 626-3303 ext. 240.