AUBURN | Auburn led the SEC in 1971 averaging 227.1 passing yards per game.

In 2023, eight SEC teams had more passing yards.

That Terry Beasley’s receiving records, set in an era dominated by the running game, still stand more than 50 years later is nothing short of remarkable.

It was also an era when teams played 10 regular season games and maybe a bowl game, and freshmen weren’t eligible.

Beasley’s records were set over just three seasons from 1969-71, finishing his Auburn career with 141 receptions for 2,507 yards and 29 touchdowns.

The receiving yards and touchdowns still top AU’s all-time leader board. The catches rank fourth, with the top three all accumulating their catches over four seasons.

His 29 touchdown receptions still rank sixth all-time in the SEC.

Beasley also holds AU records for 100-yard receiving games in a season (6) and career (12).

Beasley in 1970 and Ronney Daniels in 1999 are the only Auburn players to surpass the 1,000-yard receiving mark.

Pat Sullivan and Beasley dominated that era of Auburn football winning 26 games over three seasons. Sullivan won the Heisman Trophy. Both were inducted into the Alabama Sports and College Football Hall of Fames.

Sullivan to Beasley became synonymous with Auburn football with the pair connecting on 140 career passes, surpassed only by the 154 passes from Jarrett Stidham to Ryan Davis from 2017-18.

Sullivan passed away in 2019. Beasley last Wednesday.

Beasley (88), Sullivan (7) and Bo Jackson (34) are the only three players to have their jerseys retired by Auburn.

Beasley was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the 1972 NFL Draft, but only played three seasons before being forced to retire due to injury.

It’s estimated he had close to 20 concussions during his playing career. He would suffer with dignity and grace for the better part of four decades with pain, headaches, memory loss and insomnia before his death at the age of 73.

The suffering ended last week.

What remains are the stories, photographs and video of a bygone era.

In 1971, Jordan-Hare Stadium had a capacity of 61,262 and was still called Cliff Hare Stadium.

It was there that Sullivan would loft a pass down the field and Beasley would run under it for a patented over-the-shoulder catch on those perfect fall Saturdays so many years ago.

Those days and those legends will never be forgotten.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 21 years to the release of one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, which spawned a movie by the same name. On Feb. 6, 2003, 50 Cent released his debut studio album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, which debuted atop the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album of 2003 with 12 million copies shipped worldwide and is ranked 280th by Rolling Stone on its list of the 500 Best Albums of All Time. Billboard ranked it No. 12 on the list of the best albums of the decade. The album included two No. 1 singles on the Billboard 100 in “In da Club” and “21 Questions.” He’s had two more No. 1’s since in 2005’s “Candy Shop” and 2009’s Crack A Bottle” with Eminem and Dr. Dre, which won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group. The Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ movie was released in 2005 and stars 50 Cent as Marcus Greer, who turns away from a criminal life to pursue a rap music career. It grossed $46.4 million.

Curtis James Jackson III was born in Queens, N.Y. in 1975. He was raised by his mother, Sabrina, until she passed away in a fire when Jackson was 8 years old and he moved in with his grandparents. He spent much of his time as a teenager boxing and selling crack cocaine. He was arrested several times, earning his GED at youth boot camp. He chose his nickname from a Brooklyn robber, who earned the nickname because he was willing to rob anyone regardless of how much money they had. The original 50 Cent, Kelvin Martin, was murdered in Brooklyn in 1987. A meeting with Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC in 1996 helped spur Jackson’s career and JMJ produced his first unreleased album in 1998. By 2000, 50 Cent signed with Columbia Records and began gaining popularity with his underground single, “How to Rob,” before being shot seven times in a drive-by, which he recovered from after 13 days in the hospital. The alleged shooter, Darryl ‘Homicide’ Baum, was Mike Tyson’s bodyguard and he was shot dead three weeks later. In 2002, Eminem heard a 50 Cent mixtape and introduced him to Dr. Dre, who produced Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. 50 Cent has released five studio albums and collaborated on two more. He’s appeared in more than 30 movies and 30 T.V. shows. He has an estimated net worth of $40 million.