Coach Bear Bryant at the 1982 Liberty Bowl football game in Memphis, Tennessee. By mid-day, with the sun shining brightly, several hundred waited for the start of the graveside service for Coach "Bear" Bryant. He took a month off, trying to figure out how Coach Bryant would tell him to deal with his grief. "At the University of Alabama it's really important," Bryant told Deas. I didn't do either of those. [1][2], Bryant graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with a degree in Commerce in 1966. Without sounding too hokey, that's why we started the bank.. Regularly, he refuses to believe that his old boss isn't at home waiting for a ride. Is the Alabama board of trustees finally ready to kill UAB football? [5] He also serves as the President of Green Group, Inc.[6], Bryant invests in "dog and horse racing, the insurance industry, cement making, catfish farming and banking. The walls are covered with certificates and mementos of his service. Jack Rutledge asked carefully. Varner drove over, helped get Bryant to the hospital. Sitting with Paul Murray was his cousin, Mary Harmon Hilburn, granddaughter of Bear. This urge to protect, probably born from seeing the Saturday Evening Post erroneously accuse the coach of fixing a game, is also erasing something. And yes, there are some Bears, but none made an appearance during the first couple of hours of this year's reunion -- although at least two of the families in attendance said they had a dog named Bear. Whatever order was brought on by the photographs disappears. I'd travel with him to the games. ph, Casket of Alabama coach Paul Bear Bryant at the Elwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Ala. Friday Jan. 28, 1983. Some wore Alabama caps and others were . Earlier this month, a retired Alabama assistant coach sat at his kitchen table and gauged how much he could reveal. He says he's asked. mitataksemme sivustojemme ja sovellustemme kyttsi. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. He said he asked Esquire for a retraction, but William M. Adler, the freelance writer of the article, said he stood by the story. Perhaps more interesting, calls, emails and text messages to other trustees, senior UA system officials, and business associates seeking conversations about Bryant also went unanswered. Members of the 1982 football team carry the casket of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant from the Tuscaloosa First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Friday, Jan. 29, 1983. Billy picked him up in the morning. But he never played football past age 12 because of a health issue -- he contracted hepatitis. She was 19. Her voice sounds exactly like that of comedienne Wanda Sykes, and Susie, in real life and in the pictures around the house, wears a little smirk, as if she knows something you don't know. They're probably dead themselves because I was a fast gun. A member of the board since 2000, Bryant has said little publicly about UAB football. We had some guys behind us. Assistant Alabama Coach Kent Johnston said 'The family picked them. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. But I got outvoted. The database includes around 700 names, and the museum manages to track most of their whereabouts via both old-school correspondence and newfangled social media. He not only participated in the creation of this visual resource but he was also responsible for the organization and intellectual control of the collection. The coach visited this house once. [1] His father, Bear Bryant, was an American football player and coach. Bryant asked whether there might be enough for him. Health facilities -- Kentucky -- Lexington. During an extensive interview a year ago with the Tuscaloosa News and executive sports editor Tommy Deas, Bryant talked about what Bama football meant to the university. Morant to miss two games after video with gun, Las Vegas prepared to give A's 'better opportunity', Richardson sets QB mark for vertical, broad jump, Curry, Iguodala probable to return vs. Lakers, Sources: Suns hiring Pistons' Bartelstein as CEO, Mbappe breaks PSG's all-time scoring record, Bruins stroll past Kane, Rangers, win 10th in row, Horns' Robinson: Versatility worthy of early pick, Inside the long-awaited return of Jon Jones and his quest for heavyweight glory, The future of the NFL combine: Is there really a chance it could end forever? He worked security at games, no longer inside the circle. His voice is deep and trails off when he's unsure. His voice might be what affects her most. Fans stand and cheer. Susie is in and out of the room, doing laundry, listening to gospel music. There is, always, a disconnect between the few people who miss Paul and the legion who worship The Bear. USCALOOSA, Ala. -- Something important is being lost. University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center. Even Mrs. Bryant didn't know him as well as Billy did. Being unable to play football, he said, would have made it impossible for him to have the standing to coach the game. I was a big guy " -- Billy sits up in his chair, and his face becomes menacing; he bows up his shoulders and arms -- " and by the time those bullets go through me, he's gone. He established the General J.C.C. Bryant is Chairman Emeritus and the longest-serving member of the organizations Board of Trustees. The local paper interviewed him, and Billy cried. He's been on the board for 13 years or so. They married right out of high school. Some wore Alabama caps and others were seen in houndstoothcheck hats, which Bryant always wore on the sidelines on game day. The pallbearers were defensive backs Jeremiah Castille, Jerrill Sprinkle and Tommy Wilcox; quarterbacks Paul Fields and Walter Lewis; linebacker Eddie Lowe; offensive tackle Mike McQueen, offensive tackle, and split end Darryl White. A few weeks ago, as Linda Knowles took the elevator up to the fourth-floor office where she works for the Alabama faculty senate, a car with a houndstooth paint job drove past her building on Paul W. Bryant Drive, past Bryant-Denny Stadium, past the Paul W. Bryant Museum, which is filled with what can only be called relics, then past the Bryant Conference Center. Place kicker Peter Kim is at top right. Bryant said he was invited by the board members to fill the vacant seat. Bryant is a family man: He has been married to his wife, Cherry, since 1966, and they have three daughters all UA graduates and three grandchildren. We know Lombardi from David Maraniss' biography, "When Pride Still Mattered," and he comes across as smaller and therefore larger in the retelling, because his humanity is on every page. "Uh, uh. It is unknown how much, if any, of his money has gone to UAB over the years, although it is common place for many of the board's wealthier members to give substantial gifts to all three schools in the system. 1; a guy who for years has been hostile to Blazer football out of fear it might one day challenge the thing his iconic father, Paul "Bear" Bryant, raised to the pinnacle of success. According to Social Security records, since 1959 there have been 1,403 Bryants born in Alabama -- so many that it piqued the curiosity of the Bear's original namesake, Paul William "Bear" Bryant Jr. After a lifetime of hearing "I was named for your daddy," it was Junior who approached the museum that honors his father with the idea of compiling a database of those whose names do the same. The family had asked that cameras be barred from the services. (AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr.), College football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, wearing black coat, observes his team Alabama Crimson Tide after they defeated Illinois 21-15 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 30, 1982. When the bar was empty, the two men talked. Four loud slaps. He's an honorary assistant coach for the 1975 season. Another large circulating newspaper during this time was the Kentucky Leader (formed by a group of Fayette County Republicans in 1888) which eventually became known as the Lexington Leader in 1901. You start thinking about what you could have been doing. To his right, in the corner of the room, there's the pencil-and-ink drawing, a fresh-faced Bryant, without the deep lines in his face. Alabama-"Bear" Paul Bryant funeral. In 2012, Bryant Bank was awarded the Revitalizing Your Community Award by the American Bankers Association, in large part for the bank's work after the April 27, 2011, tornado that devastated the community. Look at the UA System Trustees website and you will see the names of 15 permanent trustees, but only 14 photos. "I met a lot of business people through my parents," Bryant told Bloomberg, acknowledging the obvious connections his famous name brought. His nickname stemmed from his having agreed to wrestle a captive bear during a theater promotion when he was 13 years old. Gov. Associations, institutions, etc. ", As Chase Bryant's father nodded proudly, another teen, Bryant Wilson, shouted "Same! The extended family includes about a dozen hunting dogs, who are kept at Bryant's farm in Greene County. [1] That's the number of IDs it would have taken to make the rounds at an invitation-only picnic in Tuscaloosa two weekends ago, before Alabama's home opener versus Arkansas State. But I got it. Varner told even him no. [9] A CBS story from December 2014 reported that Bryant Jr. was partially responsible for shuttering the UAB Football program, reportedly over a long-standing grudge with Gene Bartow over a 1991 letter to the NCAA[10] - and "out of fear it might one day challenge" the football program his father had built.[11]. Bryant said that purpose in starting the bank was to create a community bank like the ones that existed in Tuscaloosa when he was younger. Others cried openly. He is survived by his wife Sylvia Mohamed-Bryant, parents Paul Dean Bryant Sr.. Barra wrote the best biography of Bryant, "The Last Coach," and even in his book, there is a Paul-sized hole at the center of the narrative. "[1] He is worth "hundreds of millions of dollars. Not unlike the lawn outside at the reunion, where the Pauls and Paulas and Bryants ate crimson-colored snow cones and craned their necks to read each other's nametags. The 68-year-old son of late football coaching legend Bear Bryant has had successful business ventures in everything from catfish farming to concrete, from dog tracks to casinos and from banks to reinsurance. Alabama-They began gathering in the early morning fog at Elmwood Cemetery today. Billy sits in his big brown chair and looks at an oddly familiar man. All rights reserved (About Us). The bird dogs are German shorthaired pointers and English pointers. Knowles cries every time. Sometimes they talked. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. Paul Bryant Jr., a native of Tuscaloosa, current trustee of The University of Alabama and graduate of the class of 1966, has given another $10 million gift to The University of Alabama, this time to the recently announced Crimson Tradition Fund Campaign for Athletics. He is a founder of the Civil War Trust in Washington D.C. and personally underwrote the merger with the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites that created the modern Civil War Trust. Because this is my wife and it's her middle name! There he is. He co-authored two books about American football in 2013. The John C. Wyatt photographs (LHL) consist of an estimated 2 million unique photographic negatives spanning the years 1939-2001. Which non-quarterback group will define each top-25 team's season? Often, Coach read the paper aloud. She'd always ask: "When y'all coming back?". Other Members of the class of 2016 2016 Robert Witt 2016 Beverly Phifer 2016 The collection also contains associated newspaper clippings, job sheets, and hand-written photographers' notes. He says something else, his voice deep, the sentences trailing off. (AP Photo). "He won't make it without coaching.". Bryant said he was urged by the UA alumni association, ex-presidents of the school, members of the A-Club (made up of former UA athletic letter winners) and alumni to seek the seat on the board. "I ended up playing football.". Missing in the houndstooth beach balls and paint jobs is a person. "Paul 'Bear' Bryant was my great-grandfather," the eighth-grader said with pride as he sat in his great-grandfather's museum, in a conference room decorated with oil paintings, bronze busts and even a marionette of the man behind his name. Patsy Abbott said it pointedly -- like, literally pointing at her grandson as he waited to build a bear. We probably don't pump that as much as we should, Bryant said, but we're real proud of that. Bryant said that he never made the remarks and that the entire article was fabricated. Once, when a state trooper clocked Varner speeding, Bryant stuck his houndstooth hat in the back window. ", Overhearing this exchange was yet another teenager, Bryant Denny Turner, whose parents dared to go even a step further and give their son the name of the legendary Alabama football coach and the name of the arena where the Bear did his homework, Denny Stadium. [2] He serves as its chairman.[6]. Bear Bryant had died, and as the news went out on the radio -- the man's voice cracked when he said, "Ladies and gentlemen " -- Varner stood in the hallway of the Druid City Hospital with nowhere to go. In a brief graveside service, the crowd recited the 23rd Psalm and the Lord's Prayer and then Bryant's family left, with the mourners straggling behind and the simple pine casket still beside the grave. "Because my wife's favorite movie is 'Sweet Home Alabama' and what's-his-name [Josh Lucas], his hound dog was named Bryant for Coach Bryant and our dog looked just like the dog from the movie. 'Well, that's my first name!" ", Paul 'Bear' Bryant's name persists in Alabama fans, Inside the big-money battle that could decide the ACC's future. he man Billy Varner is remembering has very little in common with the Bryant who is beloved by so many Alabama fans. "[12] In 2001. a committee of trustees met in secret, just one day after a court barred Auburn's board of trustees from doing the same thing. The Birmingham News. I'm not as big on killing stuff as I am finding it with the dogs. City Editor Ken Roberts contributed to this report. He is a man. After the game, on Dec. 30, Varner drove Bryant back to Tuscaloosa. Or at least the part of Alabama that doesn't care about UAB football. SUFFOLK - Paul Bryant Jr., 67, retired employee of Perry Lumber Co., died Saturday, Dec. 14, 1996. "I never did hear about him dying.". "I keep trying to call that the Indian Hills football team. Billy deflates, his voice and his body sinking back down into the chair. [2] He went on to establish more tracks in Texas (for example in La Marque, Texas), Idaho, and Iowa. [1][2] By 1995, they were incorporated as GreenTrack, Inc.[4] As of 2009, he owned 72% of GreenTrack. Former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath -- Bryant's most famous player -- former Oklahoma Coach Bud Wilkinson and Georgia Coach Vince Dooley were among those at the graveside, bathed in bright sunshine. Bryant announced last week that he was retiring after this game, which marks his 323rd victory. Standing before the exhibit, she can hear his voice all around her, literally, from the museum's video displays. [2] He was also the co-founder of Alabama Reassurance Co., later known as Alabama Life Reinsurance Co., a reinsurance company. XFL Week 3 preview: Can AJ McCarron, Battlehawks continue their fourth-quarter heroics? Despite his famous name, business success and longtime influential role at the University of Alabama, Paul Bryant Jr. has stayed out of the spotlight. NHL trade deadline: Winners and losers, including the Bruins, Devils and Bruce Boudreau? Missing? His eyes get wide, bulging, like they do when he's confused. Paul, who rode in a mule-drawn cart from Moro Bottom, Ark., and in the back of Billy Varner's crimson Buick LeSabre, struggled, season after season. If you've been in that, you get looked at close so it helps to do OK in one regulated business you get another one, he said. "Coach Bryant isn't dead," he'll say. Sometimes his mind is clear as a crystal. To Bryant's right are his daughters Stella Gray and Anna Laurie. The university sells houndstooth beach balls and houndstooth pool floats, which you can enjoy with an adult beverage kept cold by a houndstooth huggie. But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. Croakies to hold sunglasses, cuff links, purses, both the kind with handles and clutches. Bryant's inner circle, those who knew the man, is surrounded by reminders of this. B It grows smaller all the time. Sanders Memorial at The University of Alabama honoring alumni who served the Confederacy. He said he had to rest. omething remarkable happens when Billy figures out where the den is located -- at first, he stood in the living room confused while Susie called his name over and over -- and inches down the hall, through the kitchen where Coach sat one time for supper, into a room decorated with photographs of Bear Bryant. Not yet anyway. The coverage of the newspaper has grown over the years and while its focus has always been on the Lexington Metropolitan area (including 7 additional counties) it presently circulates in 78 of 120 counties throughout central andeastern Kentucky. (File Photo/ The Huntsville TImes) The Huntsville Times. coverage of "Bear" Bryant's service. All he has to show for two decades of service are his memories, and even those often hang just out of reach. Getty. Bryant, who was born in Birmingham when his mother was living there with her parents while his father was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, is a 1966 graduate of UA with a degree in finance. Paul Bryant was the 11th of Wilson Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant's 12 children born in Moro Bottom, Cleveland County, Arkansas. Oh, s--- $50 wasn't worth it. [2] In 1999, he acquired a stake in Harvest Select Catfish Inc., a company which raises catfish in Alabama and Mississippi. Bryant bought seafood dinners for everyone there, and Billy cracked later, "It was like you were handing out loaves and fishes." "[1] In 1995, Bryant acquired Reynolds Ready Mix, a cement company later renamed Ready Mix USA. Trustees blocked the hiring of good coaches, limited spending on facilities and opposed a new on-campus stadium for the football team, critics contend. The scope of the collection highlights the day to day activities of Kentuckians. The Birmingham News, Bear Bryant funeral at First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, AL. Paul Bryant, Jr., who traveled with his former K-9 partner Azeem to Ground Zero to search for missing persons shortly after the attacks of . "What do you mean, I didn't play football? Over 10 years, Bryant Bank has grown to over $1.5 billion in assets, becoming the largest family-owned bank in the state of Alabama. Susie would come home -- she worked with mental patients in a local hospital -- and see Billy's traveling bag gone. Which non-quarterback group will define each top-25 team's season? You want a window into Bear Bryant's power in the state of Alabama? Alabama-Man mourns at Coach "Bear" Bryant's funeral site. He smiles and clacks his cane. Business districts -- Kentucky -- Lexington. I've had some different ones not work, too, Bryant said recently in a rare and revealing interview. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Fans climb tree to watch "Bear" Bryant's funeral. Close friend Jimmy Hinton died a year ago; former assistant and confidant Clem Gryska died last month. Billy sits up, his voice and cane rising at the indignity. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The living room takes up the front of the house, with a television at one end and, on the wall, a poem about footsteps in the sand, which ends with God telling a follower: "The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.". Member since Sep 2010. kehittksemme ja parantaaksemme palveluitamme sek tuotteitamme. "We hear about people really almost exclusively through word of mouth," explained Ken Gaddy, director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum, located in the heart of the University of Alabama's campus. Today his memories seem to orbit around the idea of protecting Bryant from some unseen enemy. [1] His father, Bear Bryant, was an American football player and coach. Alabama Media Group, University of Alabama head football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant is lifted onto the shoulders of his players after Alabama defeated Illinois 21-15 in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday night, Dec. 30, 1982. Paul W. Bryant's income mostly comes from and basic source is being a successful American businessman. On the worst, Billy, who is 76, doesn't recognize Susie. The Leader was a Republican, society-based evening edition, and the Herald a more political, heavily Democratic morning edition. He earned his degree in finance from The University of Alabama in 1966. By far the most common name (and most versatile, used by men and women) is Bryant. This photograph was published on Feb 24th, 1948 (1948-02-24) Photograph Number: 1.03-1497.01 ", The official records show Varner started working for the university police in February 1976, but he'd been around for a decade or more by then, floating in the shadows. It's a cult. 'And not just the leader of Alabama football players, but of the whole nation.'. The pitch of his voice starts to drop again, wavering between the treble of here and the deep bass of gone. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Air view of cemetery at "Bear" Bryant's funeral. The Birmingham News. He died on Jan. 26, 1983, only a few weeks after his final game on the sideline, the '82 Liberty Bowl. Bryant also has a keen interest in the Civil War, and serves as chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a national historic battlefield preservation organization. He poured a drink and chatted with guests. The house--a classic Tudor-style--was owned by Harmon's family. Bryant is survived by his wife, Mary Harmon Bryant; a son, Paul Bryant Jr.; a daughter, Mae Martin Bryant Tyson; three sisters, Bessie Goolsby of Nashville, Tenn., Carrie Hatcher of. The source of her name was Mary Harmon Bryant, the wife of Bear and First Lady of Alabama Football. ", There were also no Sabans at the reunion. He puts a finger over his lips and says, "Shhh." Four years later, Billy was bartending at the Tuscaloosa Country Club. In addition, he chaired the committee that hired Dr. Robert Witt, past President of The University of Alabama and retired Chancellor of The University of Alabama System. A 1966 UA graduate who earned a degree in commerce, Bryant started People's Bank while still in his 20's. He told me one time, if somebody comes up and shoots me, they're gonna shoot you first. Billy told her not to worry about Coach. Many of the members of Bryant's last team held their faces in tense grimaces, obviously fighting back tears, at the graveside. They hoped that through him they might better understand the coach. There is certainly regret in Bryant's choice of devotional. "But unlike his dad who was a larger than life figure, the son is among the most private of men, largely a mystery to many, despite leading the public board of the state's largest public university, a position that creates a spotlight. Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is the tie that binds UA trustees. I have evidence to the contrary, from @bryantmuseum today. The history of it kind of came up with lobbyists who worked for UAB at the time, some other people opposing my being on the board and it got to be kind of, sort of, a fight..