The Alabama Crimson Tide has been blessed with lots of winners in football throughout the years, and has produced a number of great players that have impacted the NFL greatly, not one of them can compare to one coach who changed the face of college sports forever, and that is Paul "Bear" Bryant.
Paul "Bear" Bryant
Bear Bryant started his career at Alabama as a football player in 1931. He was only 1934 national championship play end. Brian always joked that he was the "other end" that played for "mamma". The other end was the legendary NFL Hall of Famer, Don Hudson. Even bear Bryant's college playing days, he showed mental toughness and playing the 1935 game against Tennessee with a broken leg.
As as college head coach, Bear Bryant went through several university head coaching jobs such as the University of Maryland, University of Kentucky, and Texas A&M University before he ultimately had the opportunity to come back to his alma mater, the University of Alabama. So stirred was Paul Bryant, that he notably was quoted as saying, "Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin'."
It was the year 1958 that Bear Bryant took over as head coach of Alabama, and began leading it to its previous Rose Bowl-style glory but achieved even to greater heights. Coaching famous players like Joe Namath, Pat Trammell, Billy Neighbors, Big John Hannah, snake Stabler,Lee Roy Jordan, Johnny Musso, Bob Baumhower, and many others.
No doubt, Bear Bryant was a prodigious motivator and understood how to make his football players to do what he needed them to do. Florida A&M coach, Jake Gaither said of Bear Bryant, "He can take his'n and beat you'n, and he can take your'n and beat his'n." The motivation wasn't just on the field, the motivation carried into the world as well by the character he instilled in his players like big John Croyle, who founded the faith-based Christian Big Oak Ranch for unfortunate boys and girls in Springville, Alabama.
The very last year that he coached the Crimson Tide, 1982, was a down year for Alabama and Bear couldn't see himself coaching Alabama into mediocrity. He always said that if he stop coaching that he "wouldn't last a week." In actuality, he didn't last much longer than that, only 37 days. On January 26, 1983, Bryant died of a heart attack at age 69 and many mourned his death. Officials projected that in the range of a half-million to a million individuals were lined all along the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to the memorial park in Birmingham that was mere blocks from Legion Field.
The Legendary Man Changed Alabama and The World
Bear's heritage lives in the players that are now growing older and the fans that evoke his championship heart. Not only that... He helped shatter segregation in the South's football universe, and in doing so, turned the state around from prejudice to splendor. Not only that, he changed the world to a better place than he left left.. He ain't never been nothing but a winner. Roll Tide!
Paul "Bear" Bryant
Bear Bryant started his career at Alabama as a football player in 1931. He was only 1934 national championship play end. Brian always joked that he was the "other end" that played for "mamma". The other end was the legendary NFL Hall of Famer, Don Hudson. Even bear Bryant's college playing days, he showed mental toughness and playing the 1935 game against Tennessee with a broken leg.
As as college head coach, Bear Bryant went through several university head coaching jobs such as the University of Maryland, University of Kentucky, and Texas A&M University before he ultimately had the opportunity to come back to his alma mater, the University of Alabama. So stirred was Paul Bryant, that he notably was quoted as saying, "Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin'."
It was the year 1958 that Bear Bryant took over as head coach of Alabama, and began leading it to its previous Rose Bowl-style glory but achieved even to greater heights. Coaching famous players like Joe Namath, Pat Trammell, Billy Neighbors, Big John Hannah, snake Stabler,Lee Roy Jordan, Johnny Musso, Bob Baumhower, and many others.
No doubt, Bear Bryant was a prodigious motivator and understood how to make his football players to do what he needed them to do. Florida A&M coach, Jake Gaither said of Bear Bryant, "He can take his'n and beat you'n, and he can take your'n and beat his'n." The motivation wasn't just on the field, the motivation carried into the world as well by the character he instilled in his players like big John Croyle, who founded the faith-based Christian Big Oak Ranch for unfortunate boys and girls in Springville, Alabama.
The very last year that he coached the Crimson Tide, 1982, was a down year for Alabama and Bear couldn't see himself coaching Alabama into mediocrity. He always said that if he stop coaching that he "wouldn't last a week." In actuality, he didn't last much longer than that, only 37 days. On January 26, 1983, Bryant died of a heart attack at age 69 and many mourned his death. Officials projected that in the range of a half-million to a million individuals were lined all along the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to the memorial park in Birmingham that was mere blocks from Legion Field.
The Legendary Man Changed Alabama and The World
Bear's heritage lives in the players that are now growing older and the fans that evoke his championship heart. Not only that... He helped shatter segregation in the South's football universe, and in doing so, turned the state around from prejudice to splendor. Not only that, he changed the world to a better place than he left left.. He ain't never been nothing but a winner. Roll Tide!
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