He was there with his daughter, Carlin Bryant Parker, who was obsessed with those carnival games. He said he asked Esquire for a retraction, but William M. Adler, the freelance writer of the article, said he stood by the story. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Eight husky players carried Paul 'Bear' Bryant to his grave under a bare hickory tree and more than 8,000 mourners in two cities said goodbye Friday to the man they called the greatest football coach who ever lived. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Age: 68 Birthplace: Birmingham Education: Graduated in 1966 with a degree in finance from the University of Alabama Family: Wife, Cherry; three daughters and three grandchildren Career: President of Greene Group Inc., a privately-held holding company; chairman of Bryant Bank; president pro tempore of the UA board of trustees; chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a national historic battlefield preservation organization, Tommy Deas Executive Sports Editor | The Tuscaloosa News. Which non-quarterback group will define each top-25 team's season? He also was elected president of C&BA students. 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.". Bryant announced last week that he was retiring after this game, which marks his 323rd victory. "What do you mean, I didn't play football? 2/28/2023 6:52 PM PT. There's even a song named that. Who makes up the University of Alabama Board of Trustees? At home, she keeps the microcassette of the last letter he dictated, the day before he died. The number of people left alive who knew that Paul is small. 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. He drove him to Birmingham one year before Christmas because Bryant got a letter from a sick girl and he wanted to surprise her. Thirty years after his last season, Bryant's humanity lives only in his family and a few aging friends, in former employees such as Knowles, in 72-year-old assistant coach-turned-athletic director Mal Moore, and, perhaps most of all, in Billy Varner. Jos haluat muokata valintojasi, napsauta Hallitse tietosuoja-asetuksia. Bryant was the son of legendary college football coach Bear Bryant and his wife, Mary. Paul Bryant Jr., a banker and the coach's only son, says his father established the fund in 1973. . Billy Varner has been married to Susie for 57 years, and as her life was once spent waiting on him to get home from a job that didn't know hours or days off, now it's spent managing his dementia. Bryant said that he never made the remarks and that the entire article was fabricated. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://lhlphotoarchive.org/ark:/16417/th71m0q2fr6vl, Researchers are required to have an SCRC Researcher Account in order to request or order digital copies of materials. The Huntsville Times, Press Photo Bud Wilkinson at Funeral for Bear Bryant, Football Coach, Bud Wilkinson at Funeral for Bear Bryant, Football Coach The Huntsville Times. (File Photo/ The Huntsville TImes) The Huntsville Times, Former Alabama student Tammy Rogers at graveside service for Alabama coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Ala. on Friday Jan. 28, 1983. Even with names. She was accompanied by her son, Paul Bryant Jr., and daughter, Mae Martin Tyson. Billy deflates, his voice and his body sinking back down into the chair. 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. PAUL BRYANT OBITUARY Paul Dean Bryant Jr., 47, of El Mirage, Arizona, passed away on April 15, 2006. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. 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. They watched the moon landing together, hung out with Bob Hope together. These ties received national press attention when the board of trustees made the shocking decision to kill UAB football. I'm a pretty good risk-taker, I guess. That's been scrubbed for posterity. They were traveling, and Billy said he needed to get home for supper. That's a no-no.". Stewart. He was working for Charlie Finley, who was a Birmingham native who had made a gazillion dollars in pharmaceuticals and became quite a character in baseball, said Kirk McNair, who was a sports writer in Birmingham at the time, and who became a longtime Bryant family friend. We get hints. 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. Many of the members of Bryant's last team held their faces in tense grimaces, obviously fighting back tears, at the graveside. As Billy's memory fades, that knowledge disappears with it, widening the gulf between truth and imagination. "[1] He is worth "hundreds of millions of dollars. Edit Now. Paul William Bryant Jr. was born circa 1945. Behind the casket is present Alabama coach Ray Perkins, his wife Carolyn and son Mike. Currently, Bryant is president of the privately held holding company, Greene Group, Inc. which has operated a multi-state business engaged in reinsurance, finance, leasing, par-mutual racing, casino management, cattle ranching, aquaculture, catfish processing and distribution, fuel distribution, outdoor recreation, wildlife management, and concrete/aggregate construction. That's what he called him, like it was a Southern debutante's double name. Knowles cries every time. coverage of "Bear" Bryant's service. The newspapers had a combined Sunday edition, but their editorial policies remained quite different. PAUL BRYANT OBITUARY Paul Dean Bryant Jr., 47, of El Mirage, Arizona, passed away on April 15, 2006. The bird dogs are German shorthaired pointers and English pointers. Regularly, he refuses to believe that his old boss isn't at home waiting for a ride. [2] In 1999, he acquired a stake in Harvest Select Catfish Inc., a company which raises catfish in Alabama and Mississippi. It was perhaps the most oddly attired gathering of mourners the cemetery had ever seen. Sure did. Lexington Leader (Lexington, Ky. : Daily), [Identification of item], John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs, 1936-1990,2004AV001, Special Collections and Digital Programs, University of Kentucky Libraries,Lexington, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center. He co-authored two books about American football in 2013. Bryant was held accountable for the demise of UAB football because of a letter Gene Bartow . "That's him," she says, standing so he can sit. Bryant loved University of Alabama Crimson Tide football, and his son appears to love it just as deeply. Our bank that we've got now, he said, we started to try to be in communities where my family lives and will live and have it kind of be a legacy thing to be involved in the community stuff that your community banks do. Alabama-Fans climb tree to watch "Bear" Bryant's funeral. "I host the family holidays here at my house in Tuscaloosa, and we have so many Pauls and Marys and Mays that I have to draw up place cards for everyone and I have to use a very sophisticated system of last initials. Billy is asleep. Bryant's son, Paul Bryant Jr., remembers his father's birthday more than the anniversary of his death, but for most Alabama fans, everything changed "the day Bear Bryant died." There's even a song . Gov. Associations, institutions, etc. 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. A 1966 UA graduate who earned a degree in commerce, Bryant started People's Bank while still in his 20's. What I would suspect, and it's only a suspicion, but I think he wouldn't want people to think he was trading on his father's name. They greet one another by saying "Doctor " "Doctor " "Doctor " "Doctor " in a round-robin introduction that ends up with the title being used 24 times. A man looks up and he's 76 years old, with memories he can't touch and not much else. To shoot him, they had to get me first.". S Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Today his memories seem to orbit around the idea of protecting Bryant from some unseen enemy. Bryant's image. Voit muokata valintojasi milloin tahansa napsauttamalla tietosuojan hallintapaneelin linkki sivustoissamme ja sovelluksissamme. [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]. At the request of Bryant's wife, Mary Harmon Bryant, the motorcade passed Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide's home field, and drove within sight of Legion Field in Birmingham, scene of many of his greatest victories. They have three daughters: Stella Gray Bryant Sykes, Mae Martin Bryant Murray, and Anna Laurie Bryant McKibbens, all graduates of The University of Alabama, and three grandchildren. "I don't ever talk to him now," Billy says. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. "Paul Bryant Jr: His famous father casts a long shadow, one seemingly comfortable to the son", "Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is tie that binds UA trustees", "Alabama Booster Paul Bryant Jr. Has Ties to Insurance Fraud Scheme", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_W._Bryant_Jr.&oldid=1127610045, This page was last edited on 15 December 2022, at 18:09. A half-hour or more has passed. Often, Coach read the paper aloud. 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. Bryant Jr. also has clear ties to a federal insurance fraud case that drew a 15-year prison sentence for Allen W. Here's everything we know, The paths of KD and Kyrie: How one month changed three franchises and two superstar legacies, From bubble struggles to NCAA seed improvement, why these final weekend games matter, Foden's return to form helps mask De Bruyne's troubles, Nelson sends Arsenal into euphoria with last-gasp winner over Bournemouth. This urge to protect, probably born from seeing the Saturday Evening Post erroneously accuse the coach of fixing a game, is also erasing something. A decade ago, speaking of efforts by UAB to decrease its athletics department deficit, Bryant offered: "You can put any spin you want on it, but if you aren't selling tickets, the money isn't there.". But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. While Bryant won't talk about it, it is believed he has given millions more to UA for non-athletic needs. (AP Photo). The university sells houndstooth beach balls and houndstooth pool floats, which you can enjoy with an adult beverage kept cold by a houndstooth huggie. Billy tells Susie that he talks to the coach. He says he's asked. The local paper interviewed him, and Billy cried. "My dad says he named me Bryant so that I wouldn't grow up to be an Auburn fan. Other sports notables at the funeral included New York Jets quarterback Richard Todd, Jets defensive lineman Marty Lyons, former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Lee Roy Jordan, former Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Dodd, Duke Coach Steve Sloan, former Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes, Florida Coach Charlie Pell, former Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles and Auburn Coach Pat Dye. Bryant has been married for 50 years to UA classmate Cherry Handley Hicks Bryant. The Bear, the rough-faced legend on the video board, was predestined to be great. It happens slowly but clearly. Your account has an invalid email address. Since then, Moore says, daughters of Joe Namath and Ken Stabler have attended Alabama on . Trump avoided . 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. "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key: That key is Russian national interest.". Billy picked him up in the morning. "The white hat. Nobody ever has a plan. [1][2], Bryant graduated from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with a degree in Commerce in 1966. The trust has over 50,000 members and more than 250,000 supporters throughout the country. The patrolman understood and backed off. "Oh, it goes so much deeper than that," Hilburn said, rolling her eyes and grinning. Billy sits in his big brown chair and looks at an oddly familiar man. Obviously, I had an advantage in that I had met a lot of business people through my parents when I was in high school and college, in the state and out of state. "It's really important to the state that we have a successful football program. ", "Bryant " "Bryant " "Bryant " "Bryant ". The coach visited this house once. This isn't a celebration. They hoped that through him they might better understand the coach. Varner drove over, helped get Bryant to the hospital. Its descendant, the Morning Herald, was first published January 1, 1895 and became known as the Lexington Herald in 1905. Bryant's first high-profile public venture, joining the UA board of trustees, was controversial. USCALOOSA, Ala. -- Something important is being lost. "He could eat pheasant under glass with the president," he said, "or he could eat cheese and crackers with the boys out by the caddie shack, and he'd enjoy it all just the same. He was 69. He looks back at the Liberty Bowl photograph. Susie would come home -- she worked with mental patients in a local hospital -- and see Billy's traveling bag gone. "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. The magazine quoted Bryant, who owned GreeneTrack in Greene County at the time, as saying that the dog track was frequented by low-class, welfare blacks.. I'm not much better than other people, but the timing might have been good on some things.. George Wallace and former Washington Redskins Coach George Allen, representing President Reagan, were among the 400 dignataries, family members and friends who packed the church for the rites. His voice loses its pitch and clarity, sort of like he's got a mouth full of pea gravel. Billy saw him weak and insecure. He established the General J.C.C. Patsy Abbott said it pointedly -- like, literally pointing at her grandson as he waited to build a bear. 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. "There was so much going on," he says. This photograph was published on Feb 24th, 1948 (1948-02-24), 1.03-1497.01. Or at least the part of Alabama that doesn't care about UAB football. He is a man. Last week, after 23 years of mostly losing seasons, UAB President Ray Watts announced that the 2014 football season would be the last for UAB. I'm probably better evaluating them than running them, I'll say that, he said. I wasn't really seeking it, he said. Because of the overflow crowd, the service also was piped into the nearby First Baptist Church, which seated 1,300, and the Presbyterian Church, which accommodates 600. "He's young all the time here," Billy says. Sometimes his mind is clear as a crystal. He's been on the board for 13 years or so. Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is the tie that binds UA trustees. His voice might be what affects her most. usie Varner answers the door. Some wore Alabama caps and others were . Because this is my wife and it's her middle name! 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. The Birmingham News, Bear Bryant funeral at First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, AL. ", As Chase Bryant's father nodded proudly, another teen, Bryant Wilson, shouted "Same! The John C. Wyatt photographs (LHL) consist of an estimated 2 million unique photographic negatives spanning the years 1939-2001. City Editor Ken Roberts contributed to this report. He says something else, his voice deep, the sentences trailing off. John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs. Bryant coached the Tide for 25 years, from 1958 to 1982. The price for memories is regret, and somewhere in the middle of all this, Billy considers how he spent his life. You can reach up and feel it. "What do you know about the story where Coach Bryant and Billy met?" Whatever order was brought on by the photographs disappears. "I'm not sure I've enjoyed all of it. We thought we'd do that for the grandchildren and stuff, and there's some responsibility that goes with that, I guess.. re: Help me understand the power of Paul Bryant, Jr. Posted on 12/2/14 at 9:47 pm to weagle99. She answers for him when he seems lost. Paul W. Bryant Jr. Net Worth in 2021. -- Kentucky -- Lexington. They married right out of high school. He looked out the window at the river and the bridge to Arkansas, which led eventually to the place where his journey began: a four-room house without electricity or running water. (AP Photo), Press Photo Woody Hayes At Bear Bryant Funeral, Woody Hayes - Bear Bryant Funeral. 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. Research Account set-up and use instructions can be found at: http://libguides.uky.edu/SCRCaccount, Wyatt, John C.Lexington Leader (Lexington, Ky. : Daily)Lexington Herald-LeaderLexington Herald (Firm). It's difficult to understand if you're not from here, but when football isn't doing well it kind of hurts, the whole state is kind of in a funk. My dad wanted to set me on the right path as soon as I was born! You get a job out there you would have made $50 more a month. [1] You start thinking about what you could have been doing. 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. "Nothing.". The pitch of his voice starts to drop again, wavering between the treble of here and the deep bass of gone. 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? Paul started reading a devotional in the final two years of his life that said, in part, "When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something in its place I have traded for it.". There he is. By mid-day, with the sun shining brightly, several hundred waited for the start of the graveside service for Coach "Bear" Bryant. In his hospital room, Bryant was joking with the nurses. There is, always, a disconnect between the few people who miss Paul and the legion who worship The Bear. "His life is as concealed as Coach Bryant's life. Place kicker Peter Kim is at top right. Coach Pat Dye talks with unknown person. Others cried openly. 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. "There's not much really you can talk about Billy," Rutledge said. Wilson's father added his own nod of approval, replying loudly, though muffled by a bite of hot dog, "Rollf Tfide! Getty. Standing before the exhibit, she can hear his voice all around her, literally, from the museum's video displays. Knowles has walked through the museum about 10 times. You miss a lot of things you shouldn't miss.". The extended family includes about a dozen hunting dogs, who are kept at Bryant's farm in Greene County. "Bryant." $1 Million - $5 Million. In 2005, Bryant founded Bryant Bank. Some wore Alabama caps and others were seen in houndstoothcheck hats, which Bryant always wore on the sidelines on game day. KATIE J. BUSH SUFFOLK -Katie Jane Bush, 74, died. The Chester County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) honored Sgt. Former President Donald Trump Saturday insisted his former secretary of state was not taking a dig at him when Mike Pompeo warned conservatives against following 'celebrity leaders'. I remember all of them. After services in Tuscaloosa, Bryant was brought to Elmwood Cemetery for interment. That's where he met Alabama's new football coach, and when Varner took the same job at the Indian Hills Country Club, where Bryant lived off the third fairway, they became close. "It was so quiet. Fans stand and cheer. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. A lot of them we've got don't hunt because they're older. They are retired ones that mostly just get loving, pets.. It is the most extensive, single collection of still photographic images documenting Lexington's 20th Century history in existence. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Air view of cemetery at "Bear" Bryant's funeral. 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. Facebook gives people the power. 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. 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. Paul Bryant has stepped up for this project like he . Billy sits up, his voice and cane rising at the indignity. "At the University of Alabama it's really important," Bryant told Deas. I've had some different ones not work, too, Bryant said recently in a rare and revealing interview. "Uh, uh. Billy told her not to worry about Coach. I didn't do either of those. I didn't want it to be (a fight), but I felt some responsibility, Bryant said. Billy was Bear Bryant's driver, bodyguard and valet, one of the few remaining people who knew him as a human being. All rights reserved. QB Bennett addresses off-field issues at combine, Stroud says he's top player, defends run ability, Alabama QB Young undeterred by size questions, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. Connelly's C-USA preview, part 2: Which returning teams could rule new-look league? 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. The pictures on the wall hold him. When the bar was empty, the two men talked. Bryant moved on to other business interests, keeping a close-knit group of partners in late attorney and civic leader Sam Phelps and his son, Scott, along with veterinarian Wayne May. Is the Alabama board of trustees finally ready to kill UAB football? "What is?" Billy found a phone and called ahead, telling Susie to make her good cornbread. Sometimes they talked. His voice becomes higher-pitched, quick but not rushed, with confidence in the direction of the words, without the long pauses to read the maps inside his mind.
