Coach Bear Bryant and Alabama

Alabama has had some great winners over the years, and has churned out out some of the most elite athletes that college football has ever seen, but there is no greater celebrity to come from Bama’s historic past than Bear Bryant.

The Legendary Figure in Alabama Football, 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 head coach, Bryant went through several college jobs such as Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A& M before he finally had the break to come back to his alma mater, Alabama. So motivated was Bear Bryant, that he famously was quoted as saying, “Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin’.”

It was a change of atmosphere when Bryant came back to Tuscaloosa. In 1958, Bear became head coach of Alabama, and began leading it to its past Rose Bowl-style glory but accomplished even more. Coaching renowned 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 impressive motivator and understood how to make his players to do what he wanted 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 inspiration wasn’t just on the turf, the inspiration carried into real life as well by the quality 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 last year that he coached Alabama, 1982, was a down year for Alabama and Bear couldn’t see himself coaching Alabama into mediocrity. He constantly said that if he stop coaching that he “wouldn’t last a week.” In truth, 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. Public officials estimated that in the range of a half-million to a million people were lined all along the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to the cemetery in Birmingham that was only blocks away 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 remember his championship heart. Not only that… He helped smash segregation in the South’s football world, and in doing so, turned the state around from racism to glory. Not only that, he changed the world to a better place. Roll Tide!