Bryant's first high-profile public venture, joining the UA board of trustees, was controversial. "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. They're probably dead themselves because I was a fast gun. Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is the tie that binds UA trustees. 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. She settles in front of the exhibit of his office, the soft black-and-white couch players hated because they'd sink further and further down, the white telephone, the wide wooden desk. The pictures on the wall hold him. Paul Bryant has stepped up for this project like he . The bird dogs are German shorthaired pointers and English pointers. His voice is deep and trails off when he's unsure. Yes, Bear died, but He is risen. The pictures seem to anchor him. 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 1982 Liberty Bowl was to be the last game of Bryant's career, and when the college football media arrived in Memphis, Tenn., Billy became, for a brief moment, a reflected celebrity. "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key: That key is Russian national interest.". 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. 'Well, that's my first name!" Without sounding too hokey, that's why we started the bank.. kehittksemme ja parantaaksemme palveluitamme sek tuotteitamme. I'd travel with him to the games. I think he wanted to be his own man, McNair said. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Having football competitive and doing well, and so much more than that is (when) we're maintaining at a championship level every year, it makes it easier on businesses around the state, I promise you. Bryant has also had a couple of Labrador retrievers, but they passed away last year. "Right there with the hat on, in the middle. Since then, Moore says, daughters of Joe Namath and Ken Stabler have attended Alabama on . With the nomination tied up in the Legislature, trustee Frank Bromberg decided to resign, which allowed Bryant to fill the sixth district slot in April 2000. She was accompanied by her son, Paul Bryant Jr., and daughter, Mae Martin Tyson. Others cried openly. There are actions that tell of unseen turmoil and doubt, but Bryant is never revealed. * This list only holds up to 10 photographs. Standing before the exhibit, she can hear his voice all around her, literally, from the museum's video displays. City & town life -- Kentucky -- Lexington. Arrangements by Crocker Funeral Home. mitataksemme sivustojemme ja sovellustemme kyttsi. City Editor Ken Roberts contributed to this report. I always felt if somebody was after him, they'd come at him from the front. Alabama won the game against the University of Illinois at Urbana?Champaign, 21 to 15. From its body of 6.500 member banks, the American Bankers Association presented its Revitalizing Youth Community Award for outstanding community service efforts to Bryant Bank in 2012. In 1996, 14 years after Bryant died, he retired from the University of Alabama Police Department. Cities and towns -- Growth -- Kentucky -- Lexington. "My favorite part is meeting all the folks and hearing all the different name combinations they come up with," explained Curtis Paul Parker of Anniston. 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. Bryant established two dozen operating companies and over 50 real estate ventures and syndicates. There's the framed photograph of Bryant on a football field for the final time, with a "Thanks for the Memories" sign in the background. 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. "[1] He is worth "hundreds of millions of dollars. He also was elected president of C&BA students. "What do you know about the story where Coach Bryant and Billy met?" 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. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - Maybe Winston Churchill comes closest to summing up Paul Bryant Jr. "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia," said Churchill in a 1939 radio address talking about what role the then USSR might play in World War II. Three trades in a chaotic top five, The new law changing service academy football, and the coaches pushing back, Realignment chatter: How the Pac-12 holds the key to it all. Its descendant, the Morning Herald, was first published January 1, 1895 and became known as the Lexington Herald in 1905. That's nothing. "At the University of Alabama it's really important," Bryant told Deas. 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. Bryant served as the chairman of the Civil War Trust. announced that the 2014 football season would be the last for UAB, Our view: We don't trust the process that ended UAB football, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. We'd go to the stadium. Missing in the houndstooth beach balls and paint jobs is a person. During these years, he served three successive terms as President Pro Tempore. Bryant announced last week that he was retiring after this game, which marks his 323rd victory. Collectively, it saved 41,000 acres of battlefield land in over 120 states during Bryants board tenure. He was with him almost 24 hours a day.". Once, when a state trooper clocked Varner speeding, Bryant stuck his houndstooth hat in the back window. Joe Elmore said. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. He was born in Birmingham while his father served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Neither man spent much time with his family. I'm probably better evaluating them than running them, I'll say that, he said. To shoot him, they had to get me first.". Not yet anyway. S "My name is Chase Bryant Duncan," said a teenager, proudly pointing to his nametag as he stood in the food line on the lawn of the Paul W. Bryant Museum with his family. He only serves on one committee, but he does carry some influence with other board members. 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.". That's what I like when I've got a chance to get away.. 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. Many of the members of Bryant's last team held their faces in tense grimaces, obviously fighting back tears, at the graveside. [2], In 2005, Bryant founded the Bryant Bank. Inside she found $500 and a note. Given that fact, it was not a surprise that phone calls to his office were not returned. My passion is the dogs, really, he said. They sat in the kitchen down the hall and ate and laughed. That's the man I'll always remember.". The argument clearly did not convince Watts or trustees. You had more fun on that job. They hoped that through him they might better understand the coach. The price for memories is regret, and somewhere in the middle of all this, Billy considers how he spent his life. Twenty-eight days later, on a Tuesday night, Billy's phone rang. "My dad says he named me Bryant so that I wouldn't grow up to be an Auburn fan. Paul William Bryant Jr (born December 19, 1944 in Birmingham) is a Tuscaloosa businessman and chairman of the Crimson Tide Foundation. 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.". He forms his right hand into a pistol and Susie laughs, but then he starts to get lost again. It was the university football team.". Which non-quarterback group will define each top-25 team's season? I've had some different ones not work, too, Bryant said recently in a rare and revealing interview. Later he started other tracks in Idaho and Texas and made millions in the process. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. She answers for him when he seems lost. Robert Witt has worked with Bryant for the last 10 years, first as UA president and more recently as chancellor of the UA system. He has also commissioned two books by Delbert Teed honoring Alabama alumni who served in World War II: When Winning Was Everything: Alabama Football Players in World War II and All of Us Fought the War. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- There is a scene in the 1985 comedy "Spies Like Us" in which Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, posing as doctors, enter a tent full of actual doctors. Who were the fastest defensive backs? Although Bryant never served in the military, he is a lifelong scholar of American military history and active in battlefield preservation. I had a little head start on my friends because I didn't get put in the service when I graduated, and a lot of them did that and went on to law school and to graduate school, he said. 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. He earned his degree in finance from The University of Alabama in 1966. Sometimes it cloud up and rain.". Miss Mae Martin Bryant, daughter of Couch and Mrs. Paul Bryant, gives holiday tea. On the worst, Billy, who is 76, doesn't recognize Susie. The extended family includes about a dozen hunting dogs, who are kept at Bryant's farm in Greene County. "He never told me anything personal about Coach Bryant," she says. So why change the dog's name? "But we have a registration process. Paul Bryant Jr., a banker and the coach's only son, says his father established the fund in 1973. . Bryant was the son of legendary college football coach Bear Bryant and his wife, Mary. 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. "Bryant." Before every Alabama home game, the big video board plays clips of Bryant talking, sounding like he ate a carton of Chesterfields. 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. He is chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a Washington, D.C. -. "He's there in the black," he says. Close friend Jimmy Hinton died a year ago; former assistant and confidant Clem Gryska died last month. Bryant's image. 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. The newspapers had a combined Sunday edition, but their editorial policies remained quite different. Buy what you want, he told her, not what you need. She sits down and tells the story her husband can no longer tell. Today his memories seem to orbit around the idea of protecting Bryant from some unseen enemy. That's what the annual namesake reunion is all about, bringing the living tributes together to create a sense of crimson-blooded community among those linked by their labels. 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. "I went and bought me one of those. Other Members of the class of 2016 2016 Robert Witt 2016 Beverly Phifer 2016 I'm not as big on killing stuff as I am finding it with the dogs. He was appointed to the University of Alabama Board of Trustees in 2000 . (AP Photo/Tannen Maury), Football star Joe Namath talks with the widow of Alabama coach Paul Bear Bryant at the Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham on Friday, Jan. 28, 1983. Vanessa Bryant just received a heck of a lot more money from L.A. County after her initial $15 million win last year . He saw him cry. 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. Try 100. ", These are the stories she can tell. "[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. 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. Today he can. Bryant said he was invited by the board members to fill the vacant seat. Sometimes his mind is clear as a crystal. 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. 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. People contact us all the time, and we ask them to fill out a form with their birthdate, a little family history and a specific section to fill out that starts with, 'This is the story of me or my child being named for Coach Bryant ' That allows us to do a little research and verify it. [2] He also served as general manager of minor league baseball's Birmingham Barons. He collapsed once from nervous exhaustion, chain-smoked cigarettes, ripped the filters off ones he bummed, passed out on couches, checked into alcohol rehab. That's been scrubbed for posterity. Paul W. Bryant Jr. sat down recently for a rare interview, giving insight into his involvement with UA athletics - both real and rumored - as well as a revealing glimpse into his personality, his background and the school's growth during his time on the board of trustees. Bryant is Chairman Emeritus and the longest-serving member of the organizations Board of Trustees. "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 Bear wore houndstooth. His voice might be what affects her most. We went to the dressing room. "Well, we don't hardly know the details," he said finally. "He won't make it without coaching.". Throughout his time on the board, he was a member of the Physical Properties Committee including nine years as chairman, during which more than 360 physical properties projects were completed with a total value exceeding $2 billion. Patsy Abbott said it pointedly -- like, literally pointing at her grandson as he waited to build a bear. They married right out of high school. The local paper interviewed him, and Billy cried. "There was so much going on," he says. . He poured a drink and chatted with guests. Bryant grew reflective. Selected for Beta Gamma Sigma, he received the Financial Executives Institute of America Award for the outstanding student in commerce and business administration as well as the Alabama Bankers Association Award for the outstanding student in banking and finance. "Bryant." 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. Bryant did play high school basketball in Tuscaloosa, but in interviews he has said he was part of a great team and played only sparingly. Kobe Bryant Announces Fourth Daughter on the Way with Wife Vanessa In January, the retired basketball star, 40, rung in the new year with a special announcement featuring a gold, sparkling . Acknowledged by the National Park Service and leading conservationists as the foremost American heritage land preservation organization, the Civil War Trust is known to be the largest and most effective non-profit devoted to the preservation of Americas battlegrounds. His nickname stemmed from his having agreed to wrestle a captive bear during a theater promotion when he was 13 years old. They wanted husky ones.' The Leader was a Republican, society-based evening edition, and the Herald a more political, heavily Democratic morning edition. Miss Bryant, Martin Folmar, Paul Bryant Jr., Mrs. Folmar, Mary Dillard Marr and Mrs. Bryant. Paul W. Bryant is dying for the second time, and one day, in the not-so-distant future, only The Bear will remain. Welcome to the 23rd annual Paul W. Bryant Namesake Reunion, where the only requirement to attend is that you or a member of your immediate family is willingly and lovingly -- sometimes strategically -- named for the coach known as "Bear." 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. "I always did want me the old-timey ice cream freezer," she says. Paul never forgot the middle-class kids pointing and laughing at his mother. She'd always ask: "When y'all coming back?". Coach Bryant died Wednesday. A funeral procession three miles long, consisting of more than 300 cars and six buses carrying Bryant's last University of Alabama team and many of his former players, drove the 60 miles to Birmingham behind the white hearse after funeral services in Tuscaloosa. He's following me. He told me one time, if somebody comes up and shoots me, they're gonna shoot you first. He focuses on the shot from the Liberty Bowl. She picks back up the conversation about Bryant, and Billy sits across the narrow room, listening. We thought we'd do that for the grandchildren and stuff, and there's some responsibility that goes with that, I guess.. You get a job out there you would have made $50 more a month. There is certainly regret in Bryant's choice of devotional. I have evidence to the contrary, from @bryantmuseum today. But I got outvoted. They put him on night traffic, and that first winter, he caught pneumonia. "Too many football games," he says. And yet they don't, and they almost certainly won't. Early life and family background [ edit] Paul William Bryant Jr. was born circa 1945. "If you're gonna be in, be all-in," explained James Turner, Bryant Denny Turner's father. Some wore Alabama caps and others were seen in houndstoothcheck hats, which Bryant always wore on the sidelines on game day. ear Bryant surrounded himself with people he could trust, and he trusted nobody more than Billy Varner, a tough, barrel-chested African-American. [2] In 1999, he acquired a stake in Harvest Select Catfish Inc., a company which raises catfish in Alabama and Mississippi. Stewart. He worked security at games, no longer inside the circle. "It's crazy. Your account has an invalid email address. That's what he called him, like it was a Southern debutante's double name. There he is. 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. Bryant entered Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa on January 25, 1983, after feeling chest discomfort. Knowles and Varner cleaned out the real version of this office after Coach died. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Varner went home to rest, and that's where he was when the phone rang again. Even Mrs. Bryant didn't know him as well as Billy did. Connelly's C-USA preview, part 2: Which returning teams could rule new-look league? Coach Bear Bryant at the 1982 Liberty Bowl football game in Memphis, Tennessee. At the end, when Bryant was sicker than anyone knew, Billy heard the private coughs. For all his business success, Bryant said in the interview that as a young man he had wanted to follow his father into coaching. But it appeared they had leaned toward quickness instead -- only two of the pallbearers weighed over 200 pounds, although all were remarkably muscular. Roll Tide!" Susie can tell you what she saw, but that's it. All rights reserved (About Us). (AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr.), Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's widow, Mary Harmon Bryant is helped out of the car at graveside in Birmingham, Ala., Jan. 28, 1983. But I got it. Because this is my wife and it's her middle name! After one trip, when the men went to a horse track, Billy came home with an envelope from Coach. She was 19. $1 Million - $5 Million. Billy is asleep. Few appear to believe that and instead see the trustees, with Bryant Jr. at the helm, as a force that for years has refused to support the team. This urge to protect, probably born from seeing the Saturday Evening Post erroneously accuse the coach of fixing a game, is also erasing something. It grows smaller all the time. And no one knew Coach Bryant better than Billy. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Air view of cemetery at "Bear" Bryant's funeral. Billy found a phone and called ahead, telling Susie to make her good cornbread. "I met a lot of business people through my parents," Bryant told Bloomberg, acknowledging the obvious connections his famous name brought.

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