Coach Bear Bryant and His Contributions to Alabama and The World
Alabama Crimson Tide football is tradition rich with a number of great coaches over 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
The first person that you most likely think of when you hear something about Alabama football, it is likely you think of Bear Bryant. At one point, Bear Bryant was the winningest coach in college football ever. This legendary coach served the Crimson for 25 years. In this period of time, Brian was phenomenal with six national championships and 13 SEC conference championships.
As as college head coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant had several university jobs such as Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A& M before he at last had the break to return to his alma mater, Alabama. So stimulated was Bear 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 became head coach , and began leading it to its former Rose Bowl-style glory but accomplished even more. Establishing celebrated players like Pat Trammell, Big John Hannah, Snake Stabler, Joe Namath, Lee Roy Jordan, Billy Neighbors, Bob Baumhower, Johnny Musso,, and many others.
Overall, Bear Bryant was a prodigious motivator and understood how to get his teams 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 motivation wasn’t just on the field, the inspiration carried into real life also by the nature he instilled in his players like big John Croyle, who founded the faith-based Christian Big Oak Ranch for unfortunate kids in Springville, Alabama.
The very 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 give up coaching that he “wouldn’t last a week.” In fact, 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 attended his funeral. Officials projected that between a half-million to a million people were lined all along the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to the cemetery in Birmingham that was blocks from Legion Field.
Bear’s Legacy
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 break segregation in the South’s football world, and in doing so, turned the state around from narrow-mindedness 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!
