What Bryant was, more than a coach, was a teacher. What was the key to his success? It was his fierce work habits, and the mental toughness he instilled in his players. By 1961, he received his first number-one ranking nationally, going undefeated and beating Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl.
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But in his first full season in 1958, Alabama won five games and lost four. "Mama called."Īlabama won just four games in three years prior to Bryant's arrival. "It was like when you were out in the field, and you heard your mama calling you to dinner," he said, explaining his joy at returning to Alabama.
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And turn them into men.Īfter bouncing around the south for a dozen years as a coach with three football programs-Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A&M-Bryant got the call he'd dreamed of, and returned to his alma mater. He joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor, and after completing his service in 1945, did what God created him to do: lead boys in battle on the gridiron. Luckily, for college football fans everywhere, Bryant didn't have the talent to play in the NFL. Alabama won a national championship in 1934 and beat Stanford in the 1935 Rose Bowl. His team won 23 games and lost only three when he was a starter. It was there that Bryant developed his appetite for winning. He also remembered having an inferiority complex when he was young from growing up so poor, and in such an isolated place.Īs a tackle on the Fordyce High School football team, Bryant walked away with all-state honors, and a scholarship to play at-of all places-his home state's arch rival: the University of Alabama. He later recalled acquiring his nickname as a teenager in high school when he accepted a dare to wrestle a bear. Work became a fact of life for the children.īryant was big, eventually growing to 6 feet 4 inches. His dad became ill when Paul was a toddler, forcing his wife to run the farm. Bryant's father was a farmer while his mother, Ida Mae, tended to the family. He was the 11th of 12 children, three of whom died as infants. The craggy-faced coach roamed the Alabama sidelines in his houndstooth hat for 25 years, but his legacy wasn't just about wins: it was the impact he had on the thousands of athletes he coached.īryant was born in Moro Bottom Arkansas, a town so small that the town a few miles down the road-Fordyce-was considered big with a population of 3,200. "Now imagine a guy that can carry the nickname Bear."Ĭarry it, he did. "His nickname was 'Bear,'" said Joe Namath, who played at Alabama for Bryant. "He was the coach."Īs another college football season begins, it is worth a look back at the life of this larger than life coach. "He wasn't just a coach," former USC coach John McKay said of Bryant, who was born on Sept. Paul "Bear" Bryant led Alabama's Crimson Tide football team to six national championships, and six of his Alabama teams were ranked number one.
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Was it a former president they were honoring? A movie star? It was someone far more important. News accounts estimated that nearly 250,000 Alabama residents lined roads and overpasses along the 55-mile route-approximately 12 percent of Alabama's total state population-to pay their final respects. Thousands of cars and trucks pulled to the side of I-20/59 as the funeral procession moved to its final destination in Birmingham: Elmwood Cemetery. Three churches in Tuscaloosa filled to capacity for the services. On the day of his funeral, the state of Alabama came to a complete stop. Senator Fred Thompson let his fellow New York prosecutors know that if it weren't for Osama bin Laden, September 11 would properly be remembered as this iconic southerner's birthday. In an episode of "Law and Order," the late actor and U.S.
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