One person who has known Bryant for years, but didn't want to be named here, said that Bryant is a man who guards his family's privacy. He worked security at games, no longer inside the circle. I'd travel with him to the games. When an assistant coach told him in 1970 that Vince Lombardi had died, Bryant spoke of regrets, and it shocked his friend. (AP Photo), Press Photo Woody Hayes At Bear Bryant Funeral, Woody Hayes - Bear Bryant Funeral. Each day brings its own reality. Billy was Bear Bryant's driver, bodyguard and valet, one of the few remaining people who knew him as a human being. There are actions that tell of unseen turmoil and doubt, but Bryant is never revealed. "He's there in the black," he says. "My dad says he named me Bryant so that I wouldn't grow up to be an Auburn fan. Paul Bryant Jr., a banker and the coach's only son, says his father established the fund in 1973. . He doesn't seek the limelight, that's for sure, said McNair, who served as sports information director at UA under Bear Bryant and who now publishes Bama Magazine. The collection also contains associated newspaper clippings, job sheets, and hand-written photographers' notes. Also, members of the 27-member Black Legislative Caucus unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to Bryant's appointment, saying he was insensitive to minorities because of comments attributed to him in a 1989 Esquire magazine profile. The university had been spending about $20 million a year on football and the years ahead would only see that number grow and Watts pulled the plug causing a firestorm of protests from players and fans. Connelly's C-USA preview, part 2: Which returning teams could rule new-look league? Being unable to play football, he said, would have made it impossible for him to have the standing to coach the game. "We hear about people really almost exclusively through word of mouth," explained Ken Gaddy, director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum, located in the heart of the University of Alabama's campus. 2004av001. As of 2015, seven trustees were executives or directors at Bryant Bank. I've had some different ones not work, too, Bryant said recently in a rare and revealing interview. The 69-year-old Bryant -- fairly or not, accurately or not -- is seen by supporters of UAB football, and maybe supporters of UAB period, as public enemy No. They were traveling, and Billy said he needed to get home for supper. The house--a classic Tudor-style--was owned by Harmon's family. Knowles and Varner cleaned out the real version of this office after Coach died. A number of people wore T-shirts that said 'It Took a Giant to Replace the Bear,' referring to former New York Giants Coach Ray Perkins, whom Bryant selected to succeed him at Alabama last month. Try 100. Many of the members of Bryant's last team held their faces in tense grimaces, obviously fighting back tears, at the graveside. [3], Bryant founded the People's Bank in the late 1960s,[1] and later sold it. 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. She liked Bryant, thought he had a good heart, even if he did almost always call her Sally. Which non-quarterback group will define each top-25 team's season? Bryant loved University of Alabama Crimson Tide football, and his son appears to love it just as deeply. All in the family: how three generations of Jaquezes have ruled West Coast basketball, Alonso says Aston 'living a dream,' eyes podium, LIVE Transfer Talk: Bayern still keen on Kane despite new Choupo-Moting contract, Top moments from Brady, Manning, Jordan and other athletes hosting 'Saturday Night Live'. In 1973, the newspapers were purchased by the Knight-Ridder Corporation and in 1983 were merged into a single, morning paper that is still published as The Lexington Herald-Leader. "I never did hear about him dying.". The LHL photographs are an unparalleled source of photographic evidence of the many historical, cultural, and industrial changes that have shaped Lexington and its surrounding region. Finally, he asks for help. Facebook gives people the power. Bryant, who won 323 games in his 38 seasons -- more than any other college coach -- died Wednesday of a heart attack only 28 days after retiring. In 1977, Bryant opened GreeneTrack, a dog racing track in Greene County. Paul Bryant was the 11th of Wilson Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant's 12 children born in Moro Bottom, Cleveland County, Arkansas. "Too many football games," he says. The funeral service at the First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa was deeply religious, with little reference to Bryant's career or character. He was 69. "Coach Bryant used to be the coach at Alabama," he says. But that doesn't mean Bryant views football as unimportant. Later that night, she'd get the inevitable call. 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. We probably don't pump that as much as we should, Bryant said, but we're real proud of that. Several red and white banners reading 'We Love You, Bear' flapped from interstate overpasses as the motorcade rolled by. Any William needs to be prepared to really make his or her case to be included, but many have successfully done so. During these years, he served three successive terms as President Pro Tempore. Patsy Abbott said it pointedly -- like, literally pointing at her grandson as he waited to build a bear. Bryant's net worth is not public knowledge, but he has amassed enough wealth to donate tens of millions of dollars to the UA. Edit Now. In addition, he chaired the committee that hired Dr. Robert Witt, past President of The University of Alabama and retired Chancellor of The University of Alabama System. He's been on the board for 13 years or so. And he did! That's been scrubbed for posterity. Somebody comes up to do something to Coach Bryant, they're gonna have to get me first. Her voice sounds exactly like that of comedienne Wanda Sykes, and Susie, in real life and in the pictures around the house, wears a little smirk, as if she knows something you don't know. "Bryant." . Behind the casket is present Alabama coach Ray Perkins, his wife Carolyn and son Mike. After the game, on Dec. 30, Varner drove Bryant back to Tuscaloosa. "Don't tell me he's dead.". She'd always ask: "When y'all coming back?". 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Man mourns at Coach "Bear" Bryant's funeral site. 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. Conduct JAR & JAD sessions with the user community in terms of the submissions of process flows and data structures for respective C++ technical programmers and ICASE practitioners. another $13 mil or so, in fact, which now . He was there with his daughter, Carlin Bryant Parker, who was obsessed with those carnival games. Like his boss before him, Billy Varner has come to the place where he must consider what he did with his time. "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. Twenty-four? [8], He has donated millions of dollars to the Alabama Crimson Tide football program. "I know I've made this journey," he told a reporter just before his final season. 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. 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. ear Bryant surrounded himself with people he could trust, and he trusted nobody more than Billy Varner, a tough, barrel-chested African-American. A houndstooth car is just the beginning. [13], He is married, and has three daughters. But I got outvoted. His moniker came from a carnival promotion where he promised to battle a caged bear when he was 13 years old. After services in Tuscaloosa, Bryant was brought to Elmwood Cemetery for interment. "I always did want me the old-timey ice cream freezer," she says. Assistant Alabama Coach Kent Johnston said 'The family picked them. Paul Bryant has stepped up for this project like he . I think he wanted to be his own man, McNair said. They watched the moon landing together, hung out with Bob Hope together. He told me one time, if somebody comes up and shoots me, they're gonna shoot you first. Bryant grew reflective. 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. He pauses. 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'd drive him. 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. Fans stand and cheer. We can't just have anybody who is named Paul or William or even Bryant showing up and trying to sneak into the group. Susie can tell you what she saw, but that's it. Trump avoided . Paul W. Bryant is dying for the second time, and one day, in the not-so-distant future, only The Bear will remain. Before every Alabama home game, the big video board plays clips of Bryant talking, sounding like he ate a carton of Chesterfields. John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs. Rutledge played for Bryant's first team and was an assistant on his last, and when he realized that he would be sharing new information, he clammed up. 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. Sometimes it cloud up and rain.". Bushwood Country Club. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Sitting with Paul Murray was his cousin, Mary Harmon Hilburn, granddaughter of Bear. City & town life -- Kentucky -- Lexington. City Editor Ken Roberts contributed to this report. "The white hat. 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. Sometimes they didn't. 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. 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.". In 1996, 14 years after Bryant died, he retired from the University of Alabama Police Department. Miss Bryant, Martin Folmar, Paul Bryant Jr., Mrs. Folmar, Mary Dillard Marr and Mrs. Bryant. He'd eaten some sausage, and it upset his stomach is all. 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. The Birmingham News. 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. Billy always walked a few feet in front of Bryant, for reasons he's trying to recall. 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. The number of people left alive who knew that Paul is small. Paul William Bryant Jr. Born: c. 1945: Alma mater: University of Alabama: Occupation: Banker, investor, philanthropist: Children: 3 daughters: Parent(s) Bear Bryant: See something missing? [1] His father, Bear Bryant, was an American football player and coach. 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. They put him on night traffic, and that first winter, he caught pneumonia. A member of the board since 2000, Bryant has said little publicly about UAB football. Look at the UA System Trustees website and you will see the names of 15 permanent trustees, but only 14 photos. Early life and family background [ edit] Paul William Bryant Jr. was born circa 1945. I had a four- or five- or six-year head start on them. "Well, we don't hardly know the details," he said finally. Member since Sep 2010. "We had a dog named Bear as a puppy, but then we changed it to Bryant," confessed a family from Huntsville that also has two human Bryants on the roster. He never talked about the private things he'd seen. ", These are the stories she can tell. Not yet anyway. 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. 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? A man looks up and he's 76 years old, with memories he can't touch and not much else. This isn't a celebration. The extended family includes about a. This photograph was published on Feb 24th, 1948 (1948-02-24) Photograph Number: 1.03-1497.01 [2] Bryant is also the President of Greene County Greyhound Park. The Birmingham News. [1] He was described by The Birmingham News as "among the most private of men, largely a mystery to many."[1]. 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. He is chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a Washington, D.C. -. Since then, Moore says, daughters of Joe Namath and Ken Stabler have attended Alabama on . coverage of "Bear" Bryant's service. Supporters of UAB football insist that the now-scrapped football program played an important role in helping the university attract students and build campus life. Bryant's image. usie Varner answers the door. All rights reserved (About Us). The Huntsville Times, Press Photo Joe Namath At Gravesite For Bear Bryant Funeral, Joe Namath at gravesite. You had more fun on that job. Bryant has been married for 50 years to UA classmate Cherry Handley Hicks Bryant. Bryant has been called by critics "Little Bear" or "cub," terms which seemed aimed at diminishing him compared to his legendary father, who Bryant calls "Papa. In the Yellowhammer State, they've been giving 100 percent to the Bear Bryant name game for a very long time now. The pitch of his voice starts to drop again, wavering between the treble of here and the deep bass of gone. [7], He served on the board of trustees of the University of Alabama[3][6] until September 2015 and previously served as its chairman. "But we have a registration process. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. [2] He serves as its chairman.[6]. "I'm not sure I've enjoyed all of it. [3][7] He also served on the boards of trustees of the Alabama Heritage Foundation and the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. 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. You start thinking about what you could have been doing. He rushed back to the hospital, and when he saw the look on the team trainer's face, he knew. Bryant said he was invited by the board members to fill the vacant seat. When Alabama football is winning, it's just better. She sits down and tells the story her husband can no longer tell. Knowles began canceling the next two weeks of Coach's schedule. It's a spotlight Bryant works hard to avoid. It grows smaller all the time. His nickname stemmed from his having agreed to wrestle a captive bear during a theater promotion when he was 13 years old. There he is. It happens slowly but clearly. John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs, https://lhlphotoarchive.org/ark:/16417/th71m0q2fr6vl, This item is 1 of 3716 items in the series ". B You miss a lot of things you shouldn't miss.". "We knew he'd been offered a lot of money to write a book or help make a movie," says Linda Knowles, Bryant's longtime secretary, "and he would have none of that. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Fans watching T.V. It was the first and only time he heard Bryant talk like that, and he realized that maybe his boss was a lonely man. "[1] In 1995, Bryant acquired Reynolds Ready Mix, a cement company later renamed Ready Mix USA. The newspapers had a combined Sunday edition, but their editorial policies remained quite different. ", They'd known each other for more than 20 years by then. "That's him up there," he says. Buy what you want, he told her, not what you need. She picks back up the conversation about Bryant, and Billy sits across the narrow room, listening. Please update it here. Only the sound of one woman sobbing broke the stillness. Kobe . It was lowered into an underground vault later. "I met a lot of business people through my parents," Bryant told Bloomberg, acknowledging the obvious connections his famous name brought. 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.". Reach Tommy Deas at tommy@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0224. The Birmingham News, Bear Bryant funeral at First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, AL. We'd go to the stadium. Robert Witt has worked with Bryant for the last 10 years, first as UA president and more recently as chancellor of the UA system. But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. He focuses on the shot from the Liberty Bowl. 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. Hundreds of cars were lined up alongside the interstate in Birmingham to watch the procession pass. You can reach up and feel it. The sound gets louder. "I just don't know what's going to happen to him," Varner said. She plays it sometimes. I looked at him like, 'What the hell you think I'm here for?'". Place kicker Peter Kim is at top right. For nearly 44 years the collection was cared for by John C. Wyatt (1928-2005), who became a Lexington Leader photographer in 1946, was the chief photographer for many years, and retired from the Lexington Herald-Leader in 1990. The 69-year-old Bryant died Wednesday of a heart attack. He smiles and clacks his cane. We had some guys behind us. (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. Had he done that, one of those who answered back would have been Paul Francis Murray of Mobile. That's just Alabama.". It's certainly not too serious of a process by any stretch, but we really want to know people's stories and give them a chance to share those stories.". "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. One grandmother introduced her preschool-aged grandson, Hayden Bryant Kennedy, this way: "If I'd had my way, he'd be Nicholas Bryant Kennedy." The source of her name was Mary Harmon Bryant, the wife of Bear and First Lady of Alabama Football. Coach Pat Dye talks with unknown person. "He's young all the time here," Billy says. "He never told me anything personal about Coach Bryant," she says. Paul Bryant's dedicated service and leadership have been invaluable to the board of trustees and to the University of Alabama System, Witt said. 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. About how Billy left her alone a lot of the time, how he gave up his life like Bryant did and how Billy never got to enjoy his retirement, either. So why change the dog's name? * This list only holds up to 10 photographs. He only serves on one committee, but he does carry some influence with other board members. 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. Croakies to hold sunglasses, cuff links, purses, both the kind with handles and clutches. Married with three daughters, Bryant is known to be a student of American history, especially the Civil War. Some images' dates are unknown and cannot be searched by date. Oh, s--- $50 wasn't worth it. 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. A few days before the game, as a television crew interviewed him, Bryant walked by and cracked, "Don't rush yourself, Billy, I'll bring the car around. 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. I wasn't really seeking it, he said. We give 100 percent around here. The history of it kind of came up with lobbyists who worked for UAB at the time, some other people opposing my being on the board and it got to be kind of, sort of, a fight.. he man Billy Varner is remembering has very little in common with the Bryant who is beloved by so many Alabama fans. That led to jobs, bartending at parties and running errands, and by the late 1960s, around the same time the coach traded his brown fedora for a hat with black-and-white checks, Billy began working for Bryant full time. 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. He is a man. We went to the dressing room. 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). Whatever order was brought on by the photographs disappears. Paul W. Bryant's income mostly comes from and basic source is being a successful American businessman. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Woman and child mourn the death of Coach "Bear" Bryant. Neither man spent much time with his family. The argument clearly did not convince Watts or trustees. Sanders Memorial at The University of Alabama honoring alumni who served the Confederacy. 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." 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. "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key: That key is Russian national interest.". They made small talk in the car, nothing about the life's work that had just ended. Today he can. Lexington (Ky.) -- History -- 20th century. 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. "Billy had a stroke in 1996," she says, "right after he retired. Members of the 1982 football team carry the casket of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant from the Tuscaloosa First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Friday, Jan. 29, 1983. Billy's voice drops back down, and the words press together, a slurry of confusion and rearranged thoughts, part truth, part fiction. He'd get out. Barra found himself attacked for describing one bender at the 21 Club in New York City. Susie would come home -- she worked with mental patients in a local hospital -- and see Billy's traveling bag gone. "It's exactly like that," Hilburn added. Alabama-They began gathering in the early morning fog at Elmwood Cemetery today. The bird dogs are German shorthaired pointers and English pointers. Bryant got the name right; "Susie" was scrawled on the outside. Although Bryant never served in the military, he is a lifelong scholar of American military history and active in battlefield preservation. She was accompanied by her son, Paul Bryant Jr., and daughter, Mae Martin Tyson. 'I think Coach Bryant was the greatest leader this country ever had,' said his former All-America and Dallas Cowboy linebacker Lee Roy Jordan.