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To shoot him, they had to get me first.". "That's him," she says, standing so he can sit. 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. Paul Bryant was the 11th of Wilson Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant's 12 children born in Moro Bottom, Cleveland County, Arkansas. Bryant entered Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa on January 25, 1983, after feeling chest discomfort. 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. I'm probably better evaluating them than running them, I'll say that, he said. ", They'd known each other for more than 20 years by then. She picks back up the conversation about Bryant, and Billy sits across the narrow room, listening. Croakies to hold sunglasses, cuff links, purses, both the kind with handles and clutches. Mrs. Bryant was dressed in a simple black dress and veil. Paul William Bryant Jr. (born c. 1945) is an American banker, investor and philanthropist from Alabama. 'Well, that's my first name!" And no one knew Coach Bryant better than Billy. Earlier this month, a retired Alabama assistant coach sat at his kitchen table and gauged how much he could reveal. We get hints. Each rising sun takes a little more from the couple who live in the small brick home southwest of downtown. Over the years, various accounts have given him different titles, but essentially, he was a fixer. All rights reserved. I had a lot of help starting out.. He is chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a Washington, D.C. - based organization which works to preserve historic battlefields. Here's everything we know, The paths of KD and Kyrie: How one month changed three franchises and two superstar legacies, From bubble struggles to NCAA seed improvement, why these final weekend games matter, Foden's return to form helps mask De Bruyne's troubles, Nelson sends Arsenal into euphoria with last-gasp winner over Bournemouth. In his hospital room, Bryant was joking with the nurses. "So little coming out of it. XFL Week 3 preview: Can AJ McCarron, Battlehawks continue their fourth-quarter heroics? He never talked about the private things he'd seen. Another large circulating newspaper during this time was the Kentucky Leader (formed by a group of Fayette County Republicans in 1888) which eventually became known as the Lexington Leader in 1901. [2] He went on to establish more tracks in Texas (for example in La Marque, Texas), Idaho, and Iowa. [13] Stewart was found guilty on all 135 counts of fraud. We made ice cream, one time. They wanted husky ones.' I've had some different ones not work, too, Bryant said recently in a rare and revealing interview. Bryant has been married for 50 years to UA classmate Cherry Handley Hicks Bryant. Next fall, another great-grandson, Paul William Bryant Tyson, will be on Nick Saban's roster as a freshman quarterback. But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. "I host the family holidays here at my house in Tuscaloosa, and we have so many Pauls and Marys and Mays that I have to draw up place cards for everyone and I have to use a very sophisticated system of last initials. All rights reserved (About Us). Bear Bryant looks down from four or five different places. Sometimes they talked. Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is the tie that binds UA trustees. The Birmingham News. 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. Missing in the houndstooth beach balls and paint jobs is a person. Married with three daughters, Bryant is known to be a student of American history, especially the Civil 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. When the bar was empty, the two men talked. That's just Alabama.". Sometimes it cloud up and rain.". Bryant was the son of legendary college football coach Bear Bryant and his wife, Mary. "[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. We're going into the stadium. You can reach up and feel it. Alabama-They began gathering in the early morning fog at Elmwood Cemetery today. Your account has an invalid email address. Bryant announced last week that he was retiring after this game, which marks his 323rd victory. 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. It happens slowly but clearly. Billy found a phone and called ahead, telling Susie to make her good cornbread. . Susie can tell you what she saw, but that's it. Bryant is Chairman Emeritus and the longest-serving member of the organizations Board of Trustees. (AP Photo), Press Photo Woody Hayes At Bear Bryant Funeral, Woody Hayes - Bear Bryant Funeral. The roots of this bond, like many things with Bryant, are full of mystery, myth and misinformation. Bryant was held accountable for the demise of UAB football because of a letter Gene Bartow . Bryant got the name right; "Susie" was scrawled on the outside. Or at least the part of Alabama that doesn't care about UAB football. 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? 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. And yes, there are some Bears, but none made an appearance during the first couple of hours of this year's reunion -- although at least two of the families in attendance said they had a dog named Bear. His nickname stemmed from his having agreed to wrestle a captive bear during a theater promotion when he was 13 years old. Somebody comes up to do something to Coach Bryant, they're gonna have to get me first. He's following me. The 69-year-old Bryant died Wednesday of a heart attack. We can't just have anybody who is named Paul or William or even Bryant showing up and trying to sneak into the group. ", The official records show Varner started working for the university police in February 1976, but he'd been around for a decade or more by then, floating in the shadows. That's been scrubbed for posterity. You want a window into Bear Bryant's power in the state of Alabama? 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 met a lot of business people through my parents," Bryant told Bloomberg, acknowledging the obvious connections his famous name brought. He's been on the board for 13 years or so. Lexington (Ky.) -- Politics and government. Joe Namath - Bear Bryant Funeral. "I just don't know what's going to happen to him," Varner said. He spends a long minute staring at the remote control, trying to figure out how to turn up the volume. It was perhaps the most oddly attired gathering of mourners the cemetery had ever seen. "It's really important to the state that we have a successful football program. ", "Bryant " "Bryant " "Bryant " "Bryant ". So why change the dog's name? Joe Elmore said. another $13 mil or so, in fact, which now . There is certainly regret in Bryant's choice of devotional. "This is Alabama football. Being unable to play football, he said, would have made it impossible for him to have the standing to coach the game. After an hour and a half, Bryant, looking tired and old, walked into his bedroom. Breaking down the latest in 2024 football recruiting, from top commits to March visits, The Turnover Luck Index: Rating every 2022 team, from USC to Rutgers, Kiper's updated NFL mock draft: Who's moving up for a QB? When Paul took his grandson fishing, Billy came along. Any William needs to be prepared to really make his or her case to be included, but many have successfully done so. His voice is deep and trails off when he's unsure. Other Members of the class of 2016 2016 Robert Witt 2016 Beverly Phifer 2016 Even Knowles sheepishly admits she has a houndstooth umbrella. His eyes get wide, bulging, like they do when he's confused. SUFFOLK - Paul Bryant Jr., 67, retired employee of Perry Lumber Co., died Saturday, Dec. 14, 1996. Inside she found $500 and a note. Susie would come home -- she worked with mental patients in a local hospital -- and see Billy's traveling bag gone. 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. Billy deflates, his voice and his body sinking back down into the chair. One of Bryant's companies, Alabama Reassurance or "Alabama Re", was implicated in at least nine counts of the Stewart indictment, relating to a "wire fraud scheme to deceive state insurance regulators involving reinsurance." Sure did. Please update it here. But I got outvoted. "It's my daddy's middle name!" Look at the UA System Trustees website and you will see the names of 15 permanent trustees, but only 14 photos. We'd go to the stadium. "No kidding, it's my daughter's first name, too!" 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. 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. Gov. "There was so much going on," he says. There is, always, a disconnect between the few people who miss Paul and the legion who worship The Bear. Yes, Bear died, but He is risen. They put him on night traffic, and that first winter, he caught pneumonia. Given that fact, it was not a surprise that phone calls to his office were not returned. It's difficult to understand if you're not from here, but when football isn't doing well it kind of hurts, the whole state is kind of in a funk. A diamond of belly shows through the puckered front of his shirt. ", You think Paul "Bear" Bryant is dead? ", She stands still, surrounded by the strangers who've come to genuflect, and she thinks, "If they only knew." Member since Sep 2010. Sometimes they didn't. A few weeks ago, as Linda Knowles took the elevator up to the fourth-floor office where she works for the Alabama faculty senate, a car with a houndstooth paint job drove past her building on Paul W. Bryant Drive, past Bryant-Denny Stadium, past the Paul W. Bryant Museum, which is filled with what can only be called relics, then past the Bryant Conference Center. I walked in front of him. This year's reunion was the first to feature a carnival theme, complete with cotton candy, county-fair-style games and -- wait for it -- a teddy-bear-building station. Paul William Bryant Jr. was born circa 1945. [3][7] He also served on the boards of trustees of the Alabama Heritage Foundation and the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. The Bear, the rough-faced legend on the video board, was predestined to be great. (File Photo/ The Huntsville TImes) The Huntsville Times. Bryant's net worth is not public knowledge, but he has amassed enough wealth to donate tens of millions of dollars to the UA. 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's son, Paul Bryant Jr., remembers his father's birthday more than the anniversary of his death, but for most Alabama fans, everything changed "the day Bear Bryant died." There's even a song . It's lunchtime. In a brief graveside service, the crowd recited the 23rd Psalm and the Lord's Prayer and then Bryant's family left, with the mourners straggling behind and the simple pine casket still beside the grave. I had a four- or five- or six-year head start on them. Don Siegelman moved in 2000 to have Bryant considered for the board, some legislators protested, saying the vacant seat had been promised to be filled by an alumnus of the UA system's Birmingham campus, UAB. Twenty-eight days later, on a Tuesday night, Billy's phone rang. Bushwood Country Club. We went to the dressing room. "Well, that's my middle name!" Married with three daughters, Bryant is known to be a student of American history, especially the Civil War. coverage of "Bear" Bryant's service. "You was at the hospital when he died," she says. 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. Barra wrote the best biography of Bryant, "The Last Coach," and even in his book, there is a Paul-sized hole at the center of the narrative. This photograph was published on Feb 24th, 1948 (1948-02-24), 1.03-1497.01. "What is?" Even Mrs. Bryant didn't know him as well as Billy did. I didn't want it to be (a fight), but I felt some responsibility, Bryant said. nyttksemme sinulle kohdennettuja mainoksia ja sislt kiinnostusprofiileiden perusteella, mitataksemme kohdennettujen mainosten ja sisltjen tehokkuutta. "[1] He is worth "hundreds of millions of dollars. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Billy tells Susie that he talks to the coach. Twenty-four? 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Woman and child mourn the death of Coach "Bear" Bryant. He rushed back to the hospital, and when he saw the look on the team trainer's face, he knew. -- Kentucky -- Lexington. He saw him cry. Regularly, he refuses to believe that his old boss isn't at home waiting for a ride. 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. 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. The Birmingham News. Trump avoided . He is a man. "I'm not sure I've enjoyed all of it. 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). Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. According to the state Department of Insurance, Alabama Re had $240 million in admitted assets, a five person board headed by Bryant, and just two full-time employees. City Editor Ken Roberts contributed to this report. A half-hour or more has passed. She was accompanied by her son, Paul Bryant Jr., and daughter, Mae Martin Tyson. Bryant's family and friends fiercely guard his legacy, but this omerta brings with it an accidental cost. ear Bryant surrounded himself with people he could trust, and he trusted nobody more than Billy Varner, a tough, barrel-chested African-American. Once, when a state trooper clocked Varner speeding, Bryant stuck his houndstooth hat in the back window. USCALOOSA, Ala. -- Something important is being lost. Collectively, it saved 41,000 acres of battlefield land in over 120 states during Bryants board tenure. I'd park the car. The collection also contains associated newspaper clippings, job sheets, and hand-written photographers' notes. Thirty years after his last season, Bryant's humanity lives only in his family and a few aging friends, in former employees such as Knowles, in 72-year-old assistant coach-turned-athletic director Mal Moore, and, perhaps most of all, in Billy Varner. And yet they don't, and they almost certainly won't. It was the university football team.". While Bryant won't talk about it, it is believed he has given millions more to UA for non-athletic needs. 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? Bryant established two dozen operating companies and over 50 real estate ventures and syndicates. [2] By 2011, he sold it to Cemex, a Mexican construction corporation, for US$350 million. Otherwise, we'd have no idea what was what and who was where.". The extended family includes about a. These ties received national press attention when the board of trustees made the shocking decision to kill UAB football. Today his memories seem to orbit around the idea of protecting Bryant from some unseen enemy. From 2000 to 2015, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System. "Yes, sir, we've got Paul and Bryant covered right there in one house.". He told me one time, if somebody comes up and shoots me, they're gonna shoot you first. Billy sits up, his voice and cane rising at the indignity. When he came back, he was a regular campus policeman. Bryant coached the Tide for 25 years, from 1958 to 1982. Alabama-Man mourns at Coach "Bear" Bryant's funeral site. It was lowered into an underground vault later. We probably don't pump that as much as we should, Bryant said, but we're real proud of that. "I went and bought me one of those. The Leader was a Republican, society-based evening edition, and the Herald a more political, heavily Democratic morning edition. But it appeared they had leaned toward quickness instead -- only two of the pallbearers weighed over 200 pounds, although all were remarkably muscular. In 1977, Bryant opened GreeneTrack, a dog racing track in Greene County. To his right is the famous painting "315" that shows Bryant on the sideline as he breaks the all-time wins record, and down the wall from that is a pencil-and-ink drawing of Bryant as a young man. 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. The magazine quoted Bryant, who owned GreeneTrack in Greene County at the time, as saying that the dog track was frequented by low-class, welfare blacks.. She laughs some, with only a little bitterness, about what was gained, what was spent and what remains. As of 2015, seven trustees were executives or directors at Bryant Bank. S 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. ", There were also no Sabans at the reunion. Who were the fastest defensive backs? 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. The scope of the collection highlights the day to day activities of Kentuckians. 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. All he has to show for two decades of service are his memories, and even those often hang just out of reach. "Don't tell me he's dead.". At home, she keeps the microcassette of the last letter he dictated, the day before he died. He worked security at games, no longer inside the circle. Bryant said he was invited by the board members to fill the vacant seat. The number of people left alive who knew that Paul is small. "I always did want me the old-timey ice cream freezer," she says. Standing before the exhibit, she can hear his voice all around her, literally, from the museum's video displays. "Do you remember?". He spent his youth in Lexington, Kentucky; College Station, Texas; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama the towns where his father coached. 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. The board elected Bryant president pro tempore in September 2011. 2/28/2023 6:52 PM PT. 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 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. It's a spotlight Bryant works hard to avoid. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Mourning fans at Paul "Bear" Bryant's funeral. During these years, he served three successive terms as President Pro Tempore. Billy was Bear Bryant's driver, bodyguard and valet, one of the few remaining people who knew him as a human being. In 1996, 14 years after Bryant died, he retired from the University of Alabama Police Department. George Wallace and former Washington Redskins Coach George Allen, representing President Reagan, were among the 400 dignataries, family members and friends who packed the church for the rites. Later that night, she'd get the inevitable call. Paul Bryant Jr., the son of the late Hall of Fame coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, has clear ties to a federal insurance-fraud case that netted a 15-year prison sentence for a Philadelphia lawyer . 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. "Coach Bryant used to be the coach at Alabama," he says. We thought we'd do that for the grandchildren and stuff, and there's some responsibility that goes with that, I guess.. [1] His father, Bear Bryant, was an American football player and coach. As always, Varner stood in the background. This was Bryant's last game as the head football coach at the University of Alabama.