Bear Bryant documentary 1991 - The Legacy Lives (VHS)

no I think he's bins they're very very important to me and we'll read it now or he again tonight as you I'll share with you who give me a minute this is the beginning of a new day God has given me this day to use as I will I can waste it I can use it for good what I do today is very important because I'm exchanging the day of my life for it when tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever leaving something in its place I have traded for it I wanted to be gained not lost good not evil success not failure in order that I shall not forget the price I've paid for it [Music] you you ran from backwards Arkansas to play for the nine Crimson Tide not knowing his fame as a coach would grow he did why he was a genuine hero whose legacy we'll never die on slip away which rhymes all will remember how [Music] like watch me on his head and it's hard the pound [Music] secrets of winning championships pollution so much today [Music] never bear taught them how to me but preaching prices to pay they'd always show class every day and in every wave from his tower he watched them grow champions known as the Crimson Tide Eva's fame as a football coach Gruyere [Music] - man eyes [Music] possibly wisdom [Music] secrets of winning championships for those of us who miss him [Music] they all remember their lien snake they called Paul Ryan superstar as a coach [Music] sport has changing face here different heroes come and go [Music] from Alabama was the best [Music] on his head and it's hard [Music] branches that side wills the secret winning so much [Music] parfum which please secret swimming championships for those who miss him so much today [Music] on Christmas Eve in 1982 about a month before his death Paul Bear Bryant considered an inspirational story he had just read entitled the old man in the bridge it focused on an elderly man who had spent most of his life waiting across a river while going to and from work early one morning a much younger man saw the elderly man constructing a bridge across the water surprised by the sight he rushed forward and asked old man why are you building this bridge when you will never have to cross this river again the elderly man smiled and said because my friend I hope my efforts make life easier for those who must follow this path on that December morning less than a week before his final game as Alabama coach Paul Bryant said he saw no comparison to his life and the life of the elderly man in fact the coach said he would be forgotten as soon as he was dead and buried but his former players associates and friends disagree they view him as a leader who taught them precious lessons that have made their lives easier for instance some remember him as a crusty compassionate and comical man he was just a genuine person you know he never said anything that didn't make sense and he was tough he was tough and he was a hard-line guy I appreciated that too I think I think deep down I appreciated the discipline you know it was it was here at the University of Alabama as a player where I learned this he made me learn you know I didn't have any choice it was either learning or quit and go home and he made it quite clear what you were like he quit others remember him as a determined demanding and daring coach I've cussed him we all have I mean he was so demanding and so tough on the field you know and make us do this and make us do that you look back honor that's what we needed but everybody's custom everybody's raised hell at him in same breath love this for what he stood for and what he was making us do and what he made out of us in what he made our team but he was very very tough and very very demanding and very very very fair some remember him as an incomparable champion who blazed a path for others to follow and set a standard by which all others will be judged we got a letter one day from a man in Nashville and it said coach Bryant and he said my son only has a few days to live and his only wish in life is to meet you and coach Bryant got on a plane and flew up there and met that little boy spent some time with him and we got a letter two days later that the little boy had died and how much the father just expressed how much he appreciated coach Bryant taking his time to come up and meet the child it was incredible that the things he did for other people that were not known he was a very compassionate person Paul Bryant lived and Paul Bryant died mostly Paul Bryant won and taught others how to do the same especially from 1958 through 1982 at Alabama the man loved the Crimson Tide the coach labored for the Crimson Tide the champion led the Crimson Tide to an astounding 232 victories against 46 defeats and 9 ties is he forgotten as he suggested he would be no to the contrary his greatness will be magnified in the future when more observers marvel over his incredible accomplishments as a man a coach and a champion as well as a bridge builder whose life will continually be linked to winners backwards Arkansas to play for the nine Crimson Tide not no way to spam as a coach to me coach Bryant as a man which was bigger than life reminded me a lot of character in an old John Wayne movie or John Wayne himself coach Bryant lived hard and played hard and was a man's man I never ever had a question about what he told me I knew what he told me was going to be the way it was and as a player playing for him I would have done anything for him I would have asked me to run to a brick wall I would have burned through it to run to a brick wall for the man but they'd had all kinds of movie stars and everything that but he always had a bit of crime and he played better he'd hit the ball better off the tee when they crowd up around him you know he'd get pumped up and he'd knock her down about two he may not school well that hole but he did a heck of a tee shot with all those people up there yelling and carrying on I think they kind of did things for him he'd get all pumped up you know every 9:00 a.m. when he had all these people said he looking for me to hit a good shot and I'll hit one and he'd probably have a ten on the hole but he had a 200-yard tee shot see he was a man of his word you know if coach Bryant said he's gonna call you by coach Bryant said he's gonna get in touch with you he didn't make idle talk to his farm players and his friends he did what he said he was gonna do it Paul Bryant had already made successful stops at Maryland Kentucky and Texas A&M when he arrived at Alabama in time for spring practice in 1958 he brought a reputation as a tough man and demanding coach also he had a plan for winning a national championship for a once-proud program that was in disarray in fact it was not long before former Auburn coach Ralph shook Jordan said his interest is being played in the Southeastern Conference and one day he was about a block ahead of me walking into Freedman Hall getting ready to go up and for some reason of I noticed him glance up third floor of Friedman hall and just as he did there were three water bags hit right at his feet plastic fill bags of water hit right at his feet and splatter all over it he immediately just take took the steps not one by one but three by three and was up into the building by that time I didn't at the dining hall and started through the child line he came in very calmly sit down got his lunch and ate and left late in the day I found that two of our players had already left school that day right after that so he had established pretty quick the type of reaction he would have in putting together a disciplined atmosphere and a discipline probe it was it was quite an interesting experience to to sign to go to Alabama I recall in the spring sitting at home with my dad everybody was interested in Alabama spring practice that was the first time coach Bryant and his staff had been there and we'd watch the afternoon news and the sports would come on and you'd see these eight or ten coaches they didn't have that many players probably you had a coach for every eight or nine players and they would show that segment where the players would come together and they had all tackle and pile up and then the coaches were screaming and yelling and grabbing and throwing back to the huddle yelling get back get up get back and I looked at my dad I said what in the world have I gotten myself into so it was it was quite a shock to to see what what their style of football was because it was clearly different than what most folks around our part of the country had ever seen in 58 and 59 now a instance on the field where work was hard in fact I remember saying leave actually stop in the middle of a drill and run off field and jump over a fence to get out of practice and all this time coach Bryant hollering manager manager open the gate open the gate but get his gear get his gear don't let him carry it off or something like it and I don't think I've magnified that in its pick up but it was a tough situation with certain goal certain things in mind certain objectives that he had set in place for these young people to experience truth is everybody was on edge when Paul Bryant started putting his signature on Alabama football he kept few staff members after his arrival one retained was trainer Jim goose tree who after a humorous start in what became a rock-solid relationship was at the side of the man as the Crimson Tide won national championships in 1961 64 65 73 78 and 79 I had an old car about a 50 Chevrolet I'd bought the year before for $75 the front left door would not open it had been painted with a hand brush the car had I had to wire the door shut and one day it was raining and we were headed over to drug-drug and a little drugstore on campus to get a cup of coffee and he said well how about me riding we well I hadn't intended to drive I was gonna walk in the rain but he's he said give me a ride over to dread drove don't need a cup of coffee I said yes sir and this was a routine that he followed most days as long as that establishment was over there and we went out and we started getting the car out how the coach let me get in first well that was the tip-off that something was wrong I had on the passenger side over to the driver's side and he got in the car and was in pretty good shape he's all scrunched up of course as big as he was but we started off and got down to druid drunk and start to get out of the car and for some reason over he stepped down on my floorboard which was covered with a piece of cardboard and his leaking foot went all the way through to the ground and when he drew it back out it brought blood all up and down his shin and really it was funny but he wasn't too funny to him so we did go on in and have our refreshments early that afternoon and on the way back is pouring down rain he says I believe I'll walk but I felt really bad about now all this time was a lead-up to trying to keep a job at the University Alabama well strangely enough when we got back to the office he said boy you really made an automobile I said yes I sure do I didn't hear any more about it about three weeks later he called me and he says you go down and see mr. someone so he's got a little car for you and sure enough I went down and man loan me a car so evident that turned out pretty good I don't know how in the world I ever worked through that but it was pretty successful start it did not take Paul Bryant long to thrust Alabama into the national spotlight his second team earned a berth in the inaugural Liberty ball an unbeaten season in 1961 including a victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl gave the Crimson Tide its first national championship the 1962 team defeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl in front of former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy number one distinction was reserved for the 1964 and 1965 teams and the unbeaten and untied team from 1960s six deserved such a claim early on it was obvious Alabama football players were inspired in a way that made them display unusual style he motivated in many ways you know he's definitely motivated through fear a little bit because you were he was such an intimidating man size-wise and there was so such a mystique about him such as so many legends about him early in his career you know that this man had many people and I think that was a great combination of it being inspired you to be the best you could be as a player as a student and and basically did it through pushing you to the limit that he knew was there and and I think the fear motivated did a little bit and then you he would come around five minutes later and put his arm around your shoulder and you know pat you on the back they were I just want you to you know do the best you can that's reason I'm pushing you here I know what you got there and what you're capable of doing and man you just melt you know in his hand you know when he's giving you a pat on the back or a compliment it just overwhelms you made you want to work that much harder for him you know and we had to play 50 minutes of the 58 minutes a game and we hung in there and we won in the fourth quarter and then he pushed at it that's what that was his philosophy and we should he stuck by that and he got us in the frame of mind of where we thought we could win and we knew he was gonna win in the fourth quarter that's that was his philosophy of football and that carries on into life because you know you get into the fourth quarter in life a lot of times and you remember those things and he gets the back of your mind and there will go away when he echoed a feeling about something it was echoed by everybody else the same exact way in other words everybody was on the same page everybody was pulling for the same thing so consequently everybody believed in the same thing as pleasing as the victories were the early 1960s provided Paul Bryant with the most traumatic period of his life first there was a national magazine article that accused him of teaching brutal football the result of his players hitting harder than any who had performed before them there was an incident in which Alabama linebacker Darwin Holt fractured the jaw of a Georgia Tech player which prompted unkind newspaper headlines coach Frey did not teach dirty football first of all in college football the coun sidelines are in the stands doesn't realize is that you don't have time to play Saturday things are happening so fast out there but remember what brutal is brutal football only time it's brutal is when one side is hitting another one ain't but how many times have I heard coach Brian over and over and over talk about how he wasn't least bit interested in hurting another player that he wanted to pursue and he wanted to hit and he wanted to gang tackle and so forth Lee he wasn't interested in hurting anybody I mean football to him was basically three things it was movement side and contact if you couldn't move you couldn't believe you didn't see things you couldn't blame if you didn't hit somebody you couldn't let then there was the ultimate slap to his face The Saturday Evening Post accused Paul Bryant and former Georgia coach Wally butts of fixing the result of a game so they could bet on it it was a ludicrous assertion since the Crimson Tide won the contest 35 to nothing the Crimson Tide coach addressed the citizens of Alabama on statewide television emphatically denying the contents of the article he in the former Georgia coach filed massive lawsuits against Curtis publishing they got rich because an infuriated Paul Bryant was a persuasive witness who mesmerised courtroom observer oh it's crushed I mean I believe right now that took some years off coach brats life that's it that's the most ludicrous thing that ever happened in the world here's a team that you called the dogs off and it could have been 85 zip it was a cold smoldering anger I'm telling you it was almost something you could feel emanating from him he felt like he had been lied about he felt like he had been maligned and above all he felt like everything they said was just simply not true and I never will forget and I remember Bennie Marshall telling me that on the witness stand that that same just contained the violent anger just had that courtroom hushed coaches acting is so important in a makeup of coach great actor his crowning blows he's crying in a moment was that shoulder had set him up to testify by using some kind of notes on some kind of plays or something that they'd used in the game Brian reached in his pocket and got out his notes and began to further to research himself all over and he kept looking at him and and you know by that time he had the jury of middle class Georgia people just absolute sitting on the front of the seat he had him and Bryant searched himself and and on a stage whisper he said damn I left my glasses on the plane and four jumped up and said coach try mine the years Paul Bryant led Alabama were filled with conquering and controversial events from the 1950s and 1960s when he set the stage for winning on and off the field into the 1970s and 1980s when most observers recognized him as the greatest coach who ever lived through it all the crusty compassionate and comical man made it clear he was in charge of a football program he adored also he used his fame to become a grand ambassador he was making a trip to four dice for a funeral on the following day with a friend of his so this thing happened we got mixed up we got home from my office that day and the friend wasn't there so we waited an hour on him and he still didn't show up it turns out that Coach Bryant was supposed to pick him up at his house so we got that together we leave and we start over for dice and so he's got this bag of fish that he's gonna take with him he might want to eat some on the way and he's gonna get somebody to cook it for we get to a small town I don't recall the name of it but there's a restaurant up there all these cars are parked on he said that must be a good place to eat over there so we would pull over there mr. Morgan looked at me said it might be the only place he Billy you haven't thought about that you know but we go there and he goes in and everybody just stopped talking that was turn around look the man's there and he goes then he speaks goes over and talks to her later that's behind the counter won't know she could possibly fix some fish that he's got with him out there she said oh yes I can do it you know so I go out and get it and bring it back to us so all these people come on want autographs and everything and they start talking so he's got a whole big crowd over in the corner that they stopped shooting pin balls and all that kind of stuff and gets come on over there so he starts inviting these people you know why don't you just join us you know for the other night we got these few fish on a bag that's all we got so finally way to get up about ten I decided we better do something else I go back and escalated she'll cook a chicken or something else to go with it you know a couple of hamburgers and he does so when she brings it out there and I ended up eating a hamburger that's the first thing I went for I don't want to mess with that other stuff I didn't want the fish to run out and he said I ate it all up you know two nights ago I was watching TV Eddie Arnold was on on the show and he was discussing his son that they graduated from University of Alabama but during that time was in a severe car accident and I don't know the extent of this injury but apparently it was very bad and he mentioned that Coach Bryant visited his son and he said to my knowledge coach Bryant never came to Nashville that he didn't call me and to check on him and just say hello he said Mr Bryan always worked for his University where the Lingam used to go vote with the girl fall in my head or gazing happily go hood with you Alabama India I have always counted my blessings cuz I got my football with the powerful grants attack which go strong [Music] you have been apart [Music] be cheery the victor sometime tipping my hand and smile feeling Alabama [Music] right as I think of our teams on the field because I know in the darkest hour Alabama will never hear from the Sugar Bowl every stable I will always cherish [Music] you're you [Music] tipping my head and smile [Music] [Music] the Victoria's been served keeping my hair smell my [Music] now for the players we're only speaking of special type not ordinary folks but those who are hungry dedicated and have a genuine desire to excel and more important how great pride develop leaders who are self started let's say let's go instead of Sikkim winners that are not winners but don't know it we have had many players who played on championship teams who weren't winners in ability but they did not know it then played like winners he was a genuine hero whose legacy we'll never die we'll remember how your and it's good that someone was there like coach Bryant to grab you by the neck and grabbed you by the shirt and pull your back and straighten you out and not let you throw away an opportunity I had an opportunity to play football at Alabama and almost threw it away because of being a nonconformist and Coach Bryant is not going to put up with any kind of nonconformity you can even bet that and he disciplined to me when I needed it and it you look back at it if he hadn't I could have very easily thrown away what turns out to be a decent career in football he talked all the time about you can expect to get five or ten percent better every day and I think what that leads you to be it's not ever get complacent in life in any aspect of what you are doing you know a lot of people can get to the point where they want to rest on their laurels but with coach Brian and when he expected you to get five or ten percent better that helped you to keep from getting complacent even when we got in trouble got behind in the game you could see strength in his face you know you never saw the feet in him in his eyes when you looked at in and this is things that players that's who they look to as the head coach and brother you saw the fight there all the time and and that was something today that he really had he was such a competitive man you know and that that regards and the players could you know they drew strength from him immediately always on the sidelines they can that's who they look to and he had it [Music] like watch me on [Music] and it's hard as a coach Paul Bryant was a staunch disciplinarian with an uncanny knack for choosing the right people knowing how to deal with him on an individual basis and molding them into a team that often resembled a skillfully programmed machine as they often instructed his squads to expect the unexpected his players and staff members learned to anticipate the same from him Alabama coach Gene Stallings learned that as a Texas A&M player in 1954 when Paul Bryant conducted his famous preseason camp in Junction Texas so we go down to this training camp injunction in Jenna it was a pretty tough training camp but anyway it gets a lot of published and would come back and we're playing the first game against Texas Tech we lose 41 to 9 games over coach Bryant called some toes you know we need to go on to the room but all the Texas Tech players would have the girls and we didn't need dates and so forth following Monday one will go down to practice all of our game gear was in our locker which was unusual do you know they put on game gear on the money the manager came running around throat someone came running around said coach Bryant said put on the game gear and go I don't kow feel we didn't know bug he didn't practice on Kyle that's where he played so we sort of put on a game game we're also like a bunch of little sheep we saw to go out at the same time coach mines out there singing Jesus loves me Jesus I said Lord in trouble so you know then he calls us up he said they wouldn't have this loosening up taking exercises what he said when the game was over and balls right there and we gonna take up where we left off sir than that now that was a bad practice we didn't get beat for 2 1 9 anymore Liberty Bowl founder but Dudley learned about the colorful Paul Bryant in 1959 when Alabama arrived in Philadelphia by train to help launch that event and we met them at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia when they got off the train the coach wanted to know what kind of publicity they were getting I said well just fare the Philadelphia Eagles were more or less grabbing all the headlines and he said well let's have some fun he said but when we work out today said if you would get me 22 folding chairs and I said what do you want them for he said well I'll show you when we get down to practice so we went down to the Philadelphia Municipal Stadium which is now the John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia and he put 11 chairs on offense and 11 chairs on defense and he put his offensive team and the offensive chairs and the defensive team and he called a signal drill and the players merely with their feet motion in the direction they were supposed to go well the Philadelphia press were astounded by this they said well what is this and he said this is a lazy man's way of preparing for a bowl game so immediately all the cameras came out and pictures were taken and the next day the front page of all the Philippi papers had this great picture of the Alabama team sitting in chairs and this is how they prepare for a bowl game but this showed the ingenuity of this man I mean his he was a great promoter and he just captured the Philadelphia sports writers and that was sort of speaked the beginning of a long friendship I had with him Auburn coach Pat dye was shocked in 1965 when without experience he was asked to join an impressive Crimson Tide staff the most vivid memory I got a coach Brown was when I interviewed for the job and I'd never coached football day in my life and of course was excited about even being there much less have an opportunity to get the job and no you know I think the store's pretty well told about me wearing a brand new suit over there that I hadn't even cut the tags off of for the interview Richard Williamson and Jimmy sharp and dude Hennessy and they all finally got all the tax cut off I'm after we've gone to the soup store and had coffee and they'd all got a big laugh out of it but enjoying in and talking to coach Brown about I said about the job and I never coached football day in my life and I don't want to coach I don't know anything about coaching and I said the only thing I know about coaching is what I've learned playing and I just played you know so I said but I'll work and I you know I got a chance to continue playing but if I can come work for you to Alabama then I'd give up playing right now and he said you know what he said if if we hire you then we can't pay you much I said well I just got to feed my family I said I got a wife and two kids he said well now if we couldn't feed you we wouldn't hire you but I don't know whether he realizes how much to two young children maybe that one time because I made $6,000 a year I was for the graduate assistant makes now and but he he put me on a payroll that day it was 12th of June 1965 and I know if we get it he when I got through an interview he said he told me that he has to talk to dr. rose and make sure that it was all right with him and what he was doing was biting a little time with cold air the guys and tell him that he's you know he was going another way for us a job was concerned but when he got and when he gave it a job he said we don't let you watch your linebackers he didn't say coach he said we're gonna let you watch your linebackers and recruit over in Georgia Paul Bryant was at his best that year his defending national champions lost to Georgia on a controversial play in the first game struggled through September tied Tennessee during October and went on to become the number one team in the country with a victory over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl the pivotal ingredients were an early-morning practice and a motivational speech when we get over that morning you look at on a practice field and you can see coach Bryant's already out on the practice feeding just see this tall dark figure out there and the only thing he had he didn't even have his coaching outfit only just had his boots on and it's any street clothes well we get out there and they put that ball on 20-yard line he said okay what we're going to do is so we're gonna take this ball we're gonna knock it in and so we may not mean that offense we just we just we just clicked and then that was scored about three times and then and then he put the ball on the three yard line he called the defense out and he said okay now we're gonna play defense we're gonna stop the South fifth and scored the offense just and we went out on the field 30 minutes so and this is all leading up to the to the to the speech so that was on a Wednesday morning so on on on Thursday I mean we're we're just we up something you know our legs are tired and somebody had said something to somebody that talked to one of the coaches about you know our legs or or just we did tired we don't have any we don't have any speed or you know physically and mentally just whipped because of all this all this practice so one of the coaches said something like coach Brian about that that he thought that we were tired or just really I'll to back off a little bit so coach Bryant comes in and he makes this speech about well one of the coaches tells me that that you guys are really whipped up and you're really tired and you just don't know if you're gonna be able to take anymore he said well I just want you to know that I'm tired too he's I'm tired of putting up with y'all he said I'm tired of you reading the paper about how good you're supposed to be and and you really not any good and he said Here I am I'm trying to I'm trying to make you a better football team and he said what I want you to really understand though is he said you know 25 years from now when you're made and you got three kids you're gonna be tired then too you're not gonna wanna get up and go to work one more and your wife's gonna be sick your kids are gonna be sick and you know you're gonna have hospital bills and he said he said that's no difference in the way it is right now and I mean it was just one of those emotional things where you really started looking at things on down the road a little bit and you really didn't you really figured out that you weren't really as tired as you thought you were [Music] they call Paul Ryan superstar as a coach [Music] sport has changing place here different heroes come and go [Music] from Alabama was the best by the time Paul Bryant approached the age at which most people retire the determined demanding and daring coach had developed unparalleled skills and was improving in fact former Miami Dolphins star Bob Baum Hauer says a special meeting he had while at Alabama enabled him to become an all-pro defensive player this came after the out-of-shape Crimson Tide sophomore quit the team during pre-season practice because the coach demoted him to scout team status and his secretary showed us in and I was expecting him to be very excited to see me and was gonna you know try and find out what the problem seemed to be and try and work it out with me and that wasn't the way it was at all he he invited my father in and said hi mr. Baum are really good to see and glad you could make it and he looked at me and asked me what the hell I was doing there and kind of took me by surprise there and I said well coach I heard you want to talk to me goes his typical deep voice he goes he'll talk to you I don't want to see any quitter over here and he had turned everything around as far as my mind was concerned right from the get-go I was going there expecting him to ask me back and he's telling me asking me what the hell I'm doing in his office so he goes well since you're here go ahead and have a seat there I'm more interested in talking to father but I'll talk to you since you're here so basically what he did is he gave me an attitude adjustment in that meeting and I had it in my mind that I deserve to be a starter and that I deserve to be more than what he be somewhere where I wasn't on his depth chart I thought I should be on first-string and he had me all the way down at the scrub level so there was definitely a difference of opinion there but what he did through that meeting is up until that point I really had no direction as a football player I was happy to be a football player on the University of Alabama's team I didn't care how good I was I didn't care from one day to the next just how much effort I put out to be the best that I could be and it showed and coach Bryant's through that meeting explained to me that he didn't care how much ability I had he didn't care who I was that until I showed to him that I was willing to make the sacrifices to be the best that I could be I wasn't going to be a star for Alabama and by the time that meeting was over I'm the one had quit I'm the one who walked out he had me begging to come back it wasn't him offered me a job back I was begging him to give me a second chance and I really feel like as far as my football career and my attitude in general now that was a turning point for me and gave me the ability to focus and to set goals and to do the things that I later did for Alabama and with Miami and it's it's even affected me in my business my business senses and my business opportunities that I've had since then not only was Paul Bryant meticulous taking care of business in Tuscaloosa he developed a passion for winning games with traditional rivals like Auburn Tennessee LSU and Georgia Tech meanwhile those opponents marveled over the way he changed with the times and seemed to gain momentum as years passed the first year we beat Auburn which was in 1959 with scooter dice taking the ball and he was really ecstatic about that game I mean he felt like it he had sort of exorcise some demons I think Al and then felt like that we would be in charge from there on in 1961 with a National Championship at stake Paul Bryant became concerned the afternoon before a game against Auburn that his players would have footing problems on the hard turf at Legion Field in Birmingham so he took off his houndstooth hat put on a thinking cap and alleviated all fears and lo and behold the next morning at 7 o'clock we were awakened by the managers out at the Bessemer Holiday Inn where we stayed at 7 o'clock in the morning telling us the skill players to mete out in a parking lot coach Bryant wanted to talk to us well we had no idea what in the world was was coming coming off and coach Bryant had talked to Fred sinked and during the night or the morning to ask if there were any other types of shoes that he had that we might try to work on that field and they came out with a number of pairs of these Puma soccer shoes that had the soft rubber cleats with a with a white streak of Lightning down the side of him and they issued those to us and we ran plays and jumped around in the parking lot on asphalt for 30 or 40 minutes and it actually it worked like a charm and so with that he had Fred synched and call all of his stores around the state and any other sources and and had people bringing those shoes in and by game time we were able to to outfit most of the team with these with these shoes and they they worked amazingly well matter of fact this Albarn friend of mine who was in that game that day said when we hit the field for the first time and they looked across and saw these crazy-looking shoes on our feet they they felt like we had won up them one more time in 1981 just before he became the winningest coach in history with number 315 against Auburn the coach proved the anxiety of battling an intrastate rival could make him forgetful and we just had tons of requests for Auburn tickets that year and he ran out of tickets he said he just what in the world where did all those tickets go and everybody wanted tickets for that game that year big big game so about the end of January I went in his office and taken some dictation and he reached over and pulled out that top drawer and when he did the things in the back slid forward stack of 50-yard line homer tickets about that tall that it's led to the back when he closed his drawer and I mean you could have you could have sold them or everybody wanted him but it was hilarious and he just looked up he did not say one word just close that drawer back left him in there no other games aroused emotions in Paul Bryant like those played against Tennessee and while leading the Crimson Tide he had uncanny success against the big orange but in 1960 in Knoxville the coach had a nervous moment because of Tennessee kick returner Jim Cartwright he just rolled right up the sideline wide open and we had a fellow named Buddy Westland playing first and Buddy lit into him and he had guts running out all over him it's a tough but it was well he lit into Jim Cartwright and happened hit him right on the thigh and when he did it just knocked him cold his way well it happened real near our bench and I went of course running right there the doctors right there and all of a sudden I just I just felt this eerie presence over me and I look back in his coach Brian and but it was laying there knocked out and of course with him unconscious we didn't want to move him and everything all of a sudden we saw a little trickle of blood coming down his cheek and when we did coach Brock I just feel him then and over me and looking and peering at the lad and he said oh my god and unkilled one of after a tie in 1965 when a shocking pass out of bounds on fourth down denied Alabama the chance to kick an almost certain winning field goal in the final seconds the coach was livid when he got to the dressing room and saw his players standing outside a locked door coach Braun was right near me and I kept hollering hearing him holler he's hollering manager manager and that's a technique of course try to get the kids as a manager there he says open with the managers normally the first ones they unlock the dressing room have it opened the team comes in but for some reason other they hadn't gotten there he hollered about two more times there was about a 6-foot area that he could back off the fence he backed up against the fence and he drew back and kicked that door out of that dressing room and I mean is a big oak door with a great big Hoffman lock big as my little finger on the lock and he just splintered everything to get in that dressing room and I think that was the most impressive lesson learned out of that Tennessee game because those boys from then on had a feeling of urgency about how they practice how they played and so forth the following year an unsuspecting soul learned how Paul Bryant felt about games against Tennessee when at the airport the president of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce presented the coach with a travel packet like one vacationers might get coach Brian just ripped the top off the package reached down in there and pulled out this key chain and then he pulled out the key to the city and he finally got to this map and he said he looked at this map and he just kind of watered it up he said fellow we didn't come up here for no damn tour stuck it all back down the package and hand it back to it while many visitors to Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge feared games with LSU Paul Bryant used the hostile surroundings to his advantage he had no apprehension when going face to face with Mike the tiger and we all gathered around Mike the Tiger's cage and as just to kind of look at him and he was a pretty pretty magnificent animal so coach Bryant goes on and walks around the field like he like he typically did before gaming as he walked by the where we were all standing and looking at this tiger and he kind of just looked over his shoulder and said I don't know why the hell y'all are afraid of him he's 40 years old and turn around and walk I don't undress I mean it just kind of it just kind of eased attention and loosen this up a little bit unfortunately bad blood and the threat of Alabama dominance forced the suspension of the Georgia Tech rivalry in 1964 two years after Crimson Tide players had been pelted by whiskey bottles at Grant Field in Atlanta as we went out to walk on the field for the pregame Warner former coach Bonnie got all the way out of the dressing room door turning around and went back in and grabbed a helmet and put this football helmet on and here we are in suits and sport coats and walking around the field and Coach Bryant walking by the Georgia Tech student body with this big football helmet on and I don't know what words he muttered to him as he walked by but it was something like I'm ready for you this time or something to that effect in summary Paul Bryant the crusty compassionate and comical man has a long list of prominent individuals who believe strongly in him as a demanding determined and daring coach they include those who played for him at Alabama those who worked under him in the Crimson Tide program and those who observed him up close every day a lot of things I think made him great coach I think he was a great psychologist I really do I think he used a reverse psychology better than anybody I could ever imagine and great psychologist he was well organized he had an air about him I think his stature his voice and his the the genuineness well he was a man's man and and that's you know that's the way that's the way he that's where he lived his life and he's a you could say he was a maker of men because you know a week a week person couldn't stay around him and that's the same true with his players and you know he if anything and and I think that if he were sitting a day the same thing he might have been too tough on a lot of but I think his his overall philosophy of life is that and getting you ready for that you wanna make it tough as he could to get you prepared for whatever may come your way when you when you got off him on his wing he told me he didn't coach very well and say but his main thing was he could always pick good coaches and work them but I remember when he was done the stuff on the sidelines it worked out pretty good so I don't know I'm so happy to be asked to say a word or two about a good friend that I sorely miss and a legend that the world of sport mrs. Paul Bear Bryant he was truly one of the great legend the football fact some say he invented the game word had at them when he first started out the halftime activity featured the Lions and the Christians in fact all he knew was football players he never met a man with a neck when he went to Alabama he couldn't spell Tuscaloosa and within one season he owned it bear had a heart as big as the outdoors but on the outside he was rough and tough he one Spencer player when he heard him saying have a nice day and that was to his mother I mean his hounds tooth he was lined with real hounds teeth and there was no doubt about it Berra was interested in winning once he's through a player off the team for losing the coin toss and he prepared his winning team right at the training table he only put out food for half of him and Barrett was not only a tough competitor at football but also at golf I had the pleasure playing with him and let me tell you he played 18 holes and I had 12 mighty shots blocked and he won the 18th hole by using the hidden ball trick indeed Bear Bryant was and is a legend by all standards as a man a coach and a competitor a legend of strength Flair and respect as I think of our teams on the field because I do in the dark [Music] you know Billy varnon coach Bryant were extremely close and wherever coach Bryant went Billy went with him and they were hand-in-hand and you'd be walking down the hall one day and he said Billy let's do something even if it's wrong you know in a relaxed mood or what have him they'd leave the building but when Coach Bryant broke Staggs record he was honored in Washington and and there were going to be thousands of people in Washington with the honor I mean it was a black-tie affair and and of course Billy who drove coach running around everywhere Bill Ivana went with Coach Bryant took seat and everything and got to the function you know and and as they were coming down the entrance to the the function and everything everybody stood up and they were applauded them coming in tuxes and everything Billy was right there shoulder to shoulder come out walking in he went to the head table they honored coach Bryant and it was really an exhilarating function then and when it was over there was a standing ovation and they left the table and they were going back down an aisle and Billy and coach Bryant was still shoulders shoulder and and this guy stuck out an autograph pad and pencil to Billy varnon said sir can I have your autograph as they were going down the aisle there and so Billy you don't look around he said he started signing autographs and coach Bryant Lando and said Billy take your time I'll get the car there was a kid over in George and I can't recall the guy's name of South of Georgia coach Bryant we want to get him to go see the kid because the kid a kid admired mired him so much we felt like we might have a shot at him and coach Bryant told us he'd go over there but the one thing he didn't want to have to fly into his didn't land Airport and so we tried to arrange that word he could fly into a smaller Airport closer to the school and he said the other thing was didn't want anybody to know that he was coming the only person he won though was a kid in the coach so we tried to arrange that anyway we get in the university plane and we're heading over there and bad weather we have to land in Atlanta coach Brown real fun real happy about that and then we drive down to the school we get to the school and they've got the marching band the whole schools let out so that was such a good experience over he finally got back to the to the coaches offices back there and there must have been a dozen reporters from the Atlanta Journal and everybody's over there that you know Coach Bryant is coming to say this player and darn the door was open the press people trying to get in he finally just slammed the door I slammed the door when I caught one of those press guys fingers and I mean nearly ripped it off and we got back in the car and that was a long trip coming back I want to yeah I met we were playing in televise got matching coach Brian our playing Joe Namath Steve Sloan and I was playing pretty good and and asked coach Bryant what did you hit on this so when he said well you can't get their second shot I forget well anyway I knocked it classic green and and the fiction of putt it was a par-5 and Ruth Ann walked up my wife I'm coaching Texas A&M now anyway I three put to hold the next thing I know I see Ruth in believing I said where are you going she said coach Bryant's into the clubhouse I said do you mean he sent you the club last I said you know I don't work for coach Bryan anymore she said what he said you were playing pretty good till I showed up and that I should just go on back to the clubhouse and I said well then you came down here to watch she said I know where I'm going to clubhouse never been but preaching prices to pay they always show class every day it was on this practice field that Paul Bryant taught players how to win it was in an office not far away that he produced authoritative plans that led to him becoming the winningest major college football coach in history a distinction that seemed to make him larger than the sport still Paul Bryant was a genuine person perhaps one of the more down-to-earth humans who ever lived yes he walked with presidents but he was at his best with more common individuals perhaps that is why Paul Bryant always demanded that his players show class that they developed spiritually mentally and physically until they too were champions coach Bryant I always said football was like the game of life life is like the game of football and I haven't understood what he meant until just in the last few years and think about life as a football field and we started off on the Gold Line and as you progress toward the 20 and the 30-yard line that's your age and when you get to the 50 that's your peak and life and picture the football as things that happen to you as you live your life the blocks and the tackles are adversities that are thrown toward us and you know we always said there are five or six plays that determine whether you win a game or not those five or six plays are the decisions you make in life you're your mate your career that you choose your faith and as you go over the 50 toward that goal line the touchdown I think is the end of life for us and I just never understood exactly what he meant by but the game of football is exactly like life and he's right in those decisions our effect our life like it affected that whether you were victorious in the game of football and he always said expect the unexpected and how wise how wise he was it was a 1971 we played the University of Ole Miss and we won the game very handily that day it was extremely hot and I was on the kickoff team and I didn't play very well on that football game coach Bryan do it my assistant coach had coached me at the time knew it and coach Bryant the following Monday called me in his office and wanted to talk to me about that game in like any at that particular time college student I want to make some excuses why I didn't play well I told coach Brown I was thinking about quitting and he told me something that I've never forgotten even to this day he said if you quit the first time the second times a lot easier so that's something I've learned in life for early paul bryant and the charming mary harmon Bryant had the opportunity to leave Tuscaloosa many times one such occasion came at a struggling moment when the Crimson Tide was producing subpar records in 1969 and 1970 that was when the Miami Dolphins invited the coach from Alabama to lead that NFL franchise Paul Bryant seriously considered the offer in fact he signed a contract but tore it up because he could not tell the Alabama Board of Trustees that he was leaving his alma mater so Paul Bryant stayed at Alabama and became a champion in the purest sense winning a record 103 games during the 1970s he and the first lady of Crimson Tide football lived in this house at the time of his death where they shared many special moments on occasion they even watched football as fans O'Mara [Music] a lot of really long he's a fine person sure doesn't have a nice recruit - goodbye yeah [Music] he's probably response was that his fading way around being gross Totally Rad 120 backcross not even started with me the Baltimore so more like so many other Meopta watch the octave you not playing well no if you think they play there well I'm working so you said yes these dad wanna know why I wanna play I feel like you have a chance in the world and I said you don't believe me don't sending me how does Don Taylor known is [Music] this son he's about next batfish 52 3 my breath to think they were like more than me as well the shooter was gunned down and I went to see what penthouse the man was giving us and I'll look clubs that Blum dude and the keys and houses down there but I like a small town oh I don't like it I love it you know I live in the city if unless I could live like sunny world on Georgetown wanted somebody flying like Jordan Farmar no fingerprint a couple days you know I just couldn't new and see in green Canyon one son Sean Paul Bryant and his beloved Alabama had many glorious moments during the 1970s with old rivalries remaining intact and new rivalries developing with Southern Cal Notre Dame Penn State and Ohio State all of that happened after the incomparable champion rededicated himself to winning particularly mere hours after an astro blue bonnet ball tie with Oklahoma in 1970 making a change of a lifetime on a flight from Houston he decided to live or die with a wishbone offensive formation coach Bryant pulled at that big old leather briefcase he had that size of a suitcase pulled out that ever-present yellow legal pad in the big heavy black pin and I just watched him he started drawing up the wishbone just page after page drawing up the wishbone against different defenses and what was going on and so he switched to the wishbone when he brought their royal and his crew into Birmingham and the summer of 71 he called John Forney and made to Tuscaloosa and showed us of Texas training film and told us not to tell anybody but that was the offense that Alabama was going - I said between now and the fall he said yes Alabama became the talk of the nation during the 1970s with three national championships and the Crimson Tide produced the most dominating period in Southeastern Conference history in the 1973 Sugar Bowl and the 1974 Orange Bowl Alabama lost by one point and two points respectively to Notre Dame meanwhile Paul Bryant picked up a legion of admirers among the Fighting Irish when I got to Notre Dame I was amazed how the people there loved coach Bryant from father Hesburgh father Joyce Jean Corrigan that leg director coach mouths just people and gentle people in town I don't think a day pass that I wasn't asking about coach Bryant or didn't talk about him you know and then a natural even notre dame does to st. Louis to Phoenix you know it was always there he was a powerful man a very influential man across the country and in football the Alabama during the years that Coach Brown was here there was a brand of football played at Alabama that was very unique in a lot of ways and and people liked it they identified with Alabama football particular coaches high school coaches around the country but at Notre Dame they haven't had a picture of coach Bryant in the ACC the Athletic Complex there and a friend and a letter frame that he had written father Joyce after one of the big games a couple years after coach Bryant had had passed away we'd played Southern Cal on the campus there at Notre Dame and in the dressing room afterwards father Hesburgh came in the president Notre Dame shaking hands with all the players and the coaches and when he kind of got around to me we were finished in a minute he had a hat on that looked a lot like something that Coach Bryant world and I said well father you look mighty handsome in that hand he said thank you mouse that Paul gave it to me in 1975 the Crimson Tide played Joe Paterno coached Penn State in the Sugar Bowl starting a super intersectional rivalry while there were many memorable games Alabama fans best recall a happy national championship showdown in the 1979 Sugar Bowl he called him five times that night said you know really ain't worth whoo somebody's gonna beat us not sure we're like would it be a good team that did it you know he talked to him four or five times on the phone that night Joe Paterno bit and cameras sure well one of the more pleasing victories for Paul Bryant came in the 1978 Sugar Bowl a head-to-head confrontation with Woody Hayes of Ohio State 3rd ranked Alabama 135 to 6 then was dismayed when Notre Dame jumped from fifth to first in The Associated Press poll things happen during and after that game that tell us a lot about the champion that a part of the third quarter where we're standing there and I think our defenses on the field at the time and they announced that Notre Dame was leading Texas like 40 to 14 or something like this and immediately when he heard that you know he looked at me real quick and we just kind of locked eyes and he said I he said I don't know whether to run the score up on the Ohio State or play everybody and we just kind of kept looking at each other nice time gonna play them all I spent three or four days at shubo with coach Brian is Brian suing I did and before the game and after the game and of course I never will forget what I set out to the ball game you know the you know it's right along about the time that woody was thinking about retiring and so forth and the announcer kept talking to coach Brown about coach Hayes woody and whom I said no I don't think this ballgame has anything to do with well I'm the best coach you would is the best coach and whatever said this is just one ballgame I said would is a great coach he's been a great coach for a long time he turned I started walk off and turned back around at a camera he's in behind Dube it either no matter how spectacular his accomplishments Paul Bryant refused to rest on his number one laurels he constantly reminded staff members and players that the next game was the only one that mattered regardless how successful he was he was never satisfied he never reached a plateau you win a national championship the normal person feels well you know we've done a great job and we had a great year so everything's gonna be fine I'll have a great summer and spend the summer in Europe and so forth he was never that way after a great year he was back in it just as hard in the spring is he would have been if he'd have been forward six such commitment was evident throughout his career particularly during the latter stages it led Alabama to victory over Penn State in the 1979 Sugar Bowl when a famous goal line stand proved to be the difference then the following season it kept the aging champion motivated as another number-one Crimson Tide team defeated everybody it played including Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl point out to them that they don't have to win but there's a great difference in the rewards from winning than in losing a game that cannot be played over has to be lived with for life point out that only special people win consistently there's very little difference in being eras in being a champion the champion has a winning attitude on and off the field if you have a totem pole it's crowded at the bottom and in the middle but there's plenty of room at the top as Paul Bryant entered his fifth and last decade as a coach he was on a determined drive to become the winningest in history at the collegiate level he had such a national following that he commanded respect everywhere as a nationally known sportscaster discovered on a visit to Tuscaloosa before an interview he boasted about all he would ask the bear was led to the directed to the sofa the famous sofa that all journalists know where you sat down and you just kept going down and so you're looking up at coach Bryant is if you weren't intimidated enough already and and he started it you know coach Bryant there was no bear anything that hurt you and when he came out he said god I have never been so intimidated and I think that's that was not an uncommon situation in 1981 the magic number was 315 the victory Paul Bryan needed to pass Amos Alonzo Stagg as the winningest collegiate coach in history that quest brought discomfort for a tired coach his health was failing he had given football his all and felt somewhat empty when reflecting on how he never really had time to get to know his next-door neighbors my entire life that way really when I think back are you worrying all the time or you miss out on the children the grandchildren you worry about football I mean my life is they've been avoiding it and I don't know what that board is but nothing about it now but there was something Paul Bryant could still do for his players he continued to touch those laboring under him in a special way as he had those before them and he offered a generous thank-you by providing education for many of their sons or daughters as of right now he has in place and has had in place prior to his death and certainly something that's really important is the paul bryant endowed scholarship fund this is for the children both my own female of his past players this has been a great aid to allow the children of his ex players to me this shows his real real interest in them getting an education but more than anything helping those that have helped him over the years while Paul Bryant liked being in the spotlight at times mostly on game days his quest for victory number 315 put him in a precarious position truth is he was embarrassed by the attention and constantly reminded folks that his players had done the winning but as uncomfortable as Paul Bryant might have been before in during the final game of the 1981 regular season he was charming and gracious when it was over an Auburn coach Pat dye offered congratulations the governor car just called me and I mean the governor Carla well Regan - would you have a car though she'd appreciate that more oh sure is always great that's all a lot betting in down front and breezing through honey does player more good - more helpful them in their future you know they're gonna get behind sometime down the road when they're trying to make a living the point I'll be carrying them off the wood of us strong enough no I sure didn't I just I could better give me time and I'd have enough strength I take them all one at the time staying midnight to do it I so proud of them coaches to Paul Bryant was weary and in failing health when his final season arrived in 1982 in August his doctors advised him not to coach another year but his commitment to Alabama and his players left him no option except to continue he made himself our willed himself to make it through the year and I believe he did I believe he just had a tough mentally that he made himself lived by golly until he finished that season because he just decided he wasn't ready to die until season's over and but he knew I think that he was limited in time what I saw the last year of his life there was a man and very bad help that only the will to live carried him through the last part of that he was so ill the last season that I really was very concerned about him he would lie down in the mornings and then at noon for a short time just for some rest and I really thought there in the like first part of October that he wouldn't get up and then one day dr. hill came in and coach Bryant buzzed me he said would you get a coach go straight for me and I said yes sir he said I need him to bring some band-aids up I said coach I've got some right here in my desk I'll bring them that's okay that's fine so I go in and dr. hill has given him an injection and from that day he gradually got better and that was about three weeks before we played over the year before he died and he got a little bit better every day and by after Auburn came I thought man we have got it made he's going to be ok you know he's so much better and the day he had his news conference announcing his retirement was the best I saw him look in quite a while he was totally in charge felt well looked looked well and about five weeks after that I went home on a Monday afternoon at 4:30 and not knowing that be the last time I saw him for a while it looked as if Paul Bryant would will his team to another national championship the Crimson Tide was ranked number one when it played Penn State in October but the coach insisted Alabama was not that good perhaps he knew that when he used a magical touch motivating his players before a convincing victory over the Nittany Lions for sure the champion was not pleased when many squad members showed up for the pregame meal not wearing ties we come down for the pregame meal and they come walking in they've all got sport coats on and dress shirts but no ties so we're all sitting there again he's puffing his long Chesterfield he looks out over there and the waiter comes in and it's waiting for goose goose treat the trainer to give him the nod and he stands up and he said wait a darn minute of course he didn't say darn he said I thought we traveled in coats and ties and shirts and ties and coats where is your Titan who ain't got a tie on get out of here they had bell boys and waiters and whatever you want to call it and they had I think he was seen around hotel/motel had a real big exaggerated bow ties some had string ties some of our fans our alumni in the coffee shop there they're taking ties and everything off I think the wives naturally traveled with us and I know Coach Bailey's wife Miller stood on a balcony she must have thrown three or four tires off the balcony it didn't matter whether it was a play at a solid coat a solid tie and a plaid whatever they came in you know I'm never one of the great athletes you know let's say our free safety or our starting quarterback came in and he looked like Captain Kangaroo he had the yellow rope tie on it was about that big and he stood up and looked around and everyone just carried that they've got to beat national TV Penn State Joe Paterno we're gonna add to the number we're gonna get closer to the 323 and he looked and he said dammit you look better now and the whole squad the trainer's and the managers and all just burst out in a big laugh everyone ate real good went to the stadium and played excellent that afternoon then the bottom fell out on Alabama down the stretch the Crimson Tide lost to Tennessee for the first time in 11 years to up-and-coming Southern Miss to LSU for the first time in 11 years and to Auburn for the first time in 10 years for a variety of reasons bad health included Paul Bryant knew it was time to quit as realized by his successor ray Perkins very tired worn out a guy that had spent himself you know a lot of years and spin himself and really with with one concern and that and that was trying to teach other people how to win ultimately it came down to a final practice on Thomas field in Tuscaloosa and a final game against Illinois in the Liberty ball in a sense it was the beginning and the end as Paul Bryant returned to the bowl game he had helped launch in 1959 it was cold in Memphis as an international audience watch the great champion from Alabama go foreign get a final victory on what Liberty Bowl founder but Dudley recalls as an emotional evening I think it was probably the most historic college football game that has been played in modern times there was a tremendous amount of the national press and attention and we really were inundated with press requests for the game in our Stadium couldn't hold the number of people that weren't coming in from all over the country and we set up all sorts of temporary facilities particularly after the game when it was over we couldn't handle the press in the normal locker room size so we through the efforts of Charlie Thornton who we asked to come and help us out with the depress problems we set up a tent adjacent to the stadium and when the game was over there's so many people try to surround the coach and congratulate him and hug them and so forth that it took us a long while to get him to the tent and when he arrived he was you could tell he was rather tired and worn out it was a the most interesting press conference I guess I've ever attended proud or where you stand I told before the game committed whether they wanted was it like it or not of what I like this team would always remember them to this game always normally to this case well the circuit deals are for guys like Mike have a look at that my last roundup I think it away [Music] whatever [Music] Alabama players were inspired that night and they delighted spectators with their intensity meanwhile fans watched while feeling both joy and sadness Plus with gratitude for what Paul Bryant had contributed to football when the final game and the hoopla surrounding it subsided the champion returned to his hotel suite and did a lot of sentimental thinking it really was like a movie scene no I'm serious about that coach Brian was sitting in a straight chair in the middle of the room which is a fairly big room and there are doors and there's a bar set up Billy Varner was there and Paul Brown jr. and then just us and that was wrong nobody ever Wyatt for whatever reason I don't know but we were it and he finally turned around to me and he was just great he was a shinny Turner and they said do you think it's a good game for TV and I said coach Lord year we came from behind it was exciting and you know the tribute to you is he will carry it off the fields something anyone who was there will never forget and he said well I'm glad and anyway one of the things that that touched me was I have we told him we said coach we came in the same time the team did and said though I said those boys had just jumping up down they were so happy and he said John or we're saying the world would be for them to have lost this game he said not for me but for themself for Paul William Bryant triumph turned into tragedy for those who loved him ecstasy turned into agony less than a month after his final game the greatest of them all was dead the victim of heart failure a nation grieved his passing but with the assurance the man the coach and the champion had mastered life and had taught those fortunate enough to have been around him the secrets therein he just told me up so the only way you could put it because he was he was just a one-of-a-kind that man he's just he meant a lot to so many people and then I realized if you were against him you could pick out all kind of things that are on bad with him but if he was for you buddy you ever watch what makes it so bad is it was so unexpected at that time see I've been up there all night and up there that morning and I've gone over the house and brought his daughter back to singing and she talked to her he'd given me messages and he was laughing and joking that morning and after his daughter visited with him I drove her back home and I said well I can go on I felt like everything was all right so I went home and I got there and I said that he called Linda and let her know where I am in case you know she needs about something but I called her back and found out that he'd taken a turn and that was within an hour after I left there and I went back up there and it was gone the most touching heart-rending thing I've ever been through was the drive from First Methodist Church in downtown Tuscaloosa down 10th Street which is now Paul Bryant dry seeing little children from kindergarten from Grandma scoo seeing nurses surgeons on the side of the street doctors people that didn't really know why they were there particularly but they love Paul Bryant a live album football and there were many many faces that I looked into that had never seen an Alabama football I saw an old man with overalls owned on his front porch sweeping the front porch and as our procession came by tears were rolling down his face he probably never met coach Bryant or so face to face but he was crying for that man that had died we went down McFarland Boulevard there's a little kindergarten class with red hearts in their hands I love you bear we miss you better and it was a sad sad time for all of us you know you think it's somebody it's big as life that huge aura that surrounded him the person that he was you know you think will live forever you know and it was almost like the first thing that came to my mind was well I've broken all the records as a winningest coach of all time and done everything that I can do as a coach but it's time to go a civilian I don't think he would have been he didn't want to be mean I'm through coaching so I'm through here that was the first thought that I had going to something else at a different place you know and it's just unfortunate I mean everybody has to but you know somehow you you think he's still around you ran from backwoods Arkansas to play for the night Crimson Tide not knowing his fame as a coach would grow he did why he was a genuine hero whose legacy we'll never die slip away which rise all will remember how [Music] watch me on his head [Applause] and it's hard the pound [Music] secrets of winning championships blue miss them so much today [Music] never pair taught them how to be by preaching prices to pay insisting they'd always show class every day and in every way from his tower he watched them grow champions known as the Crimson Tide every same as a football coach [Music] his eyes dear [Music] possible wisdom to play secrets of winning championships for those of us who miss him [Music] then I'll remember they're near snake they called Paul Ryan superstar as a coach sport has changing places different heroes coming home the man from Alabama was the best [Music] and it's hard to sound [Music] secret winning so much [Music] person wins secrets of winning championships for those who miss him so much today [Music] you you [Music] you you

Channel: theleeoverstreet

Views: 45,456

Rating: 4.843678 out of 5

Keywords: Bear Bryant, Alabama, football, Paul Bear Bryant, college football, coach, Crimson Tide, 1970's, VHS, university, nostalgia, 1960's, documentary

Id: kco4CWBJzIQ

Length: 102min 44sec (6164 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 31 2019