Monday, September 28, 2009

Coach Bear Bryant and His Impact

By Fred Ashland

Alabama has had some great winners over the years, and has produced the top football players to ever come out of college football, not one of them can compare to one coach who changed the face of college sports forever, and that is Paul "Bear" Bryant.

BEAR BRYANT

The first person that you most likely think of when you hear something about Alabama football, it is likely you think of Bear Bryant. At one point, Bear Bryant was the winningest coach in college football ever. This legendary coach served the Crimson for 25 years. In this period of time, Brian was phenomenal with six national championships and 13 SEC conference championships.

As as head coach, Bear Bryant had several college jobs such as Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A& M before he at last had the opening to give back to his alma mater, the University of Alabama. So stimulated was Bear Bryant, that he distinctively was quoted as saying, "Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin'."

It was a change of atmosphere when Bryant came back to Tuscaloosa. In 1958, Paul Bryant took over as head coach , and began leading it to its previous Rose Bowl-style success but achieved even to greater heights. Producing well-known players like Pat Trammell, Big John Hannah, Snake Stabler, Joe Namath, Lee Roy Jordan, Billy Neighbors, Bob Baumhower, Johnny Musso,, and many others.

Overall, Bear Bryant was a dazzling motivator and knew how to make his football players to do what he wanted them to do. Florida A&M coach, Jake Gaither said of Bear Bryant, "He can take his'n and beat you'n, and he can take your'n and beat his'n." The motivation wasn't just on the playing field, the inspiration passed into life also by the nature he instilled in his players like big John Croyle, who founded the faith-based Christian Big Oak Ranch for unfortunate children in Springville, Alabama.

The very last year that he coached Alabama, 1982, was a down year for Alabama and Bear couldn't see himself coaching Alabama into mediocrity. He always said that if he give up coaching that he "wouldn't last a week." In actuality, he didn't last much longer than that, only 37 days. On January 26, 1983, Bryant died of a heart attack at age 69 and many attended his funeral. Public officials estimated that in the range of a half-million to a million individuals were lined all along the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to the burial ground in Birmingham that was only blocks away from Legion Field.

The Legendary Man Changed Alabama and The World

Bear's heritage lives in the players that are now growing older and the fans that consider his championship heart. Not only that... He helped smash segregation in the South's football universe, and in doing so, helped turn the Alabama around from intolerance to magnificence. Not only that, he changed the world to a better place. Roll Tide!

About the Author:

0 comments:

Post a Comment