He is a man. You had more fun on that job. Bryant has been married for 50 years to UA classmate Cherry Handley Hicks Bryant. Four loud slaps. 'We give thanks to God for his personal strength in leading men and the tenderness with which he could touch a child,' the Rev. The walls are covered with certificates and mementos of his service. That's been scrubbed for posterity. The sound gets louder. Sure did. (AP Photo), Press Photo Mel Allen At Bear Bryant Funeral In Birmingham, Mel Allen - Birmingham - Bear Bryant Funeral. Bryant has been called by critics "Little Bear" or "cub," terms which seemed aimed at diminishing him compared to his legendary father, who Bryant calls "Papa. [1] His father, Bear Bryant, was an American football player and coach. It's lunchtime. Later that night, she'd get the inevitable call. Barra found himself attacked for describing one bender at the 21 Club in New York City. 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. They married right out of high school. I'm not much better than other people, but the timing might have been good on some things.. Susie would come home -- she worked with mental patients in a local hospital -- and see Billy's traveling bag gone. #RollTide pic.twitter.com/C5wakg73d7. We made ice cream, one time. SUFFOLK - Paul Bryant Jr., 67, retired employee of Perry Lumber Co., died Saturday, Dec. 14, 1996. She answers for him when he seems lost. Sometimes his mind is clear as a crystal. "That's him up there," he says. Trump avoided . Bryant asked whether there might be enough for him. Bryant realizes his business career got off to a quick start, and that his family ties were an asset. Having football competitive and doing well, and so much more than that is (when) we're maintaining at a championship level every year, it makes it easier on businesses around the state, I promise you. In addition, he chaired the committee that hired Dr. Robert Witt, past President of The University of Alabama and retired Chancellor of The University of Alabama System. 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. "I'm not sure I've enjoyed all of it. 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. Paul Bryant, Jr., who traveled with his former K-9 partner Azeem to Ground Zero to search for missing persons shortly after the attacks of . It is unknown how much, if any, of his money has gone to UAB over the years, although it is common place for many of the board's wealthier members to give substantial gifts to all three schools in the system. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. "Right there with the hat on, in the middle. "The white hat. He was 69. He dropped him off at night. Perhaps more interesting, calls, emails and text messages to other trustees, senior UA system officials, and business associates seeking conversations about Bryant also went unanswered. She was accompanied by her son, Paul Bryant Jr., and daughter, Mae Martin Tyson. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. He said he asked Esquire for a retraction, but William M. Adler, the freelance writer of the article, said he stood by the story. [2] He serves as its chairman.[6]. Twenty-eight days later, on a Tuesday night, Billy's phone rang. He was 18. We get hints. The pictures on the wall hold him. [1][2] By 1995, they were incorporated as GreenTrack, Inc.[4] As of 2009, he owned 72% of GreenTrack. Bryant Jr.,today, is perhaps as close as we get to someone who seemingly fits the meaning of Churchill's quote: something or someone that is immensely puzzling to figure out or extraordinarily complex to fully understand, often relying on hyperbole and occasionally sarcasm to describe. In 1996, 14 years after Bryant died, he retired from the University of Alabama Police Department. The local paper interviewed him, and Billy cried. A houndstooth car is just the beginning. But I got outvoted. (AP Photo). 'Well, that's my first name!" He said he had to rest. To shoot him, they had to get me first.". All he has to show for two decades of service are his memories, and even those often hang just out of reach. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. In 2005, Bryant founded Bryant Bank. [2] Bryant is also the President of Greene County Greyhound Park. That's what he called him, like it was a Southern debutante's double name. PAUL BRYANT OBITUARY Paul Dean Bryant Jr., 47, of El Mirage, Arizona, passed away on April 15, 2006. A decade ago, speaking of efforts by UAB to decrease its athletics department deficit, Bryant offered: "You can put any spin you want on it, but if you aren't selling tickets, the money isn't there.". He's been on the board for 13 years or so. Persistent Link for this Record:https://lhlphotoarchive.org/ark:/16417/th71m0q2fr6vl, University of Kentucky LibrariesSpecial Collections Research Center. Sometimes it cloud up and rain.". Billy is asleep. It's a spotlight Bryant works hard to avoid. (AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr.), College football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, wearing black coat, observes his team Alabama Crimson Tide after they defeated Illinois 21-15 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 30, 1982. John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs, https://lhlphotoarchive.org/ark:/16417/th71m0q2fr6vl, This item is 1 of 3716 items in the series ". Bryant bought seafood dinners for everyone there, and Billy cracked later, "It was like you were handing out loaves and fishes." The origins of the Lexington Herald-Leader can be traced back over 130 years to the Lexington Daily Press. NFL combine Day 2 recap: Which draft prospects are rising? She was 19. I always felt if somebody was after him, they'd come at him from the front. ph, Casket of Alabama coach Paul Bear Bryant at the Elwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Ala. Friday Jan. 28, 1983. Bryant's first high-profile public venture, joining the UA board of trustees, was controversial. It's a cult. It was lowered into an underground vault later. ear Bryant surrounded himself with people he could trust, and he trusted nobody more than Billy Varner, a tough, barrel-chested African-American. But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. Bryant entered Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa on January 25, 1983, after feeling chest discomfort. When an assistant coach told him in 1970 that Vince Lombardi had died, Bryant spoke of regrets, and it shocked his friend. As Billy's memory fades, that knowledge disappears with it, widening the gulf between truth and imagination. I think he wanted to be his own man, McNair said. Kun kytt sivustojamme ja sovelluksiamme, kytmme, tarjotaksemme sivustomme ja sovelluksemme sinulle, todentaaksemme kyttjt, estksemme roskapostia ja vrinkytksi sek toteuttaaksemme tietoturvatoimia. A crowd of 5,000 -- many dressed as though for an Alabama football game -- watched in eerie silence as the grim-faced young pallbearers carried Bryant's flower-blanketed casket to the grave. Billy picked him up in the morning. 'And not just the leader of Alabama football players, but of the whole nation.'. It follows the changing urban landscape of Lexington, the agricultural, tobacco and horse racing industries, key national events such as World War II and Vietnam, as well as notable regional and national figures. February 22, 1991 to January 2, 1993. The Birmingham News, Bear Bryant funeral at First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, AL. "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. Your account has an invalid email address. I didn't do either of those. Roll Tide!" 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Fans watching T.V. Billy Varner has been married to Susie for 57 years, and as her life was once spent waiting on him to get home from a job that didn't know hours or days off, now it's spent managing his dementia. Alabama-Air view of cemetery at "Bear" Bryant's funeral. Bryant said that he never made the remarks and that the entire article was fabricated. "Bryant." 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. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Had he done that, one of those who answered back would have been Paul Francis Murray of Mobile. He'd eaten some sausage, and it upset his stomach is all. The pitch of his voice starts to drop again, wavering between the treble of here and the deep bass of gone. The young people in the photo above waited at a tombstone, while those in the photo below watched television coverage of the funeral at Tuscaloosa. Varner drove over, helped get Bryant to the hospital. "Coach Bryant used to be the coach at Alabama," he says. For many years, Bryant has been accused of running the Alabama board of trustees like a family business, "holding secret meetings, shrugging off public records requests, ignoring or sidestepping the law. A lot of them we've got don't hunt because they're older. Bryant established two dozen operating companies and over 50 real estate ventures and syndicates. "I know I've made this journey," he told a reporter just before his final season. "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key: That key is Russian national interest.". He took a month off, trying to figure out how Coach Bryant would tell him to deal with his grief. He never talked about the private things he'd seen. Not yet anyway. He focuses on the shot from the Liberty Bowl. "My dad says he named me Bryant so that I wouldn't grow up to be an Auburn fan. Twenty-four? 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Air view of cemetery at "Bear" Bryant's funeral. There he is. "I went and bought me one of those. When things happened, and you were there ". Bryant got the name right; "Susie" was scrawled on the outside. Watts has said he, not University of Alabama System trustees made the decision to shut the football program down. T [9] A CBS story from December 2014 reported that Bryant Jr. was partially responsible for shuttering the UAB Football program, reportedly over a long-standing grudge with Gene Bartow over a 1991 letter to the NCAA[10] - and "out of fear it might one day challenge" the football program his father had built.[11]. Kobe Bryant Announces Fourth Daughter on the Way with Wife Vanessa In January, the retired basketball star, 40, rung in the new year with a special announcement featuring a gold, sparkling . Billy was worried, and maybe that's why he offered a rare piece of insight to a local reporter. He's following me. * This list only holds up to 10 photographs. They found one in Paul Bryant Jr., the son of the legendary Alabama head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. And yet they don't, and they almost certainly won't. They were traveling, and Billy said he needed to get home for supper. The LHL photographs are an unparalleled source of photographic evidence of the many historical, cultural, and industrial changes that have shaped Lexington and its surrounding region. 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. 19572 posts. "It's my daddy's middle name!" Mrs. Bryant was dressed in a simple black dress and veil. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. The collection also contains associated newspaper clippings, job sheets, and hand-written photographers' notes. Knowles began canceling the next two weeks of Coach's schedule. 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. 2/28/2023 6:52 PM PT. He took care of business, and he kept everything to himself, even after Bryant died. That's nothing. But that's how it goes with family, and all those people out there today with Papa's name, that's what they are: family. Try 100. Who makes up the University of Alabama Board of Trustees? He was there with his daughter, Carlin Bryant Parker, who was obsessed with those carnival games. While his portfolio seems diverse, Bryant sees a common thread in some of his most successful undertakings: banking, gaming and reinsurance (basically insurance for insurance companies) are all highly regulated. Billy sits up, his voice and cane rising at the indignity. It's been a good experience and I've made a lot of very close friends on the board, he said. Somebody comes up to do something to Coach Bryant, they're gonna have to get me first. At the request of Bryant's wife, Mary Harmon Bryant, the motorcade passed Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide's home field, and drove within sight of Legion Field in Birmingham, scene of many of his greatest victories. Each rising sun takes a little more from the couple who live in the small brick home southwest of downtown. Vanessa Bryant just received a heck of a lot more money from L.A. County after her initial $15 million win last year . Acknowledged by the National Park Service and leading conservationists as the foremost American heritage land preservation organization, the Civil War Trust is known to be the largest and most effective non-profit devoted to the preservation of Americas battlegrounds. Health facilities -- Kentucky -- Lexington. 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.. It was the university football team.". You want a window into Bear Bryant's power in the state of Alabama? They know you've been vetted pretty well.. Paul William Bryant Jr. (born c. 1945) is an American banker, investor and philanthropist from Alabama. Knowles cries every time. 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. Sitting with Paul Murray was his cousin, Mary Harmon Hilburn, granddaughter of Bear. USCALOOSA, Ala. -- Something important is being lost. I'd travel with him to the games. He worked security at games, no longer inside the circle. That's what I like when I've got a chance to get away.. Look at the UA System Trustees website and you will see the names of 15 permanent trustees, but only 14 photos. University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center. I looked at him like, 'What the hell you think I'm here for?'". Yes, Bear died, but He is risen. There are also a ton of Pauls and Paulas. . Sanders Memorial at The University of Alabama honoring alumni who served the Confederacy. "If you're gonna be in, be all-in," explained James Turner, Bryant Denny Turner's father. Trustees blocked the hiring of good coaches, limited spending on facilities and opposed a new on-campus stadium for the football team, critics contend. I'm not as big on killing stuff as I am finding it with the dogs. Also, members of the 27-member Black Legislative Caucus unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to Bryant's appointment, saying he was insensitive to minorities because of comments attributed to him in a 1989 Esquire magazine profile. He smiles and clacks his cane. He laughs and claps his hands. 'I think Coach Bryant was the greatest leader this country ever had,' said his former All-America and Dallas Cowboy linebacker Lee Roy Jordan. ", These are the stories she can tell. 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? "Don't tell me he's dead.". Because this is my wife and it's her middle name! Bryant served as the chairman of the Civil War Trust. One grandmother introduced her preschool-aged grandson, Hayden Bryant Kennedy, this way: "If I'd had my way, he'd be Nicholas Bryant Kennedy." There is certainly regret in Bryant's choice of devotional. he man Billy Varner is remembering has very little in common with the Bryant who is beloved by so many Alabama fans. As she talks, there's a noise down the hall, a rattle of movement and the thump-thump of a cane on the floor. "[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. "Because my wife's favorite movie is 'Sweet Home Alabama' and what's-his-name [Josh Lucas], his hound dog was named Bryant for Coach Bryant and our dog looked just like the dog from the movie. The roots of this bond, like many things with Bryant, are full of mystery, myth and misinformation. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Young man gives final salute to Coach "Bear" Bryant. I enjoy those, have a lot of them around the house. Gov. re: Help me understand the power of Paul Bryant, Jr. Posted on 12/2/14 at 9:47 pm to weagle99. 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. Paul W. Bryant Jr. was running a minor league baseball team before he was 25 years old. When he came back, he was a regular campus policeman. For his philanthropic efforts, Bryant became the inaugural recipient of the Racing Commissioners Humanitarian of the Year Award by the organization of State and Canadian Racing Regulatory Commissions. His first job was as general manager of the Birmingham A's of the Southern League. "Coach Bryant isn't dead," he'll say. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. But he never played football past age 12 because of a health issue -- he contracted hepatitis. Once, when a state trooper clocked Varner speeding, Bryant stuck his houndstooth hat in the back window. "Do you remember?". "Paul 'Bear' Bryant was my great-grandfather," the eighth-grader said with pride as he sat in his great-grandfather's museum, in a conference room decorated with oil paintings, bronze busts and even a marionette of the man behind his name. Sometimes they didn't. Connelly's C-USA preview, part 2: Which returning teams could rule new-look league? Paul William Bryant Jr. (born c. 1945) is an American banker, investor and philanthropist from Alabama . "He could eat pheasant under glass with the president," he said, "or he could eat cheese and crackers with the boys out by the caddie shack, and he'd enjoy it all just the same. "Too many football games," he says. Bryant coached the Tide for 25 years, from 1958 to 1982. Collectively, it saved 41,000 acres of battlefield land in over 120 states during Bryants board tenure. John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs. The University of Alabama System: Board of Trustees: Paul W. Bryant Jr. Greenetrack shareholder lawsuit alleges president, management misused funds, Four stockholders file suit against Greenetrack CEO and board officers. You start thinking about what you could have been doing. Missing? She sits down and tells the story her husband can no longer tell. He co-authored two books about American football in 2013. "Yes, sir, we've got Paul and Bryant covered right there in one house.". Robert Witt has worked with Bryant for the last 10 years, first as UA president and more recently as chancellor of the UA system. Stewart. I had a four- or five- or six-year head start on them. Paul Bryant was the 11th of Wilson Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant's 12 children born in Moro Bottom, Cleveland County, Arkansas. By 1977, he established GreeneTrack, dog racing track located in Greene County, Alabama,[1] with A. Wayne May, a veterinarian, and Sam Phelps, a lawyer. 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. Joe Namath - Bear Bryant Funeral. omething remarkable happens when Billy figures out where the den is located -- at first, he stood in the living room confused while Susie called his name over and over -- and inches down the hall, through the kitchen where Coach sat one time for supper, into a room decorated with photographs of Bear Bryant. 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." "It's really important to the state that we have a successful football program. They sat in the kitchen down the hall and ate and laughed. Billy sits in his big brown chair and looks at an oddly familiar man. John C. Wyatt established and maintained the collection's original organizational scheme. (AP Photo), Press Photo Woody Hayes At Bear Bryant Funeral, Woody Hayes - Bear Bryant Funeral. That's a no-no.". 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.