This old video lets you know a splash about Coach Bryant and how he was. That 1979 team that beat Auburn went on to go 12-0 and win a national championship, but he makes sure to compliment Auburn on how well they played.
Tomorrow marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Coach Bryant’s death. I had forgot, but my dad called me today to remind me (he is always good to remind me about when things are) and to tell methat WBRC had an archive of the footage from the funeral and the special they aired the night Coach Bryant died.
When he passed, Howell Raines wrote in the National Review that:
To have been in the city of Tuscaloosa in October when you were young and full of Early Times and had a shining Alabama girl by your side—to have had all that and then to have seen those red shirts pour onto the field, and, then, coming behind them, with that inexorable big cat walk of his, the man himself, The Bear—that was very good indeed.
I was about a week shy of my eighth birthday and with my momma in the old TG&Y in Forestdale Square in Birmingham when they announced that Coach Bryant had died. They announced it over the loudspeaker in the store. It sticks in my memory that way because I recall seeing a man crying in the store and I remember that scaring me because I didn’t quite understand.
That is about all I can say without getting too emotional, but I can say that nowadays I understand why he was crying.
I’m actually a distant relative of Bear Bryant…cousin many times removed. His marked only the second time I saw my dad cry. The first time was when I came out of the closet and announced that I was an Auburn fan. I kid. Actually, I am an Auburn fan but dad was too angry to cry when I made it known.
I love their enthusiasm for the Coke and chips! I remember hearing about Bear Bryant like he was some kind of mythical creature, like a unicorn or a dragon. And mine wasn’t even a football family!
Golden Flake the 1970s/1980s football coach’s favorite. I remember Bobby Bowden’s TV show had a similar shtick. I suspect he patterned it after the Bear, his hero.
I remember reading a story about how Bear Bryant breastfed a litter of newborn puppies that someone had abandoned on the side of the road in Tuscaloosa. Four of them died, but one of them grew up to become former Mississippi AG Mike Moore. What a giant of a man. You just can’t make stuff like this up.
I have just started looking into the amazing work the Bear did. From what I have seen and read about the man, he was incredible. I am actually from Ohio so my team has always been Ohio State since I was a little kid, but I just recently found out that Bear Bryant is my 5th cousin. Of course, I had to find out about my family, so I have began trying to read what I can find online.