Bear Bryant, The Legendary Coach

By

Alabama Crimson Tide football is tradition rich with a number of great coaches over the years, as well as the top football players to ever come out of college football, but there is no greater celebrity to come from Bama's historic past than 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.

Bear_BryantBear Bryant started his career at Alabama as a football player in 1931. He was only 1934 national championship play end. Brian always joked that he was the "other end" that played for "mamma". The other end was the legendary NFL Hall of Famer, Don Hudson. Even bear Bryant's college playing days, he showed mental toughness and playing the 1935 game against Tennessee with a broken leg.

As a head football coach, Bryant went through several college jobs such as the University of Maryland, University of Kentucky, and Texas A&M University before he finally had the opportunity to return to his alma mater, Alabama. So moved was Bear, that he famously was quoted as saying,

"Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin'."

It was the year 1958 that Bear Bryant took over the helm of the Crimson Tide, and started leaving it to its former Rose Bowl style glory but even to greater heights. Producing legendary players like Joe Namath, Pat Trammell, Billy Neighbors, Big John Hannah, snake Stabler,Lee Roy Jordan, Johnny Musso, Bob Baumhower, and many others.

Overall, Bear Bryant was a great motivator and you how to make his players do what he needed 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 field, the motivation carried into real life as well by the character he instilled in his players like big John Croyle, who founded the Big Oak Ranch for kids in Springville, Alabama.

The 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 quit coaching that you "wouldn't last a week." In fact, he didn't last much longer than that, only 37 days. On January 26, 1983, took a Bryant died of a heart attack at age 69 and many mourned his death. Officials estimated that between a half-million to a million people were lined along the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to the cemetery in Birmingham that was blogs from Legion Field.

Bear's Legacy

Bear's legacy lives in the players that are now growing older and the fans that remember his championship heart. He helped break segregation in the South's football world, and in doing so, helped turn the state around from bigotry to glory. Not only that, he changed the world to a better place. Roll Tide!


Visit Football Fanatics for Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama Products For Sale:

  Join Our Alabama Crimson Tide Facebook Page!
Follow us on Twitter! AlCrimsonTide1 http://twitter.com/AlCrimsonTide1

3 Comments

1

[…] more on Bear Bryant at AL Crimson Tide. This and other unique content ‘Football’ articles are available […]

2

BEAR BRYANT WAS THE JOHN WAYNE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL!

3

Dearest Bama Nation,

Let’s show Coach Saban our support and vote for him for coach of the year @www.coachoftheyear.com! He’s fallen from 4th place to 6th place in a matter of days. You can vote once a day from now until December 4. Forward this to all your Tide friends!

Let’s rally behind Coach Saban just like Auburn has rallied behind Coach Chizik (who has 51,000 or Coach Saban’s 14,000 votes) and Nebraskans for Coach Pellini.

the leader board stands as follows:
1 Gene Chizik – Auburn 51,873
2 Mark Dantonio – Michigan State 39,846
3 Bo Pelini – Nebraska 24,676
4 Dan Mullen – Mississippi State 22,307
5 Paul Rhoads – Iowa State 16,374
6 Nick Saban – Alabama 14,983
7 Rich Ellerson – Army 13,914

Leave a Comment