Athletes - Bear Bryant

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	Athletes - Bear Bryant

Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football coach. Best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football team, he achieved much status in the sport, winning the national championship six times, and setting the record as the all-time (up to that time) most successful coach in NCAA Division I college football, with a record of 323-85-17.

Biography

Paul Bryant was born in Moro Bottom, Arkansas on September 11, 1913. He was the 11th of 12 children born to William Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant. In 1927, he successfully wrestled a muzzled bear for a theater promotion, after which he was given the nickname "Bear." The nickname remained with Bryant for the rest of his life, nevertheless he was not fond of the nickname, and apparently was never referred to by that nickname. Friends, colleagues, players, and opponents all referred to him simply as "Coach Bryant." With Bryant playing offensive end and defensive tackle, the Fordyce High School Red Bugs of Fordyce, Arkansas won the 1930 Arkansas high school football state championship.

He played his college football at the University of Alabama. With Bryant starting at right side offensive end (with the legendary Don Hutson on the left), Alabama won the 1935 Rose Bowl over Stanford, going 10-0-0 and winning the 1934 national championship. He graduated from Alabama in 1936. The team's combined record during Bryant's college playing years was 23-3-2.

Coaching career

After graduating in 1936, Bryant took a coaching job at Union College in Tennessee, but left that position when offered an assistant coaching position at Alabama. Over the next four years, the team compiled a 29-5-3 record. In 1940 he left to become an assistant at Vanderbilt University. The next winter he was to have become the head coach at the University of Arkansas, but the bombing of Pearl Harbor changed his plans. As he was driving to Arkansas to sign the contract to become head coach, Bryant heard on the radio of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, turned his car around, drove home, and enlisted in the United States Navy. He served in North Africa before being granted an honorable discharge to train recruits and coach the football team at North Carolina Pre-Flight. While in the Navy, he attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

In 1945 Bryant was named head coach at the University of Maryland. He stayed for only one season, before taking the same position at the University of Kentucky.

Bryant coached at Kentucky for eight seasons which included Kentucky's first bowl appearance (1947) and their first Southeastern Conference title (1950). The 1950 Kentucky team is considered to be the national champions by at least one ranking system, the Sagarin ratings; that team defeated #1 ranked Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl but the AP polls then came out before the bowl games. Bryant led Kentucky to appearances in the Great Lakes Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Cotton Bowl. Kentucky's final AP poll rankings under Bryant included #11 in 1949, #7 in 1950 (before defeating #1 Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl), #15 in 1951, #20 in 1952 and #16 in 1953. The 1950 season was Kentucky's highest rank until it finished #6 in the final 1977 AP poll. Star players under Bryant at Kentucky included George Blanda who went to a record-setting NFL career; Jerry Claiborne who went on to a Hall of Fame coaching career; All American Bob Gain who won the 1950 Outland Trophy; Wallace Jones who was All-SEC in football and All-American in basketball; Charlie McClendon who went on to be the successful head coach at Louisiana State University from 1962 to 1979; Babe Parilli who finished fourth and third for the Heisman Trophy during his first-team All American junior and senior seasons before a solid pro career; Howard Schnellenberger an All American at UK who went on to a long career as a coach, winning a national championship at the University of Miami

In 1954, Bryant took over the reins of the football program at Texas A&M University. It was there, in his first year, that he took the team to a notoriously rigorous pre-season training camp in 100°F heat in Junction, Texas. Reports of the "Junction" training camp state that the players were drilled continuously and strenuously in the high heat and humidity without being allowed to drink water or cool down until nightfall. 76 of 111 players, many of them fearing for their lives, left the team within ten days and several suffered permanent, heat-related, physical injury. Any player who complained about the treatment or pleaded on behalf of a "cut" or injured teammate was also cut immediately and sent home. Many years later, during a team reunion in Junction, Coach Bryant apologized to the Junction Boys for the way that he had treated them at the training camp. Most, but not all, accepted his apology. The 35 players who made it through the training camp subsequently suffered through a grueling 1-9 season, with the lone win coming only when Bryant recognized during a film session that the Georgia quarterback always tipped off the direction of the play by the positioning of his feet under center. Only two years later, though, Bryant led the "Junction Boys" to the championship of the Southwest Conference with a 34-21 victory over the University of Texas in Austin. After the 1957 season, having compiled an overall 25-14-2 record at Texas A&M, Bryant returned to Tuscaloosa to take the head coaching position at Alabama. When asked why he left Texas A&M, Bryant replied, "Mama called, and when Mama calls, you just have to come running."

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Athletes - Bear Bryant

Biography

Coaching career

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