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Bear Bryant and The Crimson Tide


By Cleo Powers

The tradition is steeped in winning football at the University of Alabama, and has churned out out some of the most elite athletes that college football has ever seen, not one of them can compare to one coach who changed the face of college sports forever, and that is Paul "Bear" Bryant.

The Legendary Figure in Alabama Football, Paul "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 a head football coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant went through several college head coaching jobs such as the University of Maryland, University of Kentucky, and Texas A&M University before he at long last had the break to return to his alma mater, Alabama. So encouraged was Bear, that he notably was quoted as saying, "Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin'."

In the year of Bryant took over as head coach , and began leading it to its previous Rose Bowl-style glory but accomplished even more. Coaching renowned players like Pat Trammell, Big John Hannah, Snake Stabler, Joe Namath, Lee Roy Jordan, Billy Neighbors, Bob Baumhower, Johnny Musso,, and many others.

No doubt, Bear Bryant was a prodigious motivator and understood how to get his teams to do what he required 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 carried into real 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 boys and girls in Springville, Alabama.

The final year that he coached Alabama, 1982, was a down year for Alabama and Bear couldn't see himself coaching Alabama into mediocrity. He constantly said that if he quit coaching that he "wouldn't last a week." In reality, he didn't last a great deal longer than that, only 37 days. On January 26, 1983, 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 all along the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to the graveyard in Birmingham that was only blocks away from Legion Field.

The Legendary Man Changed Alabama and The World

Bear's legacy lives in the players that are now growing older and the fans that evoke his championship heart. Not only that... He helped shatter segregation in the South's football world, and in doing so, turned the state around from intolerance to splendor. Not only that, he changed the world to a better place than he left left.. He ain't never been nothing but a winner. Roll Tide!

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