Alabama has had some great winners over the years, and has produced a number of great players that have impacted the NFL greatly, but the most well know person ever to step foot on the gridiron at Alabama is most definitely “Bear” Bryant.

BEAR BRYANT

Bear 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 as college head coach, Bryant went through several university head coaching jobs such as Maryland, Kentucky, and Texas A& M before he at last had the break to give back to his alma mater, the University of Alabama. So moved was Bear Bryant, that he famously was quoted as saying, “Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin’.”

It was a change of atmosphere when Bryant came back to Tuscaloosa. In 1958, Bryant took over the helm of Bama, and started leading it to its previous Rose Bowl-style glory but accomplished even more. Establishing legendary players like Joe Namath, Pat Trammell, Billy Neighbors, Big John Hannah, snake Stabler,Lee Roy Jordan, Johnny Musso, Bob Baumhower, and many others.

No doubt, Bear Bryant was a tremendous motivator and understood how to get his teams to do what he wanted them to accomplish. 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 inspiration wasn’t just on the turf, the inspiration carried into the world also by the quality he instilled in his players like big John Croyle, who founded the faith-based Christian Big Oak Ranch for unfortunate kids in Springville, Alabama.

The very last year that he coached the Crimson Tide, 1982, was a down year for Alabama and Bear couldn’t see himself coaching Alabama into mediocrity. He always said that if he give up coaching that he “wouldn’t last a week.” In truth, he didn’t last a great deal longer than that, only 37 days. On January 26, 1983, Bryant collapsed and died of a heart attack at age 69 and many mourned his death. Officials projected that in the range of a half-million to a million individuals were lined all along the 53 mile stretch from Tuscaloosa to the memorial park in Birmingham that was only blocks away from Legion Field.

Bear’s Legacy

Bear’s heritage lives in the players that are now growing older and the fans that recall his championship heart. Not only that… He helped break segregation in the South’s football world, and in doing so, turned the Alabama 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!