But it appeared they had leaned toward quickness instead -- only two of the pallbearers weighed over 200 pounds, although all were remarkably muscular. Kentucky football coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant poses with his family, Paul Jr. at center with their pet dachshund, and his wife Mary, right, at their home in Lexington, Kent., Feb. 5, 1954. Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is the tie that binds UA trustees. In his late 20s, Bryant helped organize Peoples Bank of Tuscaloosa, which was merged into AmSouth in the early 1980s, with AmSouth later merging with Regions Bank. We had some guys behind us. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The John C. Wyatt photographs (LHL) consist of an estimated 2 million unique photographic negatives spanning the years 1939-2001. Paul W. Bryant Jr. Net Worth in 2021. I had a four- or five- or six-year head start on them. Paul Bryant has stepped up for this project like he . "Coach Bryant isn't dead," he'll say. Vanessa Bryant just received a heck of a lot more money from L.A. County after her initial $15 million win last year . [2] By 2011, he sold it to Cemex, a Mexican construction corporation, for US$350 million. There's the framed photograph of Bryant on a football field for the final time, with a "Thanks for the Memories" sign in the background. Associations, institutions, etc. Married with three daughters, Bryant is known to be a student of American history, especially the Civil War. She was 19. "Well, we don't hardly know the details," he said finally. B Bryant's son, Paul Bryant Jr., remembers his father's birthday more than the anniversary of his death, but for most Alabama fans, everything changed "the day Bear Bryant died." They hoped that through him they might better understand the coach. On the worst, Billy, who is 76, doesn't recognize Susie. Alabama-"Bear" Paul Bryant funeral. "Paul Bryant Jr: His famous father casts a long shadow, one seemingly comfortable to the son", "Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is tie that binds UA trustees", "Alabama Booster Paul Bryant Jr. Has Ties to Insurance Fraud Scheme", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_W._Bryant_Jr.&oldid=1127610045, This page was last edited on 15 December 2022, at 18:09. Everyone gifted with some version of Coach's moniker wears a nametag, so as to keep them all straight. The collection also contains associated newspaper clippings, job sheets, and hand-written photographers' notes. His moniker came from a carnival promotion where he promised to battle a caged bear when he was 13 years old. A man looks up and he's 76 years old, with memories he can't touch and not much else. Bryant served as the chairman of the Civil War Trust. Also, members of the 27-member Black Legislative Caucus unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to Bryant's appointment, saying he was insensitive to minorities because of comments attributed to him in a 1989 Esquire magazine profile. I think he wanted to be his own man, McNair said. Billy deflates, his voice and his body sinking back down into the chair. Many of the members of Bryant's last team held their faces in tense grimaces, obviously fighting back tears, at the graveside. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Fans climb tree to watch "Bear" Bryant's funeral. Billy shuffles into the room wearing gray pajamas and black slippers. Sometimes Bryant visits. Bear Bryant had died, and as the news went out on the radio -- the man's voice cracked when he said, "Ladies and gentlemen " -- Varner stood in the hallway of the Druid City Hospital with nowhere to go. ear Bryant surrounded himself with people he could trust, and he trusted nobody more than Billy Varner, a tough, barrel-chested African-American. When Paul took his grandson fishing, Billy came along. He forms his right hand into a pistol and Susie laughs, but then he starts to get lost again. Unnamed sources later said if Bryant had the votes he would kill the football program. He remembers his mother,. The extended family includes about a. The University of Alabama System: Board of Trustees: Paul W. Bryant Jr. Greenetrack shareholder lawsuit alleges president, management misused funds, Four stockholders file suit against Greenetrack CEO and board officers. Cities and towns -- Growth -- Kentucky -- Lexington. They reached the end together, sitting in a 14th-floor suite of the Memphis Holiday Inn. ", She stands still, surrounded by the strangers who've come to genuflect, and she thinks, "If they only knew." Our bank that we've got now, he said, we started to try to be in communities where my family lives and will live and have it kind of be a legacy thing to be involved in the community stuff that your community banks do. Sometimes it cloud up and rain.". Barra found himself attacked for describing one bender at the 21 Club in New York City. "I said, 'Why would you name him after the greatest coach of all time when he could be named after the two greatest coaches of all time? Which non-quarterback group will define each top-25 team's season? On the wall, there's a candid shot of Paul and Billy in what looks like a living room. NFL combine Day 2 recap: Which draft prospects are rising? 2004av001. "I never did hear about him dying.". Billy saw him weak and insecure. Alabama-Funeral-Woman and child mourn the death of Coach "Bear" Bryant. "He's young all the time here," Billy says. "At the University of Alabama it's really important," Bryant told Deas. There are also a ton of Pauls and Paulas. Paul, who rode in a mule-drawn cart from Moro Bottom, Ark., and in the back of Billy Varner's crimson Buick LeSabre, struggled, season after season. Billy found a phone and called ahead, telling Susie to make her good cornbread. Standing before the exhibit, she can hear his voice all around her, literally, from the museum's video displays. There is, always, a disconnect between the few people who miss Paul and the legion who worship The Bear. Four loud slaps. That's just Alabama.". That led to jobs, bartending at parties and running errands, and by the late 1960s, around the same time the coach traded his brown fedora for a hat with black-and-white checks, Billy began working for Bryant full time. Billy sits in his big brown chair and looks at an oddly familiar man. The roots of this bond, like many things with Bryant, are full of mystery, myth and misinformation. [7], He served on the board of trustees of the University of Alabama[3][6] until September 2015 and previously served as its chairman. City & town life -- Kentucky -- Lexington. City Editor Ken Roberts contributed to this report. The newspapers had a combined Sunday edition, but their editorial policies remained quite different. That's what he called him, like it was a Southern debutante's double name. As always, Varner stood in the background. He told me one time, if somebody comes up and shoots me, they're gonna shoot you first. The bird dogs are German shorthaired pointers and English pointers. Mrs. Bryant was dressed in a simple black dress and veil. The 69-year-old Bryant died Wednesday of a heart attack. He can be almost painfully shy in public and has an intent dislike of seeing himself on television or having his photo made. Some images' dates are unknown and cannot be searched by date. "What do you mean, I didn't play football? They greet one another by saying "Doctor " "Doctor " "Doctor " "Doctor " in a round-robin introduction that ends up with the title being used 24 times. kehittksemme ja parantaaksemme palveluitamme sek tuotteitamme. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Man mourns at Coach "Bear" Bryant's funeral site. Simply stated, Paul Bryant cares deeply for the university.. The trust has over 50,000 members and more than 250,000 supporters throughout the country. Today his memories seem to orbit around the idea of protecting Bryant from some unseen enemy. ", T By far the most common name (and most versatile, used by men and women) is Bryant. We'd go to the stadium. It was the first and only time he heard Bryant talk like that, and he realized that maybe his boss was a lonely man. (Fie Photo/ The Huntsville Times) The Huntsville Times, Former Governor George Walalce attends the funeral of Alabama coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant at the First Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa on Friday Jan. 28, 1983. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. He is a founder of the Civil War Trust in Washington D.C. and personally underwrote the merger with the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites that created the modern Civil War Trust. From its body of 6.500 member banks, the American Bankers Association presented its Revitalizing Youth Community Award for outstanding community service efforts to Bryant Bank in 2012. It's certainly not too serious of a process by any stretch, but we really want to know people's stories and give them a chance to share those stories.". I have evidence to the contrary, from @bryantmuseum today. It was the university football team.". "But we have a registration process. My dad wanted to set me on the right path as soon as I was born! "I know I've made this journey," he told a reporter just before his final season. His voice loses its pitch and clarity, sort of like he's got a mouth full of pea gravel. She'd always ask: "When y'all coming back?". Given that fact, it was not a surprise that phone calls to his office were not returned. A 1966 UA graduate who earned a degree in commerce, Bryant started People's Bank while still in his 20's. Behind the casket is present Alabama coach Ray Perkins, his wife Carolyn and son Mike. It's difficult to understand if you're not from here, but when football isn't doing well it kind of hurts, the whole state is kind of in a funk. Paul started reading a devotional in the final two years of his life that said, in part, "When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something in its place I have traded for it.". Bryant. They know you've been vetted pretty well.. But unlike the others at the namesake reunion, his name wasn't merely a tribute. Bryant established two dozen operating companies and over 50 real estate ventures and syndicates. "My name is Chase Bryant Duncan," said a teenager, proudly pointing to his nametag as he stood in the food line on the lawn of the Paul W. Bryant Museum with his family. Bryant grew reflective. So why change the dog's name? At the end, when Bryant was sicker than anyone knew, Billy heard the private coughs. Paul Bryant Jr., a banker and the coach's only son, says his father established the fund in 1973. . She was accompanied by her son, Paul Bryant Jr., and daughter, Mae Martin Tyson. I looked at him like, 'What the hell you think I'm here for?'". NHL trade deadline: Winners and losers, including the Bruins, Devils and Bruce Boudreau? That's the number of IDs it would have taken to make the rounds at an invitation-only picnic in Tuscaloosa two weekends ago, before Alabama's home opener versus Arkansas State. I'd drive him. Despite his famous name, business success and longtime influential role at the University of Alabama, Paul Bryant Jr. has stayed out of the spotlight. The family of the late Kobe Bryant has agreed to a $28.5 million settlement with Los Angeles County to resolve the remaining claims in a lawsuit over deputies and firefighters sharing grisly photos of the NBA star, his 13-year-old daughter and other victims killed in a 2020 helicopter crash, attorneys and court filings said Feb. 28, 2023. Perhaps more interesting, calls, emails and text messages to other trustees, senior UA system officials, and business associates seeking conversations about Bryant also went unanswered. To shoot him, they had to get me first.". Even with names. Morant to miss two games after video with gun, Las Vegas prepared to give A's 'better opportunity', Richardson sets QB mark for vertical, broad jump, Curry, Iguodala probable to return vs. Lakers, Sources: Suns hiring Pistons' Bartelstein as CEO, Mbappe breaks PSG's all-time scoring record, Bruins stroll past Kane, Rangers, win 10th in row, Horns' Robinson: Versatility worthy of early pick, Inside the long-awaited return of Jon Jones and his quest for heavyweight glory, The future of the NFL combine: Is there really a chance it could end forever? He looked out the window at the river and the bridge to Arkansas, which led eventually to the place where his journey began: a four-room house without electricity or running water. "[1] He is worth "hundreds of millions of dollars. "I don't ever talk to him now," Billy says. I'm not as big on killing stuff as I am finding it with the dogs. The magazine quoted Bryant, who owned GreeneTrack in Greene County at the time, as saying that the dog track was frequented by low-class, welfare blacks.. Susie can tell you what she saw, but that's it. One grandmother introduced her preschool-aged grandson, Hayden Bryant Kennedy, this way: "If I'd had my way, he'd be Nicholas Bryant Kennedy." Paul W. Bryant, Jr. is the son of the late Paul W. Bryant and Mary Harmon Black Bryant. In 1996, 14 years after Bryant died, he retired from the University of Alabama Police Department. [1] His father, Bear Bryant, was an American football player and coach. His voice ticks up a few notches. He's been on the board for 13 years or so. Paul Bryant Jr. loaded his family wife Cherry and daughters Stella Gray (14), Mae Martin (13) and Anna Laurie (10) on his private plane for the trip to Memphis. Over 10 years, Bryant Bank has grown to over $1.5 billion in assets, becoming the largest family-owned bank in the state of Alabama. "It's really important to the state that we have a successful football program. "My favorite part is meeting all the folks and hearing all the different name combinations they come up with," explained Curtis Paul Parker of Anniston. His voice is deep and trails off when he's unsure. "I always did want me the old-timey ice cream freezer," she says. Joe Elmore said. I remember all of them. Sitting with Paul Murray was his cousin, Mary Harmon Hilburn, granddaughter of Bear. ", There were also no Sabans at the reunion. This isn't a celebration. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Woman and child mourn the death of Coach "Bear" Bryant. They made small talk in the car, nothing about the life's work that had just ended. "Paul 'Bear' Bryant was my great-grandfather," the eighth-grader said with pride as he sat in his great-grandfather's museum, in a conference room decorated with oil paintings, bronze busts and even a marionette of the man behind his name. Bryant realizes his business career got off to a quick start, and that his family ties were an asset. (File Photo/ The Huntsville TImes) The Huntsville Times, Former Alabama student Tammy Rogers at graveside service for Alabama coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Ala. on Friday Jan. 28, 1983. According to the state Department of Insurance, Alabama Re had $240 million in admitted assets, a five person board headed by Bryant, and just two full-time employees. At the request of Bryant's wife, Mary Harmon Bryant, the motorcade passed Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide's home field, and drove within sight of Legion Field in Birmingham, scene of many of his greatest victories. [1] Getty. All rights reserved. 2023 www.tuscaloosanews.com. One of Bryant's companies, Alabama Reassurance or "Alabama Re", was implicated in at least nine counts of the Stewart indictment, relating to a "wire fraud scheme to deceive state insurance regulators involving reinsurance." All he has to show for two decades of service are his memories, and even those often hang just out of reach. He pauses. February 22, 1991 to January 2, 1993.