It's lunchtime. "I ended up playing football.". [1] His father, Bear Bryant, was an American football player and coach. Paul William Bryant Jr (born December 19, 1944 in Birmingham) is a Tuscaloosa businessman and chairman of the Crimson Tide Foundation. They wanted husky ones.' 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. Bryant was the son of legendary college football coach Bear Bryant and his wife, Mary. We get hints. A number of people wore T-shirts that said 'It Took a Giant to Replace the Bear,' referring to former New York Giants Coach Ray Perkins, whom Bryant selected to succeed him at Alabama last month. Billy's voice drops back down, and the words press together, a slurry of confusion and rearranged thoughts, part truth, part fiction. He's out having lunch and out doing business, so (to say he is a) recluse is maybe a little too strong, but he has certainly guarded his private life as well as anyone could with that name and with the things he has done.. Hundreds of others gathered silently outside the Methodist church to wave goodbye when Bryant's body was loaded into a hearse for the trip to Elmwood Cemetery. "We had a dog named Bear as a puppy, but then we changed it to Bryant," confessed a family from Huntsville that also has two human Bryants on the roster. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://lhlphotoarchive.org/ark:/16417/th71m0q2fr6vl, Researchers are required to have an SCRC Researcher Account in order to request or order digital copies of materials. She picks back up the conversation about Bryant, and Billy sits across the narrow room, listening. From 2000 to 2015, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System. Next fall, another great-grandson, Paul William Bryant Tyson, will be on Nick Saban's roster as a freshman quarterback. Susie would come home -- she worked with mental patients in a local hospital -- and see Billy's traveling bag gone. [13], He is married, and has three daughters. Only the sound of one woman sobbing broke the stillness. He pauses. I had a four- or five- or six-year head start on them. (AP Photo/Tannen Maury), Football star Joe Namath talks with the widow of Alabama coach Paul Bear Bryant at the Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham on Friday, Jan. 28, 1983. Alabama-Funeral-Woman and child mourn the death of Coach "Bear" Bryant. I was a big guy " -- Billy sits up in his chair, and his face becomes menacing; he bows up his shoulders and arms -- " and by the time those bullets go through me, he's gone. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Jos haluat muokata valintojasi, napsauta Hallitse tietosuoja-asetuksia. It's the only time we've put our name on anything. There is certainly regret in Bryant's choice of devotional. All his memories are still in there, somewhere, only much of the time he can't translate them into words. We give 100 percent around here. Bryant did play high school basketball in Tuscaloosa, but in interviews he has said he was part of a great team and played only sparingly. He'd eaten some sausage, and it upset his stomach is all. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Early life and family background. Over the years, various accounts have given him different titles, but essentially, he was a fixer. 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. He said he asked Esquire for a retraction, but William M. Adler, the freelance writer of the article, said he stood by the story. I'm not much better than other people, but the timing might have been good on some things.. And he did! Selected for Beta Gamma Sigma, he received the Financial Executives Institute of America Award for the outstanding student in commerce and business administration as well as the Alabama Bankers Association Award for the outstanding student in banking and finance. In 2005, Bryant founded Bryant Bank. He'll dress in the middle of the night and try to leave, his pajamas rolled up in his hand. Simply stated, Paul Bryant cares deeply for the university.. 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." "But we have a registration process. Billy picked him up in the morning. 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. He took a month off, trying to figure out how Coach Bryant would tell him to deal with his grief. He worked security at games, no longer inside the circle. It grows smaller all the time. To his left, surrounded by the small frames, is a large photograph of Bear Bryant at the 1982 Liberty Bowl, sicker than anyone but Billy and a few others knew, bundled tight against the cold. Place kicker Peter Kim is at top right. You miss a lot of things you shouldn't miss.". At the end, when Bryant was sicker than anyone knew, Billy heard the private coughs. The funeral service at the First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa was deeply religious, with little reference to Bryant's career or character. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- There is a scene in the 1985 comedy "Spies Like Us" in which Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, posing as doctors, enter a tent full of actual doctors. "I don't ever talk to him now," Billy says. Billy was Bear Bryant's driver, bodyguard and valet, one of the few remaining people who knew him as a human being. "I met a lot of business people through my parents," Bryant told Bloomberg, acknowledging the obvious connections his famous name brought. Coach Bryant died Wednesday. I'd park the car. The 69-year-old Bryant -- fairly or not, accurately or not -- is seen by supporters of UAB football, and maybe supporters of UAB period, as public enemy No. "My dad says he named me Bryant so that I wouldn't grow up to be an Auburn fan. Health facilities -- Kentucky -- Lexington. Age: 68 Birthplace: Birmingham Education: Graduated in 1966 with a degree in finance from the University of Alabama Family: Wife, Cherry; three daughters and three grandchildren Career: President of Greene Group Inc., a privately-held holding company; chairman of Bryant Bank; president pro tempore of the UA board of trustees; chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a national historic battlefield preservation organization, Tommy Deas Executive Sports Editor | The Tuscaloosa News. Susie is short, 77, with gray hair and a walker she pushes around. She plays it sometimes. ", Paul 'Bear' Bryant's name persists in Alabama fans, Inside the big-money battle that could decide the ACC's future. She liked Bryant, thought he had a good heart, even if he did almost always call her Sally. Paul William Bryant Jr. was born circa 1945. The database includes around 700 names, and the museum manages to track most of their whereabouts via both old-school correspondence and newfangled social media. Bryant moved on to other business interests, keeping a close-knit group of partners in late attorney and civic leader Sam Phelps and his son, Scott, along with veterinarian Wayne May. It happens slowly but clearly. 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. Billy was worried, and maybe that's why he offered a rare piece of insight to a local reporter. A half-hour or more has passed. By mid-day, with the sun shining brightly, several hundred waited for the start of the graveside service for Coach "Bear" Bryant. Later that night, she'd get the inevitable call. Robert Witt has worked with Bryant for the last 10 years, first as UA president and more recently as chancellor of the UA system. During these years, he served three successive terms as President Pro Tempore. "Really? "No kidding, it's my daughter's first name, too!" Everyone gifted with some version of Coach's moniker wears a nametag, so as to keep them all straight. He can be almost painfully shy in public and has an intent dislike of seeing himself on television or having his photo made. I'm not as big on killing stuff as I am finding it with the dogs. We'd go to the stadium. "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. His eyes get wide, bulging, like they do when he's confused. TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - Maybe Winston Churchill comes closest to summing up Paul Bryant Jr. "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia," said Churchill in a 1939 radio address talking about what role the then USSR might play in World War II. That's where he met Alabama's new football coach, and when Varner took the same job at the Indian Hills Country Club, where Bryant lived off the third fairway, they became close. I have evidence to the contrary, from @bryantmuseum today. "I don't know whether he died or what" is what it sounds like he says. "He's there in the black," he says. The 68-year-old son of late football coaching legend Bear Bryant has had successful business ventures in everything from catfish farming to concrete, from dog tracks to casinos and from banks to reinsurance. Edit Now. Having football competitive and doing well, and so much more than that is (when) we're maintaining at a championship level every year, it makes it easier on businesses around the state, I promise you. The walls are covered with certificates and mementos of his service. 2/28/2023 6:52 PM PT. I remember all of them. Collection is open for research by appointment only. Football The Birmingham News, By Steve Gates - Fans watch Bear Bryant's funeral procession from the Woodstock overpass on I-59. To his right is the famous painting "315" that shows Bryant on the sideline as he breaks the all-time wins record, and down the wall from that is a pencil-and-ink drawing of Bryant as a young man. Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is the tie that binds UA trustees. My dad wanted to set me on the right path as soon as I was born! So why change the dog's name? 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. People contact us all the time, and we ask them to fill out a form with their birthdate, a little family history and a specific section to fill out that starts with, 'This is the story of me or my child being named for Coach Bryant ' That allows us to do a little research and verify it. The pallbearers were defensive backs Jeremiah Castille, Jerrill Sprinkle and Tommy Wilcox; quarterbacks Paul Fields and Walter Lewis; linebacker Eddie Lowe; offensive tackle Mike McQueen, offensive tackle, and split end Darryl White. There is, always, a disconnect between the few people who miss Paul and the legion who worship The Bear. ", As Chase Bryant's father nodded proudly, another teen, Bryant Wilson, shouted "Same! 2004av001. Susie can tell you what she saw, but that's it. A member of the board since 2000, Bryant has said little publicly about UAB football. [5] He also serves as the President of Green Group, Inc.[6], Bryant invests in "dog and horse racing, the insurance industry, cement making, catfish farming and banking. "Coach Bryant used to be the coach at Alabama," he says. As always, Varner stood in the background. He was working for Charlie Finley, who was a Birmingham native who had made a gazillion dollars in pharmaceuticals and became quite a character in baseball, said Kirk McNair, who was a sports writer in Birmingham at the time, and who became a longtime Bryant family friend. [13] Stewart was found guilty on all 135 counts of fraud. 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. The extended family includes about a. Bryant established two dozen operating companies and over 50 real estate ventures and syndicates. I didn't use it but one time. Bryant also has a keen interest in the Civil War, and serves as chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a national historic battlefield preservation organization. "He never told me anything personal about Coach Bryant," she says. ", The official records show Varner started working for the university police in February 1976, but he'd been around for a decade or more by then, floating in the shadows. But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. Billy found a phone and called ahead, telling Susie to make her good cornbread. Paul W. Bryant's income mostly comes from and basic source is being a successful American businessman. PAUL BRYANT OBITUARY Paul Dean Bryant Jr., 47, of El Mirage, Arizona, passed away on April 15, 2006. He said he had to rest. 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. In addition, he chaired the committee that hired Dr. Robert Witt, past President of The University of Alabama and retired Chancellor of The University of Alabama System. Look at the UA System Trustees website and you will see the names of 15 permanent trustees, but only 14 photos. 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.. Paul William "Bear" Bryant would have turned 100 on Wednesday, and the grandson made famous by photos of him walking off the field with the man he calls "Papa" is now 50. KATIE J. BUSH SUFFOLK -Katie Jane Bush, 74, died. Who were the fastest defensive backs? [1] He was described by The Birmingham News as "among the most private of men, largely a mystery to many."[1]. During an extensive interview a year ago with the Tuscaloosa News and executive sports editor Tommy Deas, Bryant talked about what Bama football meant to the university. The Chester County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) honored Sgt. Bryant realizes his business career got off to a quick start, and that his family ties were an asset. Try 100. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. It was lowered into an underground vault later. The pictures seem to anchor him. XFL Week 3 preview: Can AJ McCarron, Battlehawks continue their fourth-quarter heroics? Gaps open between the words, and sentences turn staccato. That's nothing. City Editor Ken Roberts contributed to this report. But that doesn't mean Bryant views football as unimportant. For his philanthropic efforts, Bryant became the inaugural recipient of the Racing Commissioners Humanitarian of the Year Award by the organization of State and Canadian Racing Regulatory Commissions. Bryant. Miss Bryant, Martin Folmar, Paul Bryant Jr., Mrs. Folmar, Mary Dillard Marr and Mrs. Bryant. Throughout his time on the board, he was a member of the Physical Properties Committee including nine years as chairman, during which more than 360 physical properties projects were completed with a total value exceeding $2 billion. He collapsed once from nervous exhaustion, chain-smoked cigarettes, ripped the filters off ones he bummed, passed out on couches, checked into alcohol rehab. Four years later, Billy was bartending at the Tuscaloosa Country Club. he 1982 Liberty Bowl was to be the last game of Bryant's career, and when the college football media arrived in Memphis, Tenn., Billy became, for a brief moment, a reflected celebrity.
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