Bryant, "Bear" (Paul W.)
Football
b. Sept. 11, 1913, Fordyce, AR
d. Jan. 26, 1983
As a teen-ager, Bryant once wrestled a bear in a traveling show for a dollar a minute. He later said he never got paid, but he did get a nickname for the feat.
Bryant started at end for the University of Alabama from 1933 through 1935, then served as an assistant coach at Alabama and Vanderbilt University. After rising to the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War II, he became head coach at the University of Maryland in 1945 and had a 6-2-1 record.
In 1946, Bryant went to the University of Kentucky. He had a 60-23-5 record in 8 seasons there, then took over at Texas A & M in 1954. His first team won only 1 of 10 games, but Bryant had a 24-4-2 record over the next 3 seasons. His 1957 team lost to Tennessee 3-0 in the Gator Bowl.
Bryant returned to Alabama as head coach in 1958 and became the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history in 1981, breaking A. A. Stagg's record of 314 victories. He spent 25 seasons at Alabama, winning 232 games while losing 46 and tying 9. Bryant's teams won or shared 13 Southeastern Conference championships and were named national champions in 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, and 1979.
He retired after the 1982 season with an overall record of 323-85-17. He holds the record for most major bowl games, 29, most bowl game wins, 15, and most losses, 12.
A tough, stern disciplinarian, Bryant left Maryland after one season because he had suspended a player for breaking training rules and the college president reinstated him without consulting Bryant. Bryant also suspended star quarterback Joe Namath in 1963 and Namath missed the 1964 Sugar Bowl game. Alabama beat Mississippi 12-7 without him. Lee Roy Jordan, an All-American linebacker at Alabama in 1962, said of Bryant, "His feeling for people--whether one needs stroking or another needs chewing out--is uncanny. You loved him, yet you respected and feared him."
Though he had a reputation for running a conservative, ball control offense, Bryant could also coach a passing team when he had the right quarterback. With Vito "Babe" Parilli at quarterback in 1950, Kentucky set a record for touchdown passes with 27, and Bryant also had fine passing teams with Namath and Ken "Snake" Stabler at Alabama.
