Bear Bryant Biography

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Bear Bryant was a great man and coach, and he changed his life and college football forever with the decisions that he made. Paul Bryant (Bear) was born into a poor family and was the eleventh of twelfth children. Paul William Bryant was born in Moro Bottom in Arkansas. It's a small, unknown city. Legend has it Bryant got his nickname around the year 1927 by wrestling a bear from a carnival. People say that he only did it to impress a girl! From then on he was called "Bear Bryant" and that's where his legend begins. While the bear's owner left town without paying Bear got to take something home with him better than money... a story to tell your kids in the future. (100 years of Bear). When he was young every morning he would plow the fields …show more content…

Bryant took an assistant coaching job at Vanderbilt in 1940 under Red Sanders. He had a falling out with Sanders after one year and, with the help of New York Yankees catcher Bill Dickey, had the inside track for the Arkansas job. (100 years). Bear Bryant got the job, but heard on the radio, soon after that the Japanese bombed pearl harbor. Bear joined the Navy for a couple year, putting his football coaching career on hold (The story of Bear Bryant). After the Navy, Bear Bryant turned the wildcats into winners. His stats were 7-3 his first year coaching them. In 1954, he packed up and headed west to Texas A&M. He had the master formula for success, and wanted to test it out at another school. But Bryant inherited an awful program with few good players. Texas A&M was a tough place to lure players to. No girls, no glamour, military uniforms and, at first glance, the school looked more like a penitentiary than a college campus. Bryant knew he had to force discipline and strictness in order for A&M to compete. One day during summer practice, he loaded the unsuspecting Aggies in two buses to Junction, Texas for what was arguably the toughest training camp in football history. Bear Bryant was …show more content…

Gene Stallings, who was one of Bryant's players at the time, said, "We left in two buses and came back in one, and that one was half full." Bryant put his team through hell at Junction because he wanted to build character and have his players realize that things were going to be done his way. They finished the season 1-9, Bear's only losing record as a head coach! The foundation had been placed and in 1956, the Aggies won the Southwest Conference championship. In 1957, halfback John David Crow received the Heisman Trophy, the only player coached by Bryant to receive the award. After a few years in 1958 Bear Bryant joined Alabama, but this time...he was head coach. Bear once said “What are you doing here? Tell me why you are here. If you are not here to win a national championship, you’re in the wrong place. You boys are special. I don’t want my players to be like other students. I want special people. You can learn a lot on the football field that isn’t taught in the home, the church, or the classroom. There are going to be days when you think you’ve got no more to give and then you’re going to give plenty more. You are going to have pride and class. You are going to be very special. You are going to win the national championship for Alabama.” Bear knew how to give moving pre game speeches. It makes you think abut how much he cared for his football player. Bear dedicated his life to football, but he

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