#Bear September 11

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This month the #Coach4adayChallenge for September is to profile a biography of someone. My choice for today is a legendary football coach nicknamed “BEAR” who was born on September 11, 1913.

Paul “BEAR” Bryant is widely regarded as one of the great football coaches of all-time. He’s best-known as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide from 1958-1982. Alabama wasn’t his only coaching jobs he also served as Head Coach at Texas A&M, Maryland, and Kentucky. The “BEAR” won six national championships, all at Alabama, and won 14 SEC championships during his career (13 at Alabama and one at Kentucky in 1950). 

Bear Bryant Facts

Bryant was the 11th of 12 children, three of whom died as infants. Bryant’s father, Monroe, was a farmer, and his mother, Ida Mae, cared for the family.

Legend has it Bryant got his nickname around the year 1927 by wrestling a muzzled bear from a local traveling carnival. The story goes he did it to impress a girl and for the money — one dollar per minute — but the bear’s owner left town without paying.

Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941. Bryant enlisted for the Navy the next day.

Bryant became the first Texas A&M coach to ever defeat rival Texas on the road, in 1956.

Alabama had four straight losing seasons under Harold “Red” Drew and J.B. “Ears” Whitworth before Bryant was hired. Alabama improved from 2-7-1 to 5-4-1 in his first season.

Alabama-Georgia in 1960 was the first live sports telecast for Roone Arledge, who became a legendary television programming pioneer for ABC 

Bryant received 1.5 votes for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968 at the contentious Democratic Convention.

The BEAR won 54 of 60 games in a five-year run from 1971 to 1975. His only SEC loss in that period was the “Punt, Bama, Punt” defeat to Auburn.

Alcohol abuse caused Bryant to collapse due to congestive heart failure in 1977. He checked into an alcohol rehabilitation clinic in Shelby County several months later, stayed a month and later resumed drinking.

Coach Bryant suffered a heart attack on Jan. 26, 1983, and died at the age of 69.

“If not for Osama bin Laden, September 11 would only be remembered as Bear Bryant’s birthday.” — Actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson on a “Law & Order” episode.