Billy always walked a few feet in front of Bryant, for reasons he's trying to recall. Lexington (Ky.) -- Politics and government. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). he man Billy Varner is remembering has very little in common with the Bryant who is beloved by so many Alabama fans. The funeral service at the First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa was deeply religious, with little reference to Bryant's career or character. Its descendant, the Morning Herald, was first published January 1, 1895 and became known as the Lexington Herald in 1905. The newspapers had a combined Sunday edition, but their editorial policies remained quite different. Once, when a state trooper clocked Varner speeding, Bryant stuck his houndstooth hat in the back window. Bryant served as the chairman of the Civil War Trust. 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. [1] He was described by The Birmingham News as "among the most private of men, largely a mystery to many."[1]. If I'd changed jobs, I would have been making $50 more a month. After one trip, when the men went to a horse track, Billy came home with an envelope from Coach. We went to the dressing room. "Do you remember?". Before every Alabama home game, the big video board plays clips of Bryant talking, sounding like he ate a carton of Chesterfields. Bryant announced last week that he was retiring after this game, which marks his 323rd victory. But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. To shoot him, they had to get me first.". Some wore Alabama caps and others were . Bryant, who won 323 games in his 38 seasons -- more than any other college coach -- died Wednesday of a heart attack only 28 days after retiring. Varner went home to rest, and that's where he was when the phone rang again. 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.". Paul William Bryant Jr. Born: c. 1945: Alma mater: University of Alabama: Occupation: Banker, investor, philanthropist: Children: 3 daughters: Parent(s) Bear Bryant: See something missing? Bryant's image. Some wore Alabama caps and others were seen in houndstoothcheck hats, which Bryant always wore on the sidelines on game day. Paul Bryant Jr.'s bank is the tie that binds UA trustees. ", As Chase Bryant's father nodded proudly, another teen, Bryant Wilson, shouted "Same! We thought we'd do that for the grandchildren and stuff, and there's some responsibility that goes with that, I guess.. They wanted husky ones.' Coach Pat Dye talks with unknown person. Lexington (Ky.) -- History -- 20th century. "But we have a registration process. "I went and bought me one of those. The university had been spending about $20 million a year on football and the years ahead would only see that number grow and Watts pulled the plug causing a firestorm of protests from players and fans. Trump avoided . Knowles began canceling the next two weeks of Coach's schedule. 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. The LHL photographs are an unparalleled source of photographic evidence of the many historical, cultural, and industrial changes that have shaped Lexington and its surrounding region. [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. ", 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. Bryant, who was born in Birmingham when his mother was living there with her parents while his father was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, is a 1966 graduate of UA with a degree in finance. "Well, we don't hardly know the details," he said finally. 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. They sat in the kitchen down the hall and ate and laughed. Coach Bear Bryant at the 1982 Liberty Bowl football game in Memphis, Tennessee. John C. Wyatt established and maintained the collection's original organizational scheme. Assistant Alabama Coach Kent Johnston said 'The family picked them. "At the University of Alabama it's really important," Bryant told Deas. Hundreds of cars were lined up alongside the interstate in Birmingham to watch the procession pass. "[12] In 2001. a committee of trustees met in secret, just one day after a court barred Auburn's board of trustees from doing the same thing. It follows the changing urban landscape of Lexington, the agricultural, tobacco and horse racing industries, key national events such as World War II and Vietnam, as well as notable regional and national figures. (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. 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. Bryant said that he never made the remarks and that the entire article was fabricated. He dropped him off at night. I have evidence to the contrary, from @bryantmuseum today. Bryant has been married for 50 years to UA classmate Cherry Handley Hicks Bryant. "It's my daddy's middle name!" Because this is my wife and it's her middle name! Paul William Bryant Jr (born December 19, 1944 in Birmingham) is a Tuscaloosa businessman and chairman of the Crimson Tide Foundation. 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. "I never did hear about him dying.". 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. Even Knowles sheepishly admits she has a houndstooth umbrella. They have three daughters: Stella Gray Bryant Sykes, Mae Martin Bryant Murray, and Anna Laurie Bryant McKibbens, all graduates of The University of Alabama, and three grandchildren. He's been on the board for 13 years or so. "[1] He is worth "hundreds of millions of dollars. I'm probably better evaluating them than running them, I'll say that, he said. My passion is the dogs, really, he said. One grandmother introduced her preschool-aged grandson, Hayden Bryant Kennedy, this way: "If I'd had my way, he'd be Nicholas Bryant Kennedy." I didn't want it to be (a fight), but I felt some responsibility, Bryant said. The history of it kind of came up with lobbyists who worked for UAB at the time, some other people opposing my being on the board and it got to be kind of, sort of, a fight.. "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key: That key is Russian national interest.". Other Members of the class of 2016 2016 Robert Witt 2016 Beverly Phifer 2016 "Coach Bryant used to be the coach at Alabama," he says. His clarity comes and goes. SUFFOLK - Paul Bryant Jr., 67, retired employee of Perry Lumber Co., died Saturday, Dec. 14, 1996. Bryant asked whether there might be enough for him. Paul Bryant Jr., a banker and the coach's only son, says his father established the fund in 1973. . While his portfolio seems diverse, Bryant sees a common thread in some of his most successful undertakings: banking, gaming and reinsurance (basically insurance for insurance companies) are all highly regulated. 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." There's even a song . He is chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a Washington, D.C. - based organization which works to preserve historic battlefields. They hoped that through him they might better understand the coach. another $13 mil or so, in fact, which now . The farm spans hundreds of acres and has catfish farms, cattle and grounds for quail hunting. George Wallace and former Washington Redskins Coach George Allen, representing President Reagan, were among the 400 dignataries, family members and friends who packed the church for the rites. Thereafter, he has been chairman of the Crimson Tide Foundation since its inception. [2], In 2005, Bryant founded the Bryant Bank. I didn't use it but one time. She shot back: "I thought all my cornbread was good!" Billy Varner has been married to Susie for 57 years, and as her life was once spent waiting on him to get home from a job that didn't know hours or days off, now it's spent managing his dementia. Inside she found $500 and a note. [2] By 2011, he sold it to Cemex, a Mexican construction corporation, for US$350 million. And yet they don't, and they almost certainly won't. mitataksemme sivustojemme ja sovellustemme kyttsi. Missing? "Well, that's my middle name!" Thirty years after his last season, Bryant's humanity lives only in his family and a few aging friends, in former employees such as Knowles, in 72-year-old assistant coach-turned-athletic director Mal Moore, and, perhaps most of all, in Billy Varner. The next morning, on Jan. 26, Varner ran errands, taking Bryant's daughter to the hospital and dropping off a to-do list at the office for Knowles. His first job was as general manager of the Birmingham A's of the Southern League. "Billy had a stroke in 1996," she says, "right after he retired. Alabama won the game against the University of Illinois at Urbana?Champaign, 21 to 15. I always felt if somebody was after him, they'd come at him from the front. Or at least the part of Alabama that doesn't care about UAB football. Like his boss before him, Billy Varner has come to the place where he must consider what he did with his time. ", There were also no Sabans at the reunion. Mr. Bryant was Chairman of the Crimson Tide Tradition Fund, the organization that preceded the Crimson Tide Foundation.
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