What Would The Bear Do?

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

In other thread (s), several posters (Hoopie, RWS, etc.) have said no one knows knows what The Bahr would do in a case like JJ. Maybe this will give you a clue:

www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_111433.asp

Note: I don't know why this doesn't show as a link. Maybe someome can fix it or just post the article.

[CircleDrill 178]

Wow. Times were different then. I didn't see one excuse in that article, even from the player.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Wow. Times were different then. I didn't see one excuse in that article, even from the player.

Yep and it sure sounds like he had a lot better relationship with everyone than St. Nick has.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Funny how everyone seems to avoid comment on this, especailly the bammies.

[WarTim 3,457]

Funny....VERY funny! ! !

[WinCrimson 61]

Funny how everyone seems to avoid comment on this, especailly the bammies.

Possibly because we can't read the article.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Funny how everyone seems to avoid comment on this, especailly the bammies.

Possibly because we can't read the article.

This needs to go in the Classics Forum......a bammie admitting he can't read.

[WinCrimson 61]

Nice burn. I've got to give you credit on that one.

The link really doesn't work for me, though.

[Ashandarei 0]

Yeah, link no good... durrrr

[AWK 0]

When famed football coach Bear Bryant was chosen as the Most Influential Person in the 75-year history of the Southeastern Conference, I was hardly ready for the electric reaction to a story I wrote last week about the first time I ever met him.

It wasn’t so much the way the story was written, nor was it the tale itself. Instead, there is a rapt fascination and a deep devotion shared by those who sent me over 250 e-mails in the past week and, partially by demand and partially in gratitude, allow me to offer yet another look at one of the most legendary characters of all time.

A big thing, as many of Coach Bryant’s biographical writers have noted, is that when Coach arrived to take over the team in 1958, the state of Alabama itself hadn’t had a whole lot to cheer about.

So when he took a bunch of country boys and molded them into one of the greatest athletic programs in the nation before he died in 1983, the pride he instilled throughout the whole state was huge. That respect and admiration had by then spread like wildfire and, judging from my e-mails this week, it is still so very prevalent today.

His method was surprisingly simple – he had a plan for everything. He had a plan if Alabama won, he had a plan if they lost. He thought things out and then he carried them through.

That he was so driven, so unyielding on himself, was a given. It seemed he never forgot his humble beginnings in tiny Moro Bottom, Ark., but maybe that was where he got his rarest gift, his most unique quality, which was that he knew how to get the most goodness out of another human being better than anybody who ever was.

Whether an All-American or an “ordinary†freshman, an assistant coach or a staff secretary, Coach Bryant could twirl the combination lock on another’s gumption in a way neither of them would ever forget.

One of the best examples ever is also one of the hardest to explain so I must ask for your indulgence; when Coach Bryant would discipline a player, nobody ever talked about it. Oh, you remember when he suspended Joe Namath and some of the other big players. There were some big headlines alright, but neither Coach Bryant nor his players ever said a word about whatever it was that happened. “It’s a family matter,†is all he’d allow.

This one goes deeper than that.

I know enough to believe the basic elements of what you are about to read are true. The selling of drugs, the threat of life in jail, the VA hospital, and way it turned out are as real as summer-time rain. I’ve heard different versions of the lesser details down through the years, but, if I were on a witness stand, this is the version I’d give today.

That said, I remember back when marijuana really picked up momentum throughout the South in the early ‘70s. Everybody was still stinging over segregation, the Viet Nam draft was awful and the hippie thing was so strong Coach Bryant finally allowed his players to grow their hair long after Alabama got whipped early one season by Southern Cal in Los Angeles.

Marijuana, driven by the lusty sounds of Janis Joplin and dizzying twang of Jimi Hendrix, swept across the country’s college campuses and soon there were more “joints†in the South than boll weevils. Every college town had a new type of “underground railroad†and, at Alabama, it was no different than anywhere else.

Some of “Bear†Bryant’s football players dabbled around in the stuff, mostly because their girlfriends did, but there was one particular case that is now worth mentioning. I’m not naming names, again because of the way things finally turned out, but this saga reached its zenith about this very time of the year and, to me, perfectly portrays Paul William Bryant for the man that he was in the midst of such revolution.

The Crimson Tide coaches had recruited a tougher-than-leather kid somewhere out of south Alabama who quickly made a name for himself as a defensive whiz. He swarmed like a bumble-bee, was quicker than a yellow-jacket and would evermore pop you like a fist-sized hornet.

Early in his sophomore year the kid joined the No. 1 unit and, after spring practice in his junior year, his name was on a bunch of All-American checklists despite the fact he wasn’t big enough by common standards. He played with a tenacity, which Bryant absolutely loved.

Well, the smell of marijuana was in the air and it was the talk. This player came from a very poor background and, while he wasn’t about to spend money on anything that foolish, he was also smart in a street kind of way and found real quickly he could make a bundle selling the stuff.

So “A†gets in touch with “B†and the next thing you know this player has a wad of cash for the first time in his life. I’m talking more than toothpaste money and blue-jean money here. Now we have cold beer and pretty girls and to a college kid who’s never had it – that’s heaven.

Trouble was, nothing involving his players ever happened for over a couple of weeks before Coach Bryant would find out about it – good or bad - and Coach, to put it mildly, went into a rage never seen before nor since. He got the kid in his office and the boy, making the one smart move of his life, immediately confessed, promising he never, ever sold to a teammate or any other athlete at the Capstone.

Then the kid immediately turned dumb again when he said something like “at least I didn’t get caught†because Coach Bryant threw him bodily out of the door, chased him to the dorm, and then, with most of the team watching in awe, the head coach went on a spectacular tirade.

“I caught you!†thundered Coach Bryant as he personally threw everything that belonged to that boy out of his dorm room. Making one flaming trip after another, he slung that kid’s sheets, underwear, text books, girlfriend’s picture, stereo, pencils and anything else he had ever touched onto the front lawn and I’m talking about in broad daylight.

“You are done! If you ever, ever, come back here again, you’ll be put in jail for the rest of your life!†yelled Coach Bryant and the boy, sobbing on his knees, could tell a promise from a threat.

Well, the boy tried every way he knew how to get back on. He went to see Coach Bryant, only to be turned away time and time again. He wrote letters, he pleaded with his old teammates for help. Suddenly a kid who had been part of the “Toast of Tuscaloosa Town†was an absolute pariah and, totally scorned, was soon working second shift at a convenience store.

Luckily he stayed in school, making his grades, and then, his world obviously shattered, he scraped up enough for the first semester of summer school. Living “catch-until-can’t†he cut grass and did other odd jobs, but the worse was the fact his old teammates wouldn’t even speak - he’d sullied the program, which, at Alabama, is far worse than strangling a family of four.

One day in late June a student manger stopped the outcast going to class and said tersely, “All I am to do is deliver this message. If you want one last chance, do as I say. Be in Coach Bryant’s office at 4:30 tomorrow morning. Look your best. That’s all I can say.â€Â

At 4 a.m. the next morning Coach’s office was still locked but the main doors to the athletic department were strangely open and the kid waited on that old black sofa. Well, 5 a.m. came and went, but that kid kept waiting, his shoes shined and his fingernails trimmed and his heart … law, it had never beat as hard.

Around 6 a.m. Coach Bryant’s driver, the lovable Billy, came down the hall. “Coach is in the car outside. We need to ride.†When the kid got in the back seat of the blue Buick, he said “hello, coach†but Coach didn’t even turn around. And when he asked where they were going, it was Billy who offered up, “You’d be better off just being quiet.â€Â

So down University Boulevard they silently went, just as dawn began to streak the sky, and the air was so thick in that car you could’ve carved X’s and O’s in it with a jack-knife.

Soon Billy turned down old Loop Road and pulled up in front of the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. As Coach Bryant opened his door he spoke over his shoulder for the first time. “C’mon, Druggie.â€Â

A doctor, or somebody wearing a white coat, was waiting in the lobby and the three, with nobody saying a word, walked to the elevator. But instead of going up, they went down, all the way down.

In the lower basement, they then walked down a dimly-lit hall as one or two sleepy orderlies watched and, near the end, the doctor produced a key to a cell-like room that was … well, padded. It was like a jail cell, with a little shelf of a bed, a lid-less toilet and a small basin. And there in the middle of the floor sat a guy about the same age as the football player.

The biggest difference was that the pitiful shell of a soldier wore only a single sheet instead of a suit and shined shoes. He had recently thrown up on himself, and was sitting in his own waste and grime. His eyes were vacant and dull and when Coach Bryant finally spoke the patient didn’t even blink.

“This poor kid couldn’t handle it in Viet Nam so he started doing drugs. All kinds,†said Coach Bryant. “Since you are a drug expert, I thought ya’ll might like to be friends. In the hall outside is a bucket, some soap, and a set of clothes for this boy … and don’t forget he fought for his country,†Coach said in that heavy voice.

“After you get him cleaned up, find your way back to wherever it is you want to go,†he added in a slow sort of way. Then nodding to the white coat to move along, the legend sidestepped his former player and left the two 20-year-olds looking hard at one another.

Suffice it to say the patient wasn’t real happy about cleaning up, but, in the bigger scheme, the athlete had what they call in Alabama football circles a lot more “want-to.â€Â

The patient never had a chance and was sparkling by early that same afternoon. Then again, neither did the player because, as he walked down that highway under a broiling sun to his off-campus boarding house, he finally got it. The lesson had been given. It had also been learned.

The next morning, at 4:30 a.m., the exiled player awakened to a sharp rap on his door. It was Billy, Coach’s driver. “Your friend over at the V.A. is messy again. You ready to go?†The player, swallowing hard, told Billy to give him a minute to brush his teeth, that he’d be right there.

On the drive over, Coach Bryant wasn’t in the car but Billy explained that, from then on, the kid would have to find his own way to the VA every day. Just before they pulled up, Billy also said he’d noticed a red bicycle in the rack outside the football dorm that nobody had ridden in a long time.

June stretched into July and, as August arrived, the player and the patient didn’t miss one day that they didn’t clean up together. The patient began to respond to the player and the job got easier. They talked. They even laughed at some of the same things.

The day the Crimson Tide reported for the start of fall practice, the former player hadn’t heard a peep from anyone. He didn’t the next day, either, but he now knew to keep quiet. He’d been taught to excel at what he could control, not what he couldn’t. That’s part of the lesson.

Yet, when he walked away from the patient on that third day, the last day his teammates would wear shorts before putting on the full gear of fall, there was a man leaning on the wall next to the elevator at the far end of the hall. Depending on the version, it was either Dude Hennessy or Clem Gryska, both long-time assistants under Bryant.

The boy was told to go by the convenience store, that arrangements had already been made for him to pick up his final check. He was to then gather his things and move back into the dorm that afternoon. One more thing: “We’re scrimmaging in the morning. You need to wear full pads to practice.â€Â

Well, the boy turned out to be a real good football player for Alabama. If I told you about all-star honors you could probably figure it out, but every time I’d bring up the story Coach would tell me it was none of my business and, at Alabama, they didn’t discuss such unless you played a part.

Then word trickled down that at one point just this summer, the guy who had once erred but who had later starred for “The Bear†had been given this huge honor. Again, if I said what it was you might be able to figure it out so let’s just leave it, other than to say the honor is given only so often to that rare somebody who does a whole lot for folks who can’t help themselves.

Yeah, leave it there. It is simply a family matter.

royexum@aol.com

[WAR-MATT 2]

What Would The Bear Do?

have a drink?

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

WARR-MATT.....thanks for posting the article. I don't know why the link didn't work for some people. Maybe now WC can see it wasn't written by someone being negative about bama and that I wasn't holding him up as a shing example. I just provided it beacue a few said no one knows what the bear would do. I will say that, considering the times, I think he handled it very well. Interestingly enough, my bama grads daughter was visiting me this weekend and I showed her the article. She said bear should have immediately kicked the guy off the team and not let him back. So go figure.

[WarTiger 3,916]

what would bear do?

call the ncaa and turn in another program for cheating to keep them away from his own?

[mec814 0]

WARTIGER

You maybe closer to the truth than anyone. I only remember Bahr

trying to keep the other programs down, of course he had help.

[AWK 0]

WARR-MATT.....thanks for posting the article. I don't know why the link didn't work for some people. Maybe now WC can see it wasn't written by someone being negative about bama and that I wasn't holding him up as a shing example. I just provided it beacue a few said no one knows what the bear would do. I will say that, considering the times, I think he handled it very well. Interestingly enough, my bama grads daughter was visiting me this weekend and I showed her the article. She said bear should have immediately kicked the guy off the team and not let him back. So go figure.

You're Welcome.........

[AU alum 2]

what would bear do?

call the ncaa and turn in another program for cheating to keep them away from his own?

While drinking.

[WAR-MATT 2]

what would bear do?

call the ncaa and turn in another program for cheating to keep them away from his own?

While drinking.

I got the next great marketing campaign for the bammers. dark pink bracelets that have w.w.b.d.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

WARR-MATT.....thanks for posting the article. I don't know why the link didn't work for some people. Maybe now WC can see it wasn't written by someone being negative about bama and that I wasn't holding him up as a shing example. I just provided it beacue a few said no one knows what the bear would do. I will say that, considering the times, I think he handled it very well. Interestingly enough, my bama grads daughter was visiting me this weekend and I showed her the article. She said bear should have immediately kicked the guy off the team and not let him back. So go figure.

You're Welcome.........

Sorry AWK, my goof

[AUslug 1]

Bahr would strike up another Chesterfield and call that boys momma.

[WAR-MATT 2]

Bahr would strike up another Chesterfield and call that boys momma.

then have a drink.