Bear Bryant Research Paper

Joseph Morris

Mrs. Bissell

TFL

7 May 2015

Paul “Bear” Bryant “Bear Bryant will take the Alabama Crimson Tide to yet another championship.” This is what was heard many of the repeated seasons Paul Bryant coached at Alabama. He was a remarkable coach that left a legacy everyone remembers him. Paul “Bear” Bryant was born on September 11, 1913. He born unto Wilson Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant. He was the eleventh of twelve children. He was born in Fordyce, Arkansas and attended Fordyce High School, where he played football as an eighth grader. He earned the name bear Bryant because he agreed to wrestle a captive bear at the age of 13. His mother wanted him to be a preacher, but Bryant had always had a fascination of football and decided he

He left the job to be an assistant coach for the University of Alabama under head coach Frank Thomas. Over the next four years, the team compiled a 29-5-3 record. In 1940 Bryant left to go coach at the University of Vanderbilt under Henry Russel Sanders. During this time the Commodores went 7-7 tied with Kentucky as Coach Sanders was undergoing an appendectomy. In 1941 Bryant was offered a head coaching job at the University of Arkansas. Due to the bombing of Pear Harbor in 1942, Bryant joined the United States Navy. He served off the coast of North Africa, seeing no action. However the ship he was on was rammed by an oil tanker near Bermuda and the crew was ordered to abandon. Bryant was granted an honorable discharge to train recruits and coach the North Carolina Navy Pr-Flight football team. One of the players he coached went on to become a Pro Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham. While in the service Bryant ranked as a Lieutenant Commander(“Bear

Under Bryant, Kentucky made its first bowl appearance and then went on to win the Southeastern Conference title. The 1050 Kentucky team concluded its dynamic season with a victory over the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl. In 2005 the living players from the 1950's team was honored during halftime in a game. Also he led the team to appearances in the Great Lakes Bowl, Orange Bowl, and the Cotton Bowl classic. Kentucky ranked #11 in 1949, #7 IN 1950, #15 IN 1951, #20 IN 1952, AND #16 IN 1953. In 1996, roughly 46 years after the fact, Jeff Sagarin ran a test of the 1950's season and estimated that Kentucky was possibly the best team that year(Hendricks). In 1954, Bryant accepted a head coaching job at Texas A&M University. He also was athletic director there to. The Aggies suffered a 1-9 season which began with the infamous training camp in Junction, Texas. The “survivors” were given the name “Junction Boys”. Two years later. Paul Bryant led the Texas A&M Aggies to a Southeastern Conference championship with a 34-21 victory over the University of Texas at Austin. The very next year Bryant's star back John David Crow won the Heisman Trophy, and Aggies were in the title contention until the lost to the Rice Owls in Houston(“Bear