On This Day In Alabama History: Bear Bryant Died

By Alabama NewsCenter Staff

Paul W. “Bear” Bryant was born in 1913 in rural Cleveland County, Arkansas. He played football at nearby Fordyce High School and got his nickname for taking on a sideshow challenge to earn a dollar a minute for wrestling a bear. When the animal’s muzzle popped off during the struggle, the story goes, the hulking teenager jumped out of the ring and never collected his winnings. But there would be plenty of wins later. During his playing time at the University of Alabama, the team racked up 23 victories, three losses and two ties, and was named national champion in 1934. His college coaching career included stints at Union College, Alabama, Maryland, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Texas A&M before he became head coach of the then-struggling Crimson Tide in 1958. Over 25 years in Tuscaloosa, he compiled a record of 232-46-9, with six national titles and 15 conference championships. Bryant was named College Football Coach of the Year three times. He retired in December 1982, his last game a 21-15 victory over the University of Illinois in the Liberty Bowl. He was then the winningest college football coach in history, with a record 323 victories. Just 28 days later on Jan. 26, 1983, Bryant, who had suffered from heart problems for years, was admitted to Tuscaloosa’s Druid City Hospital with chest pains. He died that afternoon after suffering a heart attack. The Navy veteran of World War II was 69. A month later, then-President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded Bryant the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Bryant is buried at Birmingham’s Elmwood Cemetery.

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