That's what I like when I've got a chance to get away.. During these years, he served three successive terms as President Pro Tempore. Even Mrs. Bryant didn't know him as well as Billy did. #RollTide pic.twitter.com/C5wakg73d7. We thought we'd do that for the grandchildren and stuff, and there's some responsibility that goes with that, I guess.. I didn't want it to be (a fight), but I felt some responsibility, Bryant said. "What's your name?" Always, Coach Bryant, just like Mary Wilkes or Sarah Catherine: Coachbryant. He says he's asked. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Woman and child mourn the death of Coach "Bear" Bryant. "What do you know about the story where Coach Bryant and Billy met?" Bryant, a member of the University of Alabama board of trustees since 2000 and president pro tempore of the board since 2011, said his business secret as president of Greene Group, a privately-held holding company, has more to do with being able to identify profitable enterprises. (AP Photo). Getty. Alabama-Funeral-Young man gives final salute to Coach "Bear" Bryant. [13] Stewart was found guilty on all 135 counts of fraud. University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center. Over the years, various accounts have given him different titles, but essentially, he was a fixer. ", As Chase Bryant's father nodded proudly, another teen, Bryant Wilson, shouted "Same! . Kentucky football coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant poses with his family, Paul Jr. at center with their pet dachshund, and his wife Mary, right, at their home in Lexington, Kent., Feb. 5, 1954. At the end, when Bryant was sicker than anyone knew, Billy heard the private coughs. Kobe . "I don't know whether he died or what" is what it sounds like he says. "We hear about people really almost exclusively through word of mouth," explained Ken Gaddy, director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum, located in the heart of the University of Alabama's campus. 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. ", As high school student Cameron Bryant Collier mingled with incoming Alabama freshman Bryant Edward Rich (as you've likely figured out, the reunion crowds skew very young), Leonard Bryant Jackson joked that he was going to yell out "Hey, Bryant!" She'd always ask: "When y'all coming back?". [2] He also served as general manager of minor league baseball's Birmingham Barons. [1][2] By 1995, they were incorporated as GreenTrack, Inc.[4] As of 2009, he owned 72% of GreenTrack. The newspapers had a combined Sunday edition, but their editorial policies remained quite different. Bryant has been married for 50 years to UA classmate Cherry Handley Hicks Bryant. "What do you mean, I didn't play football? Bryant. The extended family includes about a. I wasn't really seeking it, he said. Welcome to the 23rd annual Paul W. Bryant Namesake Reunion, where the only requirement to attend is that you or a member of your immediate family is willingly and lovingly -- sometimes strategically -- named for the coach known as "Bear." [2] In 1999, he acquired a stake in Harvest Select Catfish Inc., a company which raises catfish in Alabama and Mississippi. The number of people left alive who knew that Paul is small. I think that's one reason, McNair said, that he has put so much money (in the form of donations) into museums at the university., In 2005, Bryant founded Bryant Bank, which he calls my winding-down project.. A half-hour or more has passed. (Fie Photo/ The Huntsville Times) The Huntsville Times, Former Governor George Walalce attends the funeral of Alabama coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant at the First Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa on Friday Jan. 28, 1983. Billy found a phone and called ahead, telling Susie to make her good cornbread. That's a no-no.". I had a four- or five- or six-year head start on them. Four loud slaps. Not unlike the lawn outside at the reunion, where the Pauls and Paulas and Bryants ate crimson-colored snow cones and craned their necks to read each other's nametags. ", They'd known each other for more than 20 years by then. Varner never felt comfortable enough to strike up conversations with Bryant, but he could poke at the Legend of The Bear. Breaking down the latest in 2024 football recruiting, from top commits to March visits, The Turnover Luck Index: Rating every 2022 team, from USC to Rutgers, Kiper's updated NFL mock draft: Who's moving up for a QB? But he never played football past age 12 because of a health issue -- he contracted hepatitis. Supporters of UAB football insist that the now-scrapped football program played an important role in helping the university attract students and build campus life. In 2005, Bryant founded Bryant Bank. -- Kentucky -- Lexington. mitataksemme sivustojemme ja sovellustemme kyttsi. There is, always, a disconnect between the few people who miss Paul and the legion who worship The Bear. It is the most extensive, single collection of still photographic images documenting Lexington's 20th Century history in existence. Because this is my wife and it's her middle name! In 1937, the owner of the Leader, John G. Stoll, bought the Herald, and both daily papers were published concurrently (the Herald in the morning and the Leader in the afternoon) for the next 46 years. Age: 68 Birthplace: Birmingham Education: Graduated in 1966 with a degree in finance from the University of Alabama Family: Wife, Cherry; three daughters and three grandchildren Career: President of Greene Group Inc., a privately-held holding company; chairman of Bryant Bank; president pro tempore of the UA board of trustees; chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a national historic battlefield preservation organization, Tommy Deas Executive Sports Editor | The Tuscaloosa News. Other sports notables at the funeral included New York Jets quarterback Richard Todd, Jets defensive lineman Marty Lyons, former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Lee Roy Jordan, former Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Dodd, Duke Coach Steve Sloan, former Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes, Florida Coach Charlie Pell, former Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles and Auburn Coach Pat Dye. After one trip, when the men went to a horse track, Billy came home with an envelope from Coach. At home, she keeps the microcassette of the last letter he dictated, the day before he died. Miss Bryant, Martin Folmar, Paul Bryant Jr., Mrs. Folmar, Mary Dillard Marr and Mrs. Bryant. Regularly, he refuses to believe that his old boss isn't at home waiting for a ride. The university sells houndstooth beach balls and houndstooth pool floats, which you can enjoy with an adult beverage kept cold by a houndstooth huggie. This photograph was published on Feb 24th, 1948 (1948-02-24) Photograph Number: 1.03-1497.01 Lexington (Ky.) -- Social life and customs. 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. Before every Alabama home game, the big video board plays clips of Bryant talking, sounding like he ate a carton of Chesterfields. Stewart. I didn't use it but one time. Varner drove over, helped get Bryant to the hospital. People contact us all the time, and we ask them to fill out a form with their birthdate, a little family history and a specific section to fill out that starts with, 'This is the story of me or my child being named for Coach Bryant ' That allows us to do a little research and verify it. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Eight husky players carried Paul 'Bear' Bryant to his grave under a bare hickory tree and more than 8,000 mourners in two cities said goodbye Friday to the man they called the greatest football coach who ever lived. ear Bryant surrounded himself with people he could trust, and he trusted nobody more than Billy Varner, a tough, barrel-chested African-American. When Alabama football is winning, it's just better. Try 100. We went to the dressing room. Driving through Mississippi one night, they stopped at a catfish house. 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. Bryant is a family man: He has been married to his wife, Cherry, since 1966, and they have three daughters all UA graduates and three grandchildren. I'd drive him. 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. The pallbearers were defensive backs Jeremiah Castille, Jerrill Sprinkle and Tommy Wilcox; quarterbacks Paul Fields and Walter Lewis; linebacker Eddie Lowe; offensive tackle Mike McQueen, offensive tackle, and split end Darryl White. Growing up, everyone called Bear Jr. "Papa," except for Hilburn, who called Papa's daddy "Papa" while everyone else called him "Grandpapa." In 1973, the newspapers were purchased by the Knight-Ridder Corporation and in 1983 were merged into a single, morning paper that is still published as The Lexington Herald-Leader. 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. "At the University of Alabama it's really important," Bryant told Deas. A crowd of 5,000 -- many dressed as though for an Alabama football game -- watched in eerie silence as the grim-faced young pallbearers carried Bryant's flower-blanketed casket to the grave. Bryant got the name right; "Susie" was scrawled on the outside. The Chester County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) honored Sgt. Bryant Jr. also has clear ties to a federal insurance fraud case that drew a 15-year prison sentence for Allen W. For many years, Bryant has been accused of running the Alabama board of trustees like a family business, "holding secret meetings, shrugging off public records requests, ignoring or sidestepping the law. The Birmingham News, Bear Bryant funeral at First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, AL. His voice is deep and trails off when he's unsure. "Well, that's my middle name!" He was 69. 'We give thanks to God for his personal strength in leading men and the tenderness with which he could touch a child,' the Rev. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Photo by Dave Dieter HVT, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. Not yet anyway. Paul Bryant has stepped up for this project like he . From 2000 to 2015, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System. Knowles and Varner cleaned out the real version of this office after Coach died. Standing before the exhibit, she can hear his voice all around her, literally, from the museum's video displays. Kobe Bryant Announces Fourth Daughter on the Way with Wife Vanessa In January, the retired basketball star, 40, rung in the new year with a special announcement featuring a gold, sparkling . Varner told even him no. "Really? But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. But it appeared they had leaned toward quickness instead -- only two of the pallbearers weighed over 200 pounds, although all were remarkably muscular. Robert Witt has worked with Bryant for the last 10 years, first as UA president and more recently as chancellor of the UA system. He saw him cry. "I just don't know what's going to happen to him," Varner said. ", There were also no Sabans at the reunion. You can reach up and feel it. Sometimes they didn't. Bryant's family and friends fiercely guard his legacy, but this omerta brings with it an accidental cost. By 1977, he established GreeneTrack, dog racing track located in Greene County, Alabama,[1] with A. Wayne May, a veterinarian, and Sam Phelps, a lawyer. He established the General J.C.C. In 1996, 14 years after Bryant died, he retired from the University of Alabama Police Department. coverage of "Bear" Bryant's service. I walked in front of him. Nobody ever has a plan. Bryant said he was invited by the board members to fill the vacant seat. "Coach Bryant isn't dead," he'll say. He was 18. Bryant asked whether there might be enough for him. He's an honorary assistant coach for the 1975 season. Bryant Jr.,today, is perhaps as close as we get to someone who seemingly fits the meaning of Churchill's quote: something or someone that is immensely puzzling to figure out or extraordinarily complex to fully understand, often relying on hyperbole and occasionally sarcasm to describe. John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader photographs, https://lhlphotoarchive.org/ark:/16417/th71m0q2fr6vl, This item is 1 of 3716 items in the series ". Varner went home to rest, and that's where he was when the phone rang again. "Because my wife's favorite movie is 'Sweet Home Alabama' and what's-his-name [Josh Lucas], his hound dog was named Bryant for Coach Bryant and our dog looked just like the dog from the movie. Had he done that, one of those who answered back would have been Paul Francis Murray of Mobile. 2/28/2023 6:52 PM PT. Persistent Link for this Record:https://lhlphotoarchive.org/ark:/16417/th71m0q2fr6vl, University of Kentucky LibrariesSpecial Collections Research Center. PAUL BRYANT OBITUARY Paul Dean Bryant Jr., 47, of El Mirage, Arizona, passed away on April 15, 2006. Members of the 1982 football team carry the casket of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant from the Tuscaloosa First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Friday, Jan. 29, 1983. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. After services in Tuscaloosa, Bryant was brought to Elmwood Cemetery for interment. [2] Bryant is also the President of Greene County Greyhound Park. Alabama-Man mourns at Coach "Bear" Bryant's funeral site. The local paper interviewed him, and Billy cried. The living room takes up the front of the house, with a television at one end and, on the wall, a poem about footsteps in the sand, which ends with God telling a follower: "The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.". "I never did hear about him dying.". Reach Tommy Deas at tommy@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0224. Any William needs to be prepared to really make his or her case to be included, but many have successfully done so. [1] [2] Bear Bryant had died, and as the news went out on the radio -- the man's voice cracked when he said, "Ladies and gentlemen " -- Varner stood in the hallway of the Druid City Hospital with nowhere to go. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Fans watching T.V. I always thought about that. He said he asked Esquire for a retraction, but William M. Adler, the freelance writer of the article, said he stood by the story. "Oh, it goes so much deeper than that," Hilburn said, rolling her eyes and grinning. "He never told me anything personal about Coach Bryant," she says. "I host the family holidays here at my house in Tuscaloosa, and we have so many Pauls and Marys and Mays that I have to draw up place cards for everyone and I have to use a very sophisticated system of last initials. Paul William Bryant Jr (born December 19, 1944 in Birmingham) is a Tuscaloosa businessman and chairman of the Crimson Tide Foundation. Whatever order was brought on by the photographs disappears. Since then, Moore says, daughters of Joe Namath and Ken Stabler have attended Alabama on . Bryant, at the time less well-known, lived in the historic Redmont home shortly after he married Mary Harmon in June 1935. The coverage of the newspaper has grown over the years and while its focus has always been on the Lexington Metropolitan area (including 7 additional counties) it presently circulates in 78 of 120 counties throughout central andeastern Kentucky. It happens slowly but clearly. Dr. A's weekly risers and fallers: Jeremy Sochan, Christian Wood make the list. "There's not much really you can talk about Billy," Rutledge said. City & town life -- Kentucky -- Lexington. Alabama Media Group, University of Alabama head football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant is lifted onto the shoulders of his players after Alabama defeated Illinois 21-15 in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., Wednesday night, Dec. 30, 1982. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Fans climb tree to watch "Bear" Bryant's funeral. 1; a guy who for years has been hostile to Blazer football out of fear it might one day challenge the thing his iconic father, Paul "Bear" Bryant, raised to the pinnacle of success. Bryant loved University of Alabama Crimson Tide football, and his son appears to love it just as deeply. The Leader was a Republican, society-based evening edition, and the Herald a more political, heavily Democratic morning edition. Sometimes they talked. S (File Photo/ The Huntsville TImes) The Huntsville Times, Former Alabama student Tammy Rogers at graveside service for Alabama coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Ala. on Friday Jan. 28, 1983. A diamond of belly shows through the puckered front of his shirt. ", Overhearing this exchange was yet another teenager, Bryant Denny Turner, whose parents dared to go even a step further and give their son the name of the legendary Alabama football coach and the name of the arena where the Bear did his homework, Denny Stadium. [2], In 2005, Bryant founded the Bryant Bank. The scope of the collection highlights the day to day activities of Kentuckians. He is survived by his wife Sylvia Mohamed-Bryant, parents Paul Dean Bryant Sr.. Finally, he asks for help. They're probably dead themselves because I was a fast gun. He led efforts to upgrade and expand the football stadium which bears his dad's name. According to Social Security records, since 1959 there have been 1,403 Bryants born in Alabama -- so many that it piqued the curiosity of the Bear's original namesake, Paul William "Bear" Bryant Jr. After a lifetime of hearing "I was named for your daddy," it was Junior who approached the museum that honors his father with the idea of compiling a database of those whose names do the same. This isn't a celebration. The pictures seem to anchor him. The extended family includes about a dozen hunting dogs, who are kept at Bryant's farm in Greene County. Look at the UA System Trustees website and you will see the names of 15 permanent trustees, but only 14 photos. A story last year from Bloomberg News, mostly about his extensive business dealings, shows a man who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a fortune gained through a variety of businesses and investments spanning dog and horse racing, the insurance industry, cement making, catfish farming and banking. Early life and family background. But many mourners wore crimson and white, the colors of the Crimson Tide. "It's my daddy's middle name!" I looked at him like, 'What the hell you think I'm here for?'". Next fall, another great-grandson, Paul William Bryant Tyson, will be on Nick Saban's roster as a freshman quarterback. "I went and bought me one of those. Today he can. Billy was always just around, in the office, on the road, on the sidelines. Also, members of the 27-member Black Legislative Caucus unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to Bryant's appointment, saying he was insensitive to minorities because of comments attributed to him in a 1989 Esquire magazine profile. They wanted husky ones.' re: Help me understand the power of Paul Bryant, Jr. Posted on 12/2/14 at 9:47 pm to weagle99. A houndstooth car is just the beginning. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. "This is Alabama football. Many of the members of Bryant's last team held their faces in tense grimaces, obviously fighting back tears, at the graveside. So why change the dog's name? he man Billy Varner is remembering has very little in common with the Bryant who is beloved by so many Alabama fans. No, no. This was Bryant's last game as the head football coach at the University of Alabama. We give 100 percent around here. Bryant served as the chairman of the Civil War Trust. He is chairman emeritus of the Civil War Preservation Trust, a Washington, D.C. - based organization which works to preserve historic battlefields. 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 . Yes, Bear died, but He is risen. He co-authored two books about American football in 2013. His voice ticks up a few notches. 1983 Press Photo Alabama-Mourning fans at Paul "Bear" Bryant's funeral. TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - Maybe Winston Churchill comes closest to summing up Paul Bryant Jr. "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia," said Churchill in a 1939 radio address talking about what role the then USSR might play in World War II. Health facilities -- Kentucky -- Lexington. Tobacco industry -- Kentucky -- Lexington. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- There is a scene in the 1985 comedy "Spies Like Us" in which Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, posing as doctors, enter a tent full of actual doctors. Paul William Bryant Jr. was born circa 1945. The funeral service at the First Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa was deeply religious, with little reference to Bryant's career or character. For nearly 44 years the collection was cared for by John C. Wyatt (1928-2005), who became a Lexington Leader photographer in 1946, was the chief photographer for many years, and retired from the Lexington Herald-Leader in 1990. Paul Bryant was the 11th of 12 children who were born to William Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant in Fordyce, Arkansas. Paul W. Bryant, Jr. is the son of the late Paul W. Bryant and Mary Harmon Black Bryant. The magazine quoted Bryant, who owned GreeneTrack in Greene County at the time, as saying that the dog track was frequented by low-class, welfare blacks.. It grows smaller all the time. Bryant did play high school basketball in Tuscaloosa, but in interviews he has said he was part of a great team and played only sparingly. ", "You didn't play no football," she says. Although Bryant never served in the military, he is a lifelong scholar of American military history and active in battlefield preservation. Neither man spent much time with his family. [2] He went on to establish more tracks in Texas (for example in La Marque, Texas), Idaho, and Iowa. Former Data Analyst - Consultant at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida - Jacksonville. She shot back: "I thought all my cornbread was good!" My passion is the dogs, really, he said. In his hospital room, Bryant was joking with the nurses. But I got outvoted. Four years later, Billy was bartending at the Tuscaloosa Country Club. The University of Alabama System: Board of Trustees: Paul W. Bryant Jr. Greenetrack shareholder lawsuit alleges president, management misused funds, Four stockholders file suit against Greenetrack CEO and board officers. In real life, biographer Allen Barra reports, Bryant had a copy of Philip Roth's masturbation-heavy literary masterpiece "Portnoy's Complaint" on his shelf. "Well, we don't hardly know the details," he said finally. My dad wanted to set me on the right path as soon as I was born! Sometimes his mind is clear as a crystal. "He could eat pheasant under glass with the president," he said, "or he could eat cheese and crackers with the boys out by the caddie shack, and he'd enjoy it all just the same. The family of the late Kobe Bryant has agreed to a $28.5 million settlement with Los Angeles County to resolve the remaining claims in a lawsuit over deputies and firefighters sharing grisly photos of the NBA star, his 13-year-old daughter and other victims killed in a 2020 helicopter crash, attorneys and court filings said Feb. 28, 2023. Jos haluat muokata valintojasi, napsauta Hallitse tietosuoja-asetuksia. You had more fun on that job. Currently, Bryant is president of the privately held holding company, Greene Group, Inc. which has operated a multi-state business engaged in reinsurance, finance, leasing, par-mutual racing, casino management, cattle ranching, aquaculture, catfish processing and distribution, fuel distribution, outdoor recreation, wildlife management, and concrete/aggregate construction. "If you're gonna be in, be all-in," explained James Turner, Bryant Denny Turner's father. He puts a finger over his lips and says, "Shhh." Paul W. Bryant Jr. Net Worth in 2021. Susie is short, 77, with gray hair and a walker she pushes around. Somebody comes up to do something to Coach Bryant, they're gonna have to get me first. "I met a lot of business people through my parents," Bryant told Bloomberg, acknowledging the obvious connections his famous name brought. Connelly's C-USA preview, part 2: Which returning teams could rule new-look league? It's difficult to understand if you're not from here, but when football isn't doing well it kind of hurts, the whole state is kind of in a funk. "Billy had a stroke in 1996," she says, "right after he retired. One of Bryant's companies, Alabama Reassurance or "Alabama Re", was implicated in at least nine counts of the Stewart indictment, relating to a "wire fraud scheme to deceive state insurance regulators involving reinsurance." Acknowledged by the National Park Service and leading conservationists as the foremost American heritage land preservation organization, the Civil War Trust is known to be the largest and most effective non-profit devoted to the preservation of Americas battlegrounds. The illness forced him to miss a year of school and the after-effects zapped his strength to play the game his father coached. [7], He served on the board of trustees of the University of Alabama[3][6] until September 2015 and previously served as its chairman. We're going into the stadium. Most afternoons, Bryant would slip into the bar and play cards with friends. The family had asked that cameras be barred from the services. "[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. Alabama-Fans climb tree to watch "Bear" Bryant's funeral. When he came back, he was a regular campus policeman. You miss a lot of things you shouldn't miss.". "We knew he'd been offered a lot of money to write a book or help make a movie," says Linda Knowles, Bryant's longtime secretary, "and he would have none of that. "No kidding, it's my daughter's first name, too!" (AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr.), College football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, wearing black coat, observes his team Alabama Crimson Tide after they defeated Illinois 21-15 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 30, 1982. Half a dozen helicopters carrying news photographers hovered near the cemetery, which lies at the end of a black community in southwest Birmingham. 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. A lot of them we've got don't hunt because they're older. That's nothing. He looks back at the Liberty Bowl photograph. SUFFOLK - Paul Bryant Jr., 67, retired employee of Perry Lumber Co., died Saturday, Dec. 14, 1996. Knowles cries every time. Gov. ", She stands still, surrounded by the strangers who've come to genuflect, and she thinks, "If they only knew." He drove him to Birmingham one year before Christmas because Bryant got a letter from a sick girl and he wanted to surprise her. Mr. Bryant was Chairman of the Crimson Tide Tradition Fund, the organization that preceded the Crimson Tide Foundation. Paul William Bryant Jr. (born c. 1945) is an American banker, investor and philanthropist from Alabama . I'd travel with him to the games. The daughter of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, Mae Martin Bryant Tyson, left, and son Paul Bryant Jr., right, attend a memorial service on the campus at Tuscaloosa, Ala., Jan. 27,. He also was elected president of C&BA students. "There was so much going on," he says. The Birmingham News. You get a job out there you would have made $50 more a month. Historic buildings -- Kentucky -- Lexington. Its descendant, the Morning Herald, was first published January 1, 1895 and became known as the Lexington Herald in 1905. It's a cult. Sure did. He collapsed once from nervous exhaustion, chain-smoked cigarettes, ripped the filters off ones he bummed, passed out on couches, checked into alcohol rehab. Lexington (Ky.) -- Politics and government. Billy was Bear Bryant's driver, bodyguard and valet, one of the few remaining people who knew him as a human being. The trust has over 50,000 members and more than 250,000 supporters throughout the country. Close friend Jimmy Hinton died a year ago; former assistant and confidant Clem Gryska died last month. The patrolman understood and backed off. T "Too many football games," he says. During an extensive interview a year ago with the Tuscaloosa News and executive sports editor Tommy Deas, Bryant talked about what Bama football meant to the university.