Here's a link to the Time Magazine archives where you can read the cover article about Coach Bryant from 1980. There are some interesting bits in there that relate to some of the "controversy" here and elsewhere about Coach Saban.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952802-1,00.html

Now thats some real history. Thank you.

I have multiple copies of that issue( I was on campus at that time and my folks bought 30 when they were in NYC that week) It was fantastic having Coach Bear Bryant on the cover.

WOW...you're right man. 11 pages long by that reporter...I only read the
Front page and saved the rest to a file. and...you're right, a Damn good read!

One of my favorite Bryant articles.

Now do you really think that when this man looked at Juwain Simpson that he would get much of a discussion, or when he looked up into the stands that the fans wouldn't act like "they had been at a winning game before"...

Great Thread!!

Wow I had never read that before tonight.
I actually got a little choked up. Especially reading about Joe Wille staying at Coach Bryant's house without his knowledge.
The man was tough during those early years, but was able to change with the times. I wonder how his players would have coped if Gatorade had been around!

We've had some tough players at Alabama...

But, we've never had one tough enough or studpid enough to empty that Gatorade bucket onto Coach Bryant...

My favorite quote from the article...I almost cried.

"There'd be 16 of us, counting everybody on the staff, and we'd all be talking. When he'd walk in, everyone would just stop right in the middle of a sentence. He'd sit down, take out a pack of cigarettes, beat one on his thumb to pack it down, light it and smoke the whole damn thing without saying a word. He just had that magic about him: if he was going to say anything, you were going to be sure you didn't miss it."

quote:

Originally posted by Mahout:
We've had some tough players at Alabama...

But, we've never had one tough enough or studpid enough to empty that Gatorade bucket onto Coach Bryant...

LOL!!

I was one of those lucky enough to have him come to my home and eat dinner with my family. I was so scared that I hardly remember anything about it. I have a telegram that Coach Bryant sent me the first game of my senior year in high school to this day. Wouldn't take a million dollars for it!

There arent enough adjectives to justly describe how awesome that article was/is....thanks a lot for posting that.

Thanks for sharing.

That was a great read. It tells you alot about the man.