100 facts you may not know

100 facts you may not know

Paul "Bear" Bryant was born 100 years ago today, on Sept. 11, 1913. To mark the occasion, here are 100 facts you may or may not know about the legendary Alabama football coach, presented in chronological order.

Growing up

1. Paul William Bryant was born in Moro Bottom in south central Arkansas. Moro Bottom is not an actual town, but rather a plot named for nearby Moro Creek.

2. Bryant was the 11th of 12 children, three of whom died as infants. Bryant's father, Monroe, was a farmer, and his mother, Ida Mae, cared for the family, which later moved a few miles south of Fordyce, Ark.

"Bear" meets bear (again): University of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant comes face to face with cheap jerseys an old nemesis on Sept. 12, 1972, but they didn TMt wrestle.

3. Legend has it Bryant got his nickname around the year 1927 by wrestling a muzzled bear from a local traveling carnival. The story goes he did it to impress a girl and for the money one dollar per minute but the bear's owner left town without paying.4. Bryant was known as Cheap NFL Jerseys "the other end" on Frank cheap nfl jerseys Thomas' 10 0 Crimson Tide team in 1934. The reason: He Wholesale Jerseys played with Don Hutson, who is considered by many to be football's first modern wide receiver.

5. Alabama upset Stanford at the Rose Bowl in the 1934 season. Bryant later admitted that he and some teammates pooled their money together and bet five dollars on the underdog Crimson Tide. Nike NFL Jerseys sales "We made a killing, about a buck Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale apiece," Bryant said.

6. Bryant secretly married college sweetheart Mary Harmon Black in 1935. Frank Thomas didn't want his players to be married, and Bryant feared the loss of his scholarship.

7. Bryant played Tennessee in 1935 with a broken wholesale nfl jerseys bone in his leg. Atlanta Constitution sports editor Ralph McGill was skeptical of the story, drove to Tuscaloosa and demanded to see the X rays. He apologized to Bryant, who told the editor, "It was just one little bone." Georgia fans cheered Bryant's toughness before the next game.

Paul "Bear" Bryant during his playing days.

8. During Bryant's senior year, Frank Thomas suggested Bryant visit Union College in Jackson, Tenn., to teach the team Alabama's offense. The Union coach left Bryant alone to run the practices.

Early coaching years

9. Frank Thomas offered Bryant a Nike NFL Jerseys job as an Alabama assistant making $1,250 a year, plus housing and transportation. He became a line coach for the varsity team in 1936, the same year his first child was born.

10. While at the Rose Bowl with Alabama's team in 1937, Bryant got a screen test with Paramount Studios to become an actor. He was offered a contract, but his wife wouldn't move to California.

11. Bryant took an assistant coaching job at Vanderbilt in 1940 under Red Sanders. He had a falling out with Sanders after one year and, with the help of New York Yankees Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap catcher Bill Dickey, had Wholesale Jerseys China the inside track for the Arkansas job.12. Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941. Bryant enlisted for the Navy the next day.

13. Bryant was sent to serve in North Africa. While on the USS Uruguay, wholesale nfl jerseys his troop ship was rammed by another ship. Bryant disobeyed orders to abandon ship and survived. At least 200 soldiers and sailors died. Navy Lt. Paul "Bear" Bryant on Sept 7, 1942.

14. Bryant went to North Carolina in 1944 as a lieutenant commander to train enlistees. He assembled the North Carolina Navy Pre Flight football team, which later became the nucleus of his first winning team at Maryland.

15. Technically, Bryant's first win as a head coach was with the Carolina Cloudbusters the North Carolina Navy Pre Flight School football team. Duke counts the Cloudbusters' 13 6 win on Oct. 7, 1944. Bryant's victories with the team aren't counted on his resume.

16. Bryant's quarterback on the flight school team: Otto Graham, the Northwestern star who would win more championships than any quarterback in pro football history.

Becoming a head coach

17. Bryant became Maryland's coach in 1945 and turned around the Terrapins with a 6 2 1 record.

18. Kentucky went from 2 8 to 7 3 in its first season under Bryant. By year two, the Wildcats reached their first bowl game.

Kentucky football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant puts an arm around Wilbur Jamerson, co captain and halfback of the team, in the dressing room after Jamerson sparked the Wildcats to a 13 7 win wholesale jerseys over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 1951. (AP Photo)

19. Bryant initially used George Blanda as a blocking back at Kentucky, neglecting his throwing, running and kicking skills that made him a multi threat pro star. Bryant popularized the maxim that "three things can happen when you go back to pass, and only one of them is good."