Bear Bryant is SEC football.
Viewed as a gridiron deity in Alabama, the six-time national champion’s name is currently attached to 602 fans around Tuscaloosa and neighboring areas according to Paul Bryant Jr., who is the brains behind the Paul W. Bryant Museum which registers the namesakes.
“It turned out there were a lot of ’em — a lot that we’ve heard from, anyway,” Bryant Jr. told the New York Times during a wide-ranging interview centered on coverage of Saturday’s 20th Bear Bryant Namesake Reunion outside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Fans of all ages connected through “Bryants, Pauls and Williams, and at least one Bear” converged on the museum like they’ve done before every home opener since 1996.
The reunion featured many anecdotes from the past that brought back memories of Bryant for fans. Among the most intriguing was a commemorative mini-bottle of Coca-Cola handed out to every namesake in attendance.
The soda was a staple on Bryant’s weekly television show.
“That Sunday recap,” Ken Gaddy, director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum, told the New York Times, “it was almost like he was talking personally to you.”
The importance of the television show to Bryant’s mystique was reinforced Saturday as Golden Flake potato chips were omnipresent, and every namesake received a small commemorative glass bottle of Coca-Cola printed with the words “Have a Coke with the Bear.” Each episode of “The Bear Bryant Show” began with Bryant twisting off the cap of a Coke bottle and opening a Golden Flake bag, in a nod to the program’s sponsors, who also sponsored Saturday’s reunion.
“Bear Bryant’s a legend,” Danyelle Whitt told the New York Times, holding her grandson, Bryston Bryant Preston. “Legends never die.”
For more quotes and interesting details on the gathering of Bryant’s namesakes, go here.
