Probably one of Coach Bryant's best-known mantras was "show your class," which he almost always did. Walking up to Reggie Jackson in a baseball clubhouse and calling him the n-Word would not be a way to show one's class. Especially since this would have no doubt mortified his son.
I also guess Sports Illustrated, in 2024, no longer can afford fact-checkers or, if they can, these fact checkers did NOT know that Bo Schembechler was NOT the coach of Michigan in 1967. As mentioned, Joe Paterno would not have been a coach Bryant mentioned as he'd only been Penn State's coach for one season in 1966 and that team didn't make a national splash, going 5-5.
Bryant, per Jackson, mentioned Johnny (Robinson) of USC, but Robinson didn't become USC's coach until 1976. John McKay - another "John" - was the USC coach at that time so it's possible the "Johnny" reference was McKay. However, Coach Bryant and Coach McKay were close friends. I've read many Bryant quotes about this friendship and Bryant always referred to McKay by the name "John" not "Johnny."
In Court, when lawyers question witnesses, they try to impeach known false statements and Jackson made several in this 2024 version of events.
The fact that Jackson only mentions this well after Coach Bryant was dead is very telling. I was in school at Bama in '87 (weren't you as well? that's how bad my memory is) and remember this story being shouted down. As you point out, Bryant was quite media savvy. Would he have said this on a bird hunt with some of his friends - quite possibly. But in front of a group of people in the middle of Civil Rights era? Doubtful...
You know, I somehow missed the 1987 SI cover story. I'm still perturbed by the "Hit piece" SI cover story Frank DeFord did on Coach Bryant in 1981 right before Bryant became the all-time winningest coach in college football history. That story was full of cheap shots.
Mr. Rice, special thanks for an against-the-grain story. Reggie has always been a flamboyant and sometimes outrageous 🙄 kinda guy! BTW my all-time favorite candy bar was the REGGIE BAR, which, as a teammate said, told you how good it was when opened!
Honestly, it's certainly very conceivable that Reggie either "misremembered" the incident or, as you postulated, simply believes it happened because it encapsulates his experience of that particular period. Frankly, I can't remember if brushed my teeth today but I sure hope so 😅.
this is one of those apocryphal tales that unfortunately sometimes go viral, like elvis costello supposedly telling a bunch of drunks in a bar that ray charles was a n-word
besides, reginald martinez jackson is puerto rican
Bill - As a high school junior turned senior is 1967, I still remember the racial tension and much else in those waning days of Jim Crow at Waycross (GA) High. Integration had begun and the first athletic talent that the first black transports possessed was an incredible ice breaker giving the white folks a chance to cheer on our team, no what color the players happened to be. A couple of years prior, Tift County High team came into our stadium with a black running back - every time he carried the ball, the crowd would scream “Kill that n*****!” and cheered loudly every time he was brought down.
But it’s funny how time can turn things around as during my senior year, Ken Reed, 6ft-4 black forward signed up for the varsity basketball team. While in those days in high school ball dunking wasn’t allowed, I still remember watching him slam it down in the pre game warmup, with the whole student body in unison chanting, “Dunk it Ken” and then roaring with approval. Everyone loves to be a winner and that helped paved the way to racial acceptance in the South. Does anyone believe that the Bear couldn’t see it coming?
Yep, he of course "saw it coming" - which is why it would be so stupid of him to call a black athlete a "N-boy" in a room full of possible witnesses. Coach Bryant wasn't stupid. Some have speculated he might have had too many drinks when he visited the club house and allegedly made these remarks, but I don't buy that explanation either.
Yes, we all know Coach Bryant sometimes drank too much (at least in the off-season). But he could also handle his alcohol consumption very well.
He once spoke to an Alabama alumni chapter in Lee County, Alabama. (That's the home of Auburn University). My late father, who played for Coach Bryant, invited him to speak when Dad was the president of the Lee County alumni chapter and we were living in Opelika (right next door to Auburn).
The event was held at the local country club. Before he spoke, Coach Bryant got my late mother to go get him some whiskey drinks - which Mom of course did. But nobody could tell Coach Bryant had enjoyed a couple of totties at the event. His remarks were outstanding and were delivered with no slurs.
Having lived during this time, that word was already considered to be the same as a swear word. It didn't matter that there were still some racist people out there (although there was significantly less racism because of Civil Rights act and other cultural changes), that word was still verboten in most discourse.
Thank God for sceptics … otherwise where would we be - oh , we’re there and trying to be silenced for alternative views . Great to see your article in the Brownstone posting Bill .
Great investigative journalism story long after the reported event Bill. Have you tried contacting Reggie Jackson to share your findings and try to square them with his story?
I did some searches for Reggie Jackson media contacts and the same for Rollie Fingers, who was Jackson's teammate at the time. A reporter in San Francisco picked up this story and interviewed Rollie Fingers, who added quotes about Jackson "couch-hopping" from apartment to apartment while he was a minor league player in B'ham. However, Fingers didn't mention this story, which you think Jackson would have shared with a few teammates if they didn't witness the event themselves, which some must have. If Coach Bryant came into a clubhouse, every person in that clubhouse would have been watching him and listening to his words.
Maybe this story will get some attention and I can interview Reggie and others who may still be alive and were in the clubhouse. Basically, I can't find anyone to corroborate this tale, which does impugn the reputation of Coach Bryant. If it's false, Jackson owes the Bryant family an apology and journalists need to retract this story.
"Cutting-Room-Floor" text. I often cut text because the story is already running long. I wrote this text, but didn't run it with the story for that reason:
Sub-headline: Coach Bryant has been wrongly slandered before …
It’s always bothered me when someone is wrongly accused of something and people who could come to the defense of the maligned do not do so.
Today, it’s well-known that many supporters of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama Birmingham do not like each other.
The reason for this traces back to alleged remarks made by famous UAB basketball coach and athletic director Gene Bartow.
Bartow and Alabama then Alabama baskeball coach Wimp Sanderson had an intense rivalry in the 1980s.
Some Alabama fans remember that Bartow made disparaging remarks about Bryant in a letter to the NCAA, suggesting that Bryant became so successful a head coach, in part, because he cheated and paid for players or “trained” his coaches to do this. (Note: Bartow later apologized).
These remarks, like Jackson’s, were made after Bryant was dead and could not personally rebut them.
While it’s possible a few of Alabama’s star players under Bryant might have received hand-outs from boosters while Bryant was coach, I have no doubt Bryant didn’t know about this and would have had a conniption fit if he found out this was occurring.
I say this because my later father was a stand-out player in Coach Bryant’s first recruiting class at Alabama and I once asked Dad if any of his teammates (or him) were paid when they played at Alabama.
Dad, said no way. He would have known this as almost all of his teammates were dirt poor. Dad also told me that in one of Coach Bryant’s very first team meetings as Alabama coach, Bryant told players that he knew some of them had been paid in prior years and, per Coach Bryant, that better stop right now if those players knew what was best for them.
More than 40 years after Bryant’s death, I’ve never heard a former Bryant Alabama player say he was paid with Bryant’s knowledge.
Plus, Coach Bryant didn’t need to pay players. Players would jump off a two-story building to have the chance to play for him for free. Paying players would despoil Bryant’s towering legacy and harpoon his program.
For the record, Gene Bartow never presented any evidence to substantiate his slanderous charge. If he’d made these allegations while Bryant was still alive, Bryant might have sued Bartow just like he sued the Saturday Evening Post for making the preposterous allegation that Bryant and former Georgia Coach Wally Butts “fixed” the 1962 Alabama-Georgia game.
With Jackson’s allegation - and Bartow’s - it bothers me that sports journalists who should have come to Bryant’s defense, did not. (Perhaps all the fair and intelligent sports columnists have also passed away?)
By this time, the story that “Paul Bryant called Reggie Jackson the N-word” was simply accepted as the truth.
I know people do use racial epithets, which should be called out. However, we can all cite plenty of events where alleged racist events were contrived or didn’t happen.
It’s a more politically palpable story in 2024 to just assume Reggie Jackson is telling the truth about Paul Bear Bryant using the N-word than it is to apply common-sense skepticism to Jackson’s uncorroborated claim.
Apparently, journalists can and will print a dubious story if it fits a politically-correct narrative.
Reggie says Coach Bryant talked to him about being able to compete with Joe Paterno at Penn State in their competition.
In April 1967, Joe Paterno had just finished his first season as Penn State coach. The Lions were 5-5 that season. Somehow, I don't think Bryant mentioned Joe Paterno to Reggie Jackson, thus you can impeach this part of his quote. (Few people would have heard of Joe Paterno in April 1967 so it's very unlikely that Bryant mentioned him by name ... and yet Reggie says Bryant did.)
Reggie also says Bryant wanted African-American players so Alabama could compete with Bo Schembechler at Michigan.
Well, in April 1967, Bo Schembechler was the coach of Toledo not Michigan. Nobody outside of Toldedo had heard of Bo Schembechler in April 1967.
Also, I doubt Coach Bryant made this statement - that he needed great black athletes like Reggie so he could compete with all of those northern schools - because he knew he could compete with anybody.
When Bryant allegedly made this statement, Alabama had lost a grand total of 2 games in the previous 3 seasons. Alabama won the 1964, 1965 national titles and probably should have won the 1966 national title. Alabama had just blown out Nebraska in the bowl game.
Alabama was "competing" just fine. I don't think Coach Bryant was worried about competing with those schools at this time. I can't picture Coach Bryant making a speech like this in April 1967.
Probably one of Coach Bryant's best-known mantras was "show your class," which he almost always did. Walking up to Reggie Jackson in a baseball clubhouse and calling him the n-Word would not be a way to show one's class. Especially since this would have no doubt mortified his son.
I also guess Sports Illustrated, in 2024, no longer can afford fact-checkers or, if they can, these fact checkers did NOT know that Bo Schembechler was NOT the coach of Michigan in 1967. As mentioned, Joe Paterno would not have been a coach Bryant mentioned as he'd only been Penn State's coach for one season in 1966 and that team didn't make a national splash, going 5-5.
Bryant, per Jackson, mentioned Johnny (Robinson) of USC, but Robinson didn't become USC's coach until 1976. John McKay - another "John" - was the USC coach at that time so it's possible the "Johnny" reference was McKay. However, Coach Bryant and Coach McKay were close friends. I've read many Bryant quotes about this friendship and Bryant always referred to McKay by the name "John" not "Johnny."
In Court, when lawyers question witnesses, they try to impeach known false statements and Jackson made several in this 2024 version of events.
The fact that Jackson only mentions this well after Coach Bryant was dead is very telling. I was in school at Bama in '87 (weren't you as well? that's how bad my memory is) and remember this story being shouted down. As you point out, Bryant was quite media savvy. Would he have said this on a bird hunt with some of his friends - quite possibly. But in front of a group of people in the middle of Civil Rights era? Doubtful...
You know, I somehow missed the 1987 SI cover story. I'm still perturbed by the "Hit piece" SI cover story Frank DeFord did on Coach Bryant in 1981 right before Bryant became the all-time winningest coach in college football history. That story was full of cheap shots.
Mr. Rice, special thanks for an against-the-grain story. Reggie has always been a flamboyant and sometimes outrageous 🙄 kinda guy! BTW my all-time favorite candy bar was the REGGIE BAR, which, as a teammate said, told you how good it was when opened!
Honestly, it's certainly very conceivable that Reggie either "misremembered" the incident or, as you postulated, simply believes it happened because it encapsulates his experience of that particular period. Frankly, I can't remember if brushed my teeth today but I sure hope so 😅.
this is one of those apocryphal tales that unfortunately sometimes go viral, like elvis costello supposedly telling a bunch of drunks in a bar that ray charles was a n-word
besides, reginald martinez jackson is puerto rican
Bill - As a high school junior turned senior is 1967, I still remember the racial tension and much else in those waning days of Jim Crow at Waycross (GA) High. Integration had begun and the first athletic talent that the first black transports possessed was an incredible ice breaker giving the white folks a chance to cheer on our team, no what color the players happened to be. A couple of years prior, Tift County High team came into our stadium with a black running back - every time he carried the ball, the crowd would scream “Kill that n*****!” and cheered loudly every time he was brought down.
But it’s funny how time can turn things around as during my senior year, Ken Reed, 6ft-4 black forward signed up for the varsity basketball team. While in those days in high school ball dunking wasn’t allowed, I still remember watching him slam it down in the pre game warmup, with the whole student body in unison chanting, “Dunk it Ken” and then roaring with approval. Everyone loves to be a winner and that helped paved the way to racial acceptance in the South. Does anyone believe that the Bear couldn’t see it coming?
Yep, he of course "saw it coming" - which is why it would be so stupid of him to call a black athlete a "N-boy" in a room full of possible witnesses. Coach Bryant wasn't stupid. Some have speculated he might have had too many drinks when he visited the club house and allegedly made these remarks, but I don't buy that explanation either.
Yes, we all know Coach Bryant sometimes drank too much (at least in the off-season). But he could also handle his alcohol consumption very well.
He once spoke to an Alabama alumni chapter in Lee County, Alabama. (That's the home of Auburn University). My late father, who played for Coach Bryant, invited him to speak when Dad was the president of the Lee County alumni chapter and we were living in Opelika (right next door to Auburn).
The event was held at the local country club. Before he spoke, Coach Bryant got my late mother to go get him some whiskey drinks - which Mom of course did. But nobody could tell Coach Bryant had enjoyed a couple of totties at the event. His remarks were outstanding and were delivered with no slurs.
This is good journalism. Thanks.
Having lived during this time, that word was already considered to be the same as a swear word. It didn't matter that there were still some racist people out there (although there was significantly less racism because of Civil Rights act and other cultural changes), that word was still verboten in most discourse.
Thank God for sceptics … otherwise where would we be - oh , we’re there and trying to be silenced for alternative views . Great to see your article in the Brownstone posting Bill .
Great investigative journalism story long after the reported event Bill. Have you tried contacting Reggie Jackson to share your findings and try to square them with his story?
I did some searches for Reggie Jackson media contacts and the same for Rollie Fingers, who was Jackson's teammate at the time. A reporter in San Francisco picked up this story and interviewed Rollie Fingers, who added quotes about Jackson "couch-hopping" from apartment to apartment while he was a minor league player in B'ham. However, Fingers didn't mention this story, which you think Jackson would have shared with a few teammates if they didn't witness the event themselves, which some must have. If Coach Bryant came into a clubhouse, every person in that clubhouse would have been watching him and listening to his words.
Maybe this story will get some attention and I can interview Reggie and others who may still be alive and were in the clubhouse. Basically, I can't find anyone to corroborate this tale, which does impugn the reputation of Coach Bryant. If it's false, Jackson owes the Bryant family an apology and journalists need to retract this story.
"Cutting-Room-Floor" text. I often cut text because the story is already running long. I wrote this text, but didn't run it with the story for that reason:
Sub-headline: Coach Bryant has been wrongly slandered before …
It’s always bothered me when someone is wrongly accused of something and people who could come to the defense of the maligned do not do so.
Today, it’s well-known that many supporters of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama Birmingham do not like each other.
The reason for this traces back to alleged remarks made by famous UAB basketball coach and athletic director Gene Bartow.
Bartow and Alabama then Alabama baskeball coach Wimp Sanderson had an intense rivalry in the 1980s.
Some Alabama fans remember that Bartow made disparaging remarks about Bryant in a letter to the NCAA, suggesting that Bryant became so successful a head coach, in part, because he cheated and paid for players or “trained” his coaches to do this. (Note: Bartow later apologized).
These remarks, like Jackson’s, were made after Bryant was dead and could not personally rebut them.
While it’s possible a few of Alabama’s star players under Bryant might have received hand-outs from boosters while Bryant was coach, I have no doubt Bryant didn’t know about this and would have had a conniption fit if he found out this was occurring.
I say this because my later father was a stand-out player in Coach Bryant’s first recruiting class at Alabama and I once asked Dad if any of his teammates (or him) were paid when they played at Alabama.
Dad, said no way. He would have known this as almost all of his teammates were dirt poor. Dad also told me that in one of Coach Bryant’s very first team meetings as Alabama coach, Bryant told players that he knew some of them had been paid in prior years and, per Coach Bryant, that better stop right now if those players knew what was best for them.
More than 40 years after Bryant’s death, I’ve never heard a former Bryant Alabama player say he was paid with Bryant’s knowledge.
Plus, Coach Bryant didn’t need to pay players. Players would jump off a two-story building to have the chance to play for him for free. Paying players would despoil Bryant’s towering legacy and harpoon his program.
For the record, Gene Bartow never presented any evidence to substantiate his slanderous charge. If he’d made these allegations while Bryant was still alive, Bryant might have sued Bartow just like he sued the Saturday Evening Post for making the preposterous allegation that Bryant and former Georgia Coach Wally Butts “fixed” the 1962 Alabama-Georgia game.
With Jackson’s allegation - and Bartow’s - it bothers me that sports journalists who should have come to Bryant’s defense, did not. (Perhaps all the fair and intelligent sports columnists have also passed away?)
By this time, the story that “Paul Bryant called Reggie Jackson the N-word” was simply accepted as the truth.
I know people do use racial epithets, which should be called out. However, we can all cite plenty of events where alleged racist events were contrived or didn’t happen.
It’s a more politically palpable story in 2024 to just assume Reggie Jackson is telling the truth about Paul Bear Bryant using the N-word than it is to apply common-sense skepticism to Jackson’s uncorroborated claim.
Apparently, journalists can and will print a dubious story if it fits a politically-correct narrative.
Reggie says Coach Bryant talked to him about being able to compete with Joe Paterno at Penn State in their competition.
In April 1967, Joe Paterno had just finished his first season as Penn State coach. The Lions were 5-5 that season. Somehow, I don't think Bryant mentioned Joe Paterno to Reggie Jackson, thus you can impeach this part of his quote. (Few people would have heard of Joe Paterno in April 1967 so it's very unlikely that Bryant mentioned him by name ... and yet Reggie says Bryant did.)
Reggie also says Bryant wanted African-American players so Alabama could compete with Bo Schembechler at Michigan.
Well, in April 1967, Bo Schembechler was the coach of Toledo not Michigan. Nobody outside of Toldedo had heard of Bo Schembechler in April 1967.
Also, I doubt Coach Bryant made this statement - that he needed great black athletes like Reggie so he could compete with all of those northern schools - because he knew he could compete with anybody.
When Bryant allegedly made this statement, Alabama had lost a grand total of 2 games in the previous 3 seasons. Alabama won the 1964, 1965 national titles and probably should have won the 1966 national title. Alabama had just blown out Nebraska in the bowl game.
Alabama was "competing" just fine. I don't think Coach Bryant was worried about competing with those schools at this time. I can't picture Coach Bryant making a speech like this in April 1967.