Charles Bradshaw told me another Coach Bryant story that's always stayed with me. Charles attended the Southern Miss game as a recruit in 1982 when the Eagles upset Alabama. Charles later visited with Coach Bryant and told me how terrible Coach Bryant looked. He was ash white, Charles said. This confirms how very sick or ill Bryant was in his last football season. Somehow, Coach Bryant willed himself to get through that season.
Also, I wonder if Dye hadn't become athletic director at Auburn in 1980 how many more years would the Iron Bowl have been played in Birmingham. I think the games would have eventually been moved to the respective college campuses, but this would have happened years later.
BTW, Dye always said that moving the games to the college campuses would eventually help Alabama - which is exactly what happened. Alabama now has one of the largest and prettiest football stadiums in America (much bigger and prettier than Auburn's stadium). This would not have occurred - at least as early as it id - if Pat Dye hadn't moved the Iron Bowl to Auburn.
The ripple effects made possible by one or a few events - are fascinating to note ... at least to me.
Also, I had actually heard of Vincent "Bo" Jackson before he became a sensation at Auburn in the 1982 football season. I knew this because my friend and CHHS alum John Clark (Class of '82), who was a great hurdler in high school, told me about this guy. John had watched him at the state track meet John's senior year and said he'd never seen an athlete this amazing. Also, Kyle Ingalls played baseball with Bo at Auburn for at least one year at Auburn and has some great Bo stories, which I might tell in the future.
Even more Dye trivia: Dye made social history in our State as an assistant coach at Alabama because he was the Alabama assistant who recruited Ozark's Wilbur Jackson to Alabama. Jackson was the first African-American football player to receive a scholarship to Alabama. He turned out to be a great player for Alabama and had a long career in the NFL. (Jackson was recruited as a wide receiver, but was converted to a running back at UA - He wore No. 80 as a running back).
Wilbur Jackson now lives back in Ozark.
P.S. It's an urban legend that USC's Sam "Bam" Cunningham convinced Alabama and Coach Bryant to integrate the Tide football team (by running all over Alabama in a game at Legion Field in 1970).
Alabama - and Dye and Bryant - had already signed Wilbur Jackson. That season Jackson was a freshman and freshmen were not eligible to play in games. So Jackson watched that game from the bleachers. Alabama could have used him!
Dad, on more than one occasion, also told me that Pat Dye was one of the toughest, bad-ass players he ever played with or against. While they were teammates for the Ft. Benning Dough Boys (who won two Service National titles), Dad and Dye had played against each other in college when Dye was captain of the Georgia football team.
Dye's teammate at Georgia was future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkington.
Auburn also recruited Charles Bradshaw his senior year and I got to go on a couple of Charles' recruiting visits to Auburn games. I remember talking to Coach Dye on the field before the 1980 or 1981 Auburn game with Nebraska.
Nebraska, which was awesome back then, beat Auburn handily that day. I remember being very impressed listening to Coach Dye talk to recruits after that game. He told them, "one day we are going to be just like that team." And Dye's Tigers soon were playing like those teams.
Cutting room-floor text (This is text I cut from my stories for length reasons):
In short, Coach Bryant deserves his “legendary” stature. To this day, I don’t know of any other figure who could simply walk into a room and the electrodes in the air seemingly changed and every person in this room could feel the presence of this person."
My best friend, the late Charles Bradshaw (whose family was very close to the Bryant family) once told me a story that illustrates this point.
When Charles was a senior in high school, he was being recruited by Alabama and Coach Bryant. On one of his recruiting trips, Charles was in the office of the assistant coach who was recruiting him. Charles told me, for some reason, he just suddenly stood up. He didn't know why.
He turned around and Coach Bryant had just stuck his head in the door. Charles swore that he could FEEL Coach Bryant's presence. He never saw him before he stood up!
I've learned in my research on Coach Bryant that one of the very last conversations Coach Bryant had in his life was about Charles.
As has been reported, new Alabama coach Ray Perkins visited Coach Bryant in the hospital after Coach Bryant had the heart attack that later claimed his life. In that visit, Perkins said Coach Bryant wanted to know if Perkins was going to offer a scholarship to a certain player Bryant's staff had been recruiting. That player was ... Charles Bradshaw!
Perkins told Bryant his staff was not going to offer Charles a scholarship. Charles later ended up signing a football scholarship at Florida, which was then coached by Charley Pell, a former Alabama player and teammate of my late father.
I have no doubt that Coach Bryant immediately called Coach Pell and asked him if he was going to sign Charles, which he did.
Charles, who was really too small to play outside linebacker in the SEC, did play at Florida for one year before giving up football and transferring to Alabama - where he was a Sigma Nu with me, Stewart Vance, Rush Rice, Mark Davis, Wes Gaylard and Kent Hendricks. Charles was a terror on defense in our flag tag intramural games!
This story illustrates how Coach Bryant took such a keen interest in children of his former players and assistant coaches. Charles's dad, Charlie Bradshaw, had coached at Alabama and played for Coach Bryant. Charles's mother, Martha (one of the most popular people to ever live in Troy), was Mrs. Bryant's closest friend.
As I noted in my story on "Troy's most famous people," Mrs. Bryant was born in Troy and considered it her hometown.
Also, Coach Bradshaw (and Bebes Stallings) were my Dad's two position coaches at Alabama.
The picture I ran of Coach Dye includes his most famous player, Bo Jackson. The position coach of Bo Jackson at Auburn was Coach Bud Casey, who later lived in Troy for several years and was the co-host of the "Bud and Amos" Show on Troy Cable.
Coach Casey was probably one of the most famous people who lived in Troy because he was so well-known as a very important Auburn assistant for Coach Dye. Dad was also great friends with Bud, who played football at Alabama for a couple of years before transferring. Casey was then known as Travis Casey and was in Dad's 1958 Recruiting Class (Coach Bryant's first recruiting class after he left Texas A&M and came back to Alabama).
Dad's roommate his first two years at Alabama was Bud Casey ... who later became a key assistant for ... Pat Dye ... who was also as great friend of my late father.
So that's some bonus trivia for the "rest of the story."
Bud Casey was one of my late father's favorite people and one of mine too. (I don't know what Bo Jackson thought about Coach Casey. I think he thought he was a little too intense. But Coach Casey helped make Bo a legend).
Charles Bradshaw told me another Coach Bryant story that's always stayed with me. Charles attended the Southern Miss game as a recruit in 1982 when the Eagles upset Alabama. Charles later visited with Coach Bryant and told me how terrible Coach Bryant looked. He was ash white, Charles said. This confirms how very sick or ill Bryant was in his last football season. Somehow, Coach Bryant willed himself to get through that season.
Also, I wonder if Dye hadn't become athletic director at Auburn in 1980 how many more years would the Iron Bowl have been played in Birmingham. I think the games would have eventually been moved to the respective college campuses, but this would have happened years later.
BTW, Dye always said that moving the games to the college campuses would eventually help Alabama - which is exactly what happened. Alabama now has one of the largest and prettiest football stadiums in America (much bigger and prettier than Auburn's stadium). This would not have occurred - at least as early as it id - if Pat Dye hadn't moved the Iron Bowl to Auburn.
The ripple effects made possible by one or a few events - are fascinating to note ... at least to me.
Also, I had actually heard of Vincent "Bo" Jackson before he became a sensation at Auburn in the 1982 football season. I knew this because my friend and CHHS alum John Clark (Class of '82), who was a great hurdler in high school, told me about this guy. John had watched him at the state track meet John's senior year and said he'd never seen an athlete this amazing. Also, Kyle Ingalls played baseball with Bo at Auburn for at least one year at Auburn and has some great Bo stories, which I might tell in the future.
Even more Dye trivia: Dye made social history in our State as an assistant coach at Alabama because he was the Alabama assistant who recruited Ozark's Wilbur Jackson to Alabama. Jackson was the first African-American football player to receive a scholarship to Alabama. He turned out to be a great player for Alabama and had a long career in the NFL. (Jackson was recruited as a wide receiver, but was converted to a running back at UA - He wore No. 80 as a running back).
Wilbur Jackson now lives back in Ozark.
P.S. It's an urban legend that USC's Sam "Bam" Cunningham convinced Alabama and Coach Bryant to integrate the Tide football team (by running all over Alabama in a game at Legion Field in 1970).
Alabama - and Dye and Bryant - had already signed Wilbur Jackson. That season Jackson was a freshman and freshmen were not eligible to play in games. So Jackson watched that game from the bleachers. Alabama could have used him!
Dad, on more than one occasion, also told me that Pat Dye was one of the toughest, bad-ass players he ever played with or against. While they were teammates for the Ft. Benning Dough Boys (who won two Service National titles), Dad and Dye had played against each other in college when Dye was captain of the Georgia football team.
Dye's teammate at Georgia was future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkington.
Auburn also recruited Charles Bradshaw his senior year and I got to go on a couple of Charles' recruiting visits to Auburn games. I remember talking to Coach Dye on the field before the 1980 or 1981 Auburn game with Nebraska.
Nebraska, which was awesome back then, beat Auburn handily that day. I remember being very impressed listening to Coach Dye talk to recruits after that game. He told them, "one day we are going to be just like that team." And Dye's Tigers soon were playing like those teams.
Cutting room-floor text (This is text I cut from my stories for length reasons):
In short, Coach Bryant deserves his “legendary” stature. To this day, I don’t know of any other figure who could simply walk into a room and the electrodes in the air seemingly changed and every person in this room could feel the presence of this person."
My best friend, the late Charles Bradshaw (whose family was very close to the Bryant family) once told me a story that illustrates this point.
When Charles was a senior in high school, he was being recruited by Alabama and Coach Bryant. On one of his recruiting trips, Charles was in the office of the assistant coach who was recruiting him. Charles told me, for some reason, he just suddenly stood up. He didn't know why.
He turned around and Coach Bryant had just stuck his head in the door. Charles swore that he could FEEL Coach Bryant's presence. He never saw him before he stood up!
More Coach Bryant and Charles trivia:
I've learned in my research on Coach Bryant that one of the very last conversations Coach Bryant had in his life was about Charles.
As has been reported, new Alabama coach Ray Perkins visited Coach Bryant in the hospital after Coach Bryant had the heart attack that later claimed his life. In that visit, Perkins said Coach Bryant wanted to know if Perkins was going to offer a scholarship to a certain player Bryant's staff had been recruiting. That player was ... Charles Bradshaw!
Perkins told Bryant his staff was not going to offer Charles a scholarship. Charles later ended up signing a football scholarship at Florida, which was then coached by Charley Pell, a former Alabama player and teammate of my late father.
I have no doubt that Coach Bryant immediately called Coach Pell and asked him if he was going to sign Charles, which he did.
Charles, who was really too small to play outside linebacker in the SEC, did play at Florida for one year before giving up football and transferring to Alabama - where he was a Sigma Nu with me, Stewart Vance, Rush Rice, Mark Davis, Wes Gaylard and Kent Hendricks. Charles was a terror on defense in our flag tag intramural games!
This story illustrates how Coach Bryant took such a keen interest in children of his former players and assistant coaches. Charles's dad, Charlie Bradshaw, had coached at Alabama and played for Coach Bryant. Charles's mother, Martha (one of the most popular people to ever live in Troy), was Mrs. Bryant's closest friend.
As I noted in my story on "Troy's most famous people," Mrs. Bryant was born in Troy and considered it her hometown.
Also, Coach Bradshaw (and Bebes Stallings) were my Dad's two position coaches at Alabama.
The picture I ran of Coach Dye includes his most famous player, Bo Jackson. The position coach of Bo Jackson at Auburn was Coach Bud Casey, who later lived in Troy for several years and was the co-host of the "Bud and Amos" Show on Troy Cable.
Coach Casey was probably one of the most famous people who lived in Troy because he was so well-known as a very important Auburn assistant for Coach Dye. Dad was also great friends with Bud, who played football at Alabama for a couple of years before transferring. Casey was then known as Travis Casey and was in Dad's 1958 Recruiting Class (Coach Bryant's first recruiting class after he left Texas A&M and came back to Alabama).
Dad's roommate his first two years at Alabama was Bud Casey ... who later became a key assistant for ... Pat Dye ... who was also as great friend of my late father.
So that's some bonus trivia for the "rest of the story."
Bud Casey was one of my late father's favorite people and one of mine too. (I don't know what Bo Jackson thought about Coach Casey. I think he thought he was a little too intense. But Coach Casey helped make Bo a legend).