Montgomery Advertiser opening night feature

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'Bear Country' showcases Tide icon

By Robyn Bradley Litchfield
rlitchfield@gannett.com

The play is new. For anyone who grew up in Alabama, the story won't be.

Through its Southern Writers' Project, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival has created "Bear Country," a play that tells the story of legendary University of Alabama football coach Paul W. "Bear" Bryant.

Michael Vigilant's play will preview today and Saturday before its world premiere Sunday. But many people who go see it will have been familiar with the subject matter all their lives.

Bryant died almost three decades ago, but for much of the state, his accomplishments, his lessons, and his memory have lived on.

People still leave tokens of appreciation at his Birmingham grave, name their sons -- and even their daughters -- after him and relate lessons he taught.

Former players, fans, journalists and personal friends say while part of this is because of Bryant's incredible career on the gridiron, much is because of the wisdom and quick wit of the man himself.

Telling the stories of such a man can make a playwright uneasy.

"It's a daunting project because of the feelings (University of) Alabama fans and players have toward Coach Bryant," Vigilant said. "He changed his players' lives. They were different people when they left the program. They were champions on the field and winners in life."

Ken Gaddy, director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa, agreed.

"He built a legacy of discipline and structure, doing things the right way and other lessons that transcend time," Gaddy said. "His influence on the players still continues to this day."

Gaddy said Bryant's popularity is still growing, and the Crimson Tide's success this past season only seems to have increased that popularity.

About 40,000 people of all ages visit the museum each year.

Gaddy said the love of Bryant went far beyond those associated with the university because Bryant was able to turn the university's football team around during a time when the state didn't have much else to be proud of.

Scooter Dyess of Montgomery was a sophomore at Alabama when Bryant took over the program in 1958. Bryant helped Dyess make a name for himself -- literally. It was the coach who nicknamed him Scooter.

"Coach Bryant was mentally tough and made you think. He taught us about life through football," Dyess said. "I learned so many things that I have applied to my businesses. He always had a way of making you better than what you really were."

Dyess admits he and other players may not have felt that warm-and-fuzzy feeling about their coach when they were playing for him.

"I can't really say that we loved him then, but we got out (in life) and realized how much he meant to us and how much we learned from him about everything."

Dyess said one of the most important things he learned from Bryant didn't concern football as much as character.

He remembers Bryant saying that you're not measured by how hard you get knocked down, but by how well you get up afterwards.

Unlike Dyess, Alexis Boozer doesn't remember spending time with Bryant. She was born in 1982, only a few months before his death.

But as Bryant's goddaughter, she has a "full and precious collection of letters and gifts" from the iconic coach.

Now an actor living in Los Angeles, Boozer said, "I've spent my entire life proud of knowing that he so cherished being my godfather, but rather stunned that he could have afforded the time and affection."

Through stories shared by her father, Young Boozer III of Montgomery, she has discovered that Bryant always expected the best from everyone around him, so it's no surprise that he expected no less of himself.

Her grandfather, Young Boozer Jr., and Bryant became close friends while rooming and playing football together at Alabama. Bryant also left a lasting impression on the younger Boozer's life.

Boozer said he has tried to live by one of Bryant's famous sayings.

"It has served me well over the years: 'Do what you have to do when you ought to do it whether you like it or not,'" he said.

Boozer said Bryant's major strengths were his ability to read people and his organizational skills. Bryant could size up people, see what motivated them and how to push them to perform beyond all their expectations, he said. And he would come up with a precisely structured plan to do it.

"Every member of his staff and team knew what he had to do, when he had to do it and the desired outcome. In management effectiveness, he was the equal of any Fortune 500 CEO. They could have learned much from him," Boozer said.

Steve Clark, who splits his time between Montgomery and Destin, Fla., worked as Bryant's student assistant while he attended school. Referring to Bryant as "the Man" in his book, "Bear Revelations" (Pine Hill Books, 2008), Clark said the job was the chance of a lifetime.

He, too, remembers Bryant's emphasis on always having a plan -- whether times are good or bad. Clark also witnessed Bryant's determination and perseverance.

"He was the hardest-working man I've ever known -- even when I worked on Wall Street and other places," Clark said. "And he would say, 'What are you gonna do when your house burns down and the bank won't lend you any money? What are you gonna do, quit? No, you have to get back up.'"

Clark said Bryant may have been a country boy born in Moro Bottom, Ark., but he became a sophisticated businessman and leader. Bryant was aware that his football team had to compete for entertainment dollars and understood that promotion was part of the business. The coach also realized his bigger-than-life persona led to opportunities for the university and his players.

Recently, Clark participated in a seminar at Alabama titled "Capstone Cathedral," which compared Alabama football to mass religious experiences.

"The theories surmise that as we move from our rural roots and close-knit communities to more urban environments, we embrace sports as a communal rite of our culture," he said. "Games bring the people back together, and legends are worshipped. Sitting highest in the pulpit is Paul Bryant."

Many of Alabama football's faithful wear houndstooth to "worship."

Gaddy from the Bryant museum said he has witnessed a resurgence in the distinctive checkered pattern, which is popping up everywhere -- on hats, visors, boots, all kinds of items on campus.

Bryant's good friend Charles Baldone of Birmingham said he actually introduced the coach to the pattern after he noticed a snazzy looking houndstooth hat in a Tuscaloosa clothing shop window.

Baldone, who joined his family's tailoring business as a teen, thought the hat would complement the black cashmere coat he'd just purchased for Bryant.

"He started wearing it everywhere -- and now that hat is an icon," said Baldone, who initially had no idea who Bryant was. When he first came into the Birmingham shop to be fitted for a suit, Bryant was in his first year as the Crimson Tide's coach.

The coach was wearing hand-me-downs from rich friends, and he needed some new clothes. Although Baldone had no idea what he was doing and had never measured anybody for a suit, he was afraid the man might leave before his father returned from a break.

"He was big, tall, he stooped, didn't even have a fanny, so it was hard to make him look good," said Baldone, who ended up selling Bryant two suits during that first encounter and becoming one of Bryant's close friends.

Initially his father was surprised and a bit annoyed that his son had taken the measurements because he never expected the suits to fit.

But they fit perfectly, Bryant got plenty of compliments, and purchased more clothing from Baldone through the years.

Being color blind, Bryant needed help coordinating everything and really relied on the young tailor's advice, Baldone said.

"He didn't make friends easily because people were always trying to exploit him. And he didn't like 'yes' men," said Baldone, one of the few who occasionally would argue with the coach. Others were intimidated by him, he said.

"I knew the man -- the person, not the football coach. They were two different people, and he was a really fine person."

Bryant also impressed one of Baldone's former classmates, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Howell Raines.

The Birmingham native and former New York Times executive editor said that Bryant was someone young people could look up to. As a young journalist, Raines recognized that Bryant's lessons on motivation and success were as valuable in the newsroom as on the football field.

"Like many Alabamians of my generation, my first connection to him was as a fan," said Raines, who began covering Alabama games in the mid-1960s. "He was a very impressive figure in many ways, not just football."

One of his most vivid Bryant memories was the time Alabama beat the University of Nebraska in the 1966 Orange Bowl. Raines was working for a Birmingham TV station.

"That game was a terrifically important morale booster. Nebraska had many black players, and there was a lot of speculation (because of Gov. George Wallace's stance) that Alabama players would act badly," he said. "But they played well, and they acted well, winning the game in such a classy way. That was because of Coach Bryant, who expected gentlemanly conduct."

Plenty of young parents are still naming babies for him.

The Bryant Museum keeps a register of boys and girls whose legal names include Paul, William, Bryant, Bear or combinations of the names. Currently, there are about 530 names on the register, and about 10 percent of those children have been born since 2003.

Two of them -- a boy with Bear as his first name and a girl with Bryant as her middle name -- were born in August 2008 and added to the register.

Bryant made an impact on people from all walks of life. And those who had a chance to know him, work with him and play for him will never forget the experience. Even journalists covering the games often got caught up in the excitement that surrounded Bryant and his football champs.

Forty years after playing for Bryant, Dyess recalls him fondly and regularly.

"There are very few days in my life that I don't think of him. Something will come up, something that reminds me of him," he said. "Coach Bryant had more influence on me than anybody else except my parents. I never will meet another man like him."

Additional Facts WANT TO GO?

What: "Bear Country," a Southern Writers' Project world premiere by Michael Vigilant


When: Previews at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday; opening at 2 p.m. Sunday, and runs through Feb. 15


Where: Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Blount Cultural Park


Admission: $42


Information: Call 271-5353 or visit www.asf.net