The new Hall of Champions at the expanded Kyle Field will include original documents associated with Texas A&M head football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.
System and University officials unveiled Bryant’s memorandum of agreement, employment contract, and house deed of sale from 1954. Bryant received base pay of $15,000, one percent of the gate, and the house that remains standing.
John David Crow, who won his Heisman Trophy under coach Bryant, said “he made every player that played for him a better player and more important a better man.” Crow, who feared he would be late to Tuesday’s presentation because of a cement truck that had flipped at Wellborn and Rock Prairie, recalled his playing days to be at coach Bryant’s meetings on time or be in the hospital if he was going to be late.
Board of Regents chairman Phil Adams, a former Aggie football player who played for Gene Stallings, described coach Bryant as “the Vince Lombardi of college football.”
Current Texas A&M head football coach Kevin Sumlin said “it’s kind of staggering that having a relationship with the Bryant family is one thing. But actually being a head coach at a university where Paul “Bear” Bryant coached and won is another. I can’t tell you how appreciative we are as a program to be associated with a day like today and how personally appreciative I am to be associated with a day like today which is really kind of breathtaking”.
Click below for the presentation, hosted by A&M System Chancellor John Sharp.
Click below for visits WTAW’s Kevin O’Connor had with John David Crow, Kevin Sumlin, and John Sharp.
News release courtesy of the Texas A&M University System:
The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents and Chancellor John Sharp today presented Texas A&M University with the original Memorandum of Agreement, Employment Contract and House Deed of Sale of former Texas A&M Head Football Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. Bryant’s son, Paul, was unable to attend the ceremony, but said he was very appreciative of the invitation and gesture by Texas A&M.
Chairman of the Board of Regents, Phil Adams commented, “Coach Bryant is one of the most celebrated and revered coaches of all time. His body of work includes not only victories and championships, but also his positive impact on his players and future coaches such as John David Crow, Gene Stallings and Jack Pardee. We were fortunate to have him here in Aggieland and his legacy will be memorialized at Kyle Field in the Hall of Champions.”
Former “Junction Boy,” Head Football Coach for the 1967 Southwest Conference and Cotton Bowl Champs and Regent of the Texas A&M University System, Gene Stallings offered his thoughts, “What a joy it was to play for Coach Bryant. I can’t say we had much fun at Junction, but those of us who were there are still reaping the benefits of what we learned from him.”
Paul “Bear” Bryant served as Texas A&M’s Head Football Coach and athletic director from 1954 to 1957. He led the Aggies to the Southwest Conference championship during his three-year span as coach and immortalized the 1954 players who completed his rigorous preseason camp in Junction, Texas. In his third year, Coach Bryant led the team to a 9-0-1 record, barely missing a national championship. Following the 1957 season, he returned to his alma mater, the University of Alabama. During Bryant’s 38-year career, he took 29 teams to bowl games, led teams to 15 conference championships and 6 national championships.
“Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant left a lasting legacy here at Texas A&M that will be featured prominently in the Hall of Champions in the newly renovated Kyle Field,” said Sharp. “These documents are a rich piece of Texas A&M’s past and will be a fitting addition to our showcase of an outstanding history of excellence.”
“Coach Bryant is most deserving of being recognized in the newly renovated Kyle Field. Texas A&M University is fortunate to be associated with this great coach and great man. He is part of our heritage,” commented Texas A&M University Interim President, Mark A. Hussey.
Photos of the display that will be part of the new Hall of Champions at the expanded Kyle Field taken by WTAW’s Kevin O’Connor:
