This story has
probably been told and re-told, embellished and perhaps improved upon many
times. I got this from the internet so .
. . . . let’s just call it a legend because Bear Bryant certainly is a legend. Regardless of whether this story is true or
not is irrelevant, however the message certainly is profound and one we all
need to heed.
The message:
The lessons your mama
taught you are right. It don't cost nuthin' to be nice. It don't cost nuthin'
to do the right thing most of the time, even when it cost, it always cost less
to keep your word than it does to lose your good name by breaking your word to
someone.
Enjoy the Legend
So the legend goes like this . . .
At a Touchdown Club meeting many years before his
death, Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant told the following story:
I had just been named the new head coach at
Alabama and was off in my old car down in South Alabama recruiting a prospect
who was supposed to have been a pretty good player and I was having' trouble
finding the place.
Getting hungry I spied an old cinder block
building with a small sign out front that simply said "Restaurant." I
pull up, go in and every head in the place turns to stare at me. Seems I'm the
only white fella in the place. But the food smelled good so I skip a table and
go up to a cement bar and sit. A big ole
man in a tee shirt and cap comes over and says, "What do you need?"
I told him I needed lunch and what did they have
today?
He says, "You probably won't like it
here, today we're having chitlins, collared greens and black eyed peas with
cornbread. I'll bet you don't even know what chitlins are, do you?"(small
intestines of hogs prepared as food in the deep South) I looked him square in
the eye and said, "I'm from Arkansas, I've probably eaten a mile of them.
Sounds like I'm in the right place." Everyone in the restaurant smiled as
he left to serve me up a big plate. When he comes back he says, "You ain't
from around here then?"
I explain I'm the new football coach up in
Tuscaloosa at the University and I'm here to find whatever that boy's name was,
and he says, "Yeah I've heard of him, he's supposed to be pretty
good." And he gives me directions to the school so I can meet him and his
coach.
As I'm paying up to leave, I remember my manners
and leave a tip, not too big to be flashy, but a good one and he told me lunch
was on him, but I told him for a lunch that good, I felt I should pay. The big
man asked me if I had a photograph or something he could hang up to show I'd
been there.
I was so new that I didn't have any yet. It
really wasn't that big a thing back then to be asked for, but I took a napkin
and wrote his name and address on it and told him I'd get him one. I met the
kid I was looking for later that afternoon and I don't remember his name, but
do remember I didn't think much of him when I met him. I had wasted a day, or
so I thought.
When I got back to Tuscaloosa late that night, I
took that napkin from my shirt pocket and put it under my keys so I wouldn't
forget it. Back then I was excited that
anybody would want a picture of me.
The next day we found a picture and I wrote on
it, "Thanks for the best lunch I've ever had."
Now let's go a whole bunch a years down the road.
Now I'm back down in that part of the country scouting an offensive lineman we
sure needed. Well anyway, he's got two friends going to Auburn and he tells me
he's got his heart set on Auburn too, so I leave empty handed and go on to see
some others while I'm down there.
Two days later, I'm in my office in Tuscaloosa
and the phone rings and it's this kid who just turned me down, and he says,
"Coach, do you still want me at Alabama?" I said, yes, I sure do. And he says OK, “I will come”.
I ask, well son, what changed your mind?
His answer surprised me, "When my grandpa
found out that I had a chance to play for you and I had to you no, he pitched a
fit and told me I wasn't going nowhere but Alabama and wasn't playing for
nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since y'all met."
Well, I didn't know his granddad from Adam's
housecat so I asked him who his granddaddy was and he said, "You probably
don't remember him, but you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama and
you sent him a picture that he has had hanging in that place ever since."
That picture's his pride and joy and he still
tells everybody about the day that Bear Bryant came in and had chitlins with
him since y'all met."
"My grandpa said that when you left there,
he never expected you to remember him or to send him that picture, but you kept
your word to him and to Grandpa, that's everything. He said you could teach me
more than football and I had to play for a man like you, so I guess I'm going
to."
I was floored. But I learned that the lessons my
mama taught me were always right. It don't cost nuthin' to be nice. It don't
cost nuthin' to do the right thing most of the time, but it costs a lot to lose
your good name by breaking your word to someone.
When I went back to sign that boy, I looked up
his Grandpa and he's still running his place, but it looks a lot better now;
and he didn't have chitlins that day, but he had some ribs that would make
Dreamland proud and I made sure I posed for a lot of pictures; and don't think
I didn't leave some new ones for him, too, along with a signed football.
I made it clear to all my assistants to keep this
story and these lessons in mind when they're out on the road. If you remember
anything else from me, remember this. It really doesn't cost anything to be nice,
and the rewards can be unimaginable. ~ Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant
