Bear honored at reunion of Kentucky Wildcats

By Greg Gulas

The coaching legacy of Paul “Bear” Bryant remains alive, some 26 years after his death and after he became the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I football history in 1982.

That legacy was never more apparent than Friday when nearly 100 of his former Kentucky players and coaches gathered at the Campbell House in Lexington, Ky., to celebrate their former coach.

Guest speaker for the reunion was Wildcats quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer George “The Fossil” Blanda. Neil Lowry, former Ursuline High and UK All-American, served as the master of ceremonies.

“Coach Bryant was a tough, stern, demanding disciplinarian who knew not only how to win, but how to get the most out of his players,” Lowry said. “It didn’t matter if you were a star or simply a back-up.

“He extracted the maximum effort out of you and in the process, convinced a player that that he could play at the next level.”

Bryant coached at the University of Kentucky for eight seasons (1946-53) and under his tutelage, the Wildcats made their first bowl appearance (1947) and won their first Southeastern Conference title (1950).

His 1950 team concluded its season with a victory over Bud Wilkinson’s No. 1-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl, finishing the year atop the polls according to the Sagarin Rankings.

Bryant died thinking he had won six national championships, all coming during his tenure as head coach at the University of Alabama.

When the living players from Kentucky’s 1950 team were honored during halftime ceremonies of a game during the 2005 season, the NCAA retroactively recognized them as co-national champions for that season. So in all, adding that national championship at UK, Bryant had guided teams to a total of seven national titles.

To Lowry and the others that will attend the reunion, Bryant was a special coach and person to those who survived his training regimen.

A UPI All-American Honorable Mention his senior season when former Cleveland Browns head coach Blanton Collier was in charge, Lowry witnessed Bryant’s graciousness first hand.

“Coach Bryant was always there for you and did many things under the radar for his players,” he said. “In 1950, my freshman year, we had 100 student-athletes hoping to make the team. Only seven graduated so you can see that if you survived Coach Bryant’s grueling training, then you were more than prepared for the classroom and quite frankly, life’s lessons.

“It will be special for me to be among those who endured what I endured. It wasn’t easy, but we made it and we are all the better for surviving the process.”

Lowry, former LSU head coach Charlie McClendon, Howard Schnellenberger (former Miami Hurricanes head coach), Jerry Claiborne (former Maryland, Virginia Tech and UK head coach) and former AFL signal-caller Babe Parilli have remained good friends since their college days in Lexington.

It was Parilli, a native of Bethlehem, Pa., who on more than one occasion would drop Lowry off at his home in Youngstown when heading to his homestead.

“Coach Bryant often said when wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost. But when character is lost, all is lost,” Lowry said. “We all felt that we had better keep our character intact so as not to disappoint Coach.”