Blue4ever
08-11-2006, 04:38 PM
the book "The Last Coach - A Life of Paul "Bear" Bryant" Allen Barra writes pp. 142-143:
"Secure in his role as the most exciting young coach in college football and reveling in his new status in one of the most class conscious of southern states, Bryant turned down all other offers, including the one most tempting to both himself and Mary Harmon, the chance to go back to Alabama and continue the tradition established by Wallace Wade and Frank Thomas. "Shucks, son", he told a reporter who questioned him about the rumors "I'm gonna live and die in old Kentucky". Herman Donovan (UK president) rewarded his loyalty with a twelve year contract....Technically, Adolph Rupp was not Bryant's boss, but Bryant knew that until he won a couple of national championships, basketball ruled at the University of Kentucky.
In...his new contract Kentucky, Bryant got more than he had ever bargained for. So did the University of Kentucky: after two consecutive national basketball championships in 1948 and 1949, Adolph Rupp's Wildcats won the SEC in 1950, the same year Bear Bryant produced the best football team in the university's history. Both coaches were given gifts at the annual sports banquet. Rupp got a new Cadillac; Bryant received a cigarette lighter. To be fair, the lighter was engraved. At least, that's the story that Bryant repeated until his death. He either neglected to mention or didn't know that the (Rupp's) Cadillac was not from the University of Kentucky but a private gift. (Russell Rice recalls Bryant admirers later presented him with a new car as well, though Bryant always failed to mention that when telling the story). The lighter became part of the Bryant legend, a prop he repeatedly pulled out of his pocket at banquets and interviews as a prelude to the story of why he left Kentucky.
In the winter of 1970, Adolph Rupp invited Bryant to appear on the Adolph Rupp Show. Bryant launched right into the routine; "Remember when they gave you that big black Cadillac, 75 to 80 yards long? Here's what they game me". He produced the lighter from his pocket. Rupp playing the straight man, looked it over and confirmed "Yeah, that's the lighter". The camera did a close up on the lighter; it was a plastic disposable model - the kind that wasn't manufactured until the 1960s.
"Secure in his role as the most exciting young coach in college football and reveling in his new status in one of the most class conscious of southern states, Bryant turned down all other offers, including the one most tempting to both himself and Mary Harmon, the chance to go back to Alabama and continue the tradition established by Wallace Wade and Frank Thomas. "Shucks, son", he told a reporter who questioned him about the rumors "I'm gonna live and die in old Kentucky". Herman Donovan (UK president) rewarded his loyalty with a twelve year contract....Technically, Adolph Rupp was not Bryant's boss, but Bryant knew that until he won a couple of national championships, basketball ruled at the University of Kentucky.
In...his new contract Kentucky, Bryant got more than he had ever bargained for. So did the University of Kentucky: after two consecutive national basketball championships in 1948 and 1949, Adolph Rupp's Wildcats won the SEC in 1950, the same year Bear Bryant produced the best football team in the university's history. Both coaches were given gifts at the annual sports banquet. Rupp got a new Cadillac; Bryant received a cigarette lighter. To be fair, the lighter was engraved. At least, that's the story that Bryant repeated until his death. He either neglected to mention or didn't know that the (Rupp's) Cadillac was not from the University of Kentucky but a private gift. (Russell Rice recalls Bryant admirers later presented him with a new car as well, though Bryant always failed to mention that when telling the story). The lighter became part of the Bryant legend, a prop he repeatedly pulled out of his pocket at banquets and interviews as a prelude to the story of why he left Kentucky.
In the winter of 1970, Adolph Rupp invited Bryant to appear on the Adolph Rupp Show. Bryant launched right into the routine; "Remember when they gave you that big black Cadillac, 75 to 80 yards long? Here's what they game me". He produced the lighter from his pocket. Rupp playing the straight man, looked it over and confirmed "Yeah, that's the lighter". The camera did a close up on the lighter; it was a plastic disposable model - the kind that wasn't manufactured until the 1960s.