Bear's Boys

Book excerpt: Bear's Boys is a collection of inspiring stories featuring 36 men whose lives were altered by their encounter with the legendary coach while they were players and coaches at Alabama. The stories of star players such as Joe Namath, Ken Stabler, Marty Lyons, Bob Baumhower, Ozzie Newsome, and Gene Stallings show how the Coach forever changed them as young men and ball players on the field and later in life after football. When Bob Baumhower was released from the Dolphins in 1986, he immediately did what Coach Bryant would have done: he made a plan. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he snapped into practical mode. First, he sold his boat and his big house. Then, he systematically began exploring business opportunities and setting goals for the next several decades of his life. When he started his first restaurant, he knew he had yet another chance to apply the principles he learned on the football field in real life. "Coach Bryant said there's a lot of blood, sweat and guts between dreams and success," Baumhower said. "That's true in the restaurant business. . . . Today, every success I have, every win that I have, in my opinion, came from the fact that Coach Bryant cared enough to talk to me and turn the light on for me Includes stories for such men as Bob Baumhower Jeremiah Castille Paul Crane Sylvester Croom John Hannah Dennis Homan Scott Hunter Lee Roy Jordan E. J. Junior Woodrow Lowe Gaylon McCollough Don McNeal Mal Moore Joe Namath Billy Neighbors Ozzie Newsome Ray Perkins Gary Rutledge Howard Schnellenberger Ken Stabler Gene Stallings Dwight Stephenson Richard Todd Pat Trammell Tommy Wilcox