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I had a car wreck at age 16 leaving me paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair (hence Tideroller). It happened right before the 1971 season, I had to con the nurses into letting me listen to the late kick from LA when he unveiled the wishbone against USC. Later that season I received a Manilla envelope with signed pix of all the players and one of Coach saying best wishes to me. To this day I don't know how he knew about me but he was the best IMO no matter what detractors say.

Longtime Alabama fans know the story. In October 1974, TCU visited Legion Field. While running a sweep play, the junior running back got caught up in a wall of players and fell awkwardly on the artificial surface. He suffered a broken neck, leaving him paralyzed.

The injury deeply affected coach Bryant, who didn't go back to Tuscaloosa with the team after the game, a 41-3 Alabama victory. Bryant went straight to the hospital for the first of many visits with Waldrep.

"At least once every three or four months, I'd pick up the phone and it'd be Coach Bryant," Waldrep recalled. "He'd say, `What's going on, Kent? How's therapy coming? Are you working hard every day?"'

Waldrep figured that last call from Bryant was his final connection to the Capstone. It wasn't.

In April, the 52-year-old Dallas resident got a call from athletic director Mal Moore, who told him that Waldrep's son Trey was going to receive a Bryant Scholarship to attend Alabama. Coach Bryant never forgot, long after he was gone.

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