Forty one years ago tomorrow

I was 6 years old, but I remember it all over the TV. I also remember watching the funeral procession on television.

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you know exactly where you were when you heard the news.

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I was in elementary school. I had a hall pass, and was walking from the bathroom back to my classroom and they announced it on the school PA.

WASHINGTON -- President Reagan Thursday praised Paul 'Bear' Bryant, the late Alabama football coach, for making 'legends out of ordinary people.'

Reagan said of Bryant, who died Wednesday at 69:

'Today we Americans lost a hero who always seemed larger than life.

Paul 'Bear' Bryant won more college football games than any other coach in history, and he made legends out of ordinary people. Only four weeks ago, we held our breath then cheered when the 'Bear' notched his final victory in a game named, fittingly, the Liberty Bowl.

'He was a hard, but loved taskmaster. Patriotic to the core, devoted to his players, and inspired by a winning spirit that would not quit, 'Bear' Bryant gave his country the gift of a life unsurpassed. In making the impossible seem easy, he lived what we strived to be.'

I was teaching in north Florida and asked if we could put the flag at half mast.

One of the hardest things I've had to wrap my head around is Bear died at 69 years old whereas Saban is 72 and he looks normal.

I was in the 6th grade. Everyday at PE, we would always play football and I was playing for Coach Bryant. When he retired, it hurt, because I wanted so bad to go to BAMA and play for the Legend that my Dad and uncles had raised me to watch. When they announced Coach Bryant’s death over the PA, I cried like he was my family. Several years later, OL Coach Jim Fuller came to my school to recruit me. Even though I got injured my senior season, Coach Fuller extended a walk on offer and I partially fulfilled my dream of putting on that Crimson jersey. Only thing missing was Coach Bryant. When Coach Stallings arrived, it was a VERY CLOSE SECOND!!!

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Bear died at 69 years old whereas Saban is 72 and he looks normal

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Bear didn’t take care of himself like Saban has. Not being an arse but he smoke and drank all of his life.

I was 14 yrs old and just returned home from a dentist appointment when my mother answered the phone. She immediately started crying so I knew something bad had happened again. My older brother had just been killed in a car accident a few weeks earlier in Birmingham.

I was 13 years old. I came home from school walked in the back door and my momma was crying at the kitchen table. Mom and Dad took me to the church. We stood outside and I watched as the funeral procession pass by heading to Birmingham.

I'll be 60 years old tomorrow. I remember finding out buying a pack of smokes on the way home from work from a little old lady. Time flies.