re: SIAP: Paul Bryant Jr's Bank Tie That Binds UA BOT

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I'm not familiar with Bryant Jr other than his name, which carries the insinuation of football-first.

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Major contributor

One of those people was Bryant. He had made a $10 million contribution toward expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium in the early 1990s, but structured that gift so it could be used for other purposes if ticket revenues from the new upper deck covered the debt service. Since those revenues reached that level, the money was used to fund non-athletic scholarships, construction of a building to house the UA special collections library, restoration of the Gorgas House, endowing a history lecture program and other non-athletic purposes.

Bryant donated another $10 million for the Crimson Tradition fund. A portion of that was used to expand the north end zone of the stadium, with the rest going to fund the renovation of Foster Auditorium, for non-athletic scholarships and to a relief fund for UA employees affected by the 2011 tornado that ravaged Tuscaloosa, among other things.

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Bryant has made other contributions of undisclosed amounts to UA over the years, funding non-athletic scholarships, the purchase of a radio station, scoreboards for the Alabama baseball and softball teams and to support the Bryant Museum.

Bryant doesn't have much to say about that, and only talked about the two $10 million donations because UA had made them public at the time.

"I don't think anything else is anybody's business," he said.

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