“Carney Laslie Was the Sweetest Man I Ever Knew” — Bear Bryant’s Private World

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Okay. Okay.

[00:00:03]Welcome back to Crimson Chronicles. In the last episode, we explored how Coach Bryant, Carney, Lasley, and Frank Moseley forged a friendship through coaching and wartime service. And today, we focus on personal side of Coach Bryant, the side most fans rarely got to see.

[00:00:23]Folks, welcome back. I can't wait to get into this conversation, Tommy.

[00:00:27]Yeah.

[00:00:29]Well, uh Crimson Chronicles is the internet's only show dedicated to Alabama Crimson Tide sports history.

[00:00:37]Rick? Well, you know, Terry, what kind of what kind of grandfather stories stand out to you most personally? The The football stories or the friendship stories?

[00:00:51]Or did you hear many football stories?

[00:00:54]Uh the only football story I remember Now, remember, my grandfather died in 1970. He actually was coaching until 1970.

[00:01:05]He died from an injury on the practice field.

[00:01:07]Um And uh the the only football story I remember is is how much they hated Notre Dame.

[00:01:26]That warms my heart.

[00:01:28]>> was before we started playing them. They did not ever, you know, and I always They always talked about this. I mean, again, it's not like we have we're hanging out all together. Mhm. But they it always was our thing whenever they played Notre Dame or when when it was that game in the '60s where they went for the tie better than win. And they could not get over that. They just felt like that was cheating and was poor sportsmanship.

[00:01:58]I mean, they just I mean, that was it for Notre Dame. That was it. That was so Carrie, that does my heart good. I want you to know. I I've told the story on the show before.

[00:02:10]My my grandmother, who was who was probably the closest person to being like Jesus of anybody I've ever known.

[00:02:18]The only thing that I ever knew that she hated in her life was Notre Dame.

[00:02:22]And and so she and and so to hear you say that makes makes really warms my heart because because I know my grandmother was not alone.

[00:02:32]That's that's good. That's I he was not alone. And it was for the same re- It was for the same reason, by the way. I want to I want to go on record and say that was something she never got over, either. So >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they could never redeem themselves. When Notre Dame we saw that Notre Dame was on the block, we're like, "Oh my gosh, I'm glad I'm not in the house, you know, while they're watching watching that game."

[00:02:56]watching the game, looking for my grandfather on the sidelines, you know, I was I was 13 when he passed away, so I was very young.

[00:03:07]But old enough, you know.

[00:03:11]Yeah, Carrie, from from your family's perspective, what separated Coach Bryant's leadership style from many other coaches of his era? I mean, there there have been hundreds of football coaches prior to when Coach came to Alabama, and there have been hundreds since, but he's considered the greatest of all time by many people. Some say Nick Saban, some say Coach Bryant. We won't get into that uh debate today, but what separated from from your perspective, from Uncle Paul, what made Uncle Paul um such a great leader of men.

[00:03:54]I think it was the people around him who were his support. Yeah. I honestly do.

[00:04:00]Uh I think that uh he he they each had their own um strengths and of course they recognize he was the guy.

[00:04:14]He had the charisma.

[00:04:16]He had uh he was a player's coach.

[00:04:19]You know what they said about my grandfather was he was a player's coach and a coach's coach. And a lot of the assistant coaches said he was the coach's coach.

[00:04:28]So I think that he was the embodiment and he was a great learner. He absorbed everything. When they and and he was eager to um to to be really good. He was driven to be the best and he listened to the people around him he could trust who would tell him the truth and that he trusted and you know uh I think that makes I think that sub can separate I think if you have one guy that thinks they are it. Mhm. That's it's it's harder to I don't know I don't know.

[00:05:08]I think our greatest leaders are those who who know how to um be on a team.

[00:05:14]And he did know how to be on a team.

[00:05:19]Yeah, he always said it many times in in his book and everything he always tried to hire people smarter than him.

[00:05:26]You know and uh obviously he did it did that with your grandfather. I don't know. They both said they didn't they they probably couldn't do anything but coach football. They were terrible academically inclined and and but laughed about that a lot. You know they went fishing and they golfed a lot. They loved that sport.

[00:05:49]Um and and I'm sure uh that also made for the camaraderie of those guys, developing that friendship, developing that trust was doing those things together apart from and and being able to to mentor each other. I mean He would He was He was uh unique in that way, I think. There aren't very many people who who can do that, who can be the leader and be a friend and and value everybody, you know, make make them feel like they're all on the together with you in something that big, you know?

[00:06:33]Yeah.

[00:06:35]You know, Carrie, when you when you talk about it in those terms and and the outside of football part of that, the the things, the fishing trips and the things that they did together, it it really does It makes me think about you know, even within my own family, the the the folks of that generation.

[00:06:54]And one of the things we just heard all a lot was the same stories over and over about certain people. Were there any Were there any stories that they told about each other that you just kind of heard, you know, maybe even a little emotional about one another that they that that kind of came up over and over and over?

[00:07:16]Well, again, we didn't we didn't really talk about uh during his lifetime, but I I do remember I spoke to someone who said that um they were you know, they were both very, very tender-hearted. So, my grandfather cried every time we would He had to He had to leave the house before we actually left Tuscaloosa for our our um our summer vacations because he he just would cry.

[00:07:51]And he it was it was so hard.

[00:07:54]And Coach Bryant was very tender-hearted as well. And when he talked about my grandfather to someone he uh played golf with. I think he was in DC playing golf with this man and he asked him about my grandfather who had died. I think this was maybe 2 years afterwards.

[00:08:15]And Bryant, he said, got very misty-eyed and said, "Kearney Lesley was the sweetest man I ever knew."

[00:08:24]Wow.

[00:08:25]You don't hear very many men use that term these days. The sweetest man that he ever knew.

[00:08:33]And um I I think this says a lot about my grandfather. It says it it says a lot about Bryant.

[00:08:40]Um and uh it says a lot about his heart.

[00:08:48]Kearney, let's shift to your godfather, Frank Moseley. Yes. Um but yes, Frank eventually became one of the most respected coaches and administrators in college athletics.

[00:09:00]Mhm. What an unbelievable career he had.

[00:09:03]He was head baseball coach at Kentucky in the 1940s other than during the war years.

[00:09:09]Head football coach at Virginia Tech all through the 1950s.

[00:09:13]And from '51 to '78 served as athletic director of Virginia Tech. Wow.

[00:09:20]What did Tell us about Frank Moseley and what did Coach Bryant admire most about him professionally?

[00:09:27]Well, I think it was his administrator.

[00:09:29]Uh he he exhibited those skills early on and in Kentucky, that's when they went to Kentucky, it was uh Frank who was uh there on campus when they first got there organizing things, getting getting um new players visiting to and he he did baseball and football. And when he was at Kentucky, he also coached football.

[00:09:53]He was an assistant football coach there. Yeah. Um and he he also he started um the radio program. You know how Coach Bryant started that at at Alabama? Frank Frank did that at at Kentucky when they were there.

[00:10:12]Um he started also the wrestling program. I mean, he was he was really uh very um well, he was just a gifted administrator. And admittedly Bryant was not an administrator. I mean, Paul Bryant Jr. told me yeah, you know uh Uncle Carney, he called he called my grandfather Uncle Carney.

[00:10:39]He said, "Yeah, Uncle Carney um he really was the athletic director.

[00:10:45]Not not you know, like Sam Bailey took over the >> Like yeah, like Sam Bailey became >> when my grandfather passed away, Sam Bailey stepped in to do that. Doug.

[00:10:56]>> Um Bryant Bryant really and and he knew it. He was he what he was um that wasn't his Yeah.

[00:11:04]So, he was he's he surrounded himself with people he knew could do it. But the three of them at first, it was Bryant and my grandfather on the on the recruiting path, you know, going to the high schools and trying to get talent from around the state and around from uh other states to come to Kentucky for football. Um so and Frank was holding down the fort at um uh there at in in Lexington. And when he moved to Tech, he did the same thing. He He was the head football coach there and the athletic director.

[00:11:37]And he was the first time that he Tech had a winning season. I mean, he really brought that football program up. And then he stepped away.

[00:11:48]And he became full-time administrator and hired a hired um I I forget who it was. It was someone good, I think. But Yes. And then Bryant um he never he never he he he and Frank always kept uh kept together. And actually when Alabama played Tech, I think it was in 1970, right?

[00:12:13]Um Yeah, it's '73 for sure.

[00:12:16]>> Yeah. Yeah, that was a nod to their friendship. Alabama was not on Tech uh Virginia Tech's schedule.

[00:12:23]So, they made that happen. And I think it was one of the one of the most well-attended games in the history of, you know, Virginia.

[00:12:32]>> Yeah. But yeah, he was he was pretty amazing.

[00:12:35]But I will say he was they were all three had this mumbly You could hardly understand what they said. Even just So, it's just >> They could understand >> Even though that they understood each other. It wasn't like a different language.

[00:12:54]Talking in code. Yeah. I mean Yeah.

[00:12:57]And and I also Frank was described as um a real irascible, you know, just curmudgeon kind of grumpy guy, but he really wasn't.

[00:13:12]And my the Moseleys and my family continue to this day uh Ally and their daughter and my mother are like sisters. And Edie my was my godmother and she They were They remained They lived in Lexington, Virginia. We lived in Virginia, so we saw each other. They eventually They eventually bought uh Allyne and her um her husband bought a beach house just 2 mi away from my parents so they could be They could celebrate Thanksgiving together every every year.

[00:13:48]>> So that they kept that relationship.

[00:13:50]There was an It was an They were an amazing family. Yeah.

[00:13:53]>> Mhm.

[00:13:55]We mentioned You mentioned that about about Frank Moseley and about the the the curmudgeonly kind of What What did people What did people maybe misunderstand about Coach Bryant as a man?

[00:14:08]Well, I think a lot of people think he's just so arrogant and um you know Listen, my mother always said, you know Coach Bryant you you either I mean, people really didn't like You mean it was either one extreme or the other, right? I idolized him or just was like, you know, not on the other end of the spectrum.

[00:14:34]And um sometimes when I would say I would get a tide of dreams when I'm doing book events they're like, "Oh, is that about Coach Bryant?" You know, and I'm like, "It's really not." And you know, uh people are surprised that it it's it's uh he was very confident, very charismatic uh very sure of what he knew Mhm. And I I think sometimes that just you know a little off-putting to people at times, I guess.

[00:15:08]Yeah, you can say that about a lot of movers and shakers throughout history, right?

[00:15:12]>> Yeah. Right.

[00:15:13]>> Um so Yeah, for sure.

[00:15:16]Yeah. Herry, back to your um mention of playing Virginia Tech and and Alabama.

[00:15:22]1968, Alabama beat Virginia Tech 14 to 7. Mhm. 1969 was in Blacksburg.

[00:15:31]That's the one we uh went up there. Alabama won 17-13, close game. Mhm.

[00:15:38]1970 uh back in Tuscaloosa, Alabama won 51 to 18.

[00:15:47]And then I believe the next time uh we played, I know it was in '78 three. Mhm.

[00:15:57]Uh and Alabama won 77 to 6.

[00:16:01]They were having tough times in Blacksburg with the >> And the next year Jimmy Sharp became head coach at Virginia Tech. And Jimmy's a a dear friend.

[00:16:09]>> Mhm. Uh who who had played in the late '50s, early '60s for Coach Bryant. And uh But yeah, that that has Frank Moseley and Bear Bryant's fingerprints all over it, that series. I mean, there's no question. Absolutely.

[00:16:25]>> Um So did did your grandfather ever talk about how Coach Bryant handled pressure uh privately uh during these, you know, championship seasons or difficult stretches? I mean, the you know, '69 and '70, which we mentioned, Alabama was down. 6-5 type seasons.

[00:16:46]Um and I know you were you said you were 13 when he passed away, so you might not can remember these specific times, but But I do I do know that um '69 was a really, really hard year personally for both of them.

[00:17:06]Yeah. Um it was Vietnam.

[00:17:09]You know, uh my my dad was in Vietnam um for a second tour.

[00:17:16]And I know that he they were just all very worried. They had They had all personal things going on. I think that they were relying a lot on assistant coaches.

[00:17:30]Um and so that I think accounted for some of the some of the turmoil in the in the season.

[00:17:39]Uh But what was the question again?

[00:17:45]Oh, just how how you learned how Coach Bryant handled pressure during the difficult times.

[00:17:54]Yeah, and I I do there were some funny stories um about and accounts that, you know, a lot of a lot of these anecdotes I learned that were uh either shared by coaching staff or were actually chronicled in different interviews and and uh But uh my grandfather and Bryant used to share a room whenever they would go on the road and they would go to championship games. And Bryant was always, apparently, nervous. They were going to lose. They were going to lose. They were, you know, oh my gosh, he'd be he'd be he'd be pacing and pacing and smoking Okay, and he smoked incessantly. I do remember the story about and I learned this from um good friends the Brocks, Dr. Brock.

[00:18:44]>> Yeah. was the two >> Yeah, sure.

[00:18:46]>> daughter and I were good friends when we were there. And they lived just up the street from my grandparents. And I would hear about how they would they would drive to the away games with my grandfather driving.

[00:18:57]Dr. Brock didn't smoke. He sat in the back.

[00:19:00]Bryant would smoke cigarette after cigarette after cigarette after cigarette and grind the butt in on the floor of the car. My grandpa would smoke. My grandfather would smoke and blow the smoke had those little crack windows, you know. He would blow the smoke out and then flick the flick the cigarette out. Bryant would let the smoke out in the car and Dr. Bryant would be like drowning in smoke.

[00:19:32]And when they would get there, they'd open the car door and all of the cigarette butts would just spill out onto the floor.

[00:19:40]Well, he smoked incessantly. My grandfather would sit in a chair and he had his routine for the game nights when he was when he was when they were playing big games. He had a routine. He was They were all very superstitious, right?

[00:19:55]They said he would open the paper.

[00:19:57]He would snap it twice.

[00:20:00]And he had a thing He had a glass of scotch.

[00:20:05]And he would jiggle the thing and take his sip and Bryant would pace and say, "We're going to lose. We're not We're prepared." And he And my grandma would just say, "We're going to be fine."

[00:20:16]"We're going to be fine."

[00:20:19]"We're going to be fine. We're not It's going to be fine." And then they may just And then it you know, so yeah, they were They were I that just made made me laugh every time I would hear that.

[00:20:34]Yeah, that's hilarious. Well, you know, we we talked about the just the generation that they came from and how that greatest generation was shaped by service and sacrifice.

[00:20:47]How did How did faith and duty and responsibility show up in the lives of all all three of them?

[00:20:56]Well, I think um they had I think the war was you know, that patriotism just carried all the way through.

[00:21:09]Um And I'm I'm really I I don't really know. I I know that at the end of his life Paul Bryant became much more um spiritual-minded.

[00:21:24]Um >> Yeah. Eady Moseley had a conversion experience late late in life, um which she shared openly.

[00:21:33]And uh Bryant I think had some regrets. I remember um I was talking to uh Galen McAlla one time. Mhm. Um which was a crazy uh serendipity serendipitous uh um event. I was at a conference. He was speaking at a medical conference that I was. Then my husband came back and said, "Really, this guy he says how how I know I was in the middle of writing my book. And I would spend the day up in the hotel room writing writing writing. And then my husband gets it. I know this guy. He's I think he's from Alabama.

[00:22:15]I think he might have played football or something. I don't know." I'm like, "Really?"

[00:22:19]And so I said, "Well, ask him. Ask him if he knew ask him what year." So uh uh he he said, "Well, the next time we see him." So we saw he walked by our table in that restaurant. And my husband said, "Oh, um haven't my here's my wife." And my I said, "Yeah, Dr. McAlla, I wanted to ask if you knew my grandfather Carney Lasley." And I thought he was going to faint.

[00:22:42]Yeah. I thought >> He was there then. Yeah. He I thought he was going to he was like he had to grab he had to grab And he said, "What?" And I said, "Well, oh." He did he goes, "Yes." So we met the next morning and we had a lovely time of reminiscing. And I and I I him what I would you know, the story as I had had uh pieced it together up until that time. And he said at the end of our meeting, he said, "It now all makes sense to me. It's the missing piece."

[00:23:16]He said because he was Dr. McCollum knew him towards the end of his life.

[00:23:21]And he said, "He seemed very lonely."

[00:23:24]And uh Bryant, his son, said after Uncle Carney died, "There was no one that replaced him." And Sam Bailey was his became set that position, but there was no one that with that relationship, with that I mean, they were they were incredibly close.

[00:23:48]So, I I I think that's that can that says a little bit about maybe how all of that kind of played out as as life went.

[00:23:59]He realized that football isn't everything.

[00:24:03]Yeah, we had Galen on with Jackie Sherrill last year surrounding the 60-year anniversary of the uh '64 uh national championship team.

[00:24:16]And Galen is great and what a historian he is. Of course, he's written many books about uh his days playing at Alabama and about Coach Bryant, but talking about the friendship between Coach Bryant and your grandfather, um how important was this this surprises me what you said, that once Coach Lasley passed away, that Coach Bryant did not have a soul brother, so to speak, and that Sam probably was a great friend, but handled all the administrative duties.

[00:24:55]You know, he was a work friend, but I don't know if Coach Bryant and Sam Bailey were soul brothers like Coach Bryant and Carney Lassley were.

[00:25:04]>> Right.

[00:25:05]You know, but Now Now and caught it with those type friendships and into make it Alabama what we know it as today, a national dynasty. I think it's very important. I think it I think it actually breeds into the whole culture.

[00:25:22]I think what they what they laid a foundation for. I mean, if they came back My mother, I took her to a game and I don't know it maybe it was 2000 Well, you were there.

[00:25:33]What year? I think Tommy What year? It was like 2017.

[00:25:37]Whatever.

[00:25:37]>> That could have been several Yeah, yeah.

[00:25:40]It was a years as a She had not been since 19 since her father died. She had not been back to Tuscaloosa.

[00:25:48]And she could not believe it.

[00:25:52]Oh, yeah.

[00:25:53]>> She said if they were here, they would never believe it. And the stadium and they have Coach Bryant's voice come out, you know, and do all that. She was just like, "What is happening?"

[00:26:08]What >> [clears throat] >> And um I think that legacy, you know, I think it it's really one of the the great things about the program and the school is that um these people that go before us, you know, laying the laying these things that are important. They may not have talked about it a lot and there may not have been a lot of people that knew about it. Like there's very few people remember I remember uh Paul um Who's the sportscaster? Uh Finebaum? Yes. Paul Finebaum. He first got to the university right after my grandfather died. He said everybody was always talking about Carney Lasley, Carnie Lasley." And he says, "Who the heck was Carnie Lasley?" He never He never knew who he was. He got lost, you know, because you know, the the legend was born.

[00:27:03]And you know, but it took another 10 years.

[00:27:07]Um uh but it was still there.

[00:27:12]Not only Carnie Lasley, but Bryant, Sam Bailey, um Gene Stallings, you know, they were all, you know, had this history that somehow that legacy, I think, informs the the next generation.

[00:27:32]No, Carrie, funny you would say that about Now, was it your mom that talked about how the campus had changed? Yes. So much. Okay.

[00:27:41]Wallace, get this. Wallace Wade said the same exact thing when he came back in 1960 for the Wallace Wade reunion.

[00:27:51]Which which I know uh you were born then. I don't know when You wouldn't have been. I was born then, but I was not Yeah. Carnie Well, and we found this out in the research for the on this Rose Bowl book, because we covered in detail all the reunions of the Rose Bowl teams. And there was a Wallace Wade reunion in 1960. He came back for and didn't recognize the place.

[00:28:16]>> That's so funny.

[00:28:17]And and get this, Frank Howard drove him down for it.

[00:28:24]And Frank Howard got up at the reunion and said, "I saw Coach Wade smile one time, so he's really mellowed now."

[00:28:32]Yeah, I have that picture from that 1960 reunion. Yeah. And it's, you know, those those were those were great years.

[00:28:41]But the other thing my mother said, driving down the main lane, look, you know, she was just Yeah.

[00:28:48]She goes, "My gosh, this is a cult. This is a cult. I think No, it's just everybody's just so really into it." And she goes, "I have never in my life seen anything like this." And I Well, she should see it now. Oh gosh, man. Well, I'm sure, yes. One day we'll bring her back. Yes, she's 90 and home.

[00:29:10]Yeah, she's still >> Oh, wow. Yeah.

[00:29:13]Don't kick it.

[00:29:15]Yeah.

[00:29:16]Rick, folks, we want to thank the National Alumni Association of the University of Alabama for supporting Crimson Chronicles. The National Alumni Association exists to connect generations of Alabama alumni and fans to the university we all love.

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[00:30:29]Rick? You know, Kerry, we live in a world that uh there are probably more leadership books written in a year than than maybe in in decades past. But when you hear modern conversations about leadership, what lessons that you saw in the lives of these men seem timeless to you?

[00:30:49]Well, I think of a um I think of a three-legged stool.

[00:30:57]And I think that you have to have you have to have a team to to get the best support for any organization, any endeavor, or or anything. And they and they're equal.

[00:31:12]There's not one that's a little bit longer than the other. They're they're equal. And under between them is uh there is a hierarchy. You know, you have to have a hierarchy, but um everybody kind of knows knows what that is and is okay with with it. Um not everybody has to be the number one guy.

[00:31:34]The number two and number three though are just as important.

[00:31:39]So, I think nowadays you see everybody gunning to be number one.

[00:31:43]And they forget that, you know, and then they get discouraged if they're not number one. If they feel like, you know, they're they're a failure of some sort.

[00:31:53]But really um success is built on the strength of your team and the strength of that leader to uh empower that team.

[00:32:06]So, you know, I don't know if that answers your question. No, it's that's it really did.

[00:32:11]That was great.

[00:32:13]Yeah.

[00:32:14]And sort of related to that, Coach Shula during enormous social and cultural change in America, you mentioned that. And how hard the late '60s were for uh Alabama football with all that was going on. You mentioned Vietnam War, but there was also civil rights issues and the the drug culture was was really making its way and the you know, the the late '60s are legendary in the in the change in America, but how did they adapt? And I and I've done a lot of research and you know, I wrote with Pat Williams a a book called Bear Bryant on Leadership and we talked a lot about that of how coach adjusted Coach Bryant adjusted to all these changes.

[00:33:11]But how how did they adapt? And what from your perspective, how do you think they adapted during all this like long hair and uh kind of a you know, resistance against society and I mean it was a tough time from like '60 seven to about '72.

[00:33:32]But and but they they held their ground.

[00:33:35]How did they do that?

[00:33:36]>> Yeah, I don't I don't really know. Um I do know that they did try to integrate Kentucky.

[00:33:42]Um Yeah. After the war and I they they couldn't get a unanimous SEC you know, teams to go along with that.

[00:33:52]So they were they were spearheading that way before, you know, they finally integrated at Alabama.

[00:33:59]Um but as far as the cultural things, I mean the same thing um you know, uh yeah, the long hair, all of that.

[00:34:13]I think they just understood young men and I I do think that they had um And they held their ground, right.

[00:34:23]They held they they did hold their ground. Um They they knew what worked.

[00:34:31]I you know, I think you know, my grandfather for a brief time coached at West Point. Um in between uh uh Bryant leaving Kentucky and coming down to Texas A&M, my grandfather was called by uh West West Point to help them build up their team again when they kind of were going through a moral crisis.

[00:34:51]And so there was always this military thread that ran through his you know, perspective. He worked with some of the best at at West Point, Colonel Blake and was just Vince Lombardi was there for a short time.

[00:35:10]And then he joined back up with Bryant.

[00:35:13]But I think as as much as they were tied to tradition and holding their line with the long hair and everything, I I also think they were they were movers and shakers in in um in like paving integration, you know, they were also the times. So they they had that unique ability to I think um incorporate change and and also stick with what worked in tradition um and somehow were able to blend that.

[00:35:48]And that's what a good leader can kind of be able to parse, right? When you need to be on board with change and not be like we're just going to do this same thing, but you can see you have that that intuition, I guess, or God-given um ability or sense.

[00:36:07]Um gift.

[00:36:10]So I I think that they they were definitely in tune.

[00:36:17]Keri, if if your grandfather was sitting with us today, what do you think he would want younger generations to understand about Paul Bryant?

[00:36:28]Oh.

[00:36:30]Uh about I do not know the I I don't not um but I don't think he Honestly, I don't think he would care.

[00:36:48]You know, I I don't >> That's That's really cool.

[00:36:56]Yeah, I mean he was I saw I saw a questionnaire someone was doing research, a graduate student, who stumbled on the pre-flight program.

[00:37:10]>> Mhm.

[00:37:11]Sent out a questionnaire to all of the coaches, the famous people that she knew had gone through the gone through that program. You know, Gerald Ford and you know, John Glenn or whatever.

[00:37:22]John Glenn had passed away, but she she I saw the the questionnaires that they sent back to her.

[00:37:31]Coach Bryant's was empty. He did not answer any question.

[00:37:38]They said he just said uh questions like, "What did you learn from pre-flight?" Nothing. "What did you Nothing. Nothing. Nothing."

[00:37:48]The only thing he said on his form was was, "Do you think that that the the the that having the program there helped the community?" And he And he wrote something like, "Yeah, I guess it did."

[00:38:07]So, I don't think he really, you know, he would probably leave it to history to figure that one out for him.

[00:38:16]That's good. [clears throat] Gary, do you think uh Bryant's relationships with men like Coach Lasting Coach Mosley helped keep him grounded? Yes, absolutely. Despite the his growing fame?

[00:38:32]No, absolutely.

[00:38:33]I can remember there was one article that I read and even though I did not know this for sure, uh I think they they profiled it in the paper and I I could see where at Kentucky he this was later in Kentucky before Mosley left. He was starting to get, you know, feeling pretty Um and he was always known as a confident kind of person. Uh But he was barking orders and I think he was barking orders to my grandfather and bark, you know, and my grandfather did not take I I'm sure did not take kindly to it because apparently he took off his hat and did something like my you know, it was like or something. Yes, you are the king.

[00:39:22]Whatever. You know, but so probably like one of them and um yeah, I do think I definitely think that they could uh they could they could speak truth to power Mhm. for sure.

[00:39:42]And um but again, they had a lot of history to not everybody could do that. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:39:51]Do you think they had a sense that they were a part of something so much bigger than football?

[00:39:59]I you know, I I don't I I think they just you know, there's something about um I know I know that that Jimmy Walker was very much a um important person in their life for their in the their when they were playing at Alabama, their plans for the future. He died in the war. It was a tragic loss. Uh, he was very talented um, young man. And everyone saw great Everyone thought he would do great great things like so many men that were lost in during World War II.

[00:40:40]And I think that they I really I truly think that they they they wanted to um, I mean cuz it got hard, right? And after my grandfather died, Coach Bryant died in 1970, Bryant almost left college football. He he I think he toyed with pro football for about a minute. They never liked pro football. They they thought it was that would be a waste of their time, but I think I think it did give him pause like I need to keep going for those we've lost.

[00:41:17]And for what we wanted to accomplish.

[00:41:20]Remember they set out to be a team of the winningest coaches in college football history.

[00:41:26]When he walked off the field in 1981, the commentators said to him Yeah.

[00:41:35]You're the winningest coach and he had prepared his comments ahead of time. So his first comments were to thank the people there in the stands, but the only two people he named by name were Ernie Lassiter and Frank Mosley. Yes. And it was and he continued to do that in post game interview.

[00:41:52]Um, cuz it he was acknowledging they made it.

[00:41:57]He did it. He became winningest coach, but it took a team. Yeah. And their team.

[00:42:04]So.

[00:42:05]Wow. It's amazing.

[00:42:07]Yeah.

[00:42:29]>> Mhm.