Re: Coach Bryant
I remember it clearly. (When one's lifelong hero dies, it leaves an impression. My childhood dream was never to play in the NFL; it was to play linebacker for Coach Bryant. Alas, when one is all of 5'5" on HS graduation day, and is slow, and not a small degree of wimpy,...I had to settle for watching his last 3 years at the helm.) I was born shortly after "Mama called" him back to UA. What a grand time to be a UA fan the 60s & 70s were! Sort of like now, actually.
I know exactly where I was when I heard: I was in the record store on the Strip not studying for any classes. :blush: I recall just freezing in place & staying frozen there, open-mouthed for a long time. We all sort of shuffled out & went on our way. I attended Coach's funeral downtown (can't recall which of the alternate church sites I sat in).
I too, equated Coach w/ Dad, because my Dad was a HUGE fan, & Dad died when I was 15. Football aside, this world seemed that much less like home. As the cheesy song said, "hero of little boys and their Dads." True in the house I grew up in!