Mother’s Day and what better way to celebrate it than by making this blog post a T—–free zone, filling in with a memorable Mother’s Day story starring legendary Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. You may have heard it before but it’s worth hearing again….
Bryant was famous for telling his young players to stay in touch with their mothers, a sincere note since the coach, as noted in his autobiography, “Bear,” had been especially close to his own mother back in rural Fordyce, Arkansas.
That in mind, Luckie & Forney, the Birmingham advertising agency that represented South Central Bell, came up with the idea of featuring the coach in a TV commercial urging viewers to phone their mothers on the holiday. Frank Lee, the agency executive in charge of the production, handed Bryant the script, the coach looked it over, a quick rehearsal and the camera rolled.
All went well — Bryant was a natural-born performer — right up to the concluding script line, “Have you called your mama today?” Then, camera still rolling, the coach, on his own, added, “I sure wish I could call mine.”
Check it out on YouTube. It’s why those of us who were around in those years say there may be other coaches with winning records but there’ll never be another “Bear.”
Oh, one more thing. Have you called your mama today? I sure wish I could call mine.
Sound Bite to Remember
“We have our fun on Saturdays.”
–Bear Bryant’s response to a rival coach’s comment that, unlike Alabama’s hard-driven players, his “have fun” during practice.
The Wayward Lemming 