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'''Paul William Bryant, Jr''' (born [[1944]] in [[Birmingham]]) is a [[Tuscaloosa]] businessman and chairman of the [[Crimson Tide Foundation]]. He was appointed to the [[University of Alabama Board of Trustees]] in [[2000]].
'''Paul William Bryant, Jr''' (born [[December 19]], [[1944]] in [[Birmingham]])<!--http://tidesports.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/PHOTOS-Paul-Bryant-Jr/G0000.foziDlW71U/I0000DzHFfOopqYI/C0000OUW94HUvpC0 portrait--> is a [[Tuscaloosa]] businessman and chairman of the [[Crimson Tide Foundation]]. He was appointed to the [[University of Alabama Board of Trustees]] in [[2000]].


Bryant was the son of legendary college football coach [[Bear Bryant]] and his wife, [[Mary Bryant|Mary]]. He was born in Birmingham while his father was serving in the U.S. Navy during [[World War II]], but grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and College Station, Texas. He played youth football as a boy, but contracted hepatitis, which required nearly a year of recuperation and left him physically weakened. He spent time with his father when he was coaching the [[Alabama Crimson Tide football team]], hoping to follow in his footsteps. He was on the roster of [[Tom Tarleton]]'s basketball team at [[Tuscaloosa High School]], but was limited in playing time due to his weakened constitution. During the summer he was assigned a car and worked full time as a recruiter for the Crimson Tide.
Bryant was the son of legendary college football coach [[Bear Bryant]] and his wife, [[Mary Bryant|Mary]]. He was born in Birmingham while his father was serving in the U.S. Navy during [[World War II]], but grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and College Station, Texas. He played youth football as a boy, but contracted hepatitis, which required nearly a year of recuperation and left him physically weakened. He spent time with his father when he was coaching the [[Alabama Crimson Tide football team]], hoping to follow in his footsteps. He was on the roster of [[Tom Tarleton]]'s basketball team at [[Tuscaloosa High School]], but was limited in playing time due to his weakened constitution. During the summer he was assigned a car and worked full time as a recruiter for the Crimson Tide.
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Bryant was appointed to a second six-year term in [[2006]], elected president pro tempore in [[2011]], and re-appointed for a third term in [[2012]].
Bryant was appointed to a second six-year term in [[2006]], elected president pro tempore in [[2011]], and re-appointed for a third term in [[2012]].


Bryant has also served as a director of the [[Alabama Heritage Foundation]], a trustee of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, and chairman of the Washington D.C.-based Civil War Preservation Trust.
Bryant has also served as a director of the [[Alabama Heritage Foundation]], a trustee of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, and chairman of the Washington D.C.-based Civil War Preservation Trust. He is a co-author, with [[Delbert Reed]] of ''[[When Winning Was Everything: Alabama Football Players in World War II]]'' and, with  several others, of ''[[The Complete History of Crimson Tide Football]]'', both published in [[2013]].


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 11:19, 2 December 2014

Paul William Bryant, Jr (born December 19, 1944 in Birmingham) is a Tuscaloosa businessman and chairman of the Crimson Tide Foundation. He was appointed to the University of Alabama Board of Trustees in 2000.

Bryant was the son of legendary college football coach Bear Bryant and his wife, Mary. He was born in Birmingham while his father was serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, but grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and College Station, Texas. He played youth football as a boy, but contracted hepatitis, which required nearly a year of recuperation and left him physically weakened. He spent time with his father when he was coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide football team, hoping to follow in his footsteps. He was on the roster of Tom Tarleton's basketball team at Tuscaloosa High School, but was limited in playing time due to his weakened constitution. During the summer he was assigned a car and worked full time as a recruiter for the Crimson Tide.

Bryant's hepatitis prevented him from participating in officer training programs and earned him a deferral from the draft. He enrolled at the University of Alabama and earned a finance degree in 1966. With the contacts he had made through his father and with many of his classmates serving in Viet Nam, Bryant's business career had a head start. He was hired by Charlie Finley as general manager of the Birmingham A's. While still in his 20s, he helped organized the Peoples Bank of Tuscaloosa, which merged into AmSouth Bank in the early 1980s.

He diversified into other business investments under a holding company, Greene Group, Inc.. He partnered with A. Wayne May and Sam Phelps to build greyhound race tracks such as Greene County's GreeneTrack and other tracks in Idaho, Iowa and Texas. Bryant split the track's ownership between the employees and the Greene County Commission in 1995.

That same year, Bryant purchased the Reynolds Ready Mix concrete manufacturing company and renamed it Ready Mix USA. In 1999 he acquired Harvest Select Catfish. Those acquisitions were backed by the assets of Bryant's Alabama Reassurance Company, which was described by a Mississippi regulator as "propping up broke companies for a fee," as a way to "offset dog track profits."

In 1997 Alabama Re was implicated in a fraud scheme carried out by Pennsylvania attorney Allen W. Stewart. Stewart was sentenced to prison, but Bryant's company was never indicted. The insurer reorganized as Alabama Life Reinsurance Company in 2006. In 2010 and 2011 Ready Mix USA's joint ventures with Mexico-based CEMEX netted Greene Group $450 million in profits from the sale of its interests.

Bryant returned to banking in 2005 when he founded Bryant Bank, which has been recognized for its role in financing rebuilding in Tuscaloosa following the April 2011 tornado outbreak.

Bryant was nominated by Governor Don Siegelman for a seat on the University of Alabama Board of Trustees in 2000. Some in the Alabama House of Representatives opposed the nomination, citing under-representation of trustees with ties to UAB and controversial comments attributed to Bryant in a 1989 article in Esquire. With the nomination still up in the air, Frank Bromberg resigned his seat, allowing the board to appoint Bryant without legislative approval. Among his first actions as a trustee was to join with athletic director Mal Moore in launching aCrimson Tradition Fund to raise capital for improvements to athletic facilities. Bryant jump-started the campaign with a personal $10 million contribution. It eventually raised $70 million, which was used to finance a bond-issue which increased the athletic department's long-term debt from $36 million to $197 million between 2002 and 2012.

Bryant was appointed to a second six-year term in 2006, elected president pro tempore in 2011, and re-appointed for a third term in 2012.

Bryant has also served as a director of the Alabama Heritage Foundation, a trustee of the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, and chairman of the Washington D.C.-based Civil War Preservation Trust. He is a co-author, with Delbert Reed of When Winning Was Everything: Alabama Football Players in World War II and, with several others, of The Complete History of Crimson Tide Football, both published in 2013.

References

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