The Goat Pen

It was a blustery and frozen night as I entered the dank, austere surroundings of the Liberty Bowl on the late December night of 1982. Slow barges lumbered down the Mighty River. Blues bands played as if they were heralding in a fresh lamb to the slaughter.

The Mighty Fighting Illini were big. They were strong. They were mean. The wounded and much-beleaguered Crimson Tide team formed a thin red line as they headed onto the tundra that night.

The rifle-armed All-American, Tony Eason, set his angular jaw against the gale-like, frozen winds on that dark Memphis night. Like a gridiron Baryshnikov, Eason’s 6’4” frame danced nimbly through the pregame warm-ups as he focused his mind on the task at hand: Embarrassing – no humiliating – the great, but terminally ill Paul Bryant and his rag-tag band of undersized and injured players...

Head Coach of the Mighty Fighting Illini, Mike White, knew a pro career lay ahead of him. He chuckled slightly as he perused the gameplan and thought to himself, “This is Bryant’s last game. I’ll make him wish he’d quit sooner.”

The ailing Bryant grimaced as he slowly emerged from the tunnel. Heart disease was killing him and he knew his doctors had warned him about coaching this game, especially considering the extremely harsh weather. He struggled to keep from letting his family – the players – see him in such mind-searing pain as he covertly placed a nitroglycerin tablet under his tongue. He never wanted this game to be about him. He simply wanted the players to hold their heads high and compete honorably for the University, their families, and most importantly, themselves. “Make your mamas proud," he grumbled, as the last of the players and trainers ran from the tunnel.

Somehow, Alabama had managed to keep the game close through most of the game; however, Illinois quarterback Tony Eason was driving his team for what should have been the winning score. But Alabama's defense came through ... one last time for Bryant. Afterward, Mike White, the young Illinois coach, said that he had never seen a team hit as hard as Alabama that day. They were outgunned and out-manned, but they played with incredible heart and won the game for Bear on desire and grit alone.

That fateful Liberty Bowl was played on December 29, 1982. Less than one month later, on January 26, 1983, Bryant would die of heart disease. Coincidentally, less than one month after that, his beloved wife of 59 years, Mary Harmon Bryant, would die, too.

From the time Bryant first prowled the sidelines at the University of Alabama in 1958, until the day he died in 1983, no other team in the Nation won as many games, had as high of a winning percentage, or as many championships. No one was really even close.

hedge wrote:I thought they had misspelt goodbye, but when I typed "goodby" a squiggly red line didn't come up underneath, so maybe that's an acceptable spelling. I need to get out more...