It Dont Cost Nuthin to be Nice At a Touchdown Club meeting many years before his death, Coach Paul Bear Bryant told the following story: I had just been named the new head coach at Alabama and was off in my old car down in South Alabama recruiting a prospect who was supposed to have been a pretty good player. And I was havin trouble finding the place. Getting hungry, I spied an old cinder block building with a small sign out front that simply said Restaurant. I pull up, go in, and every head in the place turns to stare at me. Seems Im the only white fella in the place. But the food smelled good, so I skip a table and go up to a cement bar and sit. A big ole man in a tee shirt and cap comes over and says, What do you need? I told him I needed lunch and what did they have today? He says, You probably wont like it here. Today were having chitlins, collard greens and black- eyed peas with cornbread. Ill bet you dont even know what chitlins (small intestines of hogs prepared as food in the deep South) are, do you? I looked him square in the eye and said, Im from Arkansas , Ive probably eaten a mile of them. Sounds like Im in the right place. They all smiled as he left to serve me up a big plate. When he comes back he says, You aint from around here then? I explain Im the new football coach up in Tuscaloosa at the University and Im here to find whatever that boys name was, and he says, Yeah, Ive heard of him, hes supposed to be pretty good. And he gives me directions to the school so I can meet him and his coach. As Im paying up to leave, I remember my manners and leave a tip, not too big to be flashy, but a good one. And he told me lunch was on him, but I told him for a lunch that good, I felt I should pay. The big man asked me if I had a photograph or something he could hang up to show Id been there. I was so new that I didnt have any yet. It really wasnt that big a thing back then to be asked for, but I took a napkin and wrote his name and address on it and told him Id get him one. I met the kid I was lookin for later that afternoon, and I dont remember his name, but do remember I didnt think much of him when I met him. I had wasted a day, or so I thought. When I got back to Tuscaloosa late that night, I took that napkin from my shirt pocket and put it under my keys so I wouldnt forget it. Back then I was excited that anybody would want a picture of me. The next day we found a picture and I wrote on it, Thanks for the best lunch Ive ever had. Now, lets go a whole buncha years down the road. Now we have black players at Alabama, and Im back down in that part of the country scouting an offensive lineman we sure needed. Yall remember, (and I forget the name, but its not important to the story). Well anyway, hes got two friends going to Auburn, and he tells me hes got his heart set on Auburn too, so I leave empty handed and go on see some others while Im down there. Two days later, Im in my office in Tuscaloosa, and the phone rings, and its this kid who just turned me down. And he says, Coach, do you still want me at Alabama ? And I said, Yes, I sure do. And he says OK, hell come. And I say, Well son, what changed your mind? And he said, When my grandpa found out that I had a chance to play for you and said no, he pitched a fit and told me I wasnt going nowhere but Alabama, and wasnt playing for nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since yall met. Well, I didnt know his granddad from Adams housecat, so I asked him who his granddaddy was, and he said, You probably dont remember him, but you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama, and you sent him a picture that hes had hung in that place ever since. That pictures his pride and joy, and he still tells everybody about the day that Bear Bryant came in and had chitlins with him. My grandpa said that when you left there, he never expected you to remember him or to send him that picture, but you kept your word to him, and to Grandpa, thats everything. He said you could teach me more than football, and I had to play for a man like you, so I guess Im going to. I was floored. But I learned that the lessons my mama taught me were always right. It dont cost nuthin to be nice. It dont cost nuthin to do the right thing most of the time, and it costs a lot to lose your good name by breakin your word to someone. When I went back to sign that boy, I looked up his Grandpa, and hes still running that place. But it looks a lot better now. And he didnt have chitlins that day, but he had some ribs that woulda made Dreamland proud. And I made sure I posed for a lot of pictures; and dont think I didnt leave some new ones for him, too, along with a signed football. I made it clear to all my assistants to keep this story and these lessons in mind when theyre out on the road. If you dont remember anything else from me, remember this. It really doesnt cost anything to be nice, and the rewards can be unimaginable. Coach Paul Bear Bryant
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:52:03 +0000
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