Paul William Bryant lived his childhood without much. Paul was born September 11, 1913, in Moro Bottom, in south-central Arkansas. He was one of his parents' eleven other children. Her parents were Monroe and Ida Mae Bryant. Her father Monroe was a farmer and her mother Ida Mae was a stay-at-home mom and took care of the house. A few years later in Paul's life, they moved a few miles south to Forge, Arkansas. ("100 Years of Bears") There were about 3,600 people in the town they moved to. ("Paul W Bryant") When Bryant grew up, his father became very ill and his mother and bear had to take over the farm for his father. . ("Bear Bryant") When Paul was just thirteen years old, he watched a college football practice. At six foot one, he was a tall boy of thirteen and the coach saw the big kid watching them practice. “The team coach went up to Bryant and asked him if he had ever played football before. Paul replied: "This is the first time I've seen the game played before." The coach said to him “see that boy over there?” Go ahead and try to kill him. Paul started playing and let's just say he did what coach told him to do. When the bad safety caught the ball, Bryant ran over the kid. Before the next Friday, Bryant had reached the starting lineup. During his senior year of high school, he led his team to the state championship ("The Bear Story"). One evening, Bryant and some friends went to a traveling circus. There was a bear living there and the man holding it offered a dollar for every minute he spent in the cage with the bear. Bear said he would go into the cage with the bear. Some people thought the reason he entered the cage was to impress a girl. For anything...... middle of paper...... easy. His childhood gave him a large part of his life. His childhood brought him football. Without his college coach when he was 13, Bear might not have even thought about playing and coaching football. After his college years, his years were very good. The Bear was named SEC Coach of the Year (“Bear Bryant Facts”). The bear was a great football player and had so much tenacity. He was known as one of the best coaches of all time. He was a tough but good coach. He died just after retiring from the game he loved. He is remembered for wearing his houndstooth hat. Bear has set the bar very high for all other coaches who will come through Alabama and some have come close but aren't there yet. The Bear will go down as one of the greatest coaches of all football coaches. He's earned this place in the hearts of a ton of Alabama fans..