Legend, hero, homespun philosopher, not to mention fashion statement in his houndstooth check hat, Paul "Bear" Bryant has been called a combination of "ham and humble pie." A museum and a football stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, bear his name, and a movie, released in August 1984, called, simply, The Bear, recounts his life. His wife, however, didn't like the film; she couldn't imagine actor Gary Busey playing her husband. "Papa was handsome, " she said, and it was not only she who thought this. Men as well as women agreed that Bear Bryant was a good-looking man. Morris Franks, a writer for the Houston Chronicle, averred, "No Hollywood star ever made a more dramatic entrance. He would jut that granite-like jaw out, turn his camel's hair topcoat collar up and be puffing on a cigarette." The coach evinced a wide-ranging...