When Texas A&M hired Paul “Bear” Bryant as head football coach in 1954, it didn’t know it was hiring a future legend often referred to as one of the greatest college football coaches of all time.
The Texas A&M University System will present Bryant’s original employment contract to the University at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Board of Regents Annex.
The ceremony will feature remarks from five speakers, including A&M system chancellor John Sharp, head football coach Kevin Sumlin and 1957 Heisman Trophy winner John David Crow.
Bryant – who is responsible for the grueling and infamous 10-day summer camp in Junction, Texas, that brought about the Junction Boys moniker – coached the Aggies to a 25-14-2 record and a Southwest Conference title in his four-year coaching stint at A&M.
Bryant would return to coach his alma mater Alabama in 1958 where he would eventually end his 38-year coaching career as a six-time national champion with an overall coaching record
of 323-85.
After passing away a month after his final game, Bryant was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously from President Ronald Reagan and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986.