78 rugged individualism ofanearlierera, rugged bama’s return to football glory. lion, thatlaidthefoundation forAla- drive, beginning with his own $10 mil 2002 multimillion-dollarfundraising Little Bear. Paul Jr. quarterbacked the son, Paul Bryant Jr., once known as dium inTuscaloosa. ThatmanisBear’s of the101,821 seatsatAlabama’s sta- ognize thegraying, taciturnmaninone town fans screamed, “Roll, Tide, Roll.” sity ofNotre Dame42to14, ashome- Green Bay Packers—beat the Univer ing fortheNationalFootball League’s ning backEddieLacy—who’s now play quarterback A.J. McCarron andrun- championship game, Alabama, led by to another trophy. Inthe2012 national Nov. 16was undefeatedandenroute Championship Seriestitlesandasof has wonthreeofthepast fourBowl ities provided for Saban’s team, which ago, wouldn’t recognize the posh facil Crimson Tidetogreatness40years leather couch with a video game. players shoot poolorkickback on a plex-sized screen. Afterpractice, in a 212-seat theater with a multi- finer points offootball with histeam overCoach Nick Saban goes the lus. mill that’s thanNauti more NASA - andananti-gravitywater tread- a Club Med–style cascade of hot room, ahydrotherapy pool with ities include a $9 million weight would behappy tohave it.Theamen February. Any professional team a new football-training centerlast The University ofAlabamaopened Just as his fatherpersonified the would rec- The latecoachinglegend Paul Bryant,whocoachedthe “Bear” - - - - football team. raise tens of millions of dollars for the sport’s ofcommercialismto newage of trustees ofthe hastaken advantage and presidentoftheuniversity’s board hat, this69-year-old businessmogul prowling thesidelinesinahoundstooth sity athletics. Since2008, theyear million toOklahoma StateUniver T. BoonePickens, whohasgiven $250 football facilities, andenergybaron $68 millionforUniversity ofOregon founder Phil Knight, whodonated wealthy boosters suchasNike Inc. a year. 50 percent,tomorethan$300million boost theSEC’s broadcast revenues by consultant John Mansellexpectsto Falls, Virginia–based sports business SEC Network in2014, whichGreat cable network ESPN to launch the bama reigns, will partner with sports Southeastern Conference,whereAla- footballlege is rolling in money. The Huge televisionHuge contracts mean col Media revenue is augmented by championships. winning six national celebrity that came from basked in Bryant the Bear
- - the radar. Little hasbeenwritten about onships, Bryantwieldshis power under winning sixnationalfootball champi- basked inthecelebritythatcamefrom Bryant joined the board of trustees. violations from1995to2000—before after uncovering recruitingandother 2002 andimposedatwo-year bowl ban put Alabama on five years’ probation in accepted impropergifts. TheNCAA Heisman Trophy winnerReggie Bush entire season’s winsafterfinding that sity of Southern California to forfeit an 2010, the NCAA ordered theUniver players upto$50,000 incasheach.In found thataschoolbooster hadgiven tional CollegiateAthletic Association on threeyears’probationaftertheNa- dal. TheUniversity ofMiamiwas put cal year ended on June 30. 38 percent,to$143.4 millionforthefis- letic departmentrevenue hasclimbed three championships, Alabama ath- before Sabanwonthefirst ofhis In contrast with his father, who The big-moneyerahasbroughtscan- -
Walter Iooss Jr. /Sports Illustrated/Getty images top: photo courtesy of gulf greyhound park; chart: l to r: Greg Nelson/getty images; Michael Chang/Getty Images; Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images; Joe Robbins/Getty Images revenue andexpenditures have soared since Paul Bryant joinedtheschool’s board oftrustees. The University ofAlabama’s football program isoneofthemost lucrative inthenation. Both in millions of Education Department Source: U.S. 2012 season. *For 2011– Expenses, Revenue, Football any, risktoAlabamaRe,hesays. One aminer. The contracts carried little, if a retired Alabamastate insuranceex- to reduceliability, says W.O. Myrick, ers withreinsurancethatappeared out of propping up troubled insur the time, it had just two employees. Alabama DepartmentofInsurance.At according toa2006examinationby the lion individendsfrom2002to2006, and his two partnersatotal of $46mil- Reinsurance Co. in2006, paidBryant ance Co., whichbecameAlabamaLife tures isreinsurance.AlabamaReassur university’s offices in Tuscaloosa. Bryant says inarareinterviewatthe million. “I’m a pretty risk taker,” good to Mexico-based CemexSABfor$350 ing. In2011, hesoldacementbusiness versified into catfish farming and bank Texas RacingCommission.Thenhedi- record for the sport, according to the Texas, grossed$268millionin1993, a 1977. One of his tracks, in La Marque, his fortune with greyhound racing in the sourcesofhiswealth.He started in millions The company made a business One of Bryant’s longest-lived ven - *
* $103.8 Texas $25.9 $85.2 Michigan $23.6 - - - cial conditionthantheyactuallyare,” help them appear to be in better finan- liabilities fromprobleminsurersto has entered intocontracts to assume documents. “Historically, Alabama Re 1991, accordingtoCookCountycourt of Illinois, wentintoliquidationin client, Inter-American Insurance Co. $82.0 Alabama $36.9 $77.2 Auburn $33.3 $75.0 Georgia $22.7 wire fraudandmoneylaundering in 1997 on 135 counts of racketeering, was convicted by aPhiladelphiajury Philadelphia lawyer AllenW. Stewart, prises with insurance write-offs. ties and offset profits from other enter the firm toconsolidateitstaxliabili- Group Inc., which Gober says allows of aholdingcompany calledGreene its.” Bryant’s enterprisesareallunits bama Rehadtooffset dogtrackprof- could callonAlabamaRebecauseAla- the early1990s. “Companies knewthey Mississippi InsuranceDepartmentin who was examiner-in-chargeatthe companies forafee,” says Tom Gober, Re. “Theywereproppingupbroke Myrick says in a telephone interview. sentenced to 15 years in prison. The owner ofoneimperiledinsurer, Mississippi alsoexaminedAlabama a reinsuranceagreementwith Al- abama Re.In1991,Stewart’s Fi- Nine of those counts concerned delity GeneralLifeInsurance Co., facinginsolvency, paid Alabama Re$412,500to abilities, accordingto the take on $15 million of its li Marque, in Park Greyhound Gulf Dogs on the run at Greene Group’s T exas, near Galveston La - - 80 80 a winner again. “It’s hard to explain if that includedmakingtheCrimson Tide donors—would get behind a program Bryant says. The public—and wealthy to reviving the university was football, Bryant and Moore got to work. The key team wonthreeandlost eightthatyear. recalls. The once-triumphantfootball and buildingswererun-down, Bryant trustees in 2000. Dorms were shabby, tor until he died in March at 73. Moore, theuniversity’s athletic direc- his relationshipwitholdfriendMal ball field. He tearsupashedescribes surance, but his heart is onthe foot with that broker again.” by a broker, and we didn’t do business of Stewart, “thedealwas broughttous been withsolidcompanies. Inthecase started in1981andthatalmost allhave 230 to240 reinsurancedealssinceit ing,” Phelps says in a phone interview. law. “We didn’t know whathewas do- inkling thatStewart was breakingthe ment was legalandthatBryanthadno Phelps says in an e-mail. businessplanisludicrous,”a good tions withinsolvent companieswas idea thatintentionallydoingtransac- intheStewart case.“Thewrongdoing withnor its partners were charged deny any impropriety. Neitherthefirm Phelps, his partner inGreene Group, equal to its fee. possible lossesto$481,250, anamount dictment says, limitingAlabamaRe’s National LifeInsuranceCo., thein- Fidelity’s parent company, Summit day, asideagreementwas signedwith parties. Yet onoraroundthatsame other “understandings” between the included aclausesaying therewereno new agreementinMarch1993, which Fidelity and Alabama Re then signed a saying itdidn’t reallyshifttheliability. and Arizonarejectedtheagreement, indictment. RegulatorsinCalifornia Bryant joined the Alabama board of Paul Bryant’s headmay be in rein- Phelps says AlabamaRehasdone Phelps says theSummitsideagree- Both Bryantandattorney Scott
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2013* 2012 2011 2010 swelling the university’s long-term to finance moreathletic upgrades, issue, andthenissuedadditional bonds contributions witha$50million bond plemented the$70millionin private ask,” Bryantsays. Theuniversity sup- sity. “You gotta give beforeyoucan $10 million,accordingtotheuniver raised $70million,includinghisown Tradition Fund and led by Bryant,it Denny Stadium.CalledtheCrimson grade athletic facilitiesandBryant- million fundraising campaign to up funk,” Bryant says. isn’t doingwell,thewholestate isina you’re not from here,butiffootball 2009 Source: NCAA *As ofNov. 16. Bryant andMoore kicked offa$50 champion BCS national wins losses - - university financial reports. from $36millionin2002,accordingto athletics debt to$197millionin2012 lowed hisfatherinto football. That meters) tall,wouldlike tohave fol- in 2002. out ofstate, comparedwith24 percent freshman classof6,500 came from residents. Sixty percentofthisyear’s compared with$4,725forAlabama Alabamians pay $11,975asemester of-state students, Bryant says. Non- helped theuniversity by attracting out- coach himself. spoken,” says Sherrill,aretired football like hisdad,biginstature butvery soft- was aclassmateofLittle Bear. “He’s for BearBryantfrom1962to1965and bama,” says Jackie Sherrill, who played thumbprint Paul Jr. has left on Ala those who know Bryant say. to make the school attractive to Saban, ban. Yet he worked behind thescenes do withthehire;Moore recruitedSa- reports. Bryant says he had nothing to ing to aBloomberg analysisof NCAA the historyfootball, ofcollege accord- making himthehighest-paid coachin million over eight years, at the time Dolphins, in 2007 and paying him $32 ing Saban, coach of the NFL’s Miami Alabama’s boldest move was hir Bryant, whois6feet 4inches(1.93 Reviving CrimsonTidefootball has “People don’t understand the - -
left to right: Lance King/Replay Photos via Getty Images; Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images companies forming related joint ven- tures: Cemex Southeast LLC and Ready Mix USA LLC. Bryant negotiated a put option, which gave Greene Group the right to sell its share in both to Cemex after three years. Greene Group got a payout in 2010, when the ventures sold 12 cement quarries to SPO Partners & Co., a pri- vate-equity firm in Mill Valley, Califor- nia, for $420 million. Ready Mix and Cemex each got $100 million in cash. The bigger payday came in 2011, when Bryant executed the put option, and Cemex paid him $350 million for his half of the joint ventures. Today, Bryant spends some of his The Crimson Tide was undefeated time running Bryant Bank, which he and on its way to another half to employees and half to Greene started in 2005 in Tuscaloosa. It now championship in mid-November. County. A year later, the county, one of has 14 branches across Alabama and the poorest in the U.S., went bankrupt, $1.17 billion of assets, according to the in part because of a sharp reduction in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. dream ended when he contracted hep- tax revenue from the dog track, accord- Bryant says he wants the bank, which atitis, possibly from a dirty dental in- ing to a 2009 study of the bankruptcy caters to small communities, to be his strument, and missed a whole year of in the Journal of Public Budgeting, Ac- legacy. “That’s my winding-down proj- high school and most of two others, counting & Financial Management. ect,” he says. “It’s the only time we put he says. Bryant pivoted from dogs to cement. our name on anything.” Bryant studied business at the Uni- Greene Group bought Reynolds Ready Reflecting on his career, Bryant still versity of Alabama. In his 20s, he Mix in 1995 and renamed it Ready Mix regrets that he wasn’t able to follow in started Peoples Bank in Tuscaloosa and USA. They used money from Alabama his father’s footsteps. “I’d like to have then sold it. His name brought cred- Re to fund the purchase, ownership re- coached,” he says. Still, in this new era ibility. “I met a lot of businesspeople cords show and Phelps confirms. In of college sports, Bryant can take credit through my parents,” he says. 1999, Greene Group bought a majority along with coach Saban for the Ala- Bryant first scored big with grey- stake in Harvest Select Catfish Inc., a bama team’s success. He’s been calling hound racing, a sport that’s condemned company that raises the freshwater the money plays. as cruel to dogs by animal-rights scavengers in 4,410 acres (1,785 hect- Anthony Effinger is a senior writer at Bloomberg Markets in Portland. groups. He started Greenetrack, a dog- ares) of shallow ponds in Alabama and [email protected] John Helyar is an editor-at-large racing venue in rural Greene County, Mississippi. at Bloomberg News in Atlanta. Alabama, with a veterinarian named In 2005, Ready Mix started a 50-50 [email protected] With assistance from Michael Buteau A. Wayne May and a lawyer named partnership with Cemex, with both in Atlanta. Sam Phelps, who died in 2011. May and Scott Phelps, Sam’s son, remain part- ners in Greene Group. Bryant owns 72 Bloomberg Tıps Analyzing Alabama percent of the enterprise, according to a 2009 examination of Alabama Re by You can use the Financial Analysis (FA) function on the Bloomberg Profes- regulators. sional service to analyze the University of Alabama’s financial data. Type Greenetrack was a quick success, and 27044MF US