Stacy Revere/Getty Pictures
Reggie Jackson’s feedback at Rickwood Discipline have been highly effective. And now the baseball legend has recalled one other uncomfortable interplay he had with the nice Bear Bryant.
In a dialog with AL.com, Jackson advised the story of when the previous Crimson Tide head coach attended certainly one of his video games with the minor league A’s the place he hit a pair of triples and “might run like a deer.”
Jackson says that Bryant paid a go to to the locker room as soon as it ended to go to his son (who was the membership’s GM on the time).
I used to be getting modified, ending a bathe and placing my shirt on, Bear Bryant walked as much as me and paid me a praise. He stated to the group, ‘That is the simply form of [n-word] we want with a purpose to compete with Bo [Schembelcher], Woody [Hayes], Ara [Parsegian] and Johnny [Robinson] … and Joe Paterno of Penn State. He meant it as a praise. He stated, ‘If we do not get certainly one of them, we can’t be capable to compete with them. … I did not know what to say.
Jackson described the encounter as particularly awkward as a result of he thought of Bryant a buddy, even to his dying day, however the coach by no means apologized.
I bought referred to as as much as the key leagues and Bear Bryant got here as much as Chicago … and watched me play my first recreation. Twenty-one years later after I retired I performed my final recreation in Chicago and Bear Bryant got here to see me play my final recreation. … That friendship lasted till he handed, however that was probably the most impactful factor that occurred to me in Rickwood Discipline.
Even all these years later, it is clear that a variety of the ache from these experiences has caught with Reggie. However at 78-years-old the Corridor of Famer nonetheless says that he is grateful for his well being.
“I really feel great,” Jackson stated. “I acknowledge that at my age, tomorrows not promised.”
Associated: Everybody’s Praising Reggie Jackson For Extremely Transferring Interview On FOX