In life, as a coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant was a winner. He won state championships as a star football player at Fordyce High School, and he won conference and national championships as a player and then head coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide. He won more than any major college football coach had before.
And even in the 32 years since his death, Bryant still for the most part wins. About 36,000 people annually flock to a museum dedicated to his memory in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Ebay is home to more than 1,300 memorabilia items bearing his name, including a signed football starting at $14,999.99. The houndstooth-style fedora he often wore has evolved into a marketing phenomenon. These days, Alabama fans can buy all manner of checked patterned gear, from ballcaps and totes to tumblers and toddler flip-flops.
It turns out, though, not everything this legacy touches is gold.
A new permanent Bear Bryant exhibit in his hometown of Fordyce, about 70 miles south of Little Rock, is struggling to attract visitors after locals hoped it would help reverse downward spiraling economic conditions.
Agnes Phillips, director of the Dallas County Museum, helped mastermind the idea as part of a larger sports annex a few years ago. The former owner of a bed and breakfast in Fordyce, Phillips had through the decades hosted many Crimson Tide fans on pilgrimages to learn more about their favorite sports legend’s roots.
It was on a row farm just a few miles east of Fordyce, after all, where Paul Bryant entered a hardscrabble youth as the 11th of 12 children. And it was in downtown Fordyce, on the stage of the old Lyric Theatre, where he was dared to wrestle a bear for $1 a minute. He escaped the tussle with a torn ear and a handful of blood.
“After the show was over, I went around to get my money, but the man with the bear had flown the coop,” Bryant wrote in his memoir, titled Bear. “All I got out of the whole thing was a nickname.”
Given the colorful history at hand, Phillips believed it only made sense to open up a sports-themed annex for her museum. There, tourists could learn not just about Bryant, but other legendary football and basketball coaches from the area like Larry Lacewell, Houston Nutt, Sr. and Jimmy “Red” Parker. It opened in April 2015, just in time for the Fordyce on the Cotton Belt Festival, the town’s biggest annual event.
However, without an advertising or marketing budget, traffic since then has underwhelmed.
“Fordyce is really in the doldrums, and we’re just not getting the attendance we thought we would,” Phillips said. “We’re just kind of hanging on here.”
Dallas County Doldrums
The railroad and timber industries have long been the backbone of the area’s economy but demand in those areas has diminished, costing hundreds of Dallas County residents jobs and fueling an exodus to other parts of the state. The county lost almost 12 percent of its residents from 2000 to 2010.
From 2001 to 2009, employment in forestry and logging declined by nearly 30 percent in Dallas County.
Museum memorabilia like a bronze Bear Bryant bust, Larry Lacewell’s Super Bowl ring replica and a couple of statues commemorating the Lyric Theatre bear fight won’t stem that tide by themselves, especially since admission is free, but Phillips was hoping they would entice more visitors who would spend money at local hotels, restaurants and other businesses.
But, she notes, “Bear Bryant was born in 1913 and I don’t think people in Arkansas revere his memory as much as people in Alabama. And we don’t have enough visitors from Alabama.”
Another important factor at play here appears to be Fordyce’s relatively remote location. It isn’t easy for travelers on Interstate 40 or Interstate 30 to reach, notes Ken Gaddy, director of the Paul W. Bryant Museum in Alabama. Gaddy works with the Fordyce Bryant exhibit — he donated the life-size Bryant bust and touts Fordyce to fans in Tuscaloosa — but he said it will take time for it to establish its own reputation and brand.
Joe Bill Meador, a former Dallas County judge, thinks about this issue a lot. While he gives Phillips much credit for developing the museum and in renovating historic buildings downtown, he does think the area could better capitalize on its cultural heritage.
His idea: Create a new museum just off of Highway 167, between El Dorado and Fordyce, to showcase the roots of Bryant, as well as country music icon Johnny Cash. Cash was born in 1932 in Cleveland County, only 10 miles from Bryant’s birthplace.
“We have to promote all the history and the cultural influence this little area has generated for the nation, but to make money on that is not an easy thing to do,” Meador said.
It would easier, though, if a museum cast a wider net to bring in both music and sports fans instead of just one or the other, he believes.
About 4,000 to 6,000 people visit the Dallas County Museum each year, Phillips said. Overall attendance has declined since the 2011 closure of the Klappenbach Bakery downtown. The bakery had been a longtime tourist attraction, bringing visitors from all over the state, and Phillips said many people would also visit the museum.
Despite early disappointing signs, Phillips is optimistic interest in her museum’s sports annex will pick up. The Bear Bryant exhibit is sure to draw new visitors next fall when Alabama travels to Arkansas to play the Razorbacks in football. She is also excited to share that in 2017, Fordyce will be the first of six Arkansas towns to be showcased in a Smithsonian Institution traveling national exhibit highlighting the role of sports in small towns.
When the crowds come, she will be ready. “The museum is on Main Street, and we’re gonna keep it going. Maybe one day we’ll rise again.”
Read more about Bear Bryant at Demirel’s site, where he delves into how Little Rock business patriarch Jack Stephens tried to make Bryant the Hogs’ head coach. Demirel’s BestOfArkansasSports.com is also home to the state’s only sports interviews newsletter roundup.