Paul W. Bryant Jr.
Paul William Bryant Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1945 Alabama, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Financier, entrepreneur |
| Years active | Late 1960s–present |
| Known for | Founder of Bryant Bank, president of GreenTrack, Inc. |
Paul William Bryant Jr. (born around 1945) is an American financier and entrepreneur based in Alabama.
Early life and family background
Born approximately in 1945, Bryant is the son of the legendary football coach Bear Bryant. He earned a degree in Commerce from the University of Alabama located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1966.
Career
In the late 1960s, Bryant established People's Bank, which he eventually sold. He took on the role of managing the minor league baseball team Birmingham Barons before co-founding GreeneTrack, a dog racing venue in Greene County, Alabama, in 1977 alongside partners A. Wayne May and Sam Phelps. He later expanded operations to include tracks in Texas, Idaho, and Iowa, merging these by 1995 into GreenTrack, Inc., where he owned 72% as of 2009. Bryant holds the position of President at both Greene County Greyhound Park and Green Group, Inc..
His portfolio includes investments across various industries such as dog and horse racing, insurance, cement production, catfish aquaculture, and banking. In 1995, he acquired Reynolds Ready Mix (later renamed Ready Mix USA) and sold it to the Mexican construction corporation Cemex for $350 million in 2011. By 1999, he had invested in Harvest Select Catfish Inc., operating within Alabama and Mississippi. Additionally, he co-founded Alabama Reassurance Co., which was later rebranded as Alabama Life Reinsurance Co.
Bryant launched Bryant Bank in 2005 and currently serves as its chairman. In 2013, he co-authored two publications focused on American football.
Controversy
Bryant Jr. has contributed millions to support the Alabama Crimson Tide football program. A 2014 CBS investigation connected him to the shutdown of the UAB Football program, attributing this to a longstanding dispute with Gene Bartow and apprehensions that UAB could rival his father’s legacy.
He has faced allegations of treating the Alabama board of trustees like a personal enterprise by conducting undisclosed meetings, disregarding public records requests, and circumventing legal requirements. In 2001, trustees convened secretly despite judicial rulings prohibiting such gatherings for Auburn’s board. By 2015, seven trustees held executive or directorial roles at Bryant Bank, sparking concerns over conflicts of interest particularly following the contentious decision to terminate UAB football.
Bryant Jr. is also linked to a federal insurance fraud case involving Allen W. Stewart, who received a 15-year prison sentence for 135 counts of fraud. Bryant’s firm, Alabama Reassurance ("Alabama Re"), faced nine charges related to a wire fraud scheme aimed at misleading insurance regulators. Alabama Re reported assets totaling $240 million, operated with a five-member board chaired by Bryant, and employed only two full-time staff members.
Personal life
Bryant Jr. is married and has three daughters. Described by The Birmingham News as "one of the most private men," he keeps a low profile publicly.
He has served as chairman of the Civil War Trust and held board positions with organizations including the Alabama Heritage Foundation and the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.
Bryant was a member of the University of Alabama board of trustees until September 2015 and previously served as its chairman. In 2015, media coverage revealed that many UA trustees had employment or familial connections to Bryant Bank.
Bibliography
- When Victory Meant Everything: Alabama Football Athletes During World War II (co-authored with Delbert Reed, Paul W. Bryant Museum, 2013)
- University of Alabama: An Exhaustive History of Crimson Tide Football (collaborated with Joe Namath, Nick Saban, Bill Battle, Gene Stallings, Ozzie Newsome, John Hannah, Murray Legg, Van Tiffin, Kermit Kendrick, John Mangum, Phillip Doyle, Bill Oliver, Shaun Alexander, Harry Gilmer, Cecil Ingram, Don Salls, Skybox Press, 2013)