Part Two with author Ron Jackson Jr. on his new book, "Bebes and the Bear"

Key notes from Ron Jackson Jr. interview

You can hear part one of the discussion with Ron Jackson Jr. HERE.

• I’d say it’s a really positive response to the book. We had a grand book launch before the Alabama game. We heard back from some of the players who have called me about the book. It’s really nice when you get their stamp of approval for the book.
   
• The moment was such an iconic moment. Thankfully it was captured and photographed. There are actually a couple of different angles of the hug. It was the inspiration for the whole book. The book really delves into the entire arc of that relationship. It goes back to their roots, and the reader gets a good footing of where these gentlemen come from.
   
• Really sadly, A&M was in disarray after Bryant left. They were on a great path with all the momentum they had under him, and then it just fell off the table really quickly after he left. It had fallen into disrepair, and then Stallings gets the call about working on the repair. That whole decision all went down really quickly. They didn’t even talk about money. Stallings was so eager to come back to his roots, and at the time, he was the youngest head coach in college football. The thrill of having your own program after having worked under your beloved mentor for all that time was there. It was an exciting time for Stallings.
   
• As soon as Stallings decided about the job, he automatically thought he needed to talk to Coach Bryant, who was at the Heisman dinner in New York. Stallings calls him and tells him how much he appreciated him, how much he had learned under him, and there was a silence on the phone. Stallings was a little bit hurt at the time. It came out later that on the other end of the phone, Bryant was tearing up, and tears were running down his cheeks. He was happy for Stallings, but that kid had been by his side, and he was overwhelmed and proud of him. There were some assistants in the room and a sportswriter as well who see that Coach is crying. The reporter asks what’s up, and the assistants tell him that they have lost an assistant. The sportswriter is asking how old he was and saying he is sorry for them. The assistants realized that the sportswriter thinks the assistant is dead but has to clarify that he’s not dead at all! He actually just left the program for A&M.
   
• Stallings first recruiting class was 1965. A lot was going on in the United States at that time. It was a really fascinating ‘65 recruiting class. That’s the team you see in the ‘68 game — Edd Hargett, Wendell Housley, and Krueger, the lineman from Bryant. You have Tommy Maxwell as another member of this class, as well. Then you have Bob Long out of Paris, Texas, and the biggest gem of them all was Bill Hobbs out of Amarillo. They recruited him as an end, and of course, he was one of the most legendary linebackers to come through A&M. The sales job Stallings had to do at the same time was incredible. There was institutional segregation in the Southwest conference at the time.
   
• It was an institutional problem. Stallings took some heat for recruiting some African American athletes. It was really more significant than any one person at that time. I’m sure this has been talked about. Edd Hargett told me a story that was told by a Stallings teammate and assistant who had gone to an all-black high school in Temple. He had heard rumors about a stud running back. The kid he is there to see walks into the room, and the assistant said he would have signed him just by looking at him. The assistant watches him play and says this is the best high school player I’ve ever seen. He goes to Stallings and tells him about this kid. He says this kid is fantastic, he’s African American, but we need to give him a scholarship. Stallings said it was not the right time, but he watched the film on the kid and changed his mind. He goes to General Rudder and asks that they do so.  Rudder says that he is sorry, but it’s not the right time. The player turned out to be Mean Joe Greene, who, of course, ended up in North Texas. Can you imagine him in the middle of that defense? In my personal opinion, they’re competing for a national championship with him in the middle of the defense.
   
• Jerry LeVias was something special at SMU. That guy was 5’9 and 175 pounds, but in that game at the beginning of the season, he was incredible. SMU was losing with 43 seconds left on a nationally televised game. All A&M has to do is hang on. LeVias got swung into a bench and is concussed and kind of incoherent after that. He makes a catch on the sidelines and another catch for 6 yards for the game-winner. As the team doctors are helping him off the field, he’s asking them, did I score? That says everything about him and all the heart he had, especially going through all the other stuff he had to deal with. It was a fantastic performance. After the game, one of the reporters was talking to players. They started to say SMU was the better team and stopped and said—No, it was Jerry LeVias really. It was kind of a one-man-band.
   
• The Cotton Bowl was really secondary to the Stallings and Bryant show. They actually at that time because of how special that relationship was- did a press conference together. There was a lot of banter and a lot of people in attendance.  It really was the Stallings-Bryant show leading up to the game, which is interesting because you had two outstanding football teams that were going to clash. But it was all about them that whole week. The Cotton Bowl matchup was set before Alabama played their final game against Auburn in the famous Run in the Mud Game with the tornados touching down around them. On the sidelines before that game was Coach Stallings. He went out there with Coach Bryant. I don’t think a lot of people really were aware of the situation. That show started in Dallas, and it really did begin in Tuscaloosa during that game. They were bantering back and forth with reporters after that game.
   
• Stallings is taken aback by the hug after the Cotton Bowl. He had reached out to shake Bryant’s hand. In his autobiography, Stallings mentioned that Byrant kind of approached him with a limp. Stallings knew it was some injuries and arthritis and stuff. Here are the old mentor, and all of a sudden, he just lifts him up in typical Bear Bryant fashion. It was really fitting and really touching. I remember talking to Travis Lam, who was watching it from the press box, and he was really touched by it. It was iconic, and I’m glad we got it on film.