GREAT MOMENTS IN COACHING SHILLING: BEAR BRYANT SAYS CALL YOUR MAMA.
We’ve been looking for this ad for the better part of five years. It’s been a Holy Grail of sorts, the source of countless internet searches, a few frantic calls to extremely confused corporate offices, and a largely ineffective sifting through of the internet. For the most part, we’d forgotten about it completely after giving up toward the end of last season to look for something easier to find like the West Virginia Mothman or Rick Reilly’s hymen.
This is another installment in life’s multi-part lesson about how to get what you’re looking for, and the answer is the same as ever: stop looking. Someone posted it to Youtube in April. The legend around the ad is that Bryant was supposed to say “Call your mama,” but then ad-libbed the last line, and thus sending South Central Bell’s stock through the roof and countless men running crying to the phones in a rush to obey the commands of the Man-Pope of Alabama.
At long last: The South Central Bell Ad where Bear Bryant demands that you call your mama.
The man could sell bacon in Mecca and bicycles to quadraplegics.
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1
Crabapple Buck says:
I remember seeing this when I worked for BellSouth Advertising. As luck would have it, according to the AJC, AT&T is trying to stop delivering the residential White Pages in Atlanta. Good find, Orson.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
2
yoyofutbawl says:
Mid July, 1974. My cousin arranged an interview for me to tutor athletes at Bama while in Lonnie Strickland MBA Skool, same as I did at Starksville. I went in, spoke to the secretary and happened to glance down the hall to the right. AND THERE SAT GOD.
I walked down the hall trying to avoid looking at him. He called to me and said, “you’re Cats’s cousin, come in here.” I sat and talked with him very, very uncomfortably for a minute. I was flat out terrified and went on to my interview after he shook my hand. And understood the effect he had on people.
He would have had Brezhnev shitting in his pants after 10 minutes.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
3
EZ says:
It’s not Grape Ape selling Hummaz, but it’ll do.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
4
EufaulaPete says:
If I’m not mistaken, this was the second commercial Bear did for SCB. The first commercial was filmed outdoors in the brutal summer heat. The line “I sure wish I could call mine.” was ad libbed after many, many takes that had left Bear sweating and frustrated. The producer loved it, kept it in, and the rest is/was commercial history.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
5
pic6bamr says:
Dam youtube blocked at WORK!!! DOH!
August 18th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
6
Vandy J says:
I would rather eat a used diaper than talk to my mother on the phone. Nevertheless, I am now wracked with spasms of guilt and shame. DAMN YOU DEITY-COACH
August 18th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
7
Anonymous IV says:
If you scroll the videos on the bottom there is a video of Bud Wilkinson interviewing Coach Bryant.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
8
ndlaw says:
He might have been able to sell bacon in Mecca but he still couldn’t beat Notre Dame.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
9
Mr. Pelican Pants says:
Who is this “Coach Bryant” you speak of?
August 18th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
10
That Other Dave says:
Well, of course he couldn’t beat ND. ND was protected by God, Bear was God, and could not beat himself.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
11
BamaTaxMan says:
On a really shitty day (post courtesy-wreck fun from the insurance company, everybody in the house has PMS [male and female, adults and children, work sucks ]), seeing this sent me back to that simple time when I was a kid and all seemed right with the world. Although, the end now makes me cry, as I too, wish I could call my mama.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
12
kleph says:
seems somebody missed mother’s day
August 18th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
13
Tater Salad says:
Damn, yoyo, Lonnie’s been there that long? I had him for a class in 2004. The guy is awesome.
August 18th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
14
ClemsonHorn says:
Do yourself a favor and watch it again, with the bass turned all the way up on your subwoofer. It’s like Barry White and Colonel Sanders had a baby.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
15
Eric says:
Awesome. I lived in the midwest as a kid, and I don’t remember seeing these.
There’s an old commercial I’m obsessed with finding, too. It’s for bic shavers or something like that, and it has scruffy, chain-smoking Vlade Divac capitalizing on his mush-mouthed accent. The tagline is something like “Finally! My face is no longer irritating!” Must find that.
August 18th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
16
Roaminggator says:
I think he was actually sober there….
August 18th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
17
The Tusk says:
Perhaps the other SEC school presidents should have been buying their coaches whatever Bryant was drinking. Come to think of it, Dye, Majors and most of the rest tried it but still paled in comparison.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
18
Terrell Farley's Liver says:
That commercial was so effective, I just called my mom despite living in her basement.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
19
dinknflicka says:
Little known fact, Bryant’s mother outlived him.
The reason he couldn’t call her was because she was a traisient hooker who moved from town to town.
The last time he spoke to her was 1982 in Memphis. He was looking for a handie the night before the Liberty Bowl and didn’t recognize her in a dimly lit alley. She asked for $5, he countered with $2. She agreed. He was done in :30 and asked for $1 back.
She told him that she’d never given anyone money back, including his dad, and she wasn’t about to start with him. He cried and then told her he’d orally pleasured John Wayne on numerous occasions.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:03 am
20
yoyofutbawl says:
Tater S-
My 1st MBA class was Macro with Art Thompson at 11AM T-Th, fall 1974. He’d keep you until 12:29 EVERY day, but you did not mind, he was so damn good. He could falat draw graphs with about 10 different colors of chalk, using a damn Tenuhcee 3-ring ninder with his instruction notes.
Lonnie taught me GBA fall 1975. He took the last period to tell us how to get rich the EZ way, & he was spot on. I wished I’d followed his advice more often.
I think Lonnie came to Bama in 1972 or 73, Art about the same time – he had just finished a semester sabbatical at Hahvahd. Of course, Alex Gatewood almost predates Bear.
August 19th, 2009 at 7:11 am
21
DrBundy says:
The man could sell bacon in Mecca and bicycles to quadraplegics.
Or as my grandpa used to say, “He could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in a white dress”. The old fart had a way with words.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:19 am
22
WarChiziken says:
dear dinknflicka,
you have just had a Bama fatwah issued against you. When you are found, there will be Tide boxes staked to your yard, rolls of toilet paper tossed in your trees and everyone related to you, or you have ever seen touched or talked to will “move away in the night without their belongings”
don’t joke about the ‘Bear…. i’m just sayin’
August 19th, 2009 at 9:44 am
23
Tater Salad says:
Yoyo-
I had him for GBA as well. He still gives that same lecture on how to become rich… Too funny.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:58 am
24
yoyofutbawl says:
tater-
Back then he said “buy an old boat & use it for collateral when you buy your first duplex”. Try that today.
Of course there were no concerns over lead paint, mold, leaking home heating oil USTs, etc. back then. I gotta get my cut out of each closing, bro.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:37 am
25
MCab says:
This commercial shows why he was such a great coach.
Because he was such a great salesman. Not a recruit or his mother could resist. And as he became successful, his personality cult only grew all the more powerful and still does.
I’m not knocking him, just explaining why he was good at what he did.
August 19th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
26
The Gurgling Cod says:
It would be interesting to have a rodeo-like event where you have to watch that ad, and then see how long you can wait before you call your mama. My time was about nine seconds.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
27
bamabookguy says:
I was at UA from 1966-1971, and I had both Dr. Thompson and Dr. Strickland. I didn’t know how young they were, but they were/are both excellent teachers.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
28
Bill Clarke says:
NOTER WHO ????
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
29
Jerry Williams says:
Dinknflicka, your message was in poor taste. What if someone wrote that about you and your Mother. I don’t think you would take it too kindly. Coach Bryant was a man among men. Just ask any player that he coached.
Also, in 1966, Alabama was untied and undefeated. Had only 38 points scored on them the whole year. He begged Notre Dame to play Alabama. In stead, they played Michigan in the bowl game and Ara Parseghan elected to end the game in a tie rather than take the chance on losing the game. I think Alabama could have beaten any team in the Nation that year.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:36 am
30
Dewayne says:
This man will always be considered one of the best to ever coach the game of football and more importantly he taught his players how to play the game of life. It does not matter if your a Bama fan or not I cannot see anyone not highly respecting this man and how he represented himself , his team and everyone around him.
Just think of all the people he has probably had so much influence in over the years and that includes myself.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:39 am
31
Jim Oakley says:
I distinctly remember the first one “Call your Mama was shot on the field in Bryant-Denny in the south end zone with pressbox in the background as he walked by the camera. The Call your Mama was part of the script but the “I sure wish I could call mine” was ad-libbed by the man himself. I think the one at the desk was a later shot.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:40 am
32
Sebrina Smith says:
I was just talking about this commercial a couple of weeks ago. I think my Mother would have personally thanked Bear for this one. I remember the first time I saw this ad on TV. I couldn’t call my Mama fast enough and sobbing to boot. I cried everytime I saw Bear though and still do. In the presence of greatness……
November 12th, 2009 at 5:43 pm