If you live outside the great state of Alabama you might not have heard of Bert Bank.
But he was a giant of a man….
Not by his height….
But by his life…
He was a war hero….
A sports pioneer….
A State Senator and a member of the Alabama House of Representatives
Mr. Bank was a “Man’s man”……
Mr. Bank was 94 years old when he passed away on Monday….
He survived the hellish Bataan Death March in World War II and 33 months in Japanese prison camps.
After the war he came home to Tuscaloosa…..
He opened the city’s second radio station, from there he launched the Alabama Football Radio Network in 1953.
Before Mr. Bank started this endeavor…
Alabama football games were broadcast by any radio station that wanted to carry the football games.
Mr. Bank changed all that….
He purchased exclusive broadcast rights to Alabama football, giving him a great deal of control on how Alabama football was marketed in the state and throughout the country. He began to sell the broadcast rights to other stations that wanted to carry Crimson Tide football, but it was slow going for a number of years.
That all changed……
In 1959 when Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant returned to the Capstone..
The story goes that Coach Bryant asked Mr. Bank how many stations made up the football network.
“Seven”, Bank said.
“Seven!” Bryant said, “That’s not good enough”
Mr. Bank said, “You’ve got to win if were going to get more stations.”
“Well”, Bryant replied….
“You better crank it up because we are going to win.”
And crank it up Mr. Bank did….
The network Mr. Bank began putting together for Coach Bryant is now one of the largest in the country, with over 60 stations in several states. Bank remained connected to every broadcast right up to his death, carrying the honorary title of “Producer Emeritus” for the past 20 years.
As if war hero and broadcast pioneer weren’t enough, Bank also served two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives and one term as a state senator, authoring, among others, a bill that resulted in the naming of Tuscaloosa’s “Bryant-Denny Stadium.”
He loved his family, Alabama football, its players, coaches and fans.
Most times, you didn’t know who he loved most….
But I know he loved Coach Bryant…
They don’t make men like Mr. Bank anymore….
We will miss you…..
RTR
MEB