6/17/2023 0 Comments Bear bryantHe didn't hide his experiences with his battles with drugs and alcohol, and told Nunez that he wound up homeless living out of his car for a stretch in the early 2000s. We won two of them back-to-back in '78 and '79, and I was able to letter three years."Īlthough he achieved great success on the football field, Searcey wrestled with addiction. "I felt his team was the best way to win a national championship, and wound up making a good choice. I was a Georgia fan growing up but got recruited by coach (“Bear“) Bryant - you know what I mean?" Searcey said in the interview. All of the Southeastern Conference schools were interested, as well as many larger universities around the country. "I was highly recruited, because I was an All-American player in high school. He talked about his days in Savannah in a 2010 interview with Anthony Nunez that is posted on the Houston Gamblers website. Searcey was also a standout shot putter on the BC track and field team. And he was a man playing among boys his senior year under (the late) coach Jim Walsh." "He decided to make a change and wanted to become the best he could be. When he started at BC, he was a big-boned chubby kid, but he dedicated himself to the weight room and transformed himself into a defined athlete," said Williams, a linebacker in his days at BC who went on to become an offensive lineman at Furman. "When you see pictures of Bill when he was in the college and the pros, he was not always that way. He was a good looking guy."īenedictine graduate Steve Williams (Class of 1975) was a year ahead of Searcey but remembers how hard he worked to become a success. I dropped him off, and I'm sure his big, ol' self got a ride pretty quick. "So I took Billy out to Highway 20 by the Six Flags. "Looking back, I should have drove him there myself, but I was working," Buttimer said. Searcey listened to his friend's advice, and the next morning they made a big cardboard sign that said "Tuscaloosa or Bust." I asked him 'What the heck are you doing? You're playing for Bear Bryant, and you have to go back.' " "Our phone was ringing off the hook with his parents and coaches calling our house. ![]() "He spent the night and we talked for hours," Buttimer said. Frustrated about his playing time, Buttimer said Searcey walked out of practice and ended up at his front door with a big bag of clothes - having hitchhiked all the way from Tuscaloosa. He was always so gracious with my mom, and my nine brothers and sisters."īuttimer said he was living in Marietta with his parents when Searcey was a sophomore at Alabama. "It was a special gesture he made to me for going out to his games and supporting him," Buttimer said. Searcey often invited Buttimer to see him play at Alabama, and even brought him up to Bryant's office to meet the legendary coach in person, just the three of them - a moment Buttimer will never forget. I think he squatted 640 pounds in high school." "I told him I might need some help with that. ![]() "Billy was just a junior, and one day he wanted to me to spot him as he benched 400 pounds," Buttimer said with a laugh. So coach got to have a feast before signing one of the strongest players Alabama ever had."īuttimer said Searcey motivated him to hit the weights, and the duo worked out at Howard Cohen's gym. Bear Bryant showed up to Bill's house in a black Cadillac to sign him, and Bill's mom made a big lasagna dinner for Coach Bryant. "He was big time at BC, and then he went on to Alabama. "Billy was a guy who loved to laugh and cut up we had a lot of great times," Buttimer said. Mark Buttimer was a teammate and classmate with Searcey at Benedictine, and stayed close with him through the years at Alabama and beyond.
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