The 1oth anniversary of reporter Ted Bryant's death arrives with the shock of time passing so quickly. I knew of Ted more than I knew him, though he was a guest on "FTR" a couple of times while I was host, and before that I would run into him in Birmingham now and then. He died a half-dozen years before the Birmingham Post-Herald went out of business.
Because I wanted to mention the anniversary of his passing on this blog, I had written down his date of death as today, June 30th, in 1999. I used as a source this article in The Southerner. Ted would have been amused, I suspect, at the error. "Can't y'all even get my death date correct?" A resolution in his honor passed by the State Legislature (which by itself would also have caused howls of laughter I'm sure) set his date of death as June 24, 1999. Another source said June 23rd, and it includes the photo I used here, a photo of his grave in Elmwood Cemetery, and a copy of the Birmingham News story about his death published on Thursday June 24th, referring to his death as Wednesday. So the 23rd of June it is (and was, my commemoration of Ted's passing is therefore late by a few days.) When I arrived at Alabama Public Television in 1998, I was told that Ted refused to be on the show anymore because of some argument or another about the show format or other guests invited a few years previous. I can't remember what the disagreement was about, but since I knew Ted from Birmingham, I apologized and talked him into coming back on. He did, several times, during what was to be his last year alive. Had he lived, don't you know he would have had fun using his character Redd Kneck to comment on all of the tomfoolery that's gone on in Montgomery during the past decade?
Thanks so much for posting this. I sat across from Ted at the Post Herald during the last year and a half of his life. Ted taught me, and many young journalists, lessons that could never be taught in a classroom. As tough as we was a reporter, he was a gentle and kind man. Ted was an original, a legend in Alabama journalism, and a friend to many.
ReplyDeleteThere will never be another person who will come close to covering Alabama's political scene like Ted. He was a great reporter. I treasure getting to know him years ago while I was a photographer at channel 42 in Birmingham and we covered the state government beat. Oh, the stories he told and the ones that never got published.
ReplyDeleteTed was the classic old newspaperman. He was a wise, humble old pro who never was too busy to teach or entertain us youngsters with hilarious stories. In the golden age of the PH, he was right at the center.
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