A HERO'S FAREWELL IS GIVEN TO BRYANT

Thousands lined the highways from Tuscaloosa today and surrounded the gravesite here to bid a hero's farewell to Bear Bryant, the most successful coach in college football history.

Bryant, who was 69 years old when he died of a heart attack Wednesday, was the stuff of legends and an inspiration for untold numbers of poor country boys who craved to work their way from the dirt to the pinnacle.

As a 6-foot-3 1/2-inch, 205-pound young athlete a half-century ago, he played football for the University of Alabama. After coaching at Maryland, Kentucky and Texas A&M, he returned to Alabama to coach there for the last 25 years. His combined record at the schools was 323 victories, 85 defeats and 17 ties.

The great and the small honored him today, beginning with a private memorial service at the First United Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa and ending with burial about 60 miles away at Elmwood Cemetery here.

Mourners overflowed the church's 440 seats, and others heard a broadcast of the service in the First Baptist Church and the Presbyterian Church.

''We give thanks to God for his long years of influence on young people, challenging them to excellence, discipline, confidence and hard work,'' said the Rev. Joe Elmore, pastor of the First United Methodist Church.