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George Bryan: A mover, shaker and, above all, a kind gentleman

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George Bryan: A mover, shaker and, above all, a kind gentleman

by Rick Cleveland, Mississippi Today
January 9, 2023

George Bryan: Businessman, philanthropist, visionary, who brought U.S. Women’s Open to West Point in 1999. (Photo courtesy of Old Waverly)

Former Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton remembers vividly a crisp, clear fall day back in 1984, when his good friend and former MSU classmate George Bryan took him on an excursion into the backwoods of Clay County near West Point.

Says Templeton, “We were in George’s old Bronco on an old dirt loggers’ road, and George pulled over in the middle of all this wilderness. We got out and George said, ‘The fifth green will be over there and the sixth tee will be just across the way over there.’ I said, ‘George, you got to be kidding me. You are out of your mind. You are smarter than this.’”

Four years later, Old Waverly, one of the grandest golf courses in the Deep South or anywhere, opened, with the fifth green and sixth tee right where Bryan had said they would be. Instantly, Golf Digest rated it as one of the best 100 golf courses in America.

Yes, and 15 years later, Bryan brought the U.S. Women’s Open to West Point and the Golden Triangle. The tournament was attended by 130,000, covered by international media, and telecast around the world. It was a feat that seems even more amazing in retrospect than it did at the time.

“That’s the thing about George, he had vision few people in this world have,” Templeton says. “He could see the possibilities when nobody else saw them and then make those possibilities into realities.”

Rick Cleveland

George Wilkes Bryan Sr., a gentleman, business leader and visionary, died Jan. 6 at his home across the road from Old Waverly. He was 78, and he leaves behind legions of friends and admirers across the country and particularly in the Golden Triangle.

As this writer and others who knew him learned many times over, anything George Bryan had a hand in was going to be first class. Bryan will be remembered as much for his human kindness as for his business successes and his vision. Says Archie Manning, the Ole Miss and NFL football hero, “I can only hope to be as kind to people as George Bryan always was.”

When Manning had first signed with the New Orleans Saints he became friends with Bryan, and Bryan Foods became his first major endorsement as a professional athlete. About that time, Manning was taking up the sport of golf.

“My first tournament was this four-ball at Shady Oaks in Jackson,” Manning says. “I didn’t know much about the game. Some guy across the fairway asked me what kind of ball I was playing. I picked it up and read the writing on it. I said, ‘I’m playing a Bryan Bacon.’”

Bryan began his career at his family’s business, West Point-based Bryan Foods, even before he began attending Mississippi State. He graduated from State with a degree in business administration at about the same time Sara Lee Corp. acquired Bryan Foods. Bryan steadily rose through the ranks in the meat industry, eventually serving as CEO of Sara Lee and chairman and director of the American Meat Institute before retiring in 2000. He made millions. He gave much of it back.

Throughout, Bryan never forgot where he was from or where he received his education. He gave back to West Point, Clay County, Mississippi and Mississippi State.

“It is difficult to overstate the impact of the loyalty and generosity of George Bryan and his family to Mississippi State University,” says MSU President Mark E. Keenum. “… George and Marcia (Bryan’s wife) left an indelible imprint on MSU.”

The Bryans surely did. Says Templeton, “George put his money where his heart was.”

The Bryan Athletic Administration Building, a $5 million facility opened in 1995, was made possible largely due to the generosity of the Bryan family. The Bryan Building houses MSU’s athletic administration offices as well as MSU’s athletic ticket office, the Bulldog Club, media relations, business and student services offices.

Bryan was a philanthropist in other ways. He served as general campaign chairman for the United Way of the Mid-South and as president of the Chickasaw Council Boy Scouts of America.

To know Bryan was to know how he exuded charm and kindness in everyday dealings with those he encountered, be they the cooks in the kitchens of Old Waverly, the wait staff, the golf course workers or the caddies in the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open. Quite simply, he treated others the way he would want to be treated himself – always with a personal touch.

Besides the U.S. Open, Bryan also brought the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship to Old Waverly and the club also has hosted Southeastern Conference golf championships. Bryan also co-founded Mossy Oak Golf Club, another world class golf course, which opened across the street from Old Waverly in 2018.

Bringing the U.S. Open to rural Clay County might well be Bryan’s crowning achievement. World Golf Hall of Famer Judy Bell of Colorado Springs was the president of the USGA when the decision was made to play the U.S. Open in Mississippi.

“George Bryan was a fine, honest man,” Bell says. “When he came to us and made his pitch, he exuded honesty and class. He was so sincere. There were three or four of us who made the ultimate decision and it was unanimous. Everything he said he’d do, he did. It was a special event, a memorable tournament. George made it happen. He was all class.”

So much had to be accomplished to make the ’99 Open a reality. Hundreds of miles of highways had to be expanded to four lanes. New roads had to be built. Motels and hotels had to be expanded and renovated. Parking lots had to be established. All i’s had to be dotted, and all t’s crossed to meet USGA specifications.

The ’99 Open has had lasting ramifications for the Golden Triangle and North Mississippi.

Says Templeton, “I’m not sure that anything has had more to do with the development of North Mississippi than when George brought the Open to Old Waverly.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Meet the 2 Candidates for Mississippi Supreme Court’s Nov. 26 Runoff Election

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9 hours ago

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November 25, 2024

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mississippitoday.org – The Marshall Project – 2024-11-25 09:30:00

On Tuesday, Nov. 26, voters will determine who will hold one of central Mississippi’s three seats on the nine-member state Supreme Court. This 22-county area includes Hinds County and Jackson.

Justice Jim Kitchens is seeking a third, eight-year term on the high court. State Sen. Jenifer B. Branning is the challenger.

The state Supreme Court often has the final say in cases involving criminal, civil and death penalty appeals, questions on the state’s laws and constitution, and legal issues of public interest. It hears appeals from lower courts, such as the chancery and circuit courts. The court decided 260 cases in 2023 and issued rulings in 2,656 motions and petitions.

The Marshall Project – Jackson and Mississippi Today compiled information about each candidate to help you make an informed decision at the polls.

Admitted to Mississippi Bar: 1967

Residence: Crystal Springs, Copiah County

Relevant experience: Completing second term as Supreme Court justice; 41 years as practicing attorney, including nine as district attorney of Copiah, Walthall, Pike and Lincoln counties.

Campaign finance: As of Oct. 10, his campaign committee has raised $288,502, mostly from trial lawyers, and spent $189,675, leaving the campaign with $98,827. Read the latest report here.

Statement of economic interest: Kitchens and his wife are partners in a real estate company, Kitchens Properties, LLC, in Copiah County. Read the latest report here.

Kitchens was first elected to this seat in 2008, after more than 40 years practicing law, which includes nine years as a district attorney across four counties. He is one of two presiding justices, who have the most years on the bench, following the chief justice. Presiding justice is a role on the court’s executive committee that includes administrative duties, such as enforcing the court’s deadlines, and presiding over panels during oral arguments.

Campaigning at the 2024 Neshoba County Fair, Kitchens stressed his experience in the courtroom, especially on criminal cases, and promised impartiality.

Kitchens said he is “the guy that carries his oath of office around in his pocket as a daily reminder of what he swore to do. That oath teaches me that I’m not supposed to care whether people before the court are rich, poor, Black, White, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Independent. And I don’t care.”

Mississippi College of Law Professor Matthew Steffey described Kitchens as a “middle-of-the-road centrist.” On the bench, Kitchens’ dissents have keyed in on what the justice called oversteps in judicial power and scrutinized prosecutorial decisions.

Kitchens wrote a partial dissent on the decision about House Bill 1020, calling the creation of the court in Hinds County a “fiction of convenience that overreaches our judicial function, and of ultimate importance, our constitutional duty.” He also joined a dissenting opinion in the case that killed Mississippi’s ballot initiative.

Ensuring defendants who can’t afford representation have court-appointed lawyers is a theme throughout Kitchens’ career. He was the chair of the Public Defender Task Force, which was created in 2000 to study and make recommendations on the public defender systems in the state. In a 2018 interview with Mississippi Today, Kitchens expressed support for a more well-organized and adequately funded state public defender system for Mississippi.

The bulk of Kitchens’ campaign donations through Oct. 10 have come from trial lawyers. In addition to Mississippi attorneys, the campaign also received contributions from lawyers as far away as Oregon and Pennsylvania. In the three months since the July finance report, Kitchens’ campaign raised over $200,000, more than it had previously raised in the entire race. He has also received an endorsement from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an advocacy group specializing in civil rights litigation.

? Read Kitchens’ response to the candidate questionnaire from The Marshall Project – Jackson and Mississippi Today.

Admitted to Mississippi Bar: 2004

Residence: Philadelphia, Neshoba County

Relevant experience: State senator since 2016.

Campaign finance: As of Oct. 10, Branning’s campaign committee has raised $665,624, including a $250,000 loan from the candidate, and spent $343,728. The campaign reported a balance of $319,876, which left a discrepancy of about $2,000. Read the latest report here.

Statement of economic interest: Branning is listed as member, owner, stockholder or partner in several companies located in Philadelphia, including her law firm, Branning Properties, LLC, and Triple E Investments. Read her latest report here.

Republican state Sen. Jenifer B. Branning is running on a platform to represent Mississippians’ conservative values on the Supreme Court, she said at the 2024 Neshoba County Fair candidate forum.

Branning has no judicial experience. Since she joined the Mississippi Bar in 2004, she has practiced as an attorney, primarily representing businesses through her private practice in areas including real estate development, banking and agribusiness. She has also served as a special prosecutor in Neshoba County, a guardian ad litem in Neshoba and Winston counties, and as a staff attorney in the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Division of Business Services & Regulation.

Branning described herself as a “Christian conservative.” She has been endorsed by the state’s Republican Party and the National Federation of Independent Business Mississippi PAC, a special interest group for small businesses. She has been outspoken about overturning Roe v. Wade and supporting the state’s abortion ban, and about reducing taxes on businesses. Branning is also a member of the National Rifle Association. On criminal justice issues, Branning has voted in favor of mandatory and increased minimum sentences for crimes including shoplifting, motor vehicle theft and fleeing law enforcement.

In the state Senate, Branning chairs the Highways and Transportation Committee. She has touted her record on lowering taxes and reducing regulations on farmers and small business owners.

Branning comes from multiple generations of business owners in Neshoba County. Her grandfather, Olen Burrage Jr., owned and operated a truck farm, hauling timber and corn, according to previous news reports.

Her election committee has received contributions from political action groups including Truck PAC, Mississippi Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores Association PAC and the Mississippi REALTOR PAC.

Much of Branning’s campaign funding, however, comes from the candidate herself. She kicked off her campaign with a $250,000 candidate loan. She has also bankrolled her previous senate campaigns, with candidate loans as high as $50,000 in 2018. This year, her campaign committee also received funding from other Republican politicians and their campaign funds, including Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, the Committee to Elect Jeremy England (state senator), Harkins for MS (state Senator Josh Harkins), and Friends of Jason White (Mississippi House speaker).

Branning did not acknowledge or return the candidate questionnaire from The Marshall Project – Jackson and Mississippi Today.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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On this day in 1915

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9 hours ago

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November 25, 2024

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-11-25 07:00:00

Nov. 25, 1915

Credit: Wikipedia

A week before the silent film, “Birth of a Nation,” premiered at an Atlanta theater, William Simmons, along with 15 other men (including some who lynched Leo Frank) burned a cross on Stone Mountain, Georgia, signaling the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan. 

The movie’s racist portrayals of Black Americans prompted outrage by the NAACP and others, leading to huge protests in towns such as Boston and the film’s closing in Chicago. 

Despite these protests, the movie became Hollywood’s first blockbuster, making as much as $100 million at the box office (the equivalent of $2.4 billion today). In the wake of the movie, the KKK became a national organization, swelling beyond 4 million members.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Podcast: Mississippi Hospital Association’s Roberson discusses Medicaid expansion outlook under Trump, other 2025 legislative health care issues

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11 hours ago

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November 25, 2024

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender – 2024-11-25 06:30:00

Richard Roberson, president and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association, tells Mississippi Today’s Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender a new Trump administration would likely approve Mississippi Medicaid expansion work requirements. He says revamping the state’s certificate of need laws is likely to be a major issue before lawmakers, and he discusses a new alliance of hospitals that left the MHA and formed a new organization.

READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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