Son Honors Father at JSU Stadium Club

09/18/2015


Danny and Ro Bryant, Ruby Rose, Heather, Mark and Samuel Royce Saltzman.

As fans arrive at JSU Stadium on Sept. 19 for the university’s first home football game of the 2015 season, those enjoying the game from the Stadium Club on the fifth floor will be greeted by the legacy of a father who championed his sons’ higher education – Samuel Royce “Mutt” Bryant.

Born in 1918, Mutt Bryant finished sixth grade at Ohatchee before he was put behind a mule and given a field to plow. After serving as an Army infantryman in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Tokyo during World War II, he used his GI benefits to build a career as an electrician. He worked hard in various foundries before eventually retiring from Anniston Army Depot.

He and his wife Margie raised three sons: Ronald, Danny and Dennis. Mutt always told them, “Get an education, sons, they can’t take it away from you.”

All three followed their father’s advice and earned their college degrees. Ronald attended Freed-Hardeman University and served as a Church of Christ minister for 52 years. Danny received a bachelor’s degree in business in 1969 from JSU, where he was a founding member of Delta Chi. He spent his career in the oil business. Dennis graduated from JSU in 1976, earned an MBA from Syracuse University and had a distinguished military career.

Thanks to a generous gift of $100,000 by Danny and Ro Bryant, the fifth floor entrance of Meehan Hall has been renamed the Samuel Royce “Mutt” Bryant Lobby in Mutt’s honor.