Alabama Football Network founder dies

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Bert Bank was a World War II veteran who survived the Bataan Death March, became a state legislator and founded two Tuscaloosa radio stations. Perhaps his biggest claim to fame, though, was as founder of the Alabama Football Network.

Bank died Monday night at age 94.

“Bert Bank was a great American war hero, a dedicated servant to his country and state, and a loyal fan and friend of the University of Alabama,” Alabama athletic director Mal Moore said. “Few individuals have had the impact on the university like Bert. He knew every football coach, dating back to Wallace Wade, on a first-name basis. He saw the first game ever played in Denny Stadium.

“His heroism during the Bataan Death March has been documented in books and movies. Not only has this country, state and university lost a magnificent leader but I’ve personally lost a close friend.”

Bank, a retired major, spent 33 months in captivity in a Japanese Prison Camp in the Philippines from 1942-45.

He spent two years at Valley Forge (Pa.) General Hospital and received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his actions in World War II. Bank recounted his experiences in the book “Back From the Living Dead, and he was also one of the subjects in the best seller “Ghost Soldiers” by Hampton Sides that detailed the rescue of the prison camp by U. S. Rangers on Jan. 30, 1945.

In 2003, Bank received the National Veterans Award given each year to a veteran who has made the greatest contribution to further the patriotic interest of veterans and veterans’ organizations throughout the country.

Bank, who received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Alabama, was twice elected to the Alabama House of Representatives and once to the state Senate.

He founded two radio stations in Tuscaloosa — WTBC-AM and WUOA-FM, the city’s first FM station — and started the Alabama Football Network in 1953 to produce Crimson Tide football games. He remained producer emeritus of the network, which now has more than 60 stations throughout the South, until his death.

Bank was a classmate of famed Crimson Tide coach Bear Bryant at Alabama. They were reunited when Bryant returned as Tide coach in 1958.

Steve Townsend, an Alabama athletic administrator, said he had known Bank for 32 years and drove him to both home and away games.

“I think the thing that stands out to me about Bert is to hear all his stories,” Townsend told The Tuscaloosa News. “He lived a Walter Mitty type of existence, from being a war hero — he always said he was a war survivor, not a hero — and being in the Bataan Death March to his affiliation with the University of Alabama.”

“To know every heard football coach on a first-name basis from Wallace Wade to at least Mike Shula, to me that’s an amazing thing,” Townsend said. “It’s a sad day for the university. His love for the university was unmatched.

“He just enjoyed people. Just being friends with him was really uplifting. It was always laughs and he was just a great, great person and a great friend.”

Bank’s funeral service will be held Thursday at the Moody Music Building on the UA campus. Visitation will be from 8:30-10 a.m., followed by the service. A graveside service, with full military celebrations, will be held at 11 a.m. at Evergreen Cemetery.