Actually did shake hands with the Bear on October 20, 1979. Drove to Bham the night before the game at Legions Field and stayed at some old motel there. To my surprise, when I walked to my car in the morning, there was a bus loading a bunch o' players. I thought it my be the Vols, so I walked up to the bus and Bear was standing outside the door of the bus greeting his players. I shook his hand and wished him luck, which they didn't need as the beat us 27-17. I would have swapped email addresses or cell #s with The Bear, but we didn't have those back then....
And as a footnote, I reckon that the coaching staff felt it would be best to drive up the night before the game from Tuscaloosa (bout an hour drive if I recall), so that the team would be all together and well rested.