Buford Pusser
Buford Hayse *r (December 12, 1937 – August 21, 1974) was the sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1970, and constable of Adamsville from 1970 to 1972. *r is known for his virtual one-man war on moonshining, pros*ution, gambling, and other vices along the Mississippi–Tennessee state line. His efforts have inspired several books, songs, and movies, and a TV series. He was also a wrestler known as "Buford the Bull" in the Mid-South.
The Buford *r Museum was established at the home he lived in at the time of his death in 1974. A Buford *r Festival is held each May in his hometown of Adamsville, Tennessee.
Contents
- 1 Life and career
- 2 Murder of Pauline *r
- 3 Death
- 4 In music
- 5 Pop culture
- 6 References
- 7 Further reading
- 8 External links
Life and career
Buford *r was born in Finger, McNairy County, Tennessee on December 12, 1937, the son of Helen (née Harris) and Carl *r. His father was the police chief of Adamsville, Tennessee. Buford *r was a high-school football and basketball player and was 6:feet 6:inches (1.98:m) tall. He joined the United States Marine Corps when he graduated from high school. His service ended during his United States Marine Corps Recruit Training, when he was given a medical discharge for asthma.
In 1957, he moved to Chicago, where he was a local wrestler known as "Buford The Bull". He married Pauline Mullins on December 5, 1959. *r returned home in 1962. He was Adamsville's police chief and constable from 1962 to 1964. After in*bent sheriff James Dickey was killed in an auto accident, *r was then elected sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, becoming the youngest sheriff in Tennessee's history. *r promptly began trying to eliminate the Dixie Mafia and the State Line Mob.
*r survived several **ination attempts. On February 1, 1966, Louise Hath* attempted to kill *r during an on-site investigation of a robbery complaint at The Shamrock. Hath* fired on *r with a concealed .38 pistol. *r returned fire and killed Hath*. On January 2, 1967, *r was shot three times by an unidentified gunman.
Already a local hero, *r's "war" on the State Line Mob was brought to national prominence when his wife, Pauline, was killed on August 12, 1967, during an **ination ambush intended for *r. *r named Kirksey McCord Nix, Jr. as the contractor of his wife's killers, although neither Nix nor anyone else was ever charged with the crime. *r shot and killed an intoxicated Charles Russell Hamilton on December 25, 1968, after responding to a complaint that Hamilton had threatened his landlord with a gun.
*r was ineligible for re-election in 1970 due to the term limit then in effect. He was defeated in his bid for sheriff in 1972. *r blamed the loss to in*bent Sheriff Clifford Coleman in part on the controversy surrounding the making of the semibiographical movie, Walking Tall. He was re-elected as constable of Adamsville by a majority of voters, who wrote in his name on their ballots. He served as constable for two more years (1970–1972).
Murder of Pauline *r
According to *r, his phone rang before dawn on the morning of August 12, 1967, informing him of a disturbance on New Hope Road in McNairy County; *r responded and his wife Pauline rode along. Shortly after they p*ed the New Hope Methodist Church, a car came alongside theirs and the occupant opened fire, killing Pauline and leaving *r for dead. Doctors said he was struck on the left side of his jaw by at least two, or possibly three, rounds from a .30-caliber carbine. He spent 18 days in the hospital before returning home, and needed several more surgeries to restore his appearance.
Despite vowing to bring his wife's murderers to justice, *r was unable to bring Kirksey Nix or any of the accused to trial. Nix was sentenced to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola for the Easter Saturday 1971 murder of New Orleans grocer Frank J. Corso. Nix was later involved in the 1987 murder-for-hire of Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife Margaret, in Biloxi, Mississippi. His co-conspirator, Biloxi Mayor Pete Halat, had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from Nix and blamed it on his law partner, Judge Sherry. Nix ordered a hit from prison and was later sentenced to isolation for the rest of his life. According to a 1990 AP story in The Town Talk, a newspaper in Alexandria, Louisiana, Nix denied being involved in the ambush on the *rs.
Death
*r died on August 21, 1974, of injuries sustained in a one-car automobile accident at 35°12′21″N 88°27′35.7″W / 35.20583°N 88.459917°W / 35.20583; -88.459917 (Buford *r crash/death site). Earlier that day, he contracted with Bing Crosby Productions in Memphis to portray himself in the sequel to Walking Tall. That evening, returning home alone from the McNairy County Fair in his specially modified Corvette, *r struck an embankment at high speed that ejected him from the vehicle. The car caught fire and burned.
Local speculation as to the cause included rumors of sabotage to the steering mechanism and the tie rods. The state trooper who worked the accident, Paul Ervin, later became McNairy County sheriff. Ervin claimed that *r's death was caused by drunk driving without a seat belt. Buford’s daughter, Dwana *r, a p*enger in another car, came upon the scene of the accident moments later. No autopsy of *r's body was performed. As sheriff, *r was credited with surviving seven stabbings and eight shootings. *r's memorial service was held at the Adamsville Church of Christ.
In music
Singer Eddie Bond wrote and recorded several songs honoring *r, beginning with "Buford *r" in 1968. Many of them were collected on a 1973 LP album, Eddie Bond Sings The Legend Of Buford *r. *r himself was also a recording artist, with "It Happened In Tennessee", released in October 1973 on Stax Records subsidiary Respect. Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers told the story of *r's battle with organized crime in the songs "The Boys from Alabama", "Cottonseed", and "The Buford Stick" from their 2004 album The Dirty South. In the songs "The Buford Stick" and "The Boys From Alabama", they speculated on how criminals might have viewed *r.
Pop culture
Buford *r's official sheriff badge*r was the subject of three biographical books written by W.R. Morris: The Twelfth of August: The Story of Buford *r (1971), Buford: True Story of "Walking Tall" Sheriff Buford *r (1984), and The State Line Mob: A True Story of Murder and Intrigue (1990). In addition, Morris also created a pictorial history book of Buford called The Legacy of Buford *r: A Pictorial History of the "Walking Tall" Sheriff (1997). *r's daughter Dwana released a book in 2009 en*led Walking On, which is also an account of his life.
The 1973 movie Walking Tall was based on *r's story. It was followed by two sequels in 1975 and 1977, a TV movie in 1978, and a brief TV series in 1981.
A remake by the same *le was released in 2004 starring Dwayne Johnson as the main character, renamed Chris Vaughn.
After the success of the 2004 film, Walking Tall: The Payback was released in 2007 direct-to-video. The name of the main character, who was portrayed by Kevin Sorbo, was changed to Nick Prescott, and the movie was set in the Dallas area. Later that year, on September 25, 2007, Sorbo returned in Walking Tall: Lone Justice.
Jimmy Buffett refers to an altercation between *r and himself in the songs "Presents To Send You" and "Semi-True Stories" (from the albums A1A and Beach House on the Moon, respectively). According to Buffet, *r and he were staying in the same Nashville motel when Buffet decided to go out for some food and bring it back to the motel. Buffet, who had been drinking, could not find his rental car and decided to climb up on a Cadillac for a better view. That Cadillac turned out to belong to *r, who was not at all pleased to find this stranger atop his car.
*r is mentioned in season three, episode eight of The Wire by Officer Jimmy McNulty in reference to a sheriff to whom he plans to speak.
Comedian Jeff Foxworthy, in his 1993 studio album, You Might Be a Redneck if..., refers to Buford *r in a joke about his wife's childbirth retellings, remarking, "You didn't have more s*ches than Buford *r".
References
Further reading
- Morris, W.R. (1990). The State Line Mob. Rutledge Hill Press. ISBN:1-55853-861-5.
External links
- Official website
- Official Buford *r Museum Home Page
- Video interview with Buford *r
- Buford *r at Find a Grave
- History of Buford *r
- Tennessee Historical Marker for Buford *r
- Video about Buford *r on YouTube