Remembering Legendary Tennessee Lawman Buford Pusser

         It was Aug. 21, 1974.
       A few days earlier, my family and I had made a trip to Waynesboro, Tenn., about 100 miles south of Nashville, to stay with family on my mom’s side.
       I remember the trip well as our truck broke down near Dixon, Tenn. on I-40 on our way to Nashville. We’d planned to attend the Grand Old Opry, but didn’t make the show in time.
      While in Waynesboro, I saw the movie, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” at the local theater while staying with my mom’s cousin, who had a son about my age.
        We were on our way home and stayed that evening at a KOA Campground in West Memphis, Ark.
       The next morning, I awoke to learn that the legendary Tennessee Lawman Buford Pusser, 36, died after crashing his Corvette into an embankment while driving at a high rate of speed. Pusser was ejected from his car, which caught fire and burned.
      The crash happened four miles from Pusser’s hometown of Adamsville, Tenn. after he had attended the McNairy County Fair that evening.
        I was entering ninth grade in the fall that year and didn’t know that much about the lawman. Something drew me to him and as time went on, I took more of an interest in his life, especially after watching the third and final movie in the “Walking Tall” series in September 1977, my senior year in high school.
      Pusser, who grew up in Adamsville, was a towering 6’6,” 250-pound man who served as sheriff of McNairy County Tennessee from 1964 – 1970.
        Following graduation from high school, Pusser joined the U.S. Marines, but his service ended in boot camp when he was given a medical discharge for asthma.
       In 1957, Pusser moved to Chicago, where he was a local wrestler known as "Buford the Bull." He married Pauline Mullins on Dec. 5, 1959.
     Pusser returned to Adamsville in 1962 and in September that year was elected as Adamsville's police chief and constable.
     In 1964, he was elected sheriff of McNairy County after then sheriff James Dicky was killed in an auto accident. At the time, he was the youngest sheriff in Tennessee’s history.
     He was known to carry a big hickory stick to fight local bootleggers and organized crime, which included the Dixie Mafia and State Line Mob. He targeted Illegal moonshining, gambling and prostitution along the Tennessee-Mississippi border and made a name for himself. He had several alleged assassination attempts on his life.
       One of those attempts came on Feb. 1, 1966, when Louise Hathcock attempted to kill Pusser during an on-site investigation of a robbery complaint at the Shamrock Motel in Corinth, Miss. on the state line. Hathcock allegedly fired on Pusser with a concealed .38 pistol. Pusser returned fire and killed Hathcock. On Jan. 2, 1967, Pusser was shot three times by an unidentified gunman, and lived.
     Life changed for Pusser on the morning of Aug. 12, 1967 when Pauline was killed in an ambush. Pusser said his phone rang before dawn that day informing him of a disturbance on New Hope Road in McNairy County. He responded, and his wife, Pauline, rode along.
      Shortly after the couple passed the New Hope Methodist Church, a fast-moving car came alongside theirs and the occupants opened fire, killing his wife and leaving Pusser for dead.
        Doctors said Pusser was struck on the left side of his jaw by at least two, or possible three, rounds from a .30-caliber carbine. He spent 18 days in the hospital before returning home, and he had several more surgeries to restore his appearance.
       Despite vowing to bring his wife's murderers to justice, Pusser was unable to indite those involved in the shooting before he died.
More on Buford Pusser’s death
      Speculation regarding the cause of the accident that killed Pusser included rumors of sabotage to the steering mechanism and the tie rods. The Tennessee state trooper who responded to the accident, Paul Ervin, later became the sheriff of McNairy County. Ervin claimed that Pusser's death was caused by drunk driving without a seat belt.
        Dwana Pusser, his daughter, a passenger in another car, came upon the scene of the accident minutes later. No autopsy of Pusser's body was performed.
         Earlier that day, Pusser had contracted with Bing Crosby Productions in Memphis to portray himself in the sequel to “Walking Tall.”
         The first two movies, 1973 and 1975, featured Joe Don Baker as Pusser and the third a final movie, 1977, featured Bo Severson as the lawman.
        A television movie about Pusser was released in 1978 and featured Brian Dennehy as the lawman. In 1981, a short-lived television series about Pusser aired.
         As sheriff, Pusser was credited with surviving seven stabbings and eight shootings.
       Pusser was the subject of three biographical books written by W.R. Morris: “The Twelfth of August: The Story of Buford Pusser” (1971), 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 Pusser: A Pictorial History of the ‘Walking Tall Sheriff” (1997).
       Dwana released a book in 2009 entitled “Walking On,” which is also an account of his life. Dwana has since passed away.
      Singer Eddie Bond wrote and recorded several songs honoring Pusser, beginning with "Buford Pusser" in 1968. Many of them were collected on a 1973 LP album, “Eddie Bond Sings the Legend of Buford Pusser.” Pusser himself was also a recording artist, with "It Happened In Tennessee," released in October 1973. Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers told the story of Pusser's battle with organized crime in several songs, "The Boys from Alabama, "Cottonseed,” and "The Buford Stick." 
         The Buford Pusser Museum was established at the Adamsville home he lived in at the time of his death in 1974. A Buford Pusser Festival is held each Memorial Day weekend in Adamsville where an officer of the year is recognized and officers fallen in the time of duty are honored. 
          Always remember that Good Things are Happening, every day and always.
       Editor’s note: Much of the information for this article was taken from Wikipedia and other news sources.