One of the things that kept showing up during my research was the incredible amount of car accidents in the numerous two-lane roads in East Texas. Every newspaper I reviewed seemed to have the latest fatal accident, and in Kilgore between late 1982 and spring 1983 there was a spike in accidents of young people from that school.
It must have seemed insane to the kids during that time, hearing about the next one in succession. If that wasn’t enough to keep you home back in 1983, then the Kentucky Fried Chicken murders of 5 people in September surely made you wonder what was going on and has the world gone mad?
On August 9th, 1982, a recent graduate named Jim Floyd died in a car wreck, he was only 18. Despite the sadness of the event, was the strange thing that happened to Jim only a few years earlier. While practicing as a cross country runner as a freshman in 1978, the course they were taking involved running on streets. Jim ran across an intersecting road and was struck by a car, putting him in the hospital and just missing catastrophe. It was the only known accident of the sort in Kilgore’s cross country’s history, and Jim and his family must have felt quite lucky and maybe a little protected from serious harm by the incident.
In early January of 1983, a young girl named Gena Anderson was killed in a car accident.
On February 6, 1983, a fifteen year old sophomore named Anthoney Pennington was riding his bicycle near his home and was struck by a truck from behind. He was killed instantly. Anthoney, like many of his classmates, was involved in FFA, the Future Farmers of America organization that had a larger attendance in Texas schools. Anthoney was, odd for the time, an organ donor and five people received his corneas, kidneys, and heart.
Anthoney was also in the process of preparing to attend the Kilgore FFA Fat Stock Show with his pig. His classmates, in his honor, took over care of his pig and just over a month later, on March 12, 1983, Jim Bob Anderson did the honors of showing Anthoney’s pig to a second place finish. Jim Bob was a member of the Kilgore tennis team as well as the FFA, and everyone agreed he did a fine job in Anthoney’s place.
A few weeks later, on March 31, 1983, Jim Bob Anderson collided with a fellow classmate, Bradley Van Read, at the intersection of Myrtle and Thompson streets. Van Read was slightly injured, but Jim Bob Anderson was trapped in his Firebird for a lengthy time, and authorities had to use the Jaws of Life to extract him. He was immediately taken to Laird Memorial Hospital. They quickly determined his injuries were life threatening and transported him to Tyler Medical Center in Tyler.
It was determined Jim Bob would be paralyzed from the waist down, and the brain damage inflicted would restrict the use of his left arm, as well as diminish his vision. He would stay in a Dallas recovery center until coming home in September to multiple fund raisers to assist in his long term care.
On April 22, 1983, the end of the school year was closing, summer was near. Before the prom and parties, though, would be the District Track Meet in Carthage. Two friends decided to drive over and support their classmates. They were juniors, Marcus Templeton, nicknamed “The Animal”, a strapping 6’3 athlete who excelled as a nose tackle in football and a center in basketball, and Mickey Clark, nicknamed “Red” who attempted sports but was more of a motivator and enthusiastic supporter.
They were driving in Mickey’s jeep on FM 349 at 11:30 in the morning when Mickey went off the road, over corrected, went off the other side and hit two culverts, jettisoning the two boys from the vehicle before rolling over several times before setting upright against a tree. Both young men perished. The Kilgore high school was once again hit with tragic news. As word spread just before the sprint relays, the athletes were too shocked to even compete in the event.
Marcus Templeton was expected to be a big contributor to the Kilgore football team for his senior season, in the fall of 1983. He would never get the opportunity to showcase his talents against Daingerfield in the home opener less than 5 months later.
The biggest atom bomb of insanity was yet to be visited on the town. On September 23, the local Kentucky Fried Chicken was robbed at close, and five people inside were kidnapped, and driven out to a field an killed, execution style. For 22 years this case would be unsolved, and coupled with the 1980 church shooting in Daingerfield, and the 1982 Pizza Hut killings, left many people wondering if something wasn’t wrong in this part of Texas.
Jim Bob Anderson did survive. On July 20, 1984, a jury in Gregg County, awarded him $3.5 million dollars in the largest personal injury case of it’s kind. Anderson’s attorney sued the other young man, Read, who had run a stop sign as both boys were headed to play a round of golf. Read was driving his parents company car, a 1978 Lincoln Continental.
The past month, I have had the opportunity to be in two movie productions as an extra. The first was in the upcoming prequel to Yellowstone, called Y:1883. It’s not considered appropriate to ruin scenes but I will say I was in a re-enactment of a famous Civil War Battle. We fried out in the sunshine one Saturday morning recently, wearing period piece head to toe wool uniforms. As we marched and performed our roles, I became hotter and hotter. At one point, a General in costume said, “you are getting a sunburn, your face is red as the sun.” In fact, it wasn’t sunburn. I was having a heat event, and for only the second time in my life, I overheated to the point where I wasn’t sure I was going to get out of it in one piece. I quickly went from embarrassed to concerned as the medics poured cold water over me and I sat against a trailer for shade in the direct vicinity of an angry red ant pile. I became nauseous when I stood, so I stayed down wondering if this is how it ends. Eventually, after about 30 minutes, I was better, hydrated and cooled down. So much for my acting debut, but while watching that scene, I will know the behind the scenes of how I wilted like a flower in the Texas heat.
This past week I was an extra in the upcoming Disney movie called, The Senior. It is about a man named Mike Flynt, who came back at age 59 to play his last year of college eligibility. How he did it, I have no clue. I talked to Mike on set, and he said he always had to be moving around or his joints would lock up and his muscles would tighten. His wife just shook her head as he told me the story. I was a little ashamed I overheated in a scene the week before, while this guy was 10 years older and playing college football.