Athletes - Buford Pusser

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	Athletes - Buford Pusser

Buford Hayse Pusser (December 12, 1937 - August 21, 1974) was the sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee (in West Tennessee) from 1964 to 1970. Pusser's life was the subject of Walking Tall, a 1973 film that became a cult classic (with two direct sequels of its own, a TV movie, and a brief TV series). This was remade 31 years later as a somewhat less realistic and more mainstream film in 2004 by the same name (also dedicated to Pusser), starring The Rock. Like the Rock, Pusser also had a background in professional wrestling.

Pusser waged a virtual one-man war on moonshining, gambling and other vices on the Mississippi-Tennessee border. After serving as Adamsville's police chief and constable from 1962 to 1964, Pusser won the election for sheriff, and during his tenure as Sheriff he was shot eight times and stabbed seven. His "war" on the "State Line Mob" was brought to national prominence when his wife Pauline was killed in an ambush meant for him August 12, 1967. When Pusser stepped down as sheriff in 1970, he was elected as constable by a majority of voters who wrote his name on their ballots. He served in that position for 2 years.

Pusser was the subject of three biographical books written by W.R. Morris: The Twelfth Of August, Buford: A Biography and The State Line Mob. The movie Walking Tall was made as a homage to Pusser, and is a combination of loosely based fact and Hollywood revisionism. During production of the movie, Buford ran for McNairy County Sheriff in a comeback attempt, but was defeated by the incumbent sheriff in 1972. The Buford Pusser Museum has been established at the house where he was living at the time of his death in 1974.

Pusser died in an automobile crash August 21, 1974, after he hit an embankment and was ejected from the car. While the crash was ruled to be accidental, there has been ongoing speculation that foul play may have been involved in the incident.

It should be noted that, in abberation to the public image that fostered the legend and the many who, to this day, praise his efforts to clean up McNairy County, there are also some who claim that he was corrupt and involved in much of the vice that took place at the State Line establishments. They contend the violence was the result of conflicts between the corrupt Sheriff and the criminal element that thrived in the area. This is vigorously disputed by most who knew him.

Each year in May there is a Buford Pusser Festival in Adamsville, Tennessee, his hometown. The Drive-By Truckers wrote songs about the events surrounding his wife's death and his eventful tenure as Sheriff, most notably "The Boys from Alabama" and "The Buford Stick", from the album The Dirty South.

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Athletes - Buford Pusser

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