Buford Pusser
Walk tall and carry a big stick
Born on December 12, 1937, between Finger and Leapwood, Tennessee, Buford Hayse Pusser met each challenge of life head on and established himself as a man among men with a reputation that spread around the world. The illegal operations on the Tennessee-Mississippi state line which included gambling, prostitution and moonshine whisky had generated a reputation that invoked fear and caused others to take a hands-off approach when it came to making arrests and cleaning the state line of these lawbreakers. Buford took this in stride as the Sheriff of McNairy County and drew on his physical strength and courage. He began to clean up the State Line’s illegal operations. Because of his many encounters with violence, his reputation grew and spread throughout the country when the production of three "Walking Tall" movies and a television series were produced about the "Legend of Buford Pusser", an easy going, but take-no-lip Sheriff who did his job in spite of the threats and mean-spirited law-breakers he came in contact with. Buford’s reputation was one, which in the weekly newspaper reports, showed him to be a very present threat to anyone who broke the law in McNairy County. The paper ran stories very regularly showing Buford hauling in moonshine stills and the "Tennessee White Lightening" whiskey they produced, along with the whiskey makers who resided in the county jail. Buford’s reputation as depicted by the movies and TV show were embellished somewhat from reality, but most people who knew Buford will tell you that he was a powerful deterrent to crime and mayhem in McNairy County. Buford Pusser is a Legend, his reputation as a "Law Enforcement Officer who took his job seriously" puts him in the company of many other American Law Legends from yesteryear.
posted by Brian @ 6:40 PM
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