Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 9, 2023 19:33:40 GMT -6
FOREWORD (by Dutch Mantel): I remember this like yesterday. Although I was in Florida at the time, LAWLER has told me this story. My phone rang early the next morning in Tampa, FL where I was working at the time and it was someone calling me to tell me of the car accident. According to Jerry, he was supposed to be riding with Sam Bass, his manager that night but if he had, he wouldn’t be with us today. At the last minute, plans changed and LAWLER ended up in another car. I’ve talked about Jerry seemingly dodging the Grim Reaper…and here’s another example. Also the death of Sam Bass ushered in the era of Jimmy Hart who took the place of Sam managing Lawler. Crazy.
(Article courtesy Nashille Tennessean 1976)
July 26, 1976
The Car Accident That Killed Sam Bass, Pepe Lopez & Frank Hester
On July 26, 1976, the Mid-South Coliseum was packed with fans to watch Jerry Lawler retain the NWA Southern Heavyweight title versus Harley Race. Lawler's manager Sam Bass was there also, along with manager J.C. Dykes and his Masked Dominoes tag team (Pepe Lopez and Frank Hester). Lawler won his match, the Masked Dominoes lost theirs.
Later that evening, Jerry Lawler and J.C. Dykes (driving/riding in separate cars), along with Bass, Lopez and Hester (riding together), were all on I-40 heading to Nashville to touch base and prepare for their next show in Evansville, IN. Sam was driving his brand new Ford.
As they reached Jackson, TN, word came over the CB that a drunk was on the road. Fatefully, several minutes later, the drunk driver crashed into the Little Piney River bridge near Dickson, TN at the 163-mile marker, and was sitting on the road with no lights. Sam Bass slammed into the drunk's stalled vehicle and then both autos were struck by a tractor trailer that Sam had just passed, which plowed into them both. Bass' new Ford was dragged by the truck into the median where it burst into flames. The truck, loaded with paper, also burned.
J.C. Dykes, who was riding with Pat Malone "The Green Shadow", wasn't far behind Bass and his team. Dykes recalls, "The traffic had come to a dead stop. We could see a huge fire across the bridge and people on the CB were talking about a wreck. When reports came over the radio that three wrestlers were involved, I walked down to the bridge and could see wrestling uniforms and boots scattered all over the road. Then I recognized their suitcases and knew it was my men.”
Pat Malone, who wrestled as the "Green Shadow", said he had been with the wrestlers at Memphis earlier in the night and was traveling about five miles behind the three. Malone said they chatted via citizens band radio for about an hour on the return trip. '"Bring them on Green Shadow, it's all clear,' was Bass' last CB transmission prior to the accident," Malone said. "I was ahead of Bass' car for a while, but then I dropped off in Jackson to get some gas and he went past me on the interstate," Malone said. "The last time I talked with him I must have been about Five or six miles behind and it was right before the accident," he said. It was 1:15 a.m. (the morning of July 27, 1976), Malone recalled, when he heard a trucker report the accident on the radio: "There's a bad wreck on 1-40. An 18-wheeler is involved with two cars, and the tractor-trailer and one of the cars are on fire."
Jerry Lawler, riding with photographer Mike Shields, was a few miles behind Bass and was at the scene of the wreck in a matter of minutes. Lawler recalls, "I was one of the first to get to the scene. It happened on a bridge. I stopped across the bridge and ran back across. The big eighteen wheeler was on fire in the median. There was a car upside down on the Interstate. Sam's car was white and this car was green so I breathed a sigh of relief knowing it wasn't Sam's car. Suddenly somebody grabbed my shoulder, it was Cowboy Frankie Lane. He said 'Lawler! We thought you were in the car with Sam!' I replied, 'That's not Sam's car.' 'No,' he said, 'That's Sam's car over there.' and pointed to Bass' Ford wedged beneath the burning truck. In the road, I found a pair of wrestling boots. I knew they belonged to the Dominoes, so I knew it was Sam's car." According to Lawler, the truck driver later reckoned Sam was doing around 115 to 120 miles per hour when he passed the eighteen wheeler.
Mike Shields, photographer and videographer for Gulas Wrestling, who was with Lawler, recalls "I got a chill when I saw the blue canvas that contained our 16mm gear laying in the middle of I40 East. A few hours earlier Sam grabbed it off my shoulder and walked out of the VIP Door (at the Mid-South Coliseum). If he had not stopped there we would of been 20 feet off Sam’s bumper. We had almost caught up with Sam."
Promoter Jerry Jarrett, who was already in Nashville, got word of a wreck involving wrestlers (possibly Lawler) so he, Jackie Fargo and Tojo Yamamoto headed out to the site to see. Jarrett initially feared that it was Lawler who had been killed. Jarrett recalls, “We were all in tears when we approached the traffic that was backed up for miles. During the drive to the site, we had all concluded that it was Lawler and whoever was with him. It was impossible to determine the kind of car that was burning. We asked how they knew it was wrestlers and the police told us that wrestling gear was down the road from the impact. About that time, Jerry Lawler was spotted walking toward the crash scene. We all cried for joy and then suddenly became somber wondering who was in the car. Lawler told us it had to be Sam Bass.”
The Dickson County Medical Examiner, with the help of Pat Malone, identified the three wrestlers as Sam Bass, 41, of Nashville, Ruben Rodríguez (Pepe Lopez), 39, of Los Angeles, and Frank Hester, 37, of Cleveland, TN. Also killed was John Carey, the drunk driver. The driver of the tractor trailer was uninjured. Rattled by the accident and deeply upset following the death of Bass and his team of Hester and Lopez, manager J.C. Dykes went home, wept, and quit the business.
(Article courtesy Nashille Tennessean 1976)
July 26, 1976
The Car Accident That Killed Sam Bass, Pepe Lopez & Frank Hester
On July 26, 1976, the Mid-South Coliseum was packed with fans to watch Jerry Lawler retain the NWA Southern Heavyweight title versus Harley Race. Lawler's manager Sam Bass was there also, along with manager J.C. Dykes and his Masked Dominoes tag team (Pepe Lopez and Frank Hester). Lawler won his match, the Masked Dominoes lost theirs.
Later that evening, Jerry Lawler and J.C. Dykes (driving/riding in separate cars), along with Bass, Lopez and Hester (riding together), were all on I-40 heading to Nashville to touch base and prepare for their next show in Evansville, IN. Sam was driving his brand new Ford.
As they reached Jackson, TN, word came over the CB that a drunk was on the road. Fatefully, several minutes later, the drunk driver crashed into the Little Piney River bridge near Dickson, TN at the 163-mile marker, and was sitting on the road with no lights. Sam Bass slammed into the drunk's stalled vehicle and then both autos were struck by a tractor trailer that Sam had just passed, which plowed into them both. Bass' new Ford was dragged by the truck into the median where it burst into flames. The truck, loaded with paper, also burned.
J.C. Dykes, who was riding with Pat Malone "The Green Shadow", wasn't far behind Bass and his team. Dykes recalls, "The traffic had come to a dead stop. We could see a huge fire across the bridge and people on the CB were talking about a wreck. When reports came over the radio that three wrestlers were involved, I walked down to the bridge and could see wrestling uniforms and boots scattered all over the road. Then I recognized their suitcases and knew it was my men.”
Pat Malone, who wrestled as the "Green Shadow", said he had been with the wrestlers at Memphis earlier in the night and was traveling about five miles behind the three. Malone said they chatted via citizens band radio for about an hour on the return trip. '"Bring them on Green Shadow, it's all clear,' was Bass' last CB transmission prior to the accident," Malone said. "I was ahead of Bass' car for a while, but then I dropped off in Jackson to get some gas and he went past me on the interstate," Malone said. "The last time I talked with him I must have been about Five or six miles behind and it was right before the accident," he said. It was 1:15 a.m. (the morning of July 27, 1976), Malone recalled, when he heard a trucker report the accident on the radio: "There's a bad wreck on 1-40. An 18-wheeler is involved with two cars, and the tractor-trailer and one of the cars are on fire."
Jerry Lawler, riding with photographer Mike Shields, was a few miles behind Bass and was at the scene of the wreck in a matter of minutes. Lawler recalls, "I was one of the first to get to the scene. It happened on a bridge. I stopped across the bridge and ran back across. The big eighteen wheeler was on fire in the median. There was a car upside down on the Interstate. Sam's car was white and this car was green so I breathed a sigh of relief knowing it wasn't Sam's car. Suddenly somebody grabbed my shoulder, it was Cowboy Frankie Lane. He said 'Lawler! We thought you were in the car with Sam!' I replied, 'That's not Sam's car.' 'No,' he said, 'That's Sam's car over there.' and pointed to Bass' Ford wedged beneath the burning truck. In the road, I found a pair of wrestling boots. I knew they belonged to the Dominoes, so I knew it was Sam's car." According to Lawler, the truck driver later reckoned Sam was doing around 115 to 120 miles per hour when he passed the eighteen wheeler.
Mike Shields, photographer and videographer for Gulas Wrestling, who was with Lawler, recalls "I got a chill when I saw the blue canvas that contained our 16mm gear laying in the middle of I40 East. A few hours earlier Sam grabbed it off my shoulder and walked out of the VIP Door (at the Mid-South Coliseum). If he had not stopped there we would of been 20 feet off Sam’s bumper. We had almost caught up with Sam."
Promoter Jerry Jarrett, who was already in Nashville, got word of a wreck involving wrestlers (possibly Lawler) so he, Jackie Fargo and Tojo Yamamoto headed out to the site to see. Jarrett initially feared that it was Lawler who had been killed. Jarrett recalls, “We were all in tears when we approached the traffic that was backed up for miles. During the drive to the site, we had all concluded that it was Lawler and whoever was with him. It was impossible to determine the kind of car that was burning. We asked how they knew it was wrestlers and the police told us that wrestling gear was down the road from the impact. About that time, Jerry Lawler was spotted walking toward the crash scene. We all cried for joy and then suddenly became somber wondering who was in the car. Lawler told us it had to be Sam Bass.”
The Dickson County Medical Examiner, with the help of Pat Malone, identified the three wrestlers as Sam Bass, 41, of Nashville, Ruben Rodríguez (Pepe Lopez), 39, of Los Angeles, and Frank Hester, 37, of Cleveland, TN. Also killed was John Carey, the drunk driver. The driver of the tractor trailer was uninjured. Rattled by the accident and deeply upset following the death of Bass and his team of Hester and Lopez, manager J.C. Dykes went home, wept, and quit the business.