From the instant he pinned on his McNairy County Sheriff's badge, Buford Hayes Pusser made history.  At 26 years of age, he could now lay claim to being the youngest sheriff in the state of Tennessee--a record that stands today.  Little did this cherub-faced, 6'5" mountain of a man realize he would soon be known for something other than his age.  After three terms, he would still be standing tall, but his face would now bare the chiseled scars of a warrior.

Six years prior to becoming sheriff, Buford would have his first confrontation with the criminal element along the Mississippi-Tennessee state line.  Looking for excitement, Buford found himself the mark in a rigged-dice game at W. O. Hathcock's Plantation Club. Furious, he demanded his money back.  But what he got was 193 stitches to his head and thrown out the back like the nightly trash. 

Later, as sheriff, Pusser's war with the state-line operators would make him a legend in his own time.  But it would come with a price.  His payment, which would be the nexus for the music, books, and movies, happened in the early hours of August 12, 1967.  On that morning Buford and his pretty wife Pauline were ambushed on the New Hope Road. 

He never asked for the war.  But he never ran from it, either.

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