Jerry O. Anderson (October 27, 1953 – May 27, 1989) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. He played one season for the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

and one season for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He played in 14 games in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

with Cincinnati and two games in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

with Tampa Bay, but never recorded an

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. He then played for the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

. Following his career, he was viewed as a hero by his family and community. On May 27, 1984, he rescued some trapped motorists from floodwaters in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. Even though Anderson pulled two people from Dirty Butter Creek, he felt guilty that he was unable to save a third person, Bridgette Johnson, from a submerged car that day. Exactly five years later, on May 27, 1989, in his hometown of

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

, Anderson took Dwight Ogleton, Jr. and another boy fishing on the Stones River, which had been bloated by heavy rains. Brad Logsdon and Josh McFarland were fishing on a nearby dam when they were overtaken by the water. McFarland fell in. Logsdon extended a hand to grab McFarland and he then fell in too. Anderson managed to rescue both boys but went underwater two or three times and never resurfaced. He died five months shy of his 36th birthday and was buried June 3, 1989, at Green Acres Cemetery north of Tulsa. Rescue workers pulled him from the river and took him to Middle Tennessee Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. On October 31, 1989, the story of his heroism and death was aired on ''

Rescue 911 ''Rescue 911'' is an American informational docudrama television series that premiered on CBS on April 18, 1989, and ended on August 27, 1996. The series was hosted by William Shatner and featured reenactments (and occasionally real footage) of e ...

'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

. About six months after Anderson's death, the local NAACP chapter named an award in his honor. The Jerry Anderson Hero and Humanitarian Awards are awarded each January to someone in the community. The Murfreesboro City Council voted May 15 (2014) to rename Community Circle in the Kimbro Woods subdivision Jerry Anderson Drive. Anderson received, posthumously, the Robert P. Connelly Medal for Heroism. He was survived by his wife, Darlene Anderson, and his two daughters, Vicky and Delonda.

References

1953 births 1989 deaths Accidental deaths in Tennessee American football safeties Deaths by drowning in the United States Canadian football defensive backs Cincinnati Bengals players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Oklahoma Sooners football players Sportspeople from Murfreesboro, Tennessee Players of Canadian football from Tennessee Tampa Bay Buccaneers players {{Canadianfootball-defensiveback-stub