50 years ago today, Jim Croce was on his way to Austin College. He never made it.
His plane, en route to Sherman for a concert, crashed after liftoff. I know Roos who were planning to attend. Some even saved their Croce program and Sid Rich Gym concert tickets.
The release of the Croce hit “I Got a Name” took place on schedule on September 21, 1973, one day after Croce’s death and the very day of the canceled Austin College concert. Croce performed the song during his last concert in Natchitoches, LA on September 20th, and would have done the same in Sherman one day later.
Croce chose to record the tune because “his father had a dream for him but had died before his son’s first success.” Croce’s father had passed in 1972, just before his son’s meteoric rise to musical fame one year later. One critic called the tune a “fine epitath to a big talent who died without having the recognition he richly deserved.” The song ends with the hope that the son can live each day to the fullest, “moving ahead so life won’t pass me by.”
Croce’s death left a grieving Don Gant of ABC Records in search of new talent. Years before Croce, Gant had signed “Pretty Woman” singer/songwriter Roy Orbison, who was briefly in a band with Willie Jacobs. Jacobs, Austin College Sports Information Direct (SID) & Public Address Announcer, was known as the “Voice of the Roos” for three decades.
From Roo Jeff Phillips:
“AC’s long-time SID and one-time baseball coach, Willie Jacobs, went to UNT and hooked up with a band that consisted mostly of students from the School of Music. The band played gigs for the NTSU frats and other haunts in Denton, and Willie even penned a song for the band. As their first year together was coming to an end, the lead singer suggested they all head out to west Texas for the summer.”
“He said he had lined up a few gigs and would probably be able to line up some more. Willie declined because he needed to make money for college that summer and had a sure thing helping a farmer bale hay. The name of the lead singer was Roy Orbison, and that was the summer he was ‘discovered’ [by ABC Records].”
ABC Records sent Gant to find a new act after Croce’s untimely death in 1973. Gant believed he had found his man. From author Mark Humphrey:
“After years of scuffling, likable Jim Croce hit paydirt with the comic urban fable of ‘Bad Bad Leroy Brown’ in 1973. Croce enjoyed phenomenal success all too briefly. His death in a 1973 plane crash left fans mourning the down-to-earth star. His label, ABC, gazing at a deep sink in future revenues, picked [a relative] newcomer as the nearest thing to Croce on its artist roster.”
Just weeks after Croce’s death, Don Gant was already pleased with his pick. From the November 1973 Longview News Journal:
“One of the new breed of today’s songwriters finished an album last week for ABC Records. As his producer Don Gant says, ‘he writes what he sees.’” The newcomer, who frequently compared himself to the late Jim Croce, ‘arrived for the wrap up session wearing faded blue jeans, a red T-shirt, and saddle oxfords with holes in the soles.’”
Without the tragedy of Jim Croce’s death on the way to Austin College, we may have never enjoyed his replacement’s work. The artist who Don Gant picked enjoyed an outstanding career, selling over 20 million albums and earning adoring fans. He was also a constant presence at my AC fraternity house on Hickory Street in the early 1990s. His name was Jimmy Buffett; he passed just a few weeks ago, almost 50 years to the day after Jim Croce.
Jim Croce’s son A.J. Croce is a singer-songwriter in his own right. He is touring now, honoring his father alongside his mother Ingrid on the 50th anniversary of his passing. Croce has re-recorded his own version of “I Got A Name,” a tribute to the fact that “his father had a dream for him but had died before his son’s first success.”
Nola.com ran a story on the 50th anniversary, revisiting Croce’s last concert. The article also reviews the 1973 tour of Croce, which specifically targeted colleges: “Northwestern State (LA) was Croce’s third stop on a five-date gig. Concerts at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and New Mexico State University were scheduled before he could get home to Ingrid and A.J.”
Croce wrote Ingrid & A.J. a letter before boarding that plane to Austin College, expressing his desire for a slower pace with family. It arrived a week after his death. “Give a kiss to my little man (A.J.) and tell him I love him,” he wrote. And to Ingrid: “Remember, it’s the first 60 years that count, and I’ve got 30 more to go.”
After spending a solemn September 20th with his mother Ingrid, A.J. Croce will be performing a tribute concert to his father at L.A.’s iconic Troubadour Club on September 21st. The performance comes 50 years after his father did the same at Troubadour, and 50 years to the day after his father’s canceled concert at Austin College.
A.J., you have an open invitation to come to Sherman and perform your version of the “I Got A Name” your Dad never got to sing. Pick a time and place, bring your family, and include the families of Orbison, Buffett, and Don Gant while you are at it. We’ll toast your Dad and then kick off the party, “movin’ ahead so life won’t pass us by.”
