I remember when he first started working with longtime “Wake-Up Crew” partners Tim Spencer and Bev Hart. I was living and working in Mississippi, and Sweet Miss ViVi was still finishing school in Memphis, so I spent a lot of weekends traveling up to see her, usually driving back Monday morning for work. The Wake-Up Crew made that drive a whole heck of a lot more enjoyable — though it was always a drag to lose the WREG signal down near Tupelo.
After we got married and spent a bit longer in Mississippi, we moved back to Memphis for a while, and became big fans of Bad Dog’s “Twilight Phone” pranks. ViVi picked up a cassette collection of them and we used to listen to it incessantly, almost falling over laughing to his “Mackie Dean” character and his quick calls asking people to take delivery of a neighbor’s flimsy paper bag full of tarantulas. (I still regularly use a line from that last bit — “Oh, they wouldn’t kill you. You might lose a limb…”) The one where he had his brother’s pal thinking a huge bond deal he’d done had just fallen through was priceless, priceless, priceless.
Bad Dog was only 55, but his final words to his fans were anything but bitter:
“I have gone to be with God, and he is holding me tightly and I am surrounded by many of the Ronald McDonald House kids. Do not say you have lost a friend. One is only lost when you don’t know where they are. You know where I am.
“I thank each and every one of you for your support and prayers. I love all of you and that will never go away . . . None of us is guaranteed tomorrow, make every day great, be the spiritual leader of your family. May peace be with you. Your friend, Bad Dog.”
Peace be with you too, Bad Dog. Thanks for all the laughs.