The best cheerleader T.L. Hanna High School ever had died the other day.
He was 73.
His name was James Robert Kennedy, but everybody called him “Radio,” because years ago, he carried a transistor radio with him wherever he went, often pushing a grocery cart to collect stuff he found on the street.
I heard about Radio from our granddaughters, Ansley and Jessica, who graduated from Hanna High in Anderson, S.C. And then, I saw the movie Hollywood made about the man and his mentor, James Harold Jones, football coach at Hanna in the mid-1960s.
One day, Jones saw Radio watching Hanna’s football players go through their routines and he invited him to attend practices. The two were friends from then on. Cuba Gooding Jr. played Radio in the movie, and Ed Harris portrayed Coach Jones.
Years ago, I telephoned Jones at home to ask him how well the movie stuck to the truth. He said some parts are pure Hollywood. For one thing, there was never any conflict involving Radio at the games. Filmmakers always need conflict.
But the movie got the main thing right, Jones said. Gooding portrayed Radio just as he was: someone willing to do whatever was needed at Hanna High. Sometimes he was a cheerleader; sometimes he helped the coach; sometimes he worked the crowd. He attended nearly all student events to show his support and although he couldn’t read or write, he was an unofficial 11th-grader at Hanna for decades.
Radio could barely speak when he first showed up at Hanna, Jones said, but he learned to speak with confidence. He even introduced Gooding at the premiere of the movie in Anderson. Sports Illustrated, Readers’ Digest, ESPN, CBS News—they all jumped onto the story of Radio and the coach.
That was years ago. Lest we forget, a statue of Radio stands on the Hanna campus to remind us.
Sheila Hilton, former principal of Hanna, wrote about Radio on Facebook: “It was destiny that he arrived on that football field some fifty years ago. He was without a Harvard degree or Pulitzer Prize or professional football contract, but his fame surpassed all of these accolades. And the story is simple: love and compassion can change lives. It has changed his, and, in return, he has changed ours, and we are better people for having known him.”
Radio visited Hanna High for the last time on Friday. The viewing lasted several hours. Hundreds attended his funeral the next day at the Civic Center of Anderson.
“Thank you for living a life that inspired millions,” the school’s football team said on Twitter. “The sidelines won’t be the same without you.”
Radio Kennedy leaves behind a story of love and devotion. Coach Jones and others who befriended this special man offer a perfect message for this Christmas season: “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Phil Hudgins is senior editor of Community Newspapers Inc. Email phudgins@cninewspapers.com.