Howard Gerald "Jerry" Clower was a popular country comedian best known for his stories of the rural South and nicknamed "The Mouth of Mississippi". Clower was born in Liberty, Mississippi, and began a 2-year stint in the Navy immediately after graduating from high school in 1944. Upon his discharge, in 1946, he was a Radioman Third Class and had earned the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. He studied agriculture at Mississippi State University, where he played college football and was a member of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. After finishing school, in 1951, Clower worked as a county agent and later as a seed salesman. He became a fertilizer salesman for Mississippi Chemical in 1954. By this time, he had developed a reputation for telling funny stories to boost his sales. Tapes of Clower's speaking engagements wound up in the hands of Edwin "Big Ed" Wilkes and Bud Andrews in Lubbock, Texas, who had him make a better quality recording which they promoted. MCA Records later awarded "The Coon Hunt" a platinum album for sales in excess of $1 million at the retail level. [More at Wikipedia]

September 28th, 1926 in Liberty, Mississippi  /  Died:   Aug 24th, 1998