Chapter 5

Finally, it was lunchtime and Dad picked me up. I inhaled my baloney sandwich, put on my suit, tied my tie and we were ready to go. Mary was in her cheerleader uniform. Mum and Dad were both dressed to the nines. I didn’t even know Dad owned a suit. When asked he told me it was new this week.

We drove downtown to the Holland Theater. Two students were waiting for us, one to guide my family to their seats, another to take me backstage. Waiting there was Mr. Gordon our principal, Mayor North, the President of the County Council, Mr. Winters the Superintendent of Schools, and Mr. Jack Evans from the publicity department of Warner Brothers.

Mr. Gordon was the only one that I knew; he introduced me to the others. Mr. Evans introduced himself. He gave a very quick explanation of what was going on with them.

“Rick, when the city and county contacted us for the footage from, “It Never Happened” and “Hellfire,” and explained what they intended we saw a publicity opportunity for your next movie, “The Cowboys.” We are turning your tribute here into a TV special which will create interest in the movie. The great thing about it is the television network, ABC, will be paying us for our publicity.”

He continued, “Your parents have signed off on the contract. We own most of the footage, but not all, it has been interesting putting it together, I thought movies had a tight schedule. When you get down to it, it is an advertisement. Nothing like this has been done before. The closest was when Walt Disney did his specials on the building of Disneyland.”

I asked, “How much am I making?”

“Twenty-five thousand dollars plus residuals, though we don’t think there will be that much, it will just go on TV once.”

Much later he was proven so wrong in that statement. Since it was a first of a kind effort it was used many times over in cinematic classrooms, also Mr. Evans mustn’t have heard of ‘Reruns’ on TV.

Mayor North approached me.

“I am Master of Ceremonies for today. We will show the movie, then I will introduce you, there will be two awards today, from the City of Bellefontaine you will be given an ‘Outstanding Citizen’ award, it is a plaque. Logan County will present their Outstanding Athletic award, you will say a few words of thanks, and that will be it.”

‘Live with it, Live with it,’ I thought.

“Okay, sounds easy enough.”

Mayor North gave me a sharp look at that.

The movie started with a scene of a young man hitchhiking, it had to be a stand-in for me. The narrator explained that the Ricky Jackson story started on a summer trip. They show a fast montage of rides across the country with upbeat music in the background, just a kid out having a little adventure. Then the announcer dropped his voice and told us things turned serious.

Next appeared wanted posters for the Johnson Brothers, John, and Ernest. They were wanted ‘Dead or Alive’ for nine bank robberies in three states. They had killed six people and wounded four. There was an outstanding reward of twenty-five thousand dollars.

Then there was a reenactment of the robbery and me shooting the two bad guys. Next was an interview with Mr. Easterly about the locals’ reaction to the robbery and then transitioned into bull riding. They used stock footage for the local fairs I rode in.

After that was the Spin and Marty show, you could hear the laughter out front when I was thrown in the horse trough. Then they had a brief interview with Annette where she told how cute I was, and that I still owed her a kiss.

Eat your heart out guys!

From there it was on to the movie, “It Never Happened.” They showed extended footage of me dragged by the horse. John Wayne then appeared and told me how I could fall off a horse better than anyone he knew! He also added that I was a hard worker on the set and knew how to ride, shoot and rope with the best of them.

I have never held a lariat in my life. It must be the movies.

Then I was really surprised, there was an appearance by Elvis. He was in his Army uniform in Germany. He thanked me for helping him out with a little problem down in Mexico, and that allowed him to serve his country.

“Thank you, Ricky, maybe we could do a duet someday.”

From there it went up to an oil rig and they showed outtakes, in the movie if you blinked you would miss me, here it looked like I had a role. They had some footage of me without a shirt on, I was tanned and fit. It really highlighted my black hair and blue eyes. Someone with the camera must have liked me that day because they had some shots that made me good looking.

Hmm, they were all male cameramen, no don’t think about it.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys told how they had a fun song for a young cowboy, and how I rode in with John Wayne. The next thing you know there was a gold record. Of course, they had to play the song.

Texas Ranger Walker appeared all dressed up for a change. I remember him as jeans, and pearl button shirts. He still had the shirt but now it was a good suit and a white hat. His badge was pinned to the suit pocket. He told about the rustling gang and had mug shots of the three rustlers that were captured along with their ring leader. They had reenacted me drawing down with my Colt 45 peacemakers on the bad guys. The reward was eighty-five thousand dollars.

Two of the rustlers got away, but they weren’t mentioned. That was another story.

The footage of the National Junior Bull Riding Championship was spectacular. They started with shots of riders getting thrown and the clowns saving them. Then there was my winning ride.

I still marvel at how I hung on that day. People ask me how I did that trick, as though I planned on getting thrown off and back on, once from each side, while holding on for dear life. I will never get on a bull again if I can help it.

There was my appearance on American Bandstand. Dick Clark when interviewed said he was certain the world would see a lot more of me. I noticed he didn’t use the words, “hear more of me.”

The film, of the last holes, Ohio State Boys Golf Championship, was sedate in comparison.

The best part was Judy giving me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek in Technicolor glory. Take that Anne Howison.

Then it was time for the awards, I and the local dignitaries walked out onto the stage. A Trophy and plaques were presented. The Mayor had one surprise, “We are putting up signs at the major city limits, Bellefontaine, Ohio, home of Ricky Jackson 1958 Champion Bull Rider, 1958 Ohio Boys Golf State Champion, Movie Actor, and Singer. From all the shouts, screams and applause you would’ve thought I had actually done something. Well, I had, but I knew most of it was accidental. ‘Live with it.’