It's such an important date in history...especially for one man. One man whose father was a newspaperman. One man whose life took many a twist. One man who struggled mightily for our nation...and his sanity.
That's right.
Vince Carter.
No, not the basketball player.
Sergeant Vince Carter.
I mean when June 28th rolls around each year, we should all pull our attention away from what we're doing and take a moment to gaze off into the horizon of history and remember Sergeant Carter.
Actually, that wasn't his real name. You probably have to be a real Gomer Pyle freak to even know his character's first name was Vince. His real name was Frank Sutton and although he is best known for his portrayal of the dismayed disciplinarian and unwitting foil of Gomer Pyle, Sutton had done some serious stuff before that show.
I mean who could forget his role as Cadet Eric Raddison in the series "Tom Corbett - Space Cadet?"
That's a rhetorical question. You can stop looking, Sutton's not in that picture. I couldn't find a picture of him from the show. All I really know is he played a character by that name in an "unknown number" of episodes of "Tom Corbin - Space Cadet."
Still it was ground breaking stuff...a precursor to Star Trek and we all know how many brilliant actors got their starts on that series...like....um... "Unnamed Crewman Number Two."
Anyway, I believe we should all circle this day, June 28th, on our mental calendars because it was on this date, in 1974, that Sergeant Vince Carter aka Cadet Eric Raddison...Frank Sutton left us...permanently.
Yep, the big dirt nap.
Sutton died in Shreveport, Louisiana. He had a heart attack. He was 50.
But, on a brighter note: My friend Chuck Sigars has selected me as his featured Überboomer, since I did not die on this day - knock on wood - which I at least consider somewhat noteworthy.
I made it to 50!
Hmmm...then again so did Frank Sutton.
