Almost 50 years to the day after the murder of Sapulpa football coach Jerry Bailey, the tragedy will be featured on an episode of “Murder Under the Friday Night Lights,” a series on Investigation Discovery (ID).
The fourth season of the true-crime docu-series begins Wednesday, January 15th, and the episode, titled “Guilt Will Get You,” focuses on Bailey’s murder in 1976 and the investigation that followed.
In 2018, Sapulpa graduate and author Kirk McCracken wrote a book on the tragedy called “Because of the Hate.” Sapulpa Times interviewed him as the novel was first released for sale on Amazon.
“I grew up in Sapulpa and graduated in 1992. I had always wondered what really happened, but I had only heard rumors and most of them were untrue. Actually, they were just wrong,” McCracken said in that interview. “I also wanted to honor Jerry Bailey and his memory. He touched so many lives and didn’t see race or color during a difficult time in Sapulpa.”
In the novel, McCracken writes about Bailey’s success in both Sapulpa and Nowata, and forms a picture of a man who was well-regarded by almost everyone, on and off the football field.
“His story is also about football and he used the sport as a tool to bring young men together, teaching them how to handle life, accomplishments and failure,” McCracken said.
Lion TV is the company that produces “Murder Under the Friday Night Lights” for Investigation Discovery (ID). In a story from The Tulsa World about the episode, co-president Allison Corn said the relationship between Jerry Bailey and Vice Principal Paul Reagor Jr. was “one of the most interesting aspects,” of the story behind the episode.
“It’s the ultimate betrayal,” Corn said. “We also were interested in the history of race relations and the Civil Rights Movement in Sapulpa. One of the great things about this series is that it allows us to explore how football and crime intersect with a whole host of other social issues. And this story certainly offered that opportunity.”
McCracken was again sought out as a resource by the show’s producers. Among the other Sapulpans you can expect to hear from in the episode are Sapulpa native and former student Terry Holbrook, who said they saw Bailey and Reagor leave the school together. Retired Judge Rick Woolery was a teacher at Sapulpa at the time and recalled being asked to help look for the missing coach the day he disappeared.
Reagor was later convicted of Bailey’s death after Bailey’s body was found in the trunk of Reagor’s car in Bixby. Reagor died of what officials say were “natural causes” before serving a single day of his 10 years-to-life sentence.
The episode airs at 8:00 PM on ID and will be available for streaming the following day on Max.
