For 14 years we laughed along with (and at) that country bumpkin on Hee Haw.  His name was Alvin Samples, Jr.  Alvin Samples, Jr.??  Nah, he wasn't Alvin.

He was Junior!

Each week Junior Samples would come onto our television screens and we'd get ready for what many called 'corn pone humor'.  Well, what it was, it made us smile, chuckle and sometimes just plain laugh out loud!

Junior was from Cumming, Georgia and, judging from his image on Hee Haw perhaps not surprisingly, was a sixth grade drop-out.  A  stock car racing driver and a carpenter, at the age of 40 Junior told a story on the radio about catching the largest fish ever seen in his hometown and, well...a career was born.

Joining Hee Haw  in 1969, for 14 seasons Junior was a favorite.  I'll bet you can still remember the phone number of Junior's 'used car lot'.

 

Not surprisingly, Junior was nominated twice by the Country Music Association for Comedian of the Year, in 1969 and 1970.

So whatever happened to our Hee Haw favorite Junior Samples?

Married with five children, Junior's weight sometimes approached 400 pounds and he passed away from a heart attack in 1983 at the much too young age of 57.

Ten Commandments of Sioux Falls

 

 

 

 

More From KXRB