William O. “Bill” Luckett Jr. was a man with an extensive and surprising list of gifts and talents. When I learned of his passing last week at the age of 73 after battling cancer and other challenges, I recalled a day spent with him in his beloved Clarksdale when he was gearing up to run for the Democratic nomination for governor of Mississippi in 2011.
Talents? Entrepreneur, attorney, pilot, Mississippi National Guard officer, developer, preservationist, actor, film producer, restaurant and nightclub impresario, and politician – and that’s nowhere near a complete recitation of Luckett’s accomplished life and work. He would lose the 2011 governor’s race in the Democratic primary to eventual nominee Mayor Johnny Dupree of Hattiesburg.
Dupree bested Luckett in that primary based heavily on the endorsement of Democratic 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Bolton. But in the 2011 general election, Dupree lost handily to Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant. As one who covered the race, Luckett almost certainly would have been a far more formidable opponent for Bryant than was Dupree.
The tall, straight-talking Luckett was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, on March 17, 1948, and moved to Clarksdale as an infant. His father was a lawyer.
Luckett was perhaps best known outside legal circles as Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman’s business partner in ventures like the now-shuttered Madidi Restaurant, Ground Zero Blues Club (thriving in Clarksdale with a franchise set to open soon in Biloxi), and a couple of airplanes.
Luckett was also the great-nephew of Semmes Luckett, who in 1954 argued in favor of segregation against Thurgood Marshall in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case that did away with the “separate but equal” doctrine. Despite that branch of the Luckett family tree, Bill Luckett was a white attorney who was a lifetime member of the NAACP.
There are other seeming contradictions. Luckett supported charter schools. Despite taking many personal injury and product liability cases, he supported a substantial amount of so-called “tort reform” legislation.
That would seem to pit Luckett as a gubernatorial candidate against one of the groups that deliver the most warm bodies to the polls to support Democrats (teacher unions) and one of the groups that have in recent years provided much of the campaign finance dollars (trial lawyers) – but in the end, it was Thompson’s nod to Dupree that was the most impactful roadblock.
But Luckett’s story on racial reconciliation and progress in the Mississippi Delta was more complex. Luckett took up the cause in 2001 of Dr. Clyde Glenn, a black physician who tried unsuccessfully to join the Clarksdale Country Club based on what Luckett called “obvious” racial considerations.
“Two very well-qualified members of the black race were denied membership - in my opinion, and one shared by many others - solely based on their race,” Luckett told The Associated Press at that time.
Club officials said the right to be exclusive is essential to any private club and that changing the group’s bylaws “was not in the best interests of the Clarksdale Country Club.”
Luckett was a University of Virginia graduate who earned a law degree at Ole Miss. He served a decade in the Mississippi National Guard. He also served as the 2005 honorary co-chair for the Mississippi Heritage Trust. He has served on the executive council of the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys, the board of directors of the Mississippi Hospitality & Restaurant Association, the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Planning Commission, and the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Airport Board.
After his failed gubernatorial bid, Luckett did not retreat home and lick his wounds. He was elected Mayor of Clarksdale in 2013 and served his hometown with distinction in that office.
The day I spent in Clarksdale with Luckett in 2011 reflected his deep love for his city and county and the state of Mississippi. I left the encounter convinced that Bill Luckett was a worthy contender despite the impending Republican juggernaut of fellow Delta native Phil Bryant. He could have served Mississippi honorably in the Governor’s Mansion.
His death left many Mississippians in both major political parties with the blues.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
23 comments:
A Democrat-
Bill was someone who decided each issue based on what he thought was right - not based on what he was "supposed" to think based on party affiliation, etc. That made him a politician that didn't tow the line, and I disagreed with him more than I agreed with him, but he was a good man.
The scarcity of men like Luckett in positions of influence in Mississippi is why this state remains mired in last place culturally and economically while states like Georgia and Texas with cities like Atlanta, Houston or Austin have become magnets. They had the Lucketts while we had Bryants, Barnetts, and Milners. They looked forward and we looked back. Now all we do is curse the present. RIP Bill
Don't forget what the Espys did in the Mayoral election
Bill was one of Mississippi's greatest citizens whose shoes will not be filled. As to the Governor's race, the Republican machine got behind Dupree to take out Bill, as he would have been a more formidable candidate. The same machine tanked McDaniel in the Cochran race. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
RIP, my friend.
Clarksdale is "our" town.
Atlanta, Houston, and Austin - sure thing! Progressive blue cities being run into the ground. They are magnets for progressive socialists.
The word scalawag comes to mind
11:35 : Texas tags are everywhere around here now. Austin is full.
... the Republican machine got behind Dupree to take out Bill, as he would have been a more formidable candidate. The same machine tanked McDaniel in the Cochran race.
Highly doubt the tactic$$$$$$ used to take out McDaniel, especially in Jackson, were the same used to impair Bill Luckett.
Bill was my friend. He will be missed.
Bill was a great guy. I hate when people say they "don't see color" but from my experience with him as an African American, I truly don't believe he did. Rest well Bill.
Never knew the man personally but he did get the band to sing happy birthday to my wife years ago at Ground Zero. To that, I am forever grateful!
11:35 Right. They ARE "magnets for progressive socialists"...also educated young people, high tech, big corporations, and money. What are we magnets for?
“You can’t have grown up in the Mississippi Delta with any kind of sensitivity or any kind of feelings and not come out of that aligned with the Democratic Party, unless you’re just a racist or something,” Bill Luckett
How do you try to win the delta and a majority of Mississippi, and agricultural state, by having your business partner and political/celebrity mouthpiece calling people who oppose you "Mule Headed Farmers". He may have been a great guy, but he also was one of those that if you though differently from him, you were wrong in his eyes. His opinion and position is the only one that mattered.
Bill Jr was a good guy. He inherited that from his dad, Bill Sr.
Sid Salter would give bestow a glowing blessing up on Idi Amin Dada Oumee as long as he was registered as a Dim-O-Krat!!!!!
Luckett was a serious democrat, liberal, politician wannabe. Bless his heart.
When Salter passes on, we can say the same...without the last sentence.
The guy spends his life dedicated to making Mississippi a better place and all you dim wits can note about it is that he is a Democrat.
Honestly, you deserve for your kids and grandkids to keep moving out of the state and away from you. I usually don’t resort to calling names, but you are unkind. Why should I be different than you while speaking about you?
I am a longtime Republican. I never met Bill Luckett but I wish we had more like him. From all indications, he was exemplary in character. God bless the Luckett family.
It's because of folks like Luckett that Clarksdale is now ruled by an Espy and is the crime capital of the Delta. The man should have stuck with leading 'Happy Birthday' at the restaurant. He could have made more of a difference had he switched parties. Did he support Bennie Thompson in every election? Whatta YOU think?
A lovely, genteel, intelligent man, with our state’s best interests at heart, for sure. I agree with 11:54, that he could have made his mark had he switched parties. Leopard changing spots? Maybe, but we sure could have used him as governor. The pudgy, rosaceous manchild we have now is a danger/embarrassment to us all.
'A true Renaissance man'. What the fark does that even mean?
A renaissance in Clarksdale, Mississippi or one in the Mississippi Delta?...neither of which is possible. Oh, wait! A reckoning in the entire state.
Salter is a buffoon. But...A true buffoon man.
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