The City of Murfreesboro has changed the name of a local roadway. The City Council changed the name of Community Circle in the Kimbro Woods subdivision near St. Andrews Drive. It is now called Jerry Anderson Drive.
Jerry Anderson, who played in the NFL under team names like the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, died in Murfreesboro while saving the lives of two drowning children in 1989.
What’s so interesting about this story is that on May 27, 1985, he rescued trapped motorist who were in raging floodwaters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Exactly four years later on May 27, 1989, he rescued two young boys who where were drowning in the Stones River near Riverdale High School.
City Councilman Ron Washington told WGNS, "Jerry was a strong influence in my life as he took me under his wings just like he did other young boys that idolized him as a brother and athlete while at Central High School."
Jerry Anderson died in his hometown of Murfreesboro while trying to save the lives of those two young boys who were drowning in the river in '89. Anderson was only 35-years old when he died.
In October of 1989, his story was aired on the popular reality TV show “Rescue 911.”
The road named in his honor is three miles away from the exact point of where Anderson died.
Watch a video from the show “Rescue 911”
