Panama City police officer recalls famous sheriff

This is an office not unlike one of any other law enforcement official. On one wall are the various medals and awards Lt. James Sauls has earned during his 24 years with the Panama City Beach Police Department.
There’s also a plaque with the words, “A Bad Day Fishin’ Beats a Good Day Workin’, combined with deer and fish trophies and even one of a mountain lion.
But what sets Sauls’ office apart is what is located on the wall to the left of his desk: a replica of legendary Buford Pusser’s stick, popularized in the “Walking Tall” trilogy, and a photograph of the legendary Tennessee sheriff and Joe Don Baker, the actor who portrayed him in the first motion picture.
Sauls befriended Pusser during his many trips to Panama City Beach with his family in the late-1960s before the first “Walking Tall” was released in 1972.
“I got to know him after he talked to one of our officers, and every year after that, he would give me a call and look me up,” Sauls said. “He was a big man, but really friendly. You felt like you had known him all your life. I don’t think he ever met a stranger.”
Pusser was a McNairy County, Tennessee sheriff who became a legend for his efforts fighting bootleggers, gamblers, prostitutes and cutthroats who profited for years along the Tennessee and Mississippi state lines.
He was shot at least eight times, stabbed seven times and killed two people during his six years as sheriff. His wife Pauline was killed in an early-morning ambush on Aug. 12, 1967. Finally, an automobile accident claimed Pusser’s life as he was returning from California and preparing to play himself in “Walking Tall, Part II.” Bo Swenson eventually starred in the final two films in the series.
Sauls recalls that after “Walking Tall” was released, that Pusser told his Northwest Florida fans that the movie overplayed much of the events in his life.
The last time Pusser was in Panama City Beach, Sauls said he felt something was wrong, that he might never see him again. He had planned to bring his daughter back for Labor Day, but was killed in the wreck.
“I had a strange feeling that somebody who had been through what he’d been through, something was going to happen to him,” Sauls said. “to this day, I don’t know why.”