Arthur remembered as suave but troubled

He is remembered by many as a suave, smooth talker with dashing looks and a dominating personality.

Yet, those same people who recall Tommy Arthur's younger days also remember him as a frightening person who held a grudge and was quick to engage in fights.

"He was a rough, wild guy," said Roy Olive, who grew up and went to Sheffield High School with Arthur. "He would go out with a BB gun and shoot at animals, both domestic and wild, and stomp their heads in when he couldn't kill them outright.

"Walking down hallways of school, he would cough up phlegm and spit it on walls. He was just a disgusting character. He would walk behind underclassmen, get a running start as hard as he could, and smack them with his fist between their shoulder blades."

Doug Evans, an assistant district attorney in Franklin County, said Arthur was two years ahead of him in high school.

Evans said he was somewhat surprised when he learned about Arthur's crimes, but he hadn't been in contact with Arthur for some time since high school.

"I just knew him to be an interesting, funny, lively character, I guess is the best way to put it," Evans said.

His own defense attorneys remember him as difficult to work with, although he also could strike them as a nice guy.

"Tommy is charismatic," attorney William Hovater said. "He's a salesman, in a nutshell. He was well liked in school, a popular guy."

"He was the type of person who was a really smooth talker," attorney Billy Underwood said. "He wanted you to accept everything he said as being the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

"If he could use you for his good, he would do it. He was into 'What's in it for Tommy?' instead of what's right. The statement that he was a legend in his own mind was very appropriate."

Many who knew Arthur, even those involved in his prosecution, say he had potential, if he had just turned it positively.

"Tommy was very likeable, from my contact with him," said Robert Hall, a retired Muscle Shoals police investigator who was the lead investigator in his case. "He had a real good personality.

"He would have been a real good salesman, but he just chose to go the other way."

Hall also noticed a certain haughtiness about Arthur, even while facing a capital murder charge.

"He'd get into it with his attorneys and fire them and decide to represent himself," he said. "The indication that I got from him was that he considered himself smarter than we were, and that he would be able to get out of it.

"He didn't appear to be too concerned about it for someone charged with capital murder."

Hall had heard stories about Arthur shooting out streetlights in Sheffield, just for entertainment. Others recall him shooting into vehicles and even into restaurants.

Oliver recalls Arthur wreaking havoc at school and gaining vengeance on anyone who crossed him, even teachers.

"I remember he bragged about defecating in a teacher's car," Hall said. "It was a new car. He smeared it all over. They couldn't get the smell out, so they had to get another car.

"Anybody who stood up to him, he'd retaliate in a sort of covert way so that you couldn't pin it on him, but you knew it was him."

Olive recalls Arthur attacking him when Olive was on a paper route. "For no reason, Tommy came running out and hit me in the eye."

Olive said that was the only altercation he had with Arthur.

He also said Arthur could have an enchanting personality at times.

"He evidently had some charm," Olive said. "He went out with some of the more popular girls at school."

Others remember Arthur as having a flashy, outgoing personality. Some were proud to know him. Generally, those were the ones who never did anything to cross him.

Hovater recalls a story about Arthur getting beaten up in a fight on the night of the Coffee-Sheffield football game, and then spending the next year working out feverishly.

One year later, to the day, he challenged that same person to a fight. Arthur showed up without a shirt and greased up. He beat the guy mercilessly and had to be pulled off of him.

Hovater said Arthur claimed to have "found the Lord" after his first murder conviction in 1977, and even spoke to high school groups to warn them against going down the wrong path in life.

He also recalls the time when Arthur, Charles Manson and two other convicted killers were interviewed live on national television by Geraldo Rivera. The program segment was titled, "Live From Death Row."

Rivera surprised Arthur by revealing that Arthur's old girlfriend and an 11-year-old son who he had never seen were in the studio with him, Hovater said. "That was the only time I ever saw Tommy speechless."

Evans recalls Arthur showing signs of problems.

He recalls him getting into a couple of fights.

On the other side, Evans recalls Arthur was a pretty good football player for Sheffield High School.

"He played football and was involved in some other school activities," Evans said.

He recalls Arthur once pointing out to him that Sheffield only lost three games during Arthur's senior season, and those were the three Arthur didn't play in.

"That was sort of his take on things," Evans said.

Sheffield Police Chief Doug Aycock, who was an investigator who assisted in the case against Arthur in 1982, recalls dealing with Arthur several times before Troy Wicker's murder.

"He built a heck of a reputation in this area and North Alabama," Aycock said.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com.