SC T.L. Hanna HS Icon James ‘Radio’ Kennedy Dies

ANDERSON, SC. (THECOUNT) — James “Radio” Kennedy — T.L. Hanna High School most famous 11th-grader and the inspiration for Cuba Gooding Jr movie “Radio” — has died. He was 73.

Former T.L. Hanna High School football coach Harold Jones confirmed Kennedy’s death on Sunday morning.

“He was just a fine, fine man,” Jones said. “We all loved him. We will miss him incredibly.”

For decades, he’d been an unofficial 11th-grader at T.L. Hanna High School, where he kept vigil since 1965. Once a quiet student, he became one of Anderson’s most famous residents.

The 2003 film “Radio,” starring Cuba Gooding Jr. in the title role, focuses on Kennedy’s relationship with Jones, portrayed by Ed Harris. Launched after a story published by Sports Illustrated, the film took some dramatic license and compressed decades of time into a single football season, but its regarded as truthfully telling the story of friendship and a town’s acceptance of a man with intellectual disabilities and a warm smile, reports Independentmail.

A cause of death was not provided.

Geo quick facts: Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 26,686 at the 2010 census, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 75,702 – Wikipedia.