Jerry Adams, a longtime Oklahoma City news anchor and commercial pitchman, has passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 74 years old.
In case you're new to town or too young to remember him, Adams was a staple in the Oklahoma City media for two decades. Adams worked for all three local news channels, and after leaving the news business in the 1990s, embarked on a career as a commercial pitchman. He fell out of the public eye in 1996 after pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute
My favorite memory about Jerry Adams was when he did the car dealership commercials in the 1990s. In the spots, cars would line up single file and slowly roll by Adams as he spoke about their prices and features. In one commercial, a car "allegedly" ran over Adams' foot. He even vocally cried out "They just ran over my foot!" In the commercials that followed, Adams wore a large cast on his leg and would yell at the drivers to "watch out for my foot" as they drove past him. I'm not sure if the whole thing was an act or not, but if it was, I guess it worked pretty well.
Anyway, our thoughts and condolences go out to Jerry's family and friends. He had his ups and downs, but from all accounts was good guy. After the jump are some old news intros from the 1980s when Jerry worked for Channel 4 and Channel 5:
