Introducing Return Man

From The Herald in Rock Hill, S.C., McClatchy Studios and iHeartRadio comes an investigation into the life and mysterious death of the only Super Bowl champion from Lancaster, S.C. At one time, Jim Duncan was a star on the rise for the Baltimore Colts; the NFL’s leading kickoff returner in 1970; and a hero of that year’s title game. Then, two years later, authorities say Duncan, who was Black, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside his hometown police station. Many Black people alive in Lancaster at the time didn't believe the official account of the death. We examine the questions they had. New episodes coming each Tuesday, through March 16.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Lancaster, South Carolina, is in the middle of not much,
but growing up near that rural town in the post
Civil rights South, I knew it as the hometown of
a black man named Jim Duncan who became a super
Bowl hero. That's the Baltimore called Camps of the American Conference,
the Dallas Cowboys, champs of the Nationale Conference, and where
his death, even now, almost half a century later, still

(00:24):
makes no sense at all. He gets the kick Oi
dunckt up to the fifteenth that the story was that
my brother went into the police station, took a gun,
all the police officer and shot himself in the head.
Most people I believe that. I'm Brett McCormick. For the
past three years at the rock Hill Herald, I've looked

(00:44):
back at a story that's timelier than ever. My first
impression was that could have happened last week, the tale
of a life falling apart. Look about and police too
close to the edge, couldn't do but that much. I'm
trying to forget about stuff happened years ago, move on it,

(01:04):
search for closure for an event almost no one could believe.
Ruda stop coming up. We'll be up bake, but even
fewer dered question, have you got some time to talk?
Never has this been something that anybody's at interested in
talking about until now. It involves rates the metal state

(01:24):
of the person and a towel that was scared to
death to say anything. Return Man from the rock Hill Herald,
McClatchy Studios, and I Heart Radio coming January on the
I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts wherever you get your podcasts,
and Harold online dot com. I don't think players even

(01:45):
the unusual about Lanchester. If you took away the days
and time, could you imagine that happening today? Yes, you
can