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Tommy Allsup, Buddy Holly’s Guitarist Who Avoided Plane Crash, Dies At 85

By Lawrence Arboleda
Published on: 23:50 PST, Jan 12, 2017

Tommy Allsup, Buddy Holly’s guitarist and the person known for losing the most famous coin flip in history, has died at 85.

Singer Austin Allsup confirmed the death of his father on Wednesday, who died at a hospital in Springfield, Missouri due to complications from a hernia operation, BBC reports.

Allsup was the first person to play solo on a Buddy Holly recording. Another thing he was famous for was losing a coin toss against band mate Ritchie Valens, which earned the winner the right to get a seat on a plane. That plane in question crash landed near Iowa in 1959, killing Holly and Valens.

Country music star Waylon Jennings, who was playing for Holly’s band at the time of the crash, was also prevented from boarding the plane. Jennings died in 2002.

Austin Allsup said that his father sees the result of the coin toss as a blessing and was honored to be connected to “such a monumental moment in music history.”

Allsup said that he recalled the crash on a regular basis, and thanked God every day for sparing his life.

“I know my dad has talked about that many times and knew that he was very lucky to be here. It could have been the other way around,” says Austin Allsup.

In a 1987 interview, Tommy Allsup recalled the coin tossing incident, which happened backstage after a concert, as reported by ITV.

“A couple of people were standing there,” he said.

“I flipped it. (Valens) called, ‘Heads’. He got his stuff off the bus.”

Even though he never boarded the plane, Allsup was initially listed as one of the plane crash’s casualties, since he had given his wallet and ID to Buddy Holly, asking him to get some mail for him from the post office once he gets to Minnesota.

“When they found the bodies the next morning, they found five wallets with five different IDs,” Allsup said.

“So they had my name on Associated Press as one of the people on the plane.”

Born in 1931, Tommy Allsup was the 12th of 13 children. He grew up in Owasso, Oklahoma, a tiny town that eventually became a center for the airline industry in the 1950s.

As a 16-year-old, Allsup often hitchhiked to Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa to watch rock and roll shows.

He would later perform at the venue himself and by the mid-50’s, he played regularly as a jobber musician. In 1958, he met Buddy Holly in a recording studio. A year later, Holly invited him to join his band on the Winter Dance Party tour.

A year after the plane crash, Allsup transferred to California and worked as a guitarist and record producer. As a producer, he worked with the likes of Willie Nelson, Bobby Vee, and Asleep at the Wheel.

Tommy Allsup was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Don McLean immortalized the plane crash by composing the song “American Pie,” singing about “the day the music died.”

Austin Allsun said that Valens’ sister contacted him after his father’s death to send her condolences.

“I told her in my message back, now my dad and Ritchie can finally finish the tour they started 58 years ago,” he told ABC news.

Randy Steele, Allsup’s friend, said that the beloved musician “got an additional 57 years and 11 months” from winning the coin flip and “used it for good.”

“I was literally in awe of him, not just because of his talent, but because of the kind of man he is. We’re all imperfect, we know that, we all have our flaws and have our moments, but boy, when it came to the fans and the music and all of that, on and off the stage, he was somebody that you wanted to be around.”

[Featured Image by Austin Allsup/Facebook]

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