As Auburn halfback Bobby Hoppe drove to his parents' home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, around 1 a.m. on July 20, 1957, he said he suddenly saw a car with its headlights off in the rearview mirror.
When the 1948 DeSoto pulled up next to Hoppe's car on Bell Avenue, he recognized the driver. It was Don Hudson, a reputed bootlegger, who had been dating Hoppe's older sister.
"At first he thought, 'Oh, it's just some old high school buddies trying to scare me,'" said Sherry Hoppe, Bobby's widow. "Then the car pulled up beside him. He looked out the window, and he saw Don Hudson pointing a gun at him.