Nearly 50 years after the tragic death of Sapulpa football coach Jerry Bailey, his story is highlighted in an episode of the Investigation Discovery series “Murder Under the Friday Night Lights.”
The “Guilt Will Get You” episode from Murder Under the Friday Night Lights aired on January 15, 2025, at 9 p.m. on Investigation Discovery.
Highlights
- Jerry Bailey’s body was found a day later near Bixby in the trunk of Reagor’s car while Paul Reagor was alive.
- Reagor was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 1976 death of Coach Bailey and was sentenced to 10 years to life.
- Paul Reagor remained free on a $35,000 bond, lived with his mother in their hometown after his wife left him, and moved with their children.
The episode covered the mysterious disappearance of two football coaches and companions, Paul Reagor Jr and Jerry Bailey, from a small town in Oklahoma.
The series explored how high school football could bring small towns together, but when a shocking murder occurred, it shook the entire community.
Jerry Bailey Found Dead Inside The Car Trunk While Paul Reagor Was Alive
A former student, Terry Holbrook, shared that he saw coaches Bailey and Reagor leaving the school together on January 22, 1976.
They got into Reagor’s car and were never seen again.
Teacher Rick Woolery recalled that he was in the staff workroom when someone asked if they could help search for Coach Bailey, who had gone missing.
Bailey, the head football coach and a teacher, wasn’t in his classroom when the first period started, which struck everyone as unusual.
The discovery of Bailey’s bloodied papers about 30 miles away in a rural area led authorities to believe something sinister had occurred.
The next day, both coaches were discovered—Bailey’s body was found a day later near Bixby in the trunk of Reagor’s car while Reagor was alive.
Terry Holbrook recalled that day as “probably the darkest day in Sapulpa history, at least in my lifetime.”
After Bailey’s death, his widow, Beverly, and their children continued to live in Sapulpa.
She worked as a teacher at the school, and out of respect for her, the topic of the murder was rarely mentioned by the community.
Following Bailey’s death, an article from the Tulsa World reported that around 1,200 people attended his funeral; 850 were at the First Baptist Church, and 350 were listening in a nearby church.
Former football players from Sapulpa and Nowata, who had played under Bailey, served as honorary pallbearers.
Aftermath: Following The Murder Case, Paul Reagor Wife And Children Left Him
In a Tulsa County court, Reagor was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 1976 death of Coach Bailey and was sentenced to 10 years to life.
However, despite his conviction, he remained free on a $35,000 bond while awaiting an appeals court decision that could grant him a new trial.
Four years after the incident, Paul Reagor lived with his mother in their hometown after his wife left him and moved with their children to another state.
He spent only a brief period in jail and had been sent to psychiatric hospitals for treatment multiple times before his trial.
Many people who knew him before the incident were shocked when he was arrested, remembering him as calm and peaceful during his coaching career in Okmulgee.
Still, after his return to town, the community was filled with resentment, and some were astonished that he had not yet gone to prison.
After the trial, Reagor worked for a roofing company, taking jobs in various states.
However, he stopped working after a truck-pedestrian accident occurred in 1979, which happened on the same day as the third anniversary of Bailey’s death.
Witnesses claimed that Reagor had run in front of the truck, lowering his head as if trying to collide with it.
Though injured, he recovered quickly and returned to the streets within a few days.
Reagor’s attorney, Don Gasaway, insisted that his client was not in his right mind when Bailey was killed.
Gasaway stated he had difficulty communicating with Reagor while preparing for the trial.
One key part of the appeal involved a statement from a doctor at Eastern State Hospital, which suggested that Reagor admitted to pretending to have mental health symptoms in the hope of having the charges dropped.
But Gasaway claimed the full hospital report was never presented during the trial, omitting details that could have helped Reagor’s defense.
The attorney also mentioned that his investigation dismissed coaching jealousy as a motive for the murder and that he remains unsure whether Reagor was responsible for Bailey’s death.
Additional Information
- McCracken, who graduated from Sapulpa High School in 1992, said that for many years, the murder of Coach Bailey was almost a secret in the town.
- As McCracken pursued a career in sports writing, he began researching for a book, Because of the Hate: The Murder of Jerry Bailey.
- A funeral home director, Bill Owen, remarked that it was the most huge funeral he had seen in his 28 years in the area.
