The Life and Times of B.D. Griffin

March 30, 2003

B.D. began by giving us some history of his childhood. As a very young boy, he loved to visit his aunt’s home on Ohio Garden Road where the Castleberry Church of Christ now stands and included property that fronted on what is now River Oaks Boulevard. His family lived on Stone Foundry Road near University Drive, but when their home burned in1939, the family moved to be near his aunt in what was then called “Castleberry”. He stills lives in that family home today. He said there were woods and trees all around and a big hayfield just east of Jacksboro Highway.  When the war started, he and his friends would go up to Inspiration Point and watch the building of Carswell Air Force Base now NAS/JRB/Fort Worth, and the “Bomber Plant” which has had several names through the years, but we now know it as Lockheed.

           The only school in town was Mrs. Irma Marsh’s Castleberry Elementary which went from first through eighth grade. Mrs. Marsh was his first grade teacher. (She was also his campaign manager when he later went into politics. B.D. was a county commissioner for many years.) B.D.’s mother had a cub scout pack that met in their home. Later, the boys met in a small building beside the (River Oaks) Methodist Church and George Crowley was their Scout Master. He remembered when McGee Park was a grassy hill where Leonard Brothers brought free outdoor movies once a week for the community to see. When the Castleberry area decided to incorporate in 1949, the city was called River Oaks and B.D.’s father, B.D.Sr., was on the first City Council which met in the Griffin home. The young boy was fascinated by the workings of the Council and especially the attorney who seemed to have a lot of authority. In those early days of formation of many things within River Oaks, he told of the city having a called emergency meeting to name the new post office. The city wanted to call it River Oaks, but there happened to a River Oaks Post Office in the affluent Houston suburb of River Oaks. They finally decided on Oaks Branch Post Office. Later, zip codes helped us distinguish our River Oaks from the Houston suburb, but our post office is still called the Oaks Branch. Looking back, he mentioned the hardships and struggles that River Oaks people had in those days, but he recognized the commitment of so many of them as they worked to form a very special community.

B.D. started playing the fiddle at age four and had a formal musical education starting at that age. His mother played the piano and his dad played violin while a friend played guitar. When the trio played musical engagements, B.D. often went to sleep in the guitar player’s music case. At age six, he began playing at Crystal Springs, the “in” club for musicians in that day and he played engagements there including every New Year’s Eve till he was 11. When he first started, he stood on a wooden chair in order to be seen. The band consisted of talented Castleberry kids he was growing up with. A drive-in theater was built on River Oaks Boulevard and his group performed at the opening. Mr. Griffin, Sr., knew the man who was building a number of drive-ins around the Fort Worth area and the band was asked to play at all the openings.

B.D. not only played music gigs, starting at age nine he threw the Fort Worth Press and when he was 12, he was able to get the same route for the Star Telegram and threw both papers at the same time. He was making pretty good money for a young boy. He went to J.P. Elder and North Side High School, was a boxer, ran track and played football, and played violin in the North Side orchestra and also in the All City Orchestra. He had the privilege of studying in summer seminars with violinist Brooks Morris, a professor at TCU and the founder and conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony. He received a scholarship from TCU and signed a letter of intent to play football and run track there with another, River Oaks boy (still a resident), J.W. Montgomery. However, when TCU found out he had an income as a professional musician, he was told he would have to give that up in order to accept the scholarship. A coach from Weatherford Junior College came and talked to B.D.’s mother and offered him a scholarship to the school to run track and to box and he was not asked to give up his musical career. While there, he won the State Junior College Middleweight Championship. After Junior College, he joined the Marine Corps and they saw his boxing record on his entry forms so he became a member of the Marine Corps Boxing Team where he won the middle-weight championship in San Diego and in 1952, won out­standing boxer of California.

Following those feats, he had 10 fights in Hollywood, won seven knockouts, and became a favorite of boxing fans, Alan Ladd, Groucho Marx and Red Skelton. The three men took him to dinner one night and he was so excited he couldn’t enjoy it.  B.D. said he had a lot of fun in those days.  Back home in River Oaks, he enrolled at UTA where he received his Bachelors Degree and did graduate work there. He mentioned several local musicians who took him under their wing and helped him, Billy Walker and Jimmy Brown being two of them. During his career, B.D. worked with the Light Crust Doughboys, Bob Wills, the Grand Ole Opry All Star Band and others, did a lot of Nashville work, and traveled all over the country. He pointed out pictures on the wall of people he had worked with like Stonewall Jackson, George Jones, Norma Jean, George Morgan and Billy Walker, just to name a few. One night many years ago while playing a gig, his band members were asked by Billy Walker to give $5 each to help a guy named Willie Nelson get to Nashville to sell some songs. Times were very hard then, but the band donated the money and the rest is history. B.D. gratefully acknowledged those who helped him and he said, “It doesn’t matter how good you are, you still have to have someone help you.’

Though very much a part of the music business, he also became a criminal investigator for the Tarrant County District Attorney and was involved in a number of high profile murder cases, three of which were published in True Detective Magazine. Sheriff Lon Evans called him in to work with a group of Secret Service men who were trying to break up a counterfeiting gang in Mansfield. After bugging the house and waiting almost all night, they broke in the doors. B.D. said the first thing they always did in the rush of things, was to see if anyone was armed. He jerked the sheet off of a couple in bed and discovered they certainly weren’t armed because they didn’t have any clothes on. The more embarrassing part was that the woman raised up in bed and said, “Well, B.D.!” He took a lot of ribbing from the FBI men over that, but his only connection with the woman was that she was a waitress at a club where he had played.

Throughout his talk, B.D. mentioned many friends from River Oaks who had meant a lot to him throughout his life. He said his mother used to write him when he was in the Marine Corps and tell him about two of his friends who were running their cars up and down Roberts Cut-Off.  It was no surprise to anyone that those two were Johnny Rutherford and Bobby Lloyd, still two of River Oaks special “boys”. B.D. said of his interesting life, “It all started in River Oaks and I have life-long friends here!” A number of them were present to hear him speak that evening. He told us he was proud that his three children, Debbie, B.D.III, and Stephanie grew up in River Oaks and were Castleberry graduates. B.D. still plays western music, but the most recent album he did was a jazz album. He was inducted in the Western Hall of Fame in Sacramento, in 1995. He is writing a Christmas Pageant and hopes to complete it soon. In closing, Mearl Ellis-Bittle thanked B.D. for a very enjoyable program. She presented his wife, Bobbie, who was a gracious hostess, with a bouquet of flowers, and invited everyone to browse through the room and view the many pictures and plaques and to enjoy the refreshments provided by the Griffins. It was such fun watching the video and I truly felt I had been there for this very enjoyable evening.

Around the Town by Jo Ann Dennis