And his love of the game led to his greatest success in music, first involving a young Farrah Fawcett and finally a legendary recording of his song “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips.
Weatherly, who also wrote songs for Ray Price, Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers and others, died Wednesday at his home in Brentwood, Tennessee, near Nashville, a friend of the Charlie Monk family told the Tennessean newspaper.
He was 77 years old, and his family told Monk that Weatherly had died of natural causes.
Born in Mississippi, Weatherly played on the University of Mississippi football team in an undefeated 1962 season, an SEC championship and a national championship. The following year, he was the starting defender, when the rebels repeated as SEC champions.
Weatherly called the Majors home one day, and the actor’s girlfriend, who will become the star of “Charlie’s Angel,” Farrah Fawcett-Majors, responded. She said she was about to take the “midnight plane to Houston” and visit her family.
“A small bell rang,” Weatherly told ANSA. “It seemed like a song title.”
He wrote “Midnight Plane to Houston” as a country song, never imagining it would become an R&B hit. By the time it reached Gladys Knight & the Pips, the title and style had changed and it had become a classic Grammy Award winner no.
“I’m amazed it lasted the way it did,” Weatherly told NSAI. “It’s a timeless record.”
Knight and the Pips also had hits with the songs Weatherly “None of us” and “The best thing that ever happened to me”.
On Friday, Knight posted on Twitter: “I already miss Jim Weatherly. It was about life and love … We were just made for each other. We developed our lives together. I will miss him terribly and I will always love him. “
As a performer, Weatherly had a pop and contemporary adult hit with “The Need to Be” and a country hit with “I’ll Still Love You”, according to Songwriters Hall of Fame. It was introduced in 2014. “Midnight Train” is among the 500 greatest songs of all time Rolling Stone.