INDIANAPOLIS -- Jim Nabors, the longtime singer of “Back Home Again in Indiana” at the Indianapolis 500, died Thursday at age 87.
He began singing “Back Home Again in Indiana” at the 56th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 1972. The morning of the race, he was asked to sing the song, starting a tradition that lasted for 42 years.
Nabors said that when he was first asked to sing it at the Indy 500, he wasn't sure he'd remember the words, so he wrote them on his hands.
He sang at 36 Indianapolis 500s.
Nabors also starred as Gomer Pyle on “The Andy Griffith Show.”
He died at his Hawaii home.
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