Autrys Get the News on Radio, Spend Rest of Night Worrying

Shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday, Gene Autry was listening to a radio station he owns, KMPC, when he learned that the baseball team he owns, the Angels, had been involved in a bus accident on the New Jersey Turnpike.

“He sleeps with the radio plugged in his ear. It puts him to sleep,” said Jackie Autry, Gene’s wife and the executive vice president of the club. “I called the radio station to find out what they knew.”

Angel officials apparently had decided to contact the team owners in the morning.

“Our people with the Angels didn’t feel they wanted to wake us,” said Jackie Autry, who said the Autrys slept little afterward, fretting over sketchy information. “We just stayed tuned to KMPC (which recently became all-sports), and I turned on the television set. This morning about 8:30 we called (Manager Buck Rodgers, who sustained the most serious injuries). He was very groggy, but everybody feels very fortunate.”

The club was making plans Thursday to transport Rodgers from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia to Los Angeles for surgery. Rodgers suffered a broken right elbow, right rib and left knee.

“Right now, we’re waiting for permission (from doctors) to move any of our people who want to come back,” Jackie Autry said. “We’re prepared to make as many trips as it takes, or bring them back all at once.”

The Autrys’ first thought was to send their own plane, but it is not sufficiently equipped. Instead, the club is hiring a specially equipped Lear jet and medical personnel. An industry official estimated the cost of such transportation at $15,900 for one patient.

John Sevano, a front-office official, was making the arrangements and said the team “hadn’t even asked” about the cost.

“We don’t know, we don’t care,” he said. “Whatever it takes to bring Buck and whoever else home comfortably is our only concern at this point. When Ms. Autry said, ‘Just go with it,’ she wasn’t concerned about it, either.”

Jackie Autry said it had been an emotional day, but one that could have been much worse. “I think we have a lot to be thankful for,” she said.