Reporter Josh Peter recalls the man and the story that became inspiration for the movie 'Radio'

His name was James Robert Kennedy. But everybody knew him as “Radio,’’ and just about everyone in Anderson, South Carolina, knew of him even before his story began to spread.

He was the team manager, but he paced and prowled the sidelines as if he were one of the football coaches.

“Gotta get the quarterback!’’ he urged the defense.

He celebrated road victories with gusto, gyrating on the team bus and working the players into a frenzy with his dance moves.

“Go, Radio, you got it!’’ they chanted.

Eventually, he became better known than any of the coaches or the players at T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson  — and he was the inspiration for a movie that starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and captured a rare sports story.

On Sunday, news came that Radio, at the age of 73, had died, and I found myself thinking only of how he lived — joyfully, despite his intellectual disabilities and other challenges.

In the late 1960s, the coaches at T.L. Hanna High School spotted him pushing a shopping cart and carrying a transistor radio. With Coca-Colas, the coaches lured him to the practice fields, and over time their relationship with Radio grew – as did his story.

Never mind that he couldn’t read or write, he attended classes with the students, served as team manager at practice and on Friday nights paced and prowled the sidelines, where I first spotted him in the early 1990s.

In 1993, then a reporter for the Anderson Independent-Mail, I wrote about his story. He was 46, lived in a small, wooden-framed house with his ailing mother. Both of them suffered from high blood pressure, and she also suffered from diabetes and heart trouble. Harold Jones, then the head football coach at T.L. Hanna, began to help take care Radio and his medical needs.

With a legendary appetite, a love for hugs and a childlike spirit, Radio became a source of amusement and inspiration.

“He doesn’t know what a bad mood is,’’ Terry Honeycutt, then an assistant coach at Hanna, told me. “He’s always got that smile on his face. …

“I don’t know what would happen if he left us. It just wouldn’t be Hanna if he weren’t here.’’

Twenty-six years later, Radio is gone. He remains a cherished part of my career thanks in part to what happened next.

I shared my story with Gary Smith, then with Sports Illustrated. Gary wrote his own version for the magazine. His story caught the eye of Mike Tollin, a film director and producer.

Tollin, who decided to turn the story into a movie, directed “Radio,’’ with a cast that included Debra Winger, Ed Harris and Gooding starring as Radio. It was a thrill to see the premiere and, as the credits rolled, my name appear next to “special thanks.’’

Special thanks to you, Radio. May you rest in peace.