Happy Birthday wishes go out to a television star and role model of my formative years, and as it turns out, a local boy Kent McCord, who turns 67 years old today. Kent Franklin McWhirter was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Baldwin Park, California. Kent and his wife Cynthia have three children, two daughters, Kristen and Megan, and a son, Michael.

I learned a ton of stuff about Kent from his website, http://www.kentmccord.com/. One of Kent's first jobs was working at his father's Richfield gas station which was located near what is now the intersection of the 10 and 605 freeways.

At the age of 12, Kent got a job at Brackett Field Airport in La Verne where he worked weekends and summers for five years. Being too young to be paid, Kent received flying lessons in lieu of pay


Kent was a star on the Baldwin Park H.S. football team. After graduation he attended Citrus Jr. College before receiving a scholarship to the University of Utah to play football.


In 1961 he was asked to play in a touch football game. His team was captained by Ricky Nelson and the opposing team was captained by Elvis Presley. He became close friends with Ricky Nelson and started acting on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." He also had small parts in several Elvis Presley movies including, "Viva Las Vegas", "Girl Happy", and "Roustabout."

In 1965, Kent signed a contract with Universal and appeared in "McHale's Navy," "The Virginian," and "Dragnet." "Dragnet" led to his role as "Officer Jim Reed" in the television series "Adam-12" with Martin Millner as his partner, "Pete Malloy." The series ran from September 1968 through May of 1975.

As a side note, the "Adam-12" series is what started my interest in law enforcement. I was working in the print shop for the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District and bored out of my mind running hundreds and hundreds of forms on a 1250 multilith printing press. Adam-12 made police work look so glamorous.

I tested for L.A.P.D. and was placed on the waiting list for the academy. At the time veterans were coming home from the Vietnam War and being placed higher on the waiting list than me because of their 10 points for being a veteran. I joined the U.S. Army in May of 1974 and became a Military Policeman. I got out in May of 1977 after serving 32 months at Ft. Hood, Tx. I was hired by Covina P.D. in December of 1977 and started the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Academy in January of 1978. Class 188!! The rest of my 27 year career is, as they say, history.