Musicians

The flight was originally supposed to be for Holly and two of his bandmates, in part because his drummer had already suffered frostbite. One “lost” a coin flip with Ritchie Valens and thus survived. His name was Tommy Allsup. He went on to work with Bob Wills, among others. The other voluntarily gave up his seat to the Big Bopper, who already had a cold. His name was...Waylon Jennings. You never would have heard of Waylon, except for that act of kindness.

When Holly learned that his bandmates had given up their seats on the plane and had chosen to take the bus rather than fly, Holly jokingly told Jennings, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up!" Jennings jokingly replied, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!" That conversation would haunt Jennings for years.