William Bryant Tatum was 20 when he was killed on the evening of July 29, 1978, in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A junior varsity basketball player at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Tatum was described as quiet, fond of basketball, and known for a playful sense of humor. He was with his 18-year-old white girlfriend, Nancy Hilton, when a hidden assailant fired a 12-gauge shotgun into their car. Hilton survived; Tatum died of his injuries.

Investigators later linked the shooting to Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist who carried out a series of racially motivated attacks beginning in 1977. Franklin eventually confessed to Tatum’s murder and the attempted murder of Hilton; in 1998 he pleaded guilty and received two life terms, one of which covered Tatum’s killing. Family, teammates, and the Chattanooga community were left to grieve a promising young life ended in a senseless act of hate.

Did anyone who knew William, Nancy, or their time in Chattanooga have memories or information that could add to the record?