Lewis McDonald Grizzard, Jr. was a humorist and columnist for the Atlanta Constitution and the Atlanta Journal. His columns have been collected into several books such as Won't You Come Home, Billy Bob Bailey? (1980), Don't Sit Under the Grits Tree With Anyone Else But Me (1981), and When My Love Returns From the Ladies Room, Will I Be Too Old to Care? (1987). He also published several autobiographical accounts, including a memoir about his father, My Daddy Was a Pistol and I'm a Son of a Gun (1986), and the best-selling They Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat (1982), a collection of pieces about his heart surgery. Grizzard was born in 1946 in Columbus, Georgia, graduated from the University of Georgia in 1967, and began work as a sportswriter. As his columns became popular, they were syndicated in hundreds of newspapers, leading to speaking engagements nationwide. Grizzard died in 1994 of brain damage resulting from his heart surgery.
