Grant Township, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa Grant Township, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa Grant Township is one of 16 townships in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 354. Grant Township was the site of the airplane crash north of the city of Clear Lake, in which rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, along with their pilot Roger A. Peterson, were killed on February 3, 1959. The site is located in the extreme eastern part of the township, near its border with Lincoln Township. Grant Township covers an area of and contains no
The Big Bopper June, 1958. It slowly began picking up airplay through July and August, and reached #6 on the pop charts spending 22 weeks in the national Top 40. In "Chantilly Lace", Richardson pretends to have a flirting phone conversation with his girlfriend; the record was comical in nature, with The Big Bopper presenting an exaggerated, but good-natured caricature of a ladies' man. In November 1958, he scored a second hit, a raucous novelty tune entitled "The Big Bopper's Wedding", in which Richardson pretends to be getting cold feet at the altar. Both "Chantilly Lace" and "Big Bopper's Wedding" were receiving top