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
I've Always Been Crazy life of Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper, forever immortalizing himself in rock and roll trivia. Jennings, who was years getting over the tragedy, alludes to the flight on "A Long Time Ago," singing "Don't ask me who I gave my seat to on that plane, I think you already know, I told you that a long time ago" (he also name-drops fellow outlaw Willie Nelson in the song). In the liner notes to "The Essential Waylon Jennings", Wade Jessen quotes the singer: "Buddy was the first guy to ever have faith in me as a singer. He was