WHILE FAMILIES GRIEVED their losses, and public anger swelled that a tragedy of such magnitude was even possible, stories also circulated of incredible heroics at The Station. As flames consumed the nightclub and hundreds struggled to escape, others ran toward the danger in an attempt to save lives.
Tracy King, thirty-nine years old, was a larger-than-life native Rhode Islander. Standing six feet two inches tall and more than three hundred pounds, he had an outsized personality to match. Never known for being shy, and always up for a good time, Tracy had become somewhat famous as a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s on the program’s “Stupid Human Tricks” segment.
After a childhood of ear infections, Tracy had a mastoidectomy when he was in his early teens, an ear surgery that removed damaged cells from the skull, likely caused by the infections. Following the operation Tracy had a preternatural sense of balance, as if a gyroscope had suddenly been transplanted into his body. He could ride a unicycle, even up stairs, and was able to balance just about any object on his chin.
On the David Letterman show Tracy mounted a fifteen-foot canoe on his chin. He could actually manage two canoes at once, but was limited due to the height restrictions in New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater where the show was taped. Tracy parlayed his celebrity and showed off his unusual talent at fairs and schools, balancing a fifteen-foot ladder, a refrigerator, a motor scooter, and picnic tables, and he often donated proceeds from his performances to Providence’s Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Tracy supported his wife Evelyn and three children with his day job for the city of Warwick’s public works, but with his seemingly limitless energy he also did side gigs, including working as a bouncer at The Station. He was on duty the night of the Great White concert.
Tracy’s brother Jody King, a local quahog fisherman in nearby Warwick, received a call from Evelyn, who’d heard about the fire on the news and was worried when she couldn’t reach her husband. Jody drove to the club with his dog Princess, a shepherd-collie-Lab mix, and noticed fire trucks headed in the same direction, but it didn’t immediately click then that this was a sign of danger ahead. “Tracy’s gonna be at the front door,” Jody King later recalled thinking during the drive, “making light of whatever just happened.”
Jody arrived while the tragedy was still unfolding and parked in the lot of the Cowesett Inn. He walked to the front entrance of the nightclub, stunned to see bodies piled in the doorway. Jody took Princess and continuously circled the burning club throughout the night, searching for Tracy. As locals, the King brothers had known many of the first responders, especially police. After high school Tracy had served as a military police officer in the Army for four years.
None of the officers had seen Tracy. His remains were later found in the club.
Survivors said that Tracy pulled them out of the burning building. He was credited with breaking a window and lifting people outside to safety. Over the years, Jody King said, nine survivors have said that his brother saved their lives. Tracy kept running into the burning club to retrieve people, and sacrificed himself.
Jody wasn’t surprised by his brother’s heroism. They were the children of a mixed-race couple in the 1950s, a black father and a white mother, and his parents faced oppressive discrimination. Theirs was a life built on endurance and sacrifice.
“My parents always told us, ‘Never say die. Never give up. Turn the other cheek to live another day.’ Those are some of the mantras because of skin color that we had to live with,” Jody said. “And Tracy lived it fullest. Never say die. Never give up.”
Jody faced racism in the Warwick schools as one of only a handful of black students. One of his best friends during those tough years was a young man who never made an issue of someone’s skin color: Michael Derderian, the future co-owner of The Station nightclub. The two men shared a special bond since childhood, one that would be tested in the aftermath of the fire.
In close-knit Rhode Island, there were countless connections like that with the nightclub and its victims.
Also trapped inside the burning club was one of Tracy’s first loves. They’d met when they were young teens at the Riverdale Roller Rink in Warwick. Tracy was her first kiss, and she was his first kiss. They were all grown up with families of their own by the time of the nightclub disaster, but that early teenage romance was fondly remembered.
Tracy’s first kiss was shared with Gina Russo.