Professor Backwards
American comedian
title: "Professor Backwards" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-male-comedians", "20th-century-american-comedians", "american-entertainers", "american-television-personalities", "american-murder-victims", "1910-births", "1976-deaths", "people-from-college-park,-georgia", "people-murdered-in-georgia-(u.s.-state)", "deaths-by-firearm-in-georgia-(u.s.-state)", "people-murdered-in-1976"] description: "American comedian" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Backwards" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American comedian ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/James_Edmonson_Professor_Backwards.JPG" caption="blackboard]] correctly."] ::
He was murdered on January 29, 1976, as part of an armed robbery. Three men — 17-year-old Willie Edgar Bell, 19-year-old Roy Anthony Ellerbee, and 23-year-old Michael Gantt — were arrested for the murder. They were all found guilty and sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years for armed robbery.
The three men were paroled in the early 1990s, albeit Bell and Gantt returned to prison for numerous parole violations. Gantt was paroled in 1991 but returned to prison in 1995. He was paroled again in 2001 but returned to prison months later. He was released a third time in 2005 but went back in 2007. He was paroled for the last time in 2008. Bell was paroled in 1990 but returned to prison in 1997. He was paroled again in 2005 but returned to prison in 2023.
References
References
- (4 February 1976). "Professor Backwards shot". The News Journal.
- "Desert Sun 8 May 1976 — California Digital Newspaper Collection".
- "Bell v. State".
- "Find an Offender {{!}} Georgia Department of Corrections".
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