Remembering Bubba Smith aka "Hightower"

The towering giant of justice from the “Police Academy” movies who was often seen lifting cars, selling flowers, busting up the Blue Oyster Bar, or pulling Sweetchuck out of trouble like a newborn Cabbage Patch Kid, was very much the unappreciated, unfazed stoic presence among an abundance of ridiculous characters in an equally ridiculous string of movies that I routinely waited for release with baited breath; at least until Citizens on Patrol.

Unless you were foolish enough to call him ‘porter’ or ‘red cap’ — bid farewell to your luggage — or god forbid you say the wrong thing to endearing cadet, “Hooks,” he was a jovial fellow and one hell of a quarterback.

At least for a kid who had a deep appreciation for slapstick humor and a strong desire to view many, many, many, many sequels. The Hightower character was perfectly understated, and there’s no clip that captures it all in such an appropriately simple manner quite like this one:

Steve Guttenberg shared a few words on Bubba with TMZ.