Larry Thomas
Larry Wayne Thomas (born May 22, 1951 in Jefferson County; died August 2, 1962 in Blount County) was a Midfield Elementary School fifth-grader who was kidnapped and murdered.
Thomas was one of three children born to Mr and Mrs B. E. Thomas of Midfield.
One afternoon after a Little League baseball game, Thomas and another boy, Kim Canady, accepted a ride from Michael Anthony Mayola to get soft drinks. At a Fairfield drug store Canady went inside to buy the drinks. When he came back outside, Mayola had left with Thomas.
Thomas was found dead a few days later in a shallow grave near a shack Oneonta. He had been shot in the head. Mayola was captured in Baltimore, Maryland by FBI agents and extradited to Blount County to stand trial for murder.
Thomas is buried at Valhalla Cemetery in Midfield. Through a gift from the Benn family, owners of WVOK-AM, the Larry Thomas Baseball Field at Midfield Park is dedicated to his memory.