AL TENNYSON

Al Tennyson worked as a short order cook at the small diner attached to the Sparrow Ridge Airport, a small desert airstrip in Arizona for private and charter planes. When Terry Andrews and his three partners, Buddy, Turk, and Elias, masterminded an armored car robbery in Texas and rendezvoused at the Sparrow Ridge Airport in order to hijack a charter plane to escape across the border into Mexico, Al was taken hostage along with Kelly and Dave who maintained the small airport. Al complied with the thieves' demands to prepare food for them, but he stood up to them when they harassed Kelly and prepared to kill the hostages, refusing to go out like a whimpering dog. A helicopter provided one means of escape, but Dave, the only one among them able to fly it, was unable to overcome the emotional trauma of his time as a POW. It was Al who urged him to find the courage, pointing out that this was one of those times when the rest of his life would depend upon his decision to go one way or the other. Dave finally joined MacGyver in apprehending the criminals, and Al gladly took custody of them until the authorities could arrive.

Portrayed by: Harry Caesar

Cross Reference: Terry Andrews, Arizona, Buddy, Elias, Kelly Nielson, Dave Redding, Sparrow Ridge Airport, Turk, Walt

Episode Reference: Last Stand