“The Big Bopper’s” place in popular music history is secure, no matter if the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame never swings open its doors to him as it did for Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

But it sure would be fitting if they did.

Those two fellow musicians died with J.P. Richardson — born in Sabine Pass, reared in Beaumont — in a plane crash 60 years ago Sunday, and they’ve rightfully captured the imagination of rock music aficionados everywhere. Holly, 22 at his death, and Valens, not yet 18, are both enshrined in the Cleveland institution — Holly in 1986, Valens in 2001.

Both have had full-length motion pictures depicting their lives: “The Buddy Holly Story” in 1978; “La Bamba” in 1987.

Richardson, 28, when the single-engine plane took the three men’s lives, has not been so fortunate, although his music has long outlasted him. Beloved in his native Southeast Texas, he’s been too easily dismissed as a novelty act, a radio huckster who spun records and pulled publicity stunts to advance himself and his station.

But The Big Bopper was bigger than that. He was a creative force whose efforts included years of serious songwriting, featuring not only his signature hit, “Chantilly Lace” — an ode to “phone sex,” some detractors have suggested — and quirky songs like “Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor,” but also big hits for other singers. His antics have suggested the advent of music videos, long before their time, some fans say.

If you’re approaching his exhibit at the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, don’t miss Johnny Preston’s, next to it. Preston, of Port Arthur, covered Richardson’s “Running Bear,” based on a legend on the Sabine, and made it an international, English-language No. 1 hit, one that was not released until months after Richardson’s death. Years later, Sonny James made it a county music No. 1.

George Jones, America’s greatest country singer, had 150 hits; his first No. 1 hit was “White Lighting,” by Richardson, recorded the week after his friend’s death. Jerry Lee Lewis took the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace” to No. 1 on the country charts in 1972. There were others.

Sam Monroe, former Lamar State College Port Arthur president, said he once told Port Arthur movie legend Evelyn Keyes he’d seen one of her movies the night before.

“Sam, how did it hold up?” she asked, a question every creator asks.

Monroe said J.P. Richardson’s work continues to hold up in the public’s estimation, as does “the long lasting nature of his public persona and his career.”

Will that pry open the doors of the Rock & Roll Museum to The Big Bopper? Maybe not. But it holds his place in popular history — six decades after his death.