Memory Lane
Just when I thought working graveyard shift couldn’t possibly get any more weird, a guy came in around 2am last night that looked awfully familiar. I thought he was drunk, but he wasn’t. He walked with an unstable gait, and his English was slurred and heavily accented. Was it Farsi?
He turned around to the cop standing in line behind him and asked, “do you know who I am?”
The cop said, “no, sir, I don’t.”
“I’m the ‘Iron Sheik,’ ” he said. Jaws dropped.
Well, that started a whole raft of memories roaring down the waterfall. About three other people standing in line started remembering the names of pro wrestlers from the early days: Abdullah the Butcher, Waldo von Erich, Nikolai Volkoff, “Haystacks” Calhoun, Ted DiBiase, Tito Santana, Pompero Firpo, Ernie “The Big Cat” Ladd, Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino, Chief White Owl, Wild Bill and Flying Fred Curry, Hans Schmidt, Kurt von Hess, Johnny Valentine, Dominic Denucci, Bobo Brazil (remember the “coco-butt”?), the Love Brothers, the Junkyard Dog, the Outlaws, Yukon Moose Cholak, and, of course, pictured here, Dick “the Bulldog” Brower and Johnny Powers.
A lot of these guys are now dead; the deceased that I know of: Calhoun, Brower (1997), Cholak (2002), Brazil, Junkyard Dog (1998), von Hess (1999), Andre the Giant (1993).
Powers disappeared from Strongsville, Ohio amid rumors that he was bankrupt and fleeing debtors. About 10 years ago, he was rumored to be planning a syndicated TV series of old wrestling shows from the ’70’s, but nothing has come from it.
Iron Sheik passed out photos (of him and The Rock together) to everyone that wanted one, and then he left without another word. I’m sending mine to my cousin in Florida: I think she’ll get a kick out of it.
