Wednesday, November 20, 2024

RIP HAWK'S OTHER SIDE

 


This is the way JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS wrestling fans saw RIP 'The Profile' HAWK...entering the ring to do battle and to win any way he could. Hair pulling, trunk pulling, piledriving...any way.

RIP was a 'heel' mainstay for JCP for nearly fifteen years and was at the top of many fans' "Most Hated" list.

But there was a wrestling side of 'The Profile' the general public never saw, and with the aid of this article which originally appeared in the September, 1975 issue of Sports Review WRESTLER, I'd like to share it with you...

RIP HAWK oversees a group of high school wrestlers. RIP generously gives his time to these youngsters.

Every man is a combination of things. When you think you know someone, he or she will very often do something that is as uncharacteristic as it is unexpected. Rip Hawk was no exception to that rule.

Most of the world knew HAWK as one of the most ruthless rulebreakers in wrestling, a man incapable of mercy or honor. Instead of denying these charges, HAWK would boast of his cruelty with glee.

Yet, when the spotlights were turned away from him, RIP could be found in a local high school gym teaching members of the school's wrestling team. RIP would go over the fundamentals of the sport and correct the youngsters when necessary. And one thing that RIP stressed above all else is that the grapplers must be scrupulously clean !

"Before you break the rules," HAWK said when no students were present, "you've got to master the rules. What I hope to do is give these kids a sound base from which they can grow. And who the hell wants kids bleeding and crippled anyway? For professionals, it's different. We earn a living by winning - - at all costs. Kids wrestle to develop a team spirit, a physical discipline and a sense of fairness. Though the basics may be the same, the goals are completely different."

Wrestler TERRY SAWYER also lends a helping hand.

Yet, why did a man who tortured his opponents with animal abandon want to help youngsters at all? RIP hesitated before he answered the question, and one got the feeling he wasn't quite sure himself.

"Someone was needed," RIP said, "and I was available. Anyway, if a sport gives you a lot, you owe it something in return. This is my way of paying some long outstanding dues.


If one wasn't familiar with RIP HAWK, it would be easy to swear that the wrestling instructor and the wrestler were two different people. HAWK the wrestler strutted arrogantly, whereas HAWK the instructor moved with unassuming grace.

When grappling for money, RIP would explode at any slight provocation. When teaching the kids a complicated hold, he would become the most patient of men, calmly going over and over the maneuver until the youth felt comfortable executing it.

After devoting time at the high school, RIP went straight to the arena to wrestle. He was his vicious self, making his opponent a bloody mess. If you had told the victim about what HAWK had done hours earlier, he'd have called you crazy. And as the doctor stitched up his wounds, who could blame him?

RIP instructs the students in technique.

Amazingly, thirty-five years after this article was originally published, RIP HAWK, at the local YMCA in the Texas town in which he resided, was still instructing kids the art of wrestling.

Monday, November 18, 2024

RED HOT CROCKETT RINGS

 

One of THE MASKED MARVELS * takes down BOBBY KAY. 


'JUNGLE' JIM STARR (one of the un-MASKED MARVELS) gives DANNY MILLER a ride around the ring by dragging him by the hair.


PAUL JONES crushes the skull of THE MASKED SUPERSTAR (BILL EADIE) **


SONNY FARGO clamps his version of a headlock on PEDRO GODOY.


One chop to the noggin' of 'PLAYBOY' GARY HART, courtesy of 'Chief' WAHOO McDANIEL.


JOHNNY WEAVER 'crowns' OLE ANDERSON.


* THE MASKED MARVELS did a short stint with JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS in the early 1970s. The MARVELS were actually THE INTERNS, who came to the MID-ATLANTIC territory without their manager, DR. KEN RAMEY. RAMEY was not asked to join them due to the abundance of 'heel' managers already in the area.

** Note that PAUL JONES' hair is shorter than he normally wore it during this time. This was due to THE MASKED SUPERSTAR's taking the shears to PAUL's head in a previous match, to set up a long-term program. But, according to BILL EADIE, PAUL didn't want to go around with an ugly butchered-like haircut, so he went to a barber shop and had it all 'evened-up'. It killed the angle. BILL wasn't happy.

Saturday, November 16, 2024

WEAVER AND ELLIS MEET THE BOLOS

                                                                   February 3, 1964

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA



A return tag team match which throws the masked BOLOs against COWBOY BOB ELLIS and JOHNNY WEAVER headlines tonight's PARK CENTER wrestling card.

The hooded BOLO and THE GREAT BOLO gained a draw with ELLIS and WEAVER in an earlier match here when the time limit forced a one-hour stand-off. Tonight, there is NO TIME LIMIT, so a winner should be determined.

BOB and JOHNNY won the only fall recorded in the earlier contest, but could not apply the clincher before the sixty minutes ran out.

Tonight's semi-final could be a main event on any wrestling card at any location. It pairs the gigantic duo of THE KENTUCKIANS BIG BOY BROWN and TINY ANDERSON against wrestling's "BLONDE BOMBERS," RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON. This battle has a 45-minute time limit.

Both of tonight's tag matches are for the best two-out-of-three falls.

EMIL DUPREE takes on TOMMY O'TOOLE in the top prelim.

The 8:15 opener sends TED EVANS against JOE TOMASSO.

Thursday, November 14, 2024

HOMER O'DELL IN TIGHTS

                                                                        July 11, 1964

LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA


CHIEF BIG HEART


ALDO BOGNI and BRONCHO LUBICH


GEORGE BECKER


RONNY ETCHISON


NICK KOZAK


MIKE CLANCY


FRANK VALOIS


HOMER O'DELL


Professional wrestling returns to the LEXINGTON YMCA with a bang tonight following a week's layoff because of the Fourth of July holiday.

A six man tag team match, with grudge ingredients thrown in, features the program.

Heroes GEORGE BECKER, RONNIE ETCHISON and CHIEF BIG HEART will battle top bullies ALDO BOGNI, BRONCHO LUBICH along with their arrogant manager, 'COLONEL' HOMER O'DELL, in a best-of-three falls encounter. This time out, O'DELL will don wrestling attire instead of the usual tuxedo and will participate as a legal wrestler.

'IRISH' MIKE CLANCY returns after a long absence and will meet tough Canadian FRANK VALOIS in the semi-final match of the evening.

Newcomer NICK KOZAK battles TOMMY O'TOOLE, and in the 8:15 opener, BOB BOYER faces PANCHO GOMEZ.

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

UNDER CHARLOTTE'S BIG DOME

                                                                   October 28, 1963

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

KURT and KARL VON BRAUNER and SAUL WEINGROFF


BRONKO LUBICH, HOMER O'DELL, ALDO BOGNI


The match the fans have been begging for will take place tonight as professional wrestling moves to the CHARLOTTE COLISEUM.

Promoter JIM CROCKETT, who is co-sponsoring this card along with the CAROLINAS CAROUSEL, says the main event on this big card has drawn "more requests than any other match since I have been promoting in Charlotte. And that's been more than twenty-five years."

The big match everyone has been asking for is a SIX MAN TAG TEAM battle. On one side are the vicious German brothers, KURT and KARL VON BRAUNER, along with their equally villainous manager, 'GENTLEMAN' SAUL WEINGROFF. Across the ring will be the threesome ruffians of ALDO BOGNI, BRONKO LUBICH and their manager, cane-welding 'COLONEL' HOMER O'DELL. The war is scheduled for the best two-of-three falls with a one hour time limit. These conditions should give the hated bunch time enough to do away with each other in the proper way.

GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER


RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON


Another tag team match is scheduled in the semifinal contest, normally any wrestling card's main event.

Fan favorites GEORGE BECKER and JOHNNY WEAVER will face a long-time nemesis in the guise of wrestling's "BLONDE BOMBERS" RIP HAWK and SWEDE HANSON. To say these two teams have their differences would be a gross understatement. This one is also scheduled for the best two-out-of-three falls with a one hour time limit.

'COWBOY' BOB ELLIS


'BIG' IKE EAKINS


Yet another specialty sees 'COWBOY' BOB ELLIS, who many say is a probable future World's Heavyweight Champion, taking on the tough and burly 'BIG' IKE EAKINS, straight from Harlan, Kentucky.

For the fans of the girl grapplers, PENNY BANNER faces newcomer JESSICA ROGERS, making her Charlotte debut, in a special event.

Two other newcomers also brighten the giant card which kicks off at 8:15.

BOBBY RED CLOUD, a Sioux Indian, takes on the crafty GEORGE 'TWO TON' HARRIS, and rugged DOCTOR MENENDEZ, a 250 pounder from the Caribbean, meets Canada's rugged FRANK VALOIS.