| Bob Orton, Sr. passes away By Louie Dee July 16, 2006 WATCH a clip of Bob Orton, Sr. in action WATCH a piece from WWE Confidential about the Orton family Bob Orton, Sr., the patriarch of the famous Orton wrestling family, passed away on Sunday night. Orton, Sr. was the father of WWE Hall of Famer Cowboy Bob Orton and former WWE star Barry �O� Orton, as well as the grandfather of current RAW Superstar Randy Orton. According to Randy, his grandfather passed away as the result of a series of heart attacks. �He had a heart attack at home, and they took him to the hospital where he had another more severe heart attack,� he told WWE.com. �He had an eight hour surgery that gave him a 20 percent chance to survive; he did, but about 10 hours after the surgery he passed away.� A native of Kansas City, Orton began his career in 1951, and his biggest success came in the Florida and Central States territories. He held several regional NWA Championships in both territories, including a reign as Florida Tag Team Champions with son Cowboy Bob. Known as �The Big O,� Orton also competed in the AWA, where he held the Midwest Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships, as well as Stu Hart�s Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary. In fact, Orton�s career spanned nearly a half-century, as he didn�t officially retire from the wrestling business until 2000. And even into his 70s, Orton was influential in helping his grandson transition into the business. �He always told me to keep my mouth shut and my ears open,� Randy said. �Dad always said it too, but I heard it from grandpa first. He had a lot of fun old stories that were real interesting; it�s a shame he's gone. As I was growing up I knew how important he was for my father, and he was just as important for me.� Randy also shared one distinct memory of his grandfather with WWE.com. �I remember when my dad went into the Hall of Fame, he was there as I inducted dad. I mentioned him, and he was right up front in his wheelchair so I was able to make some eye contact with him. It was a great moment.� While Randy is saddened at the passing of his grandfather, he was able to get a lift from one of his fellow RAW Superstars. �Last night I was eating dinner with Charlie Haas, and he knew I was upset about grandpa passing,� Randy said. �He said �don�t worry, Russ (Haas, Charlie�s brother) is showing him the ropes up in Heaven right now.� That put a smile on my face.� Unfortunately, Orton�s passing came just days shy of his 77th birthday, which would have been on July 21. BOB ORTON SR. PASSES AWAY by Mike Johnson @ 1:39:00 PM on 7/17/2006 PWInsider.com is sad to report that Bob Orton Sr., father of Cowboy Bob Orton and grandfather of Randy Orton passed away on 7/14 at the age of 88 following a heart attack. During his career, Orton wrestled in a number of territories including the AWA, Georgia, Florida, St. Louis, and Stampede Wrestling. Orton held a number of championships including the United States title, the AWA MidWest Tag Team championships (with Mike DiBiase, father of Ted DiBiase) and Mad Dog Vachon, and the NWA World Tag Team belts with Eddie Graham. He had three children, a daughter and two sons, Randy and Bob, both of whom followed him into the wrestling business. Orton, who lived in Las Vegas, remained in touch with a number of stars from his era and was well known for calling his friends every weekend to stay in touch and fill them in with what was going on with their other former comrades. I believe he made his last public appearance (before fans) in wrestling during a signing in Rhode Island last year where he, Cowboy Bob, and Randy all appeared together. |
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