Amarillo '73

For many of us younger athletes, going to Amarillo was a learning process that required a lot of energy and stamina to belong to. You had to be tough; it just didn't come easily.

From the time I arrived in the spring of 1973 until I left in 1974, I found out what it was like to be on a bicycle (a trail of cities connected by wrestling fans) and travel to the rough house towns that were run by the Amarillo territory. With the passing of Dory Funk Sr., Dory Jr. and Terry and their team of yes men put forth an effort to keep Amarillo in the headlines and pack the arenas with bloodthirsty fans.

Our week started on Thursday night at the Fairgrounds in Amarillo, where many of the rednecks there would be given beer to drink at the matches still in its long neck bottles. Those cowboys didn't appreciate a lot of us because of our rough style and loud mouthed vociferous carnage hollered at them. Some even took to throwing those same long necked bottles at us or hit us returning to the dressing rooms, which were under the bleachers.

Many a night, I would ask for extra security, but the Funks liked the intermingling with “their” people and allowed more than their fair share of enticement with the fans that allowed tempers to flare and riots to break out that sometimes resulted in one or more of the wrestlers being carted away in an ambulance.

Probably one of the highlights I had in Amarillo was facing “Playboy" Gary Hart, who had been flown up to Amarillo specially to meet me one on one in the ring. I had a vicious conflict with him, and it ended with me being pinned and Bobby Hart (under a mask as the Patriot) rescuing me and leaving Hart on the mat to be carried back to his dressing room by fans. Fans that night found my Eldorado Cadillac and flattened all four tires and broke the side mirrors off of it.

Friday usually was reserved for either Clovis, New Mexico or Abilene, Texas, run by the Lawman. If it was Abilene, we normally rented a Cessna 260 six-placer, and most of the guys on the card would ride with us to save the 250-mile drive there and 250 back, getting in around 4 a.m.

Saturday morning, we would have to be at the television studios at 9 a.m. to do promos and get our bookings for the following week. Usually, at 2 p.m., we would meet outside of Amarillo and car pool to Colorado Springs or Pueblo that night. The rest of the evening, we would drive to Albuquerque for the 11 a.m. television show that was partially live and was the reason that we sold out there every Sunday it ran.

We would return to our hotels and sleep until around 6 p.m., when we would go to the Coliseum, where our cars were parked inside the building for safety purposes. The crowd was mostly Native American with a mixture of Mexican and redneck cowboys straight off the ranches and ready to blow off steam. The entrance to the ring was two cafeteria tables side by side and three deep from the dressing rooms and had patrons seated right next to it. All those folks had to do was reach out and grab you if they wanted to.

I remember being seated at ringside without a police guard behind me and grabbing Dory Funk by the ankle and tripping him as he criss-crossed the ring. I never made it back to my seat before we had a huge fight going between the fans and me. I ended up getting back to the dressing room with the help of Don Fargo and barely making it out of the building that night.

Leaving Albuquerque, we would then drive to El Paso for the Monday night matches at the Ector County Coliseum, run by the Guerrero family. Normally, we would get in around 4 or 5 in the morning, depending on when we got out of Albuquerque. We had a deal set up with the Holiday Inn where we would stay Sunday morning when we arrived until Tuesday morning for one day’s rate ($12). That was a lot of money back then for a posh hotel room. Some of the guys would opt to stay at motels for as little as $4 a night. I preferred a little more luxury and didn't want to carry cattle home with me in my luggage.

Tuesday was a four to five-hour drive to Odessa, run by “Rowdy” Pat O'Dowdy, and a huge oil town in West Texas. Like Amarillo, it had its fair share of cowboys and redneck oil drillers that came to town just to let off emotions of being alone building derricks and drilling for oil. Pat always had a lot of security on hand to protect the boys, but, time and again, it would get out of control.

Normally, we would travel the 200-plus miles back to Amarillo that night to get a change of clothes and spend a little time with family and friends. Wednesday, we would go to Lubbock, 125 miles from Amarillo, run by Nick Roberts. It would usually be a sellout or close to it every time we were there. I remember being in a Battle Royal that included Roberts wrestling. He made it a point to tie up with me a few times during the match and gave me what I had coming for all the remarks I had made about him and Lubbock. I ended up scooting out of the ring and hid under it until the last two men were fighting ... The Patriot and Nick Kozak.

When I crawled into the ring, the referee had no other alternative but to let me re-enter the tournament, as I had not been thrown over the top rope. We held Nick by the arms and each of us took our shots at him before dumping him over the top rope. It was then that the Patriot asked me to throw him over the top rope and declare myself the winner. I did and ended up with a $1,000 prize for my night’s work ... along with 35% of the Patriot's money for my services as manager.

Amarillo was a fun place to go to with so much to see and do. There were many small day trips that we could take. One of my favorites was Palo Duro Canyon and Old Town in Albuquerque. Carlsbad Caverns and Cripple Creek (just west of Colorado Springs) were also places that I used to enjoy when time permitted.

The year I spent there was a big learning experience and taught me a lot about human nature. Thank you to Dory and Terry Funk for giving me the chance to explore the Wild West and get paid for it as well.

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers

2003 BWC Hall of Fame Inductee
2004 CAC Hall of Fame Inductee
2006 LWA Hall of Fame Inductee
2007 TCCW Hall of Fame Honoree