The Great Dane Part One

On a sad note ... Sunday morning, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis. I can only say to his wife and family that I am deeply saddened by this news. I hope that there is some comfort in the prayers from my readers and the many friends that Eddie had in the business, to deal with this loss. R I P Eddie.--Percival

(NOTE FROM ROB: For the next two weeks, Percival is kind enough to allow a guest columnist to share with us one of his greatest pro wrestling memories. This story of The Great Dane was contributed by Police Chief Paul Farber.)

I often feel like I can't remember what took place five minutes ago, but I seem to remember with each detail the events that occurred thirty years ago. Such is the case of the following excerpt of what I refer to as my wrestling cloud, Paul said.

It was late April 1969, and spring had come to Northwest Iowa. There was still a chill in the air, but the freshness of the air told everyone that we had made it through another winter. I can recall my excitement throughout the day that I would be off to the wrestling matches as soon as my work was done.

Although I had attended hundreds of matches in Sioux City, Omaha, Norfolk, Sioux Falls, and the small towns in the three-state area, I was always excited as if it was my first time to see "THE KING OF SPORTS." I was never content to go buy my ticket fifteen minutes before the matches. No! Not me! I would always be the first to arrive, as if I was the official greeter. They couldn't set up or start without me. Such was the pattern for my evening.

I hurried around my place of work and promptly headed for the door when my shift was over. My boss just shook his head as I left as fast as I could. He knew where I was going. I jumped into my car and headed about 30 miles to Kingsly, Iowa. It would be there, in the high school gym, where I would watch my heroes do battle for the evening.

The card was sponsored by the local American Legion Post. The promotion was from Omaha, owned and operated by Joe Dusek. I arrived at the building and immediately spotted the old green International truck that was backed up to a side door. This was the truck that hauled the ring. I knew the truck also had a bumper sticker on the back tailgate, stating, "WRESTLING KING OF SPORTS."

I parked my car, quickly headed for the truck, and entered the wide open door to the building. I thought to myself, it would be good to see and talk to Ernie (Dusek), who usually drove the truck, set up the ring and refereed. We had many good conversations and would even tip a few beers after the matches (that's another story).

I stepped into the building, which was the gym. The ring was starting to take shape. I must be late. How dare they start without me? I looked at the shell of a ring and could observe a tall, probably 6'3", somewhat thin man going over the ring parts. He was of light complexion with black hair. I recognized him, as we had become very friendly over the past couple of years. He had been gone most of the winter. "Hi, John," I said. He looked at me and said, "Hey! How you doing; been awhile." It was plain to see he was having trouble with overeager legion members attempting to help him. I asked, "Where's Ernie?" "He took some time off" was the reply. It was at this point that an elderly man with a Legion hat on and a grin that showed bad teeth stepped up to me and, with excitement in his voice, asked, "You a wrestler?" "No," I replied.

He looked disappointed and walked away. The rest of his friends slipped away and started to set up chairs and the concession stand. I stayed with John. He stopped and made some small talk with me. He then started to finish the ring. I helped him. It was good help because I had seen it done so often.

We started to roll the mat down over plywood, and a section tore at the seam. John said, "I got go get the tool box." He headed for the truck. Mr. Bad Teeth came up to me and asked, "What did you call him?" I just shook my head and did not answer. Mr. Bad Teeth then said, "That's THE GREAT DANE!" I thought, yes it is.

To be continued…

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers
2004 CAC Honoree