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Chapter 1: Chicago If someone would have asked me to write this book ten years ago there’s no way I could have done it. I came into the business at a time when kayfabe was the Holy Grail, and for over thirty years I would not talk about the business to anyone that wasn’t a part of it. Over the past few years I’ve softened, and can now openly talk about how wrestling is manipulated but it was a long process that I had to go through. When I sat down to write this book I knew I would have to be as open, honest, candid, and upfront as I could possibly be about my career, and I stayed true to that. I’m very comfortable with everything that’s in here, because it’s all factual and it comes from my heart. I also don’t mind if people speak ill of me after reading this, because as long as the truth of what happened is out there, then I’m happy. Here’s my story… Every summer, I went to stay with my favorite uncle, affectionately known as Uncle Butterball, for two months. He lived in the country, and for a kid from the streets of Chicago like I was, it was a great experience. I was ten when I was first introduced to professional wrestling by him in the summer of 1952. He was a big fan, and together we would watch televised wrestling that came from the Chase Hotel out of St. Louis, Missouri. I was awestruck by wrestlers like Pat O’Connor, Rip Hawk, “Wild” Bill Longson, Sonny Myers, Lou Thesz, and Dick Hutton - and in no time at all, I became a huge fan, myself. When I returned to Chicago, I discovered that wrestling was also on TV there. In addition to the local Chicago wrestling promotion, we had wrestling from the Hollywood Legion Stadium in California. It was sponsored by Tafon, which is “No Fat” spelled backwards. One of the top stars of that organization was Jules Strongbow, a big Indian wrestler. I recall him taking Tafon in an attempt to lose weight, and each week on television, they would weigh him. Besides Strongbow, the California wrestling show also featured Danny McShain, “Wild” Red Berry, and “Classy” Freddie Blassie. During my teens, I was a big swimmer. I loved it so much and was so good at it that I actually became a competitive swimmer, joining the Chicago Youth Organization, and participating in swim meets at the Y. When I was 16 years old, I was in a swimming competition in Fox Lake, Illinois, and I met someone who would change the course of my life: Billy Goelz. Billy was a wrestling star in the Chicago market, and he just happened to have a house on the lake where we were having our swim meet. As soon as I saw Billy, I recognized him because he was the Midwest Heavyweight Champion, and was very recognizable from his TV appearances. I went over and introduced myself to him and told him I watched him on TV. After chatting a bit, he asked me if I had ever been to the wrestling matches live. When I said that I hadn’t, he told me to come to the Marigold Arena that Friday night at 5:00 p.m., and he would get me in. That was the first time I ever went to the live matches - and I totally fell in love with wrestling. After a while, Billy got me a job at the Marigold Arena. I worked with a guy named Roland, who was the custodian of the building. He had been a wrestler, but had gotten injured, so Fred Kohler, the local promoter, gave him a job.