Ep. 364: The Lapsed Funk: Birth of the Funker (Part 2)

You know, good for nothing eggs second dumb. We did it our way
because we love it that way. We love it that way. And I
have this wonderful gut feeling and I've had it all my life. When it's
time to go, I think it's now. There's time to go. It's
the Lapsed Funk. Part two, well, episode one, Part two,
it's the Birthery Funker. There we go, and boss, I hope you
didn't think we left the boys ranch permanently last week. I imagine not.
I imagine when it comes to the boys, there's a lot to unfold.
You had to say nothing with the boys in the locker room and the millions
of locker rooms that seems that Terry Funk occupied over the course of his illustrious
career. As TFF continues, it's look back on one of the most remarkable
careers ever in the business. And we met Dorri Funk. We became very
acquainted with Doriy Funk Senior, the patriarch of this West Texas family, this
Texas Panhandle dynasty. Of course, Bossy and your general sense. After just
the glimmer we got of Dory Funk Senior as the superintendent of the cal Farley's
Boys Ranch in Amarillo. What kind of guy I think we're dealing with here.
I think we're dealing with a guy who who is gonna be Okay,
I think when it comes to Dorrance, I believe Eve that I'm not saying
he doesn't love his kids. I'm not saying he doesn't love his family.
I'm saying I think that they see that that that that in their in their
mind, he treats strangers better than them. Okay, all right, well
we'll we'll see how that unfolds as we get to know even deeper on this
episode of the Lapsed Funk Dory Senior, he from which, of course Terry
and Dorry Funk Juniors, his brother sprouted, learn the ropes as a son
of a pro wrestling superstar, particularly in the h the Amarillo area, starting
essentially, not starting, but as eventually much like Fritz Fan Eric taking the
reins of this uh tech, Texas metropolitan area when to uh not only being
the star pro wrestler but also running and buying into the office and being the
boss of that territory for much of its definitive years. And we got to
know where he came from. We got to know where the Funks came from.
I kind of telegraphed it last week in having some fun with Frankfurt and
such, but I never knew, like, what what kind of name is
funk ethnically? You know, national? Yeah? Yeah, I mean because
to me that the surprising thing is that that's the real name. Right.
It's not like you know a wrestling name, that's that's their name. Their
name is Funk. Sounds like you know a show name, yeah right,
but no, indeed, this is the Funk plan. It's a German name
as so, so it is like Funke, yeah exactly. We've been pronouncing
it right all these years. But born in Hammond, Indiana, the son
of a police chief was Dory Funk Senior, and that police chief had emigrated
to the United States from Germany. So there you go, Oh was he
What year was that? Yeah, it's curious what kind of police when he
was in Germany. I didn't look too closely into it, you know,
these are the important thing. Interestingly, even though he became a pro wrestler,
Doy Funk Senior also a policeman, and that he could shoot on people
that were trying to expose the business. I've heard. I've heard these stories.
Yes, men screaming in barns do to step over toe holds. I've
heard that. I've heard he's a regular marksman. He shoots so well,
shoots Marx right, that's right right between the eyes, so classic. You
know, there's nothing more American than someone everyone thinks is the absolute epitome of
a Texas cowboy. Being born in Indiana. Absolutely, I agree, and
just I agree, adopting the the aesthetic of it and becoming the embodiment of
it even though he was born nowhere near it and was not christened in it.
It's all the Yeah, it's all those fucking guys who are like,
yeah, who who who somehow adopt or or or uh, I guess adopt
that. That that kind of to me. You can't get it unless you
were born there or at least raised there from your memory, because like I
know, Ben Affleck wasn't born in Massachusetts. He's born in LA but he
was raised in Massachusetts, so he gets it. But right, we're talking
about the mirroring of the Funker here. Yeah, and yeah, and so
for Terry Funk, of course, growing up in Rolo. It's it's true,
it's true. To his nature. It's the the vistas upon which he
looked from from you know, the embryonic stage. But for Dori Funk Senior,
he was, you know, a typical traveling carnie pro wrestler who just
set down roots wherever he sniffed the opportunity to you know, make the most
money in the hand to hand exchange business. That was getting him to come
out to the matches back in the fifties, linking up as we'll get to
with Fred Kohler, who of course was the ultimate, the dominant national wrestling
promoter due to being based out of Chicago, where the Dumont Network, one
of America's first, or perhaps America's first national sensation television network, was based,
and of course, matches from the Merrygolden and Chicago, featuring the likes
of Buddy Rogers and Gorgeous George and vere Gania and the rest, becoming the
first vehicle through which professional wrestlers in this country became television sensations. And Dorry
Funk Senior, while certainly not somebody that you would see featured in the headline
matches on those national broadcasts, was part of that troope. Yeah, got
a little bit of that shine. Of course, Haim in Indiana being quite
proximate to Chicago, and he sort of rode that to the traveling circus that
all those guys with that exposure were able to take two different territories across the
country, sort of outside of even the auspices of the NWA. We're not
even necessarily talking about luth AS's challengers of the time, so we've discussed Verenginia
sort of broke off with the United States championship and almost became another world champion
for the country, separate and distinct from the alliance of promoters that luth As
and Sam Muchnick were associated with, but still able to capitalize off that little
spark that happened out in Chicago back in the fifties. Was Dory Sr.
But born in him in Indiana and his father was Adam Funk. Okay,
okay, we're just wow, all right, to get to know Adam Funk.
This is the first generation Funk again from Germany coming to the United States.
We definitely need first Generation Funks. That might have even been a better
title for these first few episodes. I could have been Yeah, first Generation
Funk. That would have been pretty I like that FGF as it were.
And it was Adam Funk who came to this country and again found his niche
and police work. And let's just say the Funk gene of craziness didn't start
with Terry. Yes, that's what I like to hear. This was a
maniacal shoot him up like law and order motherfucker. Like if Sergeant Funk responded
to the scene and someone on the scene was showing any signs of being a
threat to life or limb, let's were gonna fly, wow, and Adam
Funk would be the last one left standing. Let's put it that way.
Yep. Any shootouts, many Texas style shootouts in him, Yes, he
had, he had, he had fucking he knew hardcore before Terry did.
Absolutely. I see so many more characteristics of you know, not who Terry
Funk was in his personal life, but who he embodied in the ring as
a character in his grandfather. Here Adam Funk way more than I see his
characters in my granddaddy. Adam he used to shoot people in the eye just
for doing nothing. Adam Funk, he went ahead and responded to the scene,
and before you know what, he went ahead and shot six people in
the head, and he went ahead and shot him in the head, as
it were. And we don't even know if they did nothing. They might
have just sat there, he might have just been walking by. I have
my theories, but I never sat with the man and talked to him.
But he went ahead and died before I could ever ask him these questions.
Therefore, I feel like I got to go and kill people in his honor.
I don't know who he is. What day is it? Oh,
I don't know who I am? Is this that Marilla? What did you
have? Hello? So I invite you to direct your attention to the newspaper
clippings I've dropped in your mailbox for dramatic reading here, okay, pure stlf
fashion. And I'd like to think that by the time we're done with just
two snippets of contemporaneous news coverage at the time Adam Funk was rising in the
police ranks of Hammond, Indiana, we'll have a solid enough sense of the
man and the sort of you know, base conditions from which the Funk clan
evolved in the United States. So all right, I'm ready. We have
a bit of a grab bag here, so let me uh, let me
orient you. Let's start obviously with Adham Funk one headline Officers and maniac in
terrific battle and this and this came out before Adam Funk joined the police force.
You guess, yeah, exactly, Officers in Maniac in battle against somebody.
I wasn't even thinking that way. I was thinking Funk was the maniac
the headline referred to. But that's even better. He sees the maniac and
they're going against the criminal officers and some guy who shows up to help the
police even though he's not on the police force. Every time there's a shootout,
engage in battle with maniac sounds something like that. You can do the
Terry thing, throw chairs in the locker room and go son of a bitch.
He just talks and grunts and roars. Terry Adam Funk fuck freak out
because his life is on the line. Terry Funk freaks out, thrown office
furniture because the spot didn't go right. He throws because he puts to put
his life on the line. That's what it is. January seventeenth, nineteen
thirty three. Ladies and gentlemen from The Times newspaper in Munster, Indiana.
Let's get a flavor of Adam Funk. In action, barcaded man is finally
shot to death after a five hour siege which is led by Sergeant Adam Funk
of Hammond Police. Three die in battle, three in hospital, and four
others wounded. Something tells me the dead, not at all or the wounded.
Ah Sheriff Roy H. Holly, former Hammond dentist, So I'm sorry.
Sheriff As Holly, former Hammond dentist, who was one of the most
popular law enforcement officers in Lake County, was shot to death through the top
of his skull last night. Two other ride them like this anymore. I'll
tell you that this is the way to fucking write an article. Two other
men were killed and seven seven were wounded in a wild four hour battle with
a demented farmer who had barricaded himself in his small frame cottage at Ross Ross.
What I suppose that's a part of Hammond and I guess. Sheriff Holly
died in Mercy Hospital, Gary, shortly after one o'clock this morning at his
bedside, where his wife lived. Hammond officers risk their lives. The farmer,
Michael Lantre Age sixty seven, finally was killed by sergeant let's put him
down, Sergeant Funk of Hammond. After Funk police Chief Tim Tom Martinson of
Hammond and Detective Ed Palmetteer Uh also of Hammond, had risked death to capture
the man in a darkened bedroom. Funk killed the farmer by shooting. So
Terry isn't the first Funk to shoot out there. And I'll tell you hold
on, ad All I've ever suggested is Terry Funk came from a normal background.
Funk killed the farmer by shooting a machine gun charge into his body just
as the latter was about to level his pistol at the Hammond officer. Not
happening. Come on, Lanter, how fuck you up? You're about to
get funked? Motherfucker. B madam fucking Fun hold hungrid for your blood son
with the German accent and everything fresh off the boat. Nine. All right,
I'm still dialing Sergeant Wight. The motherfucker This fucking guy like you like
this guy. Now he's done from his day's work. Yeah, okay,
Adam, Funk goes home after this, doesn't fucking batan eyelash, doesn't.
Just he's fucking normal as hell. He wants to. He gets home,
he has his fucking dinner ready, he's gonna listen to the fucking radio,
he's gonna read the paper, and he's gonna have the soundest motherfucking sleep that
anybody ever had. I know. Actually, night sep motherfucker. Huh.
He sleeps better when he fucking loads up motherfuckers with bullets. He goes to
bed. That's how he goes to bed. He goes to bed knowing that
he fucking did his job. Can you say, can you say the same
motifuck criminals today and I funked them? Okay, that's so true. That's
exactly what Adam funked in. I think we've read enough to establish that,
don't you. I'm Frilein. How ironic is it right that you know Dori
Funk was the German, but Fritz played the German. Pin my cock for
notup suck itself. Get on your hands and knees and put goohead. I'm
sitting here waiting, I don't know what the fuck is and put and put
my hot brought in your mouth right now. Okay, so the phone call
goes out, Boss, I think we're doing a multi part Terry Funk tribute.
There's just so many ways we can go, so many areas we can
explore because of the corners of the world. His career touched his upbringing so
colorful enough the time. What I didn't expect was by episode two, when
exploring Terry Funk's family lineage, that we would land on a Hammond, Indiana
sergeant from the thirties called Adam Fung who said an unquote, my cock will
not suck itself, and then he decides to call it a rot. So
all I can say is here we are. Please continue, Please, I've
got my brought ready to load up my fouer crouch all over your face.
Come on, fucking call on. Why no, it was not you did
not dial nine one one lightly in Hammon. Then let me tell you a
darkened bedroom. I love that detail. Yes, the only thing creepier than
a darkened bedroom is a darkened bedroom in the thirties in Hammon and the war.
God, absolutely fuck night lights. Nothing like that happened in this darkened
bedroom, you know. Yeah, one house in the middle of a field,
maybe a fucking moonlight coming in the window. So awesome, mister her
There's only one way we get out of this situation in a successful manner.
There are no choices, there are no options. One thing will happen and
one thing only, and that's as you will die. That's the hand of
the funk, all right. I want to drink all this one. You
will die at the end of the funk and I and I will drink your
blood and sleep happy this evening. Are you prepared? H what good enough
for me? I believe it's Adam fung Ke, Thank you very much.
This is Adam fung Ke, Master of the Funk, sixty years before the
invention of hip hop. He was. He was the original George Clayton,
Adam Funk, Master of the Funk. Funk, funk Master, funk Master,
Funk is what he is, funk Master. Bullet in the fucking head,
shotgun, blast through the door. God, okay uh. The other
dead man is is Louis Butner. Butner Wener, aged seventy, a farmer
of Ross whose death was the cause for the desperate gun battle with Lanterre.
About one hundred police officers, deputy sheriffs, and state policemen participated in the
four hour gun battle. Four hours, four hours, that's before fucking Funk
got there. And look at the picture of the man in the in the
fedora. Oh I'm i'm, i'm, I'm, I'm getting there. Oh
my god, look at it. Hero of many grim battles. Can't for
this fucking guy. Okay, let's see here. Okay. Daughter's view remains
when the farmer finally was killed by Sergeant Funk and his body was brought out
to the burning house of five Funk, Chief Mattinson and Detective Palmitteer, Lantaire's
two young daughters, Laura eighteen and Nancy twenty, viewed the remains in the
yard. Laura fainted, Nancy covered her eyes with her handkerchief. The two
girls had watched the four hour battle from the safety of a neighbor's home.
More than a thousand residents of Calumet District and adjacent towns viewed the battle from
a safe distance. They saw Sheriff Holly's unconscious body lying in the yard of
the home under the deadly crossfire of Lantern his attackers, under fire of the
madman. Officers John Bolden and Bill Nelson. Gary police crawled to the rear
of the house and carried Holly's body to safety. Trivial incident starts at The
trouble started early in the afternoon over a small incident when Butner's two sons,
Alvin and age eighteen and Lawrence, aged twenty three, and a son in
law, William Brown, aged thirty five, went to an orchard about two
hundred feet from Lantare's home to cut down an old tree for kindling wood.
At five o'clock, when the three men had chopped the wood and were getting
and were ready to cart it away, Lanterre accosted them with a gun and
forbade them from removing the wood. He said the tree belonged to him.
That brought the elder Buttoner to the scene. He disputed ownership of the tree
with Lantare. One word led to another, then suddenly, without warning,
Lantare leveled his shotgun at Butner's chest and fired a full load Jesus Christ buckshot
into the aged farmer while the latter sons and son in law looked on.
The sons fled and the son in law ran to a nearby telephone station to
telephone for aid. Sheriff Roy F. Holly was reached in Crown Point.
He sent an ambulance to the scene. The ambulance reached there before the sheriff
did, and under the watchful eye of Lantre, picked up a butner and
took him to the Mercy Hospital in Gary. He died there at nine o'clock
last night. Lanterre fled into his house at the approach of Sheriff Holly,
Chief Deputy Floyd Monnett, and Deputy's Jack west At, Edward Rogers and Tom
Kennedy. Holly shouted to Lanterre's to surrender, but the latter merely bolted the
door and ran upstairs. The deputy saw him in a window with his gun.
They hastened to a rear door. In the Meanwhile, Deputy Monnette,
noticing Lantare getting ready to fire, fired one shot at the farmer. He
said later that Lantare screamed as if in pain, but it was only a
ruse to fool the sheriff and his deputies, who had entered the house.
Brave man leads the way. Sheriff Holly led the way upstairs. When he
had reached the first few steps, Lantare leaned over the railing from the upper
floor and fired his gun point blank into Holly's skull. Fuck The charge struck
the sheriff on the top of the head. Holly toppled top backwards without Oh
oh that's it. Yeah, jump on to h Adam Funk two, which
is the continuation of police officers in maniac in battle. Oh my god,
this is the greatest fucking news story of all time, absolutely true. This
January in Indiana, fucking freezing, absolutely a word into the arms of Caldwell
and Rogers. They carried him into the next yard. Into the yard Lantare
opened fire again. This time, striking Rogers called well in the other deputies,
Uh no, striking Rogers calledwell and the other deputies dropped the body of
their unconscious chief to protect themselves from the deadly fire of the farmer. They
helped Rogers and called Well to safety and put and then put put in a
call for reinforcements. Soon police aid came from Hammond, Gary, Crown Point,
East Chicago, and Valparaiso in Porter County. They were commanded by Chief
Martinson of Hammond and Chief Buckland of Gary and Chief Nicholas Maker of East Chicago.
I love how Funk is like the and basically yeah, you know,
like he's not even He's not even the fucking first he's he's the heavy He's
the fucking relief pitcher, right, all right? Lieutenant Walter Wilson of the
State Police and Sheriff Nell Neil Frye of Porter County assistant the hamm and Gary
and East Chicago Police chiefs. Cordon A cordon? Is that what it is?
Cordon? Yeah? Was thrown about the house. Within a short time,
concerted fire was opened on the cottage from all sides. Tear gas bombs
were added to the attack, but Lantare had already broken out several windows and
the fumes therefore blew out of the house without harming him. About fifty bombs
were tossed into the building before the police repeat it. I mean it's Adam
Funk, so repeat it. About fifty bombs were tossed into the building.
I mean that is like fourteen paragraphs down that fifty bombs were deployed, right
right before they realized they were effect Brother, what he's an incident? Command,
dude? What's going probably? Why dude? What? Oh? Yeah,
I think for this one. Let's get the other terry out here.
Yeah. Land Terra turned the fire from the upper windows using his shotgun and
revolver with telling effect. Three other off. Others were wounded in the crossfire.
This guy shoots someone in the chest for taking his wood and then puts
himself at the top of his house, smashes the windows so the tear gas
ventilates, and then just picks off cops from the second floor. In nineteen
thirty three, in Monster, Indiana, active shooting motherfuckers in the end,
the Gary Police sent a town for an armored car of the Calumet Armored Car
Service Company or CACKS. It seems like, yeah, what did this carry?
This carried two machine guns. The car was driven to within twenty yards
of the house. Policemen, protected by the armored sides of the machine of
the machine opened fire with a machine gun on all windows. Nineteen thirty three,
it is believed that Lantare was wounded by one of these charges. His
body was found riddled with bullets. When undressed the morgue, one bullet entered
the mouth and came out in the nape of the neck. Lantair still after
Landare, however, still was returning the gun fire. Consequently, at ten
o'clock in the evening, Oh my god, with darkness surrounding the cottage,
the Gary police decided to set fire to the house. But this is a
fucking civil wars Jesus Christ. The policeman John Bolden, and Sergeant Willie Nelson.
So we've got Willie Nelson here, William Nelson of Gary ignited, Willie
Nelson of Gary or will William Gary of Nelson. I can't ignited. That's
a word for cigarettes. Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah, and threw them
toward the structure. While that's kind of interesting, I didn't realize that that
term made it all the way to to to the colonies. Here's different.
It as sticks. Yeah, oh okay, and through them toward the structure.
While the farmer was still blazing away at them. The fire brands fell
short of their mark. What a fucking bunch of idiots these cops are.
These are the worst cops ever under the protection of darkness. The two policemen,
I don't know. I look, I let the one I'm tossing it
all. What happened? He just fucking up load as much devastating lethal force
as they could muster from any manner of weaponry. This farmer guy, I
really didn't I don't know, I didn't make it. Maybe there's a I
don't know, Farmer Joe's up there stand in time a right fucking terminator seriously
under the protection of darkness. The two policemen crept up to the building from
another angle. Brother here apparently did not see them, for he was firing
in another direction. Nelson and Bolden, who was who? Uh? Who
is? God? We can't even read this hit? All right, they
decide to use I'd say he's a black guy or yeah, that's true,
it may not be black, which we have to put in the article,
right. We have to make sure we remember that this guy was not a
was not a Caucasian police officer. We reached the front of the place,
lighted their torches and placed them against the house. They ran away. They
ran away, their their forms illuminated by the rise of the quickly rising flames.
Handkerchiefs. This is the most the most brilliantly written article I've ever read
in my life. Handkerchiefs gathered from the excited mob were used to quicken the
blaze. While this was going on, Sergeant Funk, Chief Matt Martinson,
Detective Paul Matteer, and Cleo Edwards, Gary police officer closer to the front
door, out of the light of the flames. Come on, said Funk
to his fellow officers. Let's teck this over with now. Incredible, they
quoted him saying that incredible. Yes, it is. Terry would go out
and say, come on, let's get this over now. Yeah, right,
come on, let's get this over he advanced with Chief Martinsen and your
question, Boss, Yes, yes, I mean I understand this is a
very complicated tactical situation and you have to, you know, neutralize a lethal
threat to police life livelihood? Yes, why does there have to be a
fucking bonfire going on the whole time? Does that doesn't really help anybody?
I mean, I'm sitting here wondering, like what is like? Because then
you also have the two girls, this guy's two daughters, who are not
only watching their dad get pummeled with hot metal, but also their home is
being destroyed by these strangers. It's so fucking awful. Oh god, it's
normal though. This is what happened. It's front page news, But I
don't know, it's not really. It's not written like it's the most amazing
thing you've ever heard. It's kind of just the facts, man, which
it turns out those are more than enough because what a story. Oh God,
this is unbelievable. He advanced with Chief Martinsen and palmmeteered directly behind him.
They clambered into the armored car and the driver backed them to the door
while Lanterre's buckshot fire rattled harmlessly off the steel sides. And top Funk gets
into action. Subhead Funk gets into action, all cap bold Ye. When
the car was a few feet away from the door, Funk dashed out with
the other's close pocket. Go Sergeant Funk. They reached the front door without
harm. Funk was still was leading with Edwards at his heels. He pushed
against the door. It still was locked. They gave one united push and
the door carved in. Hey see union right there, right right there?
They stand united. Huh. I notice the adjective push, brother? What
sorry? I had done on? How we push? What? Brother?
Push? It's just there the funk push dude, Adam funk push dude?
What right? Uh? The house was lighted downstairs, Holly having turned them
on when he entered. Lantaire hid in the two darkened bedrooms above. The
men moved about by feeling the walls and touching each other's shoulders. God Funk
still leading found this found the railing revealing the stairs upstairs where Sheriff Holly had
been shot. Here is Funk, whispered in his right hand, he held
a submachine gun cocked for action, and it's left a flashlight cocked for action.
M M, thank you damn right. Funk risked his life and that
of his mates to turn his flashlight on for a moment, but Lantaire apparently
was busy elsewhere. The police officers ran up the stairs with Funk still in
the lead. At the top of the landing was the bedroom. Funk push
open the door. In front of him crouched Lantaire. Back of the farmer
stood a dresser, and upon it several holy pictures and two candles. Funk
saw Lantaire aiming a revolver at him weakly, but the police officer beat the
farmer to the draw. He discharged his submachine gun into Lantaire's body. The
farmer staggered for a moment and then fell against the dresser. The holy the
holy pictures, and the candles topped over on him. When Funk reached him,
Landaire was dead. What going on in that paragraph? Let me just
say, holy shit, whow. The policeman carried the body out of the
house into the front yard. Lantaier's daughter, hearing the firing, seas,
ran to the cottage from the home of neighbors where they had watched the battle.
They reached the yard just as the policemen laid laid the body of their
father on the ground. Laura fainted. Nancy turned away, sobbing. Say
it, Nancy, go ahead, say it. It is better that he
died, Nancy said, According to police, who desperately wanted to frame it
as everyone the rise guy deserved to get loaded up. Meanwhile, the flames
of the burning cottage cast an eerie glow over the scene. In a few
moments, the Gary Fire Department reached the house. They extinguished the blaze in
a few moments. At midnight, the place was deserted. The charred farmhouse
stood, its walls punctured with hundreds of bullet holes. Lantaire's daughters remained until
neighbors took them away. According to the neighbors of the dead man, Lantaire
had been acting peculiarly since his wife died four years ago. His daughters substantiated
that fact. Adam funk Wow that's the that's the iron in which Terry Funk
was forged right there, that's the crucible in which he hit. That's intense,
brother, unless you think this is just a one off, hyper dramatic
moment in the policing career of Adam Funk, the grandfather of Terry Funk.
I do want to share one more, okay, and you can go ahead
with us, your boss. This is from three years earlier, same paper,
The Times of Munster, Indiana, September twenty third, nineteen thirty.
To be exact, this is the last clip I sent you. Bandits brutal
act in garage? What man? Hold on? I got like it?
This one? Which one? What number is it? Is it? Four?
No? Which one is it? Three? Adam Funk? Three yep?
Okay, wait stopping stopping? Okay, hold on mm hm Bandits brutal
act in garage. Officer Adam Funk gets his man in an attempt to escape
bulletin we're shooting This afternoon of the two Bandit sweethearts arrested when John Ashby was
slain by Sargeant Funks. This morning revealed that the two youths were linked with
summer hold ups in the Calumet region. In Evansville, Jay Greenberg, propritor
of Sam's Army Store eighty three stag Screute, identified Mullen as one of the
two men who held him up one week ago today and took seventy dollars cash
and fifty dollars worth of a barrel. Mullen was wearing a shirt stolen from
the store when taken before Greenberg for a show up. We now turned to
our lead after this quick bulletin interruption. Thanks Jack. John Ashby twenty one
of Hammond is dead. That's correct, that's your lead. By the way,
Edward Bisson nineteen Kalamus City Garage at ten and is paralyzed with a bullet
wound in his neck. So and a young and a young bandit with and
two banded sweethearts are in the ham and jail. As a result did a
series of hold ups and shootings which began last night in Calumut City and ended
this morning in a yard at the rear of six of six six zero Truman
Boulevard in Hammond. Adam funk Cool had a detective sergeant of the Hammond Police
Department to ever get the idea that because he's always in the press for shootouts
that he's hot headed. No, no, no, he's not. I
didn't know what exactly what I'm doing. I am prepared for anything and everything,
and I am prepared to be responsible for the ending of someone's life.
Yeah, ended the terror rain at seven o'clock when he shot from his hip
and mortally wounded Ashbury. A riot gun. Shooting from his hip was also
something Terry was known for. Yes, indeed, shooting at his hip,
Well depends who he's against, but that's true. Going to shoot it out.
I'm gonna shoot it out with them, Ashby yelled to his sweetheart Adeline
Lewandowski as he attempted to escape from the Truman Street address, where he and
Monroe Mullen twenty one of Evansville had been trapped by fore Hammond police. Met
at the front entrance by Detective Sergeant Charles Plant and officers Ferdinand Schultz and Patrick
Kelly, Ashby ran to a rear window, kicked it out, and then
leaped to the ground. Read it funk in waiting. That's your fucking subhead
bold all caps. Funk was waiting, riot gun in hand? What's a
riot gun? I can only assume that's an irolatic weapon. What is a
riot gun? Um, not riot gun, buddy, I just seen a
riot gun. Please. Oh, I mean it's like a shotgun. I
don't know, or I guess it's a less lethal launcher. It's not.
It's not meant to be lethal. But in the hands of Adam Funk,
yeah, all bets are off. He ordered Ashby, known as a desperate
criminal, to halt and submit to arrest. Ashby ran for a distance at
of fifty feet and then wheeled around to shoot. As he tried to level
his forty five automatic, Funk fired, the youth dropped in his tracks.
The top The youth dropped in his tracks, the top part of his head
blown off. Adam Funk Mullen, who recently came to Hammond in company with
his sweetheart Agnes Whatever, also tried to escape via the rear window, but
came out pleading with Funk not to shoot. Ashby was launched from the was
wrenched from the arms of the Lewandowski girl and rushed to Saint Margaret's hospital,
but died a few minutes after arriving there. A brutal shooting, Bisa was
brutally shot down in the loss in service Garage six twenty four State Line Street
at eleven o'clock last night, after Mullen and Ashby had taken a money changer
containing twenty three dollars and forty cents from the attendant. Jimmy Moore, seventeen,
who was in the garage when the band had entered, was also slugged
with a gun. According to Moore, Ashby and Mullen drove into the garage
entrance and asked for a tire to be changed. Moore, who had been
helping Bliss a BISA, did the work in a few minutes and had started
to repair a defective light when Mullen suddenly drew his gun in ordered the two
youths back in the garage. Ashby backed the machine out so that a quick
escape would be possible. Mullin does firing. While Mullin kept the victims covered,
Ashby searched the garage. When he returned, the two were ordered to
lie down in a truck and stay there. Both were slugged by Mullen,
who then fired once and wounded Bisa. Ham and police were notified immediately,
and Sergeant's Plant and Funk hid themselves near the Ashby youth's mother's home on state
Line Street. They were not rewarded immediately. Mullan and Ashby left BISA on
the garage floor and are believed to have held up a prominent Calumet City soft
drink parlor shortly after midnight. They got two shotguns and a small quantity of
cash. It is believed by police. The proprietor, however, denied today
that his place had been robbed. Shortly after two o'clock, the two bandits
brought their sweethearts to the Savoy Hotel and registered as married couples. They used
R. W. Moore and Ja Brother as names, according to a desk
clerk who talked to representative of the Times this morning. At six o'clock,
they left and went to the Truman Boulevard address, home of Ashby's sister Missus
May Splawn, Planet and funk. We're still watching the Ashby boys home on
state Line Street and using the Hammond Telegram Printing establishment as a hiding place.
Do I have another page of this? Go on to Adam Punk four and
that will conclusion. Down at the bottom on the left hand column, you'll
see the subhead bandits, brutal act and garage. Gotcha. Oh, there's
a little bit more on that in this last one here, when a taxi
driver called at six forty a clock to get Ashby's clothing, So let's where
are you at? There? Oh, there you go, so that he
could make an escape. Funk hit on the floor of the cab and ordered,
this guy's fucking this is a wild West guy in he was a cowboy.
He was absolutely, absolutely this he's a cowboy right here. Yeah,
yeah, this, this is a fucking yeah this. Yes. Funk hit
on the floor of the cab and ordered the driver to proceed to the rear
of the blown home planned accompany the two policemen, all armed with riot guns
the home of the banded sister. He arrived there just as Ashby leaped through
the window. Police were questioning the two girls and Mullin this morning. Ashby
is reported to have been connected with several recent hold ups in the Calm region
he is serving. He He has served two terms at the Indiana Penal Farm,
the last of one of six months duration for a ham and hold up.
Chicago police suspect that the trio may have may know something of the recent
slang of Willie Fidelki, south side druggist, was murdered because two bannits found
that forty dollars found but forty dollars in his cash register. Two girls waited
outside the store in the car. According to records of the case, Bisa
is still in serious condition but may live. According to UH attached attaches of
Saint Margaret's Hospital, an operation this morning to remove the bullet from his neck
was expected to reveal whether or not he would survive. Adam Funk, the
detective whose accurate shooting brought an end to Ashby's career, showed no signs of
nerves this morning when interviewed about the shooting. It was a case of beating
him to it. He folded up like a jackknife and never as much groaned.
I knew he wouldn't live long. And in case you're thinking, we
just you know, decided this guy had an accent out of the clear blue
sky. What does it say right there, one quoted Funk said, in
marked German accent, you the the ala Gier girl said she didn't know anything
about Mullen's bandit career. I kind of expected something was wrong, However,
she admitted to police boss Adam Funk. Uh, well, he's my hero.
I mean, they do not can make them like that anymore. No,
they do not. They're not allowed on the streets after one of those
incidents, let alone. What was it think? Terry said that his understanding
was his grandfather Adam Funk, shot like eight people on the job altogether.
Wow. And you know, this kind of sounds like just a little bit
of you know, Funk exaggeration. But the claim was that a lot of
the crimes that Adam Funk dealt with in Hammond, which is not far from
each Chicago, which is not far of course from Chicago, Illinois. At
the time al Capone was running absolutely rampant out of that city as his base
of operations. That oh sure, yeah, got a lot of the crime
Adam Funk dealt with, a lot of the shootouts and stuff, were people
involved in the Capone rackets. Wow, so you have a he's a regular.
He's like, he's a regular untouchable there. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah,
it's although, you know, so when I heard that, I got
all excited to research Adam Funk, thinking I was gonna find all this color
about al Capone and his goons. But it's just it's just him shooting a
farmer and some guy who ripped off a fucking parking garage with the most brutal
fucking weapons ever. Like, it's not like this guy just fucking shot them
and that was it. He fucking molested that farmer with a fucking I assume
a Tommy gun right when they say submachine gun, I think Tommy gun.
And then he fucking takes a modified non lethal shotgun and blows a kid's head
off. I mean it said that it blew the top of his head off.
It says it unreal, and he gets interviewed and he's like, I
beat him to it. Well, you know, that's the thing about it
is one man has to get there before the other. And I got there
before. I always got there before Adam Funk mm hmm collapsed funk. Yeah,
it's not a joke. So there was sergeant Adam Funk. Now,
I always knew that Dory Senior was from Indiana, and in doing this research,
I realized, you know, the family went back even further in Indiana.
So I was trying to look at Adam Funk and I found that there
was a sergeant on the El Paso, Texas police department during the same exact
time period named Adam Funk as well. Incredib okay, But as far as
I can tell, as hard as it is to believe, considering how eventually
the Funks of course made their way to Texas and set down roots there,
this Adam Funk and El Paso has absolutely no connection to Terry Funk's family.
Okay, just exact same name. That's crazy. But in tracking the career
of Adam Funk, for this one of Hammond, Indiana, no indication that
he ever really served in police work anywhere else besides the city Hammond, or
at least the state Indiana that he landed in upon immigrating to the country from
Germany. He passed away in nineteen seventy seven in a newspaper out of Nebraska
I believe ran this obituary. Adam Funk, ninety one, a former resident
of Hammond, died at eight forty am Sunday at the Green County General Hospital.
Funk was born in Germany July twenty fourth, eighteen eighty six, the
son of Wilhelm M and Christina Funk. He had lived at Hammond a number
of years before moving to Linton in November nineteen seventy five, where he and
his wife had made their home at rest Haven. He had retired from the
Hammond Police Department as a detective sergeant in nineteen forty four. He had served
as chief of Police at Munster from nineteen forty nine to nineteen fifty six.
So very small detail, I mean. Sometimes Terry is referred to his grandfather
as a former police chief of Hammond, but according to his oh bit,
he was never the police chief of Hammond. He was the police chief of
Munster, Indiana, and served on the Hammond Police Department for years, reaching
the level of detective sergeant. He was a member of the Garfield Masonic Lodge
number five sixty nine at Hammond and the Shrine at South Bend. He was
also a member of the Fraternal Order of Police number fifty one at Hammond.
Survivors include the widow Emma, a son Herman Funk of Amarillo, Texas.
So Herman was already was of course there. This is the seventies, so
the you know, Dory had already made his way, right, a daughter,
missus Dorothy Warblow of Houston, Texas, and four grandchildren. It does
not mention his son Dorry. Wow, tell me why now? This is
probably because let's see, herman was his uncle was Terry's uncle, so yeah,
he should be in here. I don't know why he's not mentioned.
I do not know why. Very interesting this from Terry Funk's book. Adam
was no nonsense at home too. He expected his kids to toe the line,
and when they didn't, he fucked them up. He would not spare
the rod. As nice and glowingly as Terry Funk writes about his family,
he isn't afraid to slip in those details about how, yes, you know,
Adam and his father would would resort to violence. That is tremendous.
I think a lot of that transferred to my father, Terry writes, who
I saw get violent more than once. But he always got violent at the
right time. He was a great man, although he was somewhat difficult to
explain that sim Adam asters yeah the right time, Terry brother, what let's
break that down. You're saying your book, but yeah, that's man,
that's ain't that always the story? You know, there's a dad who didn't
spare the rod, a grandpa who didn't spare the rod, and you know,
after becoming one of the biggest stars wrestling ever produced. And I didn't.
And I'll tell you what, I didn't spare my brother Rod. No,
well, as far as we know, you didn't. Let's put it
that way. He did go before you did. But that all these years
later, generations later, you could say funk Is writing a book is one
of the most celebrated wrestlers ever, and he's still still compelled to mention that
his grandfather and his father never spared the r very very interesting. There was
a story he tells about how his father, Dorry, at one point ran
away from home to sort of like pursue some sort of hustle. It wasn't
framed as him running away out of fear or anything, but him running away
because he had some like hair brain scheme. Did Dorry Okay, he finally
returned home after being missing for like two months in Chicago, And let me
try to remember that. Actually it strikes me. It didn't strike me at
the time. It's a necessary detail. But as after reading that stuff about
Adam, it was like nothing, I don't want to know about this guy.
So let's see what it was that Dorry Senior was pursuing at the time
Before he went back home to Daddy Adam that Daddy Adam, Daddy Adam,
Daddy Adham. One summer between my father's freshman and sophomore years in high school,
Dorry Funk had what he thought was a great idea. He would slug
a few slots and send can owned stores in Calium, mid City on the
Illinois Indiana state line between him and in Chicago. So he's saying, you
know, this was a mob run casino, and to slug a slot machine
is to use fake coins to get extra plays. Okay. Their plan was
that my father's buddy would distract the store clerk while my father would push slugs
into the slot machines. Again, this is Terry writing. So his father
is Dory Senior, son of Adam Funk. He did well for about half
an hour. The only hitch to their scheme was a small window on the
front of the slot machine that showed the last three coins played. When the
clerk had finally taken more bullshit than he wanted to, he walked over to
the machine to try to keep him from seeing the slugs. Dory tried quickly
to put in three nickels so they would be the only coins visible through the
window, but he dropped his third nickel and the clerk saw the slug in
his machine. Dorry pushed him aside and ran out of the store. Knowing
the mob would be after him, and knowing they wouldn't care that he was
only a kid or who his old man was. Dorry felt he had to
get out of town, so he hopped on a train and rode the rails
for much of the summer. He actually admitted as far as Florida, decided
to head back before school started. He go wow. He got to Chicago
and walked the remaining six miles back home. As he walked up the alley
to the house, he wondered what he was going to say when six year
old Herman spotted him. That's his brother. Herman ran back in the house
screaming, Papa, there's a bum in the alley, and I think it's
Dorry. My father was filthy and he smelled offul Adam made him take off
his foul clothes, and my aunt Dot learned them in the trash can.
Yes, Adam asked his son why he had run away. When Dory told
him about getting caught slugging the slot machines, Adam took off his belt and
gave him the beating of a lifetime. Oh. The next morning, Adam
and Dorry took a father son trip to Callium at City. They went to
the store, where Adam made Dorry apologize for what had happened weeks earlier.
Don't you know I have a name to uphold in this town. Dorry also
promised to repay every penny he had built from the store. Then Adam told
everyone in the store, if you hard my boy in anyway, you'll have
to held to pay. Why your count. After Dorry's brush with the mob,
my father decided to buckle down at school. He became a good student
in an outstanding football player and wrestler. He the state wrestling tournament three years
in a row and became class president his senior year. But by your cun't
cut So you say no one stepped out of line? Isn't it funny?
Like from the boys ranch escapees to Dory leaving, it's always on them for
running away. It's always, of course, as they had done wrong and
they knew it. It's the parents didn't do wrong. They were fleeing consequences.
Very interesting. Let me tell you something Darrence. You look me in
the eye. You look me right here, right in mine eye. I
will tell you something I will not tell anybody else. If you disobey me
one more time, I will shoot you in the eye and I will not
cry about it. You are expendable and you are a hunt. Now get
down on your knees and thank me for sparing your life. However, I
will not spare the rod. But let me tell you some things right now.
I will not. I will not spare the rod. So, with
such formative experiences under his belt, or at least across his ass cheeks,
Dory Funk Sr. Is ready to become his own man in the world.
And you'll never become your own man. You'll always be a pussy mother's encouragement.
That's for your But it happened. I'll tell you something. You are
nothing. You are just the ship at the end of my anus. You
will never succeed, and if you do succeed, I will fail you.
I will fail you. What he my teacher? What the That is such
a strange thing for a father that's been characterized in such a way to say
at that juncture, you know I will fail you. All of a sudden.
This is incredibly deep, relevantory thing out of Adham Funk's mouth. Is
it broken English or what? Did we just have a real moment here?
You will be failed and I will be the fun in command of your failure.
Okay, so you're saying I'm gonna be a deputy in your department,
then, so Dory Durrance, let's get the flavor, Drance darns. He
goes from that whooping upon you know, fleeing his home city for months on
end in his boyhood summer years to be coming. Of course, Dori Funk
Senior of the Flying Mere Ranch in Numbarger, Texas, uh, the jenitor
of the Funk Wrestling Clan Amarillo Hero Folk Hero had eventually fathered to two of
the biggest stars in professional wrestling of the nineteen seventies, both in their own
respects NWA World Heavyweight Champions. So after all of that has happened, all
of that has developed, let's get a sense. Let's get some sound of
Dori Funk Senior on an episode of the Amarillo Territorial Wrestling Show, sitting at
the desk with the announcer of the show, talking about his two boys.
This is a footage that miraculously has survived and is on YouTube, and it's
a wonderful account and it should get a huge tip of the hat here as
we move on, big shout to one oh six North Albany, which I
believe is the address of the the Tampa Sportatorium or the Fort Hester the Armory,
one of the big wrestling venues in Tampa, who have preserved and uploaded
footage of Dory Sr. Geez sitting at the desk and talking about some training
footage that they're going to pitch to of Dorry and Terry training with their father
in an empty Amarillo Sports arena and let Dorry Funk senor his essence wash over
you. With Dory Jr. And Terry, I always keep I show him
ninety five percent of what I know and I keep five percent back so in
case he give me a little too too much rubble way, I can always
do something. And I believe right here Terry is going to be working on
takedowns. Takedowns was taking a man off his feet and uh, Daniel stop
if he gets Junior off his feet. These two they're going about three quarter
speed right now. Terry is going for the leg he's not throwing his legs
in there far enough for fast enough, and Juniors just stepped back a little
bit. He's back and I got away from Now Terry is wing locking in,
and I guess a lot of the Olympic wrestlers and amateur wrestlers around the
country will recognize that move. It's what we call a fireman's carry. A
pretty good move there. You move around. Junior is usually usual, cool,
calm, collect himself. But Eagan went cool, calm and calm and
collected and landed on his back there because Terry looked at him. You always
keep your eye, your eyes on a man's eyes, and that way you
know where his feet are going. It sounds a little funny, but you
just watched his face in his eyes, and you know what he's going to
do. Terry Junior, let him go for that one. Terry's starting to
go for a spinning toll. Not tell him stop it. Terry says,
okay, he just wanted to show that he had him in a position to
do that. J Junior, now, calm down, and I let Terry
go for the leg. And when he went for the lake and grabbed it
leg, I was already moving for the other thing, because I knew that
was what I was going to do. Because I knew Terry was going to
go for the lake, because I told him to go for the lake.
You got him all that. Why now Terry throw me in the ropes.
I say, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm shore Terry to
see. Now, Terry, he wasn't too smart, right there was he?
Because he was going to stop me. I said, Junior, what
are you doing? And while Terry was looking like at that, I turned
around and got his leg. Well, let's just part of the five percent.
I don't show these people, you know, here Junior goes for the
spinning toe home Noll exactly. You heard the story of the old story about
the father that told this kid to jump off with the uf the table into
his arms, and he did, and his father stepped back and the kid
landed there. Now his father was in the a murcantile bit business. He
said. The kid said, well, how come he did that to me?
Dad? He said, well, let's to teach you don't trust anybody.
Well, keep temper so you know, I mean her brothers. But
so your body slammed somebody on, Well, they don't like it. Too
much. Now there's Terry and Jr. I'm telling him, don't in those
positions where you're going to get body slammed Terry. Terry says, well,
he said he you know, he just talked me into it. And they're
talking back and forth, and Terry really takes a small year picks me up.
I say, hey, wait a minute, that's enough for this.
Well Senior down, so well, that's it. You know, it's great.
I know you have to be proud. They have two great wrestlers,
as you do, the world's everyweight champion. I believe, in my own
opinion, Terry could be if it wasn't for Doriy Jr. Well, what
I want to say is this that these kids have worked out and they've played
football at West Texas. Terry was the offensive captain at w T. Junior
played in the Sun Bowl. They wrestled from the time they were five six
seven years old when I was superintendent out of boys. Rancher have got a
tremendous wrestling program for the kids out there. So they've been athletes all their
life. And I guess they just Junior and Terry they both think they were
born to be champions. Now I don't know how I expected Dori Funk Senior
to sound, but it wasn't like that. No, I agree. I
mean that's that is a West Texas cowboy that sounds as Midwest as as it
sounds like he grew up in Lake Minnetonka. For Christ's sakes, this guy,
I know seriously now no Texas twang at all, which really fucked with
me because I was picturing a whole Fritz like accent to carry through the whole
series, and that's not gonna happen now. They're so it's so not that
it's disarming, at least with announcer Steve Sack there, who was kind of
the Steve Stack pardon me, kind of the the institutional voice of Amarilla Wrestling,
which tragically as a territory, has almost no surviving footage of what the
weekly television was like. There are pockets, you know, of this country
where the promoters didn't keep the tapes. They tape over them, and there
just didn't happen to be early adopters of VCRs in the market that kept and
preserved their tapes. A lot of the stuff we have from like Portland and
other places, our personal collections of wrestlers or fans in the area. They're
not master tapes preserved by the promoters, who, of course at the time
saw absolutely no value in these things because the whole whole reason you did television
was to sell tickets. The television show in and of itself had no value.
Really, it wasn't something right. There was no home video market to
think of reselling it to or anything like that, So it's it's a damn
shame. And Amarillo really is one where the exception of kind of that late
seventies, after Dory Funk had given up control of the kids and then the
kids transferred control and sold a territory to Dick Murdock and black Jack Mulligan.
There's there's a little bit of that footage from I suppose fans taping it off
VCRs. But when it comes to Dorifunk Senior and his heyday front and center
becoming the face of Amarilla wrestling, precious little. And we saw much the
same with Fritz, you know, we saw a little bit, right,
a little bit of Fritz in action, but that it to be when he
was working abroad, because I have the sense that Fritz van Eric was a
much bigger national wrestling star than Doriy Funk Senior was just as big in his
home markets as Fritz was in Dallas, but when it came to showing up
on national television or going to territories that had tapes that were preserved, much
less from Dorifunka in that regard. So we're gonna have to settle with that
framing there from that that retained footage of kind of what it was like to
see Dori Funke, and you get the sense right there he is presented as
the grand old man, somebody who is talking about his sons, just like
Fritz talked about his sons on the last television totally, and it kind of,
I don't know, it's kind of it's kind of weird. It's kind
of disturbing the parallels. If you asked me, I don't know, I
agree. I agree. I mean, I mean, at least no one's
committing suicide, right, And so I think in a lot of ways,
having the elemental tragedy of world class at our backs, we can, you
know, comparing contrast as we go through the lapsed Funk and a guy who
grew up in that same state with kind of the same set up with his
father running the office and being the top star of the area and putting his
kids in a position to thrive not only here but internationally and gain influence at
the national wrestling aligance such that they'd be in line for world title runs.
Why did the Funks turn out the way they did? Yeah, and the
von eRx turn out the way they did. I think by the time,
maybe because the Funks aren't actually from Texas, you know what I mean.
I mean, Fritz was from Jewett Texas. This guy was. I mean,
we talked all about it in the medical tragedy. We went all the
way back to some of the earliest references to the Attkison family and them sort
of being involved and if memory serves, like in local politics and land speculation
and all of that, and you know, Fritz as such as it is,
there's like a Jewet Texas museum that pays tribute to the guy. He
is truly a son of Texas. Yeah. Whereas whatever ethics Dory Funx Senior
picked up from his dad, Adam and Hammond, he transported to West Texas
and we get the Funks. So keep that in mind. There is one
piece of footage of Dory Funk Seenior Inaction and his prime that's on YouTube.
It's against a wrestler named Abe King Kong Cashi, which I'd ask for you
to open up, boss, we'll watch this. There's no audio, so
we don't have to worry about the people hearing what we're hearing. But this
is kind of a flavor of how we're going to treat the actual wrestling stuff
that's going to be part of the Lapsed Funk. We're gonna watch it and
invite you to do it as we do. Not everything we watch is going
to be very easily accessible to everybody on YouTube and such. We have a
lot of different sources we're pulling from, but whenever possible, we're gonna try
to direct you to where you can watch along with us. But here from
the fifties, I don't think it's more specific than that. From the great
YouTube account wrestling films. It just says Texas Professional Wrestling, Wild Action Story
Senior in Action. So if you're at zero zero zero, we'll do a
countdown that I am three two one play and so here we go film.
I love it. I believe that's King Kong Cashi up there signing autograph with
the towel around his neck. Oh, he's the baby face. It would
appear so, I guess, because that we don't have audio. But that
does not look like Dory. Dory looks like the one in the right.
That's almost definitely him. A following fall come following one fall match. It's
going to be here wrestling fans, look at that. Look at the woman
there in the front row with her like she's got some kind of thing on
her. Oh, he's kicking the referee. A referee or yeah, examining
Dory for any of foreign objects in the in the boots and such, and
he kicked him down. Let's I forget Fritz was Fritz started like a heel
in his in his scenia, just like he was a heel everywhere else he
worked in the fifties and six. But eventually they came to understand more about
his family. We talked about how slowly but surely, in the wrestling magazines
and the local press, he began to reveal that he was actually Jack Atkinson,
right, particularly when he started having a family and wanted them to be
you know, talked about artist the Kennedy's. Yeah, funny enough, they
wouldn't fucking change the names right to Adkison. They still have the German name,
but whereas this guy's actually German and calls himself Funk, right, well
that's German. He doesn't play a German at all. Right, And that
woman in the front row also known as being someone who came to see Jack
Kennedy on the Grassy Knolf. They look like that. Look at look at
Dorifunk Senior. Total chicken shit. It looks like a Kennedy right there.
Cut to a fan looking for Look at Dory on the left. Look at
him. You can see he looks a lot physically like Dory George Jr.
Yeah, Yeah, he's strutting, he's posturing. This is so a lot
of it looks a lot thinner than Dory Jr. Yeah, Coller and elbow.
This is the Dory Senior that he, you know, grew up watching
in his formative years and took mannerisms from in that bolo fore arm. I
think has a has more Dorry Junior in it than Terry. But we're seeing
a Dory senior here playing the chicken shit. Heel playing the complaining, you
know, backing up handout ref checked the Jack Ham is that a referee or
an orderly right. I know back then the ref's all dressed up like they
were running a psych ward. I don't know why. She's like, they're
handing out pills to the fucking they maybe they were, maybe they were handing
out pills the fucking uh, the fucking patients. Dorry complaining to the referee
about a closed fist. It appears from Abe Cashy. I saw it,
I understand. I saw it definitely a closed fist. Now going to work
on the left arm as Dory Senior kicking upwards at the armpit, cranking that
arm. Dah wrestles into the kansas to get the flavors. You know,
this is a door who is beginning to to make his name in the professional
wrestling business, who's developed a style, but he's got a very very sound
fundamentals and a very solid base. We're talking about you know, catches catch
can work in that style, and here we certainly seeing him put the skills
on display that we just heard him talking about. And watching that footage of
Dori and Terry training on Amarillo Television, you know, basically trying to act
like this is all an extension of legitimate amateur wrestling and which it is.
Whereas you watch the story Funk Senior match and he's he's basically Larry's Abisco,
like, you know, running away from everything, right. So it's interesting
the ways in which Funk Senior was kind of an amalgamation of both of his
sons, you know, because you can see Dorry Senior look almost exactly like
Dorry Junior and some of the more technical exchanges in this match, but when
it comes to scurrying away and playing that side of the business up, you
see Terry. Yeah, So you absolutely can see where both drew equal inspiration.
And let's not forget early in his career Terry Funk was very much of
this style as well. I know, it's so wacky to think about seventies
Funk, right, you know, like Paradise Alley Funk. Right. That's
actually a great way to put it. You see Dorry controlling the wrist and
we get the uh, the flavor, so we can move on. But
that's that's sort of what it looked like. I like it to see the
progenitor in action. And as Terry reflects in his book on his father,
he won the state wrestling tournament three years in a row and became class president
his senior year. He took his wrestling to the next level after coach Billy
Tom recruited Dorry into the University of Indiana and Bloomington. Coach Tom, considered
one of the best coaches in the county, was a strict disciplinarian. There
it comes again. There it is again. Strict disciplinearian a lot of those,
and specialized in leg wrestling and hooks. His forte was the top body
scissors and a variety of leg locks. Coach Tom also taught how to cross
a man's face while applying these holds, making them torturous but still legal under
amateur wrestling rules. Used properly, these holds can knock a man out and
short. Coach Tom taught his wrestlers how to hurt their opponents. Yes,
so that's where Dory's learning and as he's transitioning into a collegiate wrestling career on
the mats, we start to see his name pop up in the Indiana Press,
much of the same papers that his father's heroic police shootout exploits were documented
in. This went from the Monthy Evening Press April third, nineteen thirty seven,
so right around the time a couple of years after his father was in
the paper for the shootouts, we see this headline him and grapplers go into
semi finals. Dateline Wilkespare, Pennsylvania, April third. This was carried by
the Associated Press. Papers across the country saw this reference to Dory. Twenty
seven representatives of associations throughout the United States and Canada advanced to the semifinals and
the Young Men's Christian Association National Wrestling Championships Finals will be held tonight. Wrestlers
from Baltimore, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Ontario, Chicago, Pittsburgh,
New York City, Philadelphia, Hammond, Indiana, Washington, Wilmington, Delaware,
Waterloo, Iiowa, Youngstown, Ohio, Estonia, Connecticut, and many
Pennsylvania towns competed in the first round about summaries. Casey Frederick came in Indiana
drew a by one hundred and fifty eight pound class Durrance Funk, going as
Dorance by the way Ladies and Gentlemen, earliest reference I could find and publish
reports to Dorrance Funk. Durrance and in Indiana won a decision over John Guidos
of Youngstown, Ohio. So that's nineteen thirty seven. He's clearally not pro
yet, he's competing in a YMCA Young tournament. Nineteen thirty eight comes along
and we have him being referenced as part of a joint fascinating a joint boxing
and wrestling card and what appears to be like pro wrestling. I'm not sure
though, maybe it's just like an exhibition of amateur atline Coyo Specialist is added
feature of Inland Legion bouts. Friday Elba Cole, former Hammett High School champion
and novice King of the American Legion Blue Glove Boxing Tournament held here at April,
has agreed to meet an opponent to be named by the Legion Boxing Committee.
We remember from our clips about cal Farley too, the American Legion was
apparently a big organizer of traveling wrestling exhibitions. I believe that now you can
see it, the tradition kind of continues like your local indie. Yeah,
pretty good chance is that the National Guard Armory or something like that, right
or at like the fucking Lions Club or the Elks or whatever exactly. The
Legion Committee had already scheduled ten bouts at the Civic Center, but will add
another bout to their card tomorrow in order that boxing fans might again see Elba,
who proved to be the crowd's favorite in the tournament by winning four of
his five bouts by the KO route. Two wrestling matches are creating a lot
of spectator interest. Casey Fredericks of the shell Ac will meet John Ettian of
Inland Steel Ac and Durrance Funk we'll meet Paul Clack of the Inland the boys
from shell and confident that Frederick's can take a ten and the Hammond Police Department
is boasting a func'sibility to pin Clack to the mat again. That that common
synergy there between police departments and the American Legion Athletic Leagues. Police Athletic leagues
were a big presenter of pro boxing and wrestling cards at the turn of the
century. Says here, Inland's crowd is pretty confident, having a long list
of victories over good many clubs. Coach Fred Green is bringing over about between
two flyweights a flea weights. I never heard that term fla weights don't ap
weight class. That is, those two Land lads fight at forty pounds apiece
and Fred says they really turn on the steam from the going to the end.
I said they're forty pounds. I don't think they mean forty pounds.
Maybe they do. Maybe it's really youngsters. I've never heard the term.
Let me see here, it's babies infants? Right? Is that is that
how they wrestle? No? No, no, no? Nah? What's
that? What is that? Oh? That's yes? That was that was
That was the I didn't pause the video. Yeah, I didn't stop it.
I just minimize it. And so that fucking went on to the next
video. Apparently flea weight is something that exists. Here's an article from Topology.
Should you have to introduce a fleaweight division and put on bouts between dwarves
and midgets? Okay? Oh, I see, so it's very very light,
it's the it's very I don't know if I don't know if dwarves would
and little people would appreciate being compared to fleas. You think the small stature
and the seeming amateur quality of the matches being described mean there isn't business to
be done. This article concludes by saying the Ticket Sales Committee reports a good
advanced sale of choice seats and it is expected that a big crowd will be
on hand Friday night to witness another event of fisticuffs. So whatever this is
in nineteen thirty eight, that's being described this combined boxing wrestling presentation involving the
American Legion. In nineteen thirty eight, en Dorance Funk before he's even referenced,
is Dori Funk is in action. This is an enterprise. He's already
getting his taste of you know, drawing at the gate, your name appearing
in articles that talk about ticket sales moving, and so this is for all
intents and purposes, the introduction introduction of the Funks introdunction. You can get
where that that's a word, that's a word intrafunction. Brother of the family
into the wrestling business. We can if you need to plot something on the
chronology, you point to nineteen thirty eight. Yeah, as the first clip.
I can see that that indicates Dory is doing this now professionally such as
it was. He also meets his wife. This from nineteen forty of special
interest because the news involves too widely known and well liked young people is the
announcement by mister and missus dorn'ce Funk that they were wed a year ago.
Terry talks in his book about how well there's basically a secret marriage between his
father and his wife, beause yeah, I think they were still in university,
or they weren't in a position in life where the family would have necessarily
received the news positively that they were hitched already, So there had to be
some degree of hiding it. So this is finally it coming out in the
papers. I can just I don't know. I'm starting to get the flavor
of an Adam Funk who's really mindful of how he's perceived by his public in
the city. Absolutely, come on, he's got come on, he's a
pluck fucking police officer. He's got it be his. If his family isn't
aren't killers, then what good is he? Wow. The marriage was made
known to relatives and friends in August sixteenth, which was the couple's first wedding
anniversary. Missus Funk is the former Miss Dorothy Mattlocke, pretty daughter of mister
and Missus C. E. Mattlock sixt' nine three to two, Jackson Avenue,
and mister Funk's parents are Mister and Missus Adam Funk for seven and two
five Seater Avenue. Nothing like putting the fucking police chief's address in the newspaper.
By the way, Yeah, the couple's secret wedding was solemnized and Crown
Point at the same time that mister and missus a sodomized what's that sodomized?
Oh, I said, solemnized, oh sorry in Crown Point, at the
same time that mister and missus Arthur Croke of this city exchanged their wedding vows.
Since the announcement of the Matlock Funk wedding, the young people have been
living at the home of the Mattlocks, but expected to have a home of
their own the first of September. Like that's anyone's fucking business. I know,
seriously, this is all private information. Missus Funk recognized. No wonder
people were so mindful of propriety back in these generations, you know, No
wonder they cared so much what everybody thought it would be in the fucking newspaper,
no matter what everything, everything was in the newspaper. I mean,
the degree of detail in these wedding announcements is stunning to me compared to the
wedding announcements that you see today now and you know mister Funk is the one
who was fucking his secretary in the past couple of years. Having read the
story, please feel free to phone our hotline to cast your voters to whether
these two deserve each other or not, should be married or not, and
we will and believe me, believe you me, the people will speak on
this. This is Funk, recognized for her musical talent, particularly as a
pianist. Is a graduate of the Hammond High School and is a charter member
and first president of the y DA L Club. For the last four years.
She has also been employed at the Hammon School of Music. So there
you go, coming from a musical family, where does that ring a bell?
I feel like all the time under the cinemat they come from. Oh,
the mother was a pianist, right, because that was we just talked
about that with the wrestler, the guy who wrote the guy who wrote Gump,
who wrote the movies, righte pianist Eugene Gump. His mother was a
big concert pianist or something like that is she she was a she was a
musician, and she would you know, accompany him whenever he would, you
know, perform at like on the radio or stuff. Like that. So
there you have it. A Terry Funk's grandmother, a charter member of a
key music club, a pianist, a music talent, and Hammond music boarder.
Mister Funk, it says, also has graduated from the Hammond High School,
where he had the signal honor of being president of the Students Association during
his senior year, this, of course, being Dory senior they're talking about
here. Later, he attended Indiana University and joined the Sigma Pi fraternity throughout
the region. Mister Funk is known for his athletic ability. He's employed by
the Inland Steel Company. His father may come after you, right, exactly
this this, this piece was published in this exact warding at the request of
Sergeant Adam Funk, who left a stern, if not broken, English recommended
letter on our newsroom's doorside. Right, you do not put this in the
newspaper. I will find you. I will shoot you. I will shoot
you and your families, and I will remain victorious. Exactly correct to the
point about there being some level of secrecy to the marriage. This is what
Terry wrote in the book. My father loved wrestling at the university, but
he loved Mom even more with the baby coming, he didn't want to go
back. Dad went to work for Pullman's Standard, which had started making tanks
as opposed to train cars their usual fare as the war heated up in Europe.
So this is a Dorin's Funk that, despite dipping his toe into the
competitive wrestling waters and having a father of some prominence in the community, is
basically starting out at a typical blue collar job working in an industry, working
in factories wow during the war effort. Having married his sweetheart before completing his
education, and that would very much be something that his son Terry Funk would
would take after as well. In meeting and wedding his wife VICKI before you
know, setting up on a post college career. Right, so they get
to baby making, of course do mister and missus Dorance Funk and absolutely plowing
going on before they had a farm. Okay, imagine can you imagine just
look at the time, right, there's no reason to hold back. I
mean, it's not like you're saving yourself, you know, or I mean
you know you're there, you're there, and just fucking go to town there,
Yes, you're there. I guess that's true. You know better and
better now than never, And that's clearly what was on Dorrance's mind as they
create Dorry Funk Junior born in nineteen forty one. Welcome into the world,
Dorry Funk Junior, future in WA world champion and legend of the business.
And yeah, Dory Senior, despite working at Inland Steel and working in factory,
starts to get bit by the wrestling bug. I think that clip we
read earlier indicates that he's kind of already involved in some degree of showbiz wrestling
in the thirties, late thirties, as you's a youngster and he wants in.
And of course Fred Kohler is the powerhouse promoter right over the town line
there the state line, I should say, in Chicago, it's not too
far to start to see, you know, television superstardom as a possibility worth
reaching for. And yeah, Doriy Senior starts looking for challenge matches around the
area. Despite you know, being out of wrestling as far as like a
circuit that he would regularly participate in, having a regular job, he would
still look for opportunities to prove himself, which was a way into pretty much
the way into the business at the time, not everybody followed this. There
were certainly wrestlers like a Bronco mcgirsky or an Everett Marshall or so many others
who had fame from pro football or from some other athletic endeavor that landed them
in the media spotlight and were sort of dano O mahoney as well, and
their hand was held into the wrestling business. It's not like everybody had to
prove themselves in shoots and closed door gyms, but if you really did,
if you really didn't have a lot of name, a lot of pizzaz behind
you, it was pretty much the only way in. You had to basically
go around and find people to challenge and kind of matches that were closed off
except to people that could appreciate what what toughness looked like in wrestling. Before
anybody would acknowledge to you that it was a work and to put on you
had to prove yourself in gym matches and things like that. That Luths even
talks about having to do that against the likes of Ads Santelow before he broke
into the businesses as as a young man. And these are matches you know,
that are held kind of like adjacent to the circuit. The Dory was
competing in YMCA's boys clubs, these kind of places where you could pick up
challenges improve yourself. And Terry Funk tells the story that is, his father
did well in some shoots and as a result, was allowed into his father's
former was allowed into the business, and his father's former high school wrestling coach
had started a promotion and Hammond. So how about that your high school wrestling
coach starts to see that, you know, a professional version of this is
like the biggest sensation on television, and it starts a wrestling promotion in Hammond,
Indians. So crazy. Imagine that if your high school wrestling coach turns
promoter. I mean that sounds about right. Actually, I would just love
that's where it should be. That'd be a great story if it was happening
today, you know, like grooming your high school kids to then turn around
and like get their first jobs being being fake athletes. Yeah, like teen
heart throbs in the local market, so being fucking phonies and the Yeah,
that'd be a mad love it unbelievable. Terry kind of frames this high school
coach as someone that really didn't make much of a go at it as a
pro wrestling promoter, just kind of did it on a lark more or less,
not somebody you'd recognize or somebody that wanted to have many promotional achievements,
but you know, it was it was perfect timing for his father, Dory
Senior, because you know, he needed talent, and apparently this promoter,
the high school wrestling coach, made a deal with the mighty Fred Kohler to
be somewhat of a local offshoot promotion for him. So the kids are now
greased, you know, for Dorry Senior, there's now a path to television
start up in the wrestling business, and yeah, he starts getting some opportunities.
At the time, guys like Joseph Oldi were on top. Joseph Oldie
was a football player as well as a pro wrestler. He was known most
especially for being a special ops agent for the Office of Strategic Services during World
War two WOW, where he'd basically go behind enemy lines as an Italian and
pretend to be, you know, an Access power sympathizer instead of an Allied
power sympathizer and pass on intel across enemy lines back to the Allies. That's
hilarious. So another example of someone that was kind of brought into the business
because he had starredom from pro football and got opportunities that way. As far
as his father, Terry Funk says, he beat a shooter named Walter Palmer
to really get noticed as you know, a potential recruit into the pro ranks.
But there's an article in nineteen forty I found that says Dory didn't make
it to a match scheduled against Walter Palmer due to suffering a cold. It
says it in the article that Dory cannot make the match due to a cold
in nineteen forty, and it seems like this is the match that Terry is
referring to that was really Dorry Funk's first big success, breakout pro wrestling match
was against a guy named Walter Palmer, who was a guy in that circuit
in and around Chicago of decent repute and stature. But I bring up Joseph
Oldie because he's going to be mentioned in the main events of some of the
shows that Dory Funk Senior first starts getting going on as a pro wrestler.
Walter Palmer was the inventor of the spinning toe hold. Yes, this is
according to Dorry Funk Junior himself on his website, who he used to write
a lot of articles back in the late nineties and stuff on his website reflecting
on its times. It was kind of put into a book form, one
that we've already cited here in the Lapsed Funk and we'll continue to as we
go here, and he assigns credit to Walter Palmer. So if we want
to talk about where the spinning toe hold came from, which is of course
just like the von Eric claw, the signature move of the Funk clan.
There it is Walter Palmer. And here you can find a match between Walter
Palmer and Luthez, for instance, from nineteen fifty one on YouTube the International
Amphitheater in Chicago, which is the big Marquis wrestling venue besides the Mary Gold
at the time. Yeah, and by nineteen forty six, newspapers such as
The Times, not the New York Times, but the Times, I think
of Indiana, Munday, Indiana, we're running articles like this Walter Palmer,
Chicago heavyweight who claims the world's title as a result of winning every bout for
four straight years, is taking a big chance tomorrow night when he wrestles the
Green Hornet and wrestling his wrestles is spelled r A S S L ees.
You better believe it. Of course it is. That's what it is tomorrow
night when he wrestles the Green Hornet in the Civic Center feature. Palmer must
feel that way too, for he wouldn't consent to meet the Hornet without guarantee
of a return bout in the event the Mysterious Man one second paragraph, Dori
Funk, fresh from long service in the Navy, does business in the semi
final bout with Bill Conki the Durable Swede. Funk having Swede. That's oh
no, excuse me, Bill Conky, Come of the durable Swede. They're
saying, Bill Conky is the swede. Lest you get concerned, Boss said
durable Swede, the durable Swede. Okay, boys, watch that be like
an indie gimmick. In two years, the Durable Sweet something Christofferson or something
yeah right right, and people are going to pretend they didn't hear it first
on the lapsed fan right, Funk will be like a Ring of Honor champion,
and aw could very well be Funk having mastered a flying head scissors.
It reads here now rates is one of the classiest matt men in the business.
So by nineteen forty six, that's no time at all. That's just
a couple of years. Here Dorriy Funk's being written up in the local press
as one of the classiest matt men in the business, who's coming in fresh
from lung service in the navy. Very similar to cal Farley Sure coming out
of service and being presented as a babyface in newspaper coverage because he he was
a veteran and had that going for him. So this is the early embryonic
Dorriy Funk Senior here being reflected in this news coverage. So we move from
that piece in nineteen forty six of g January util later on in nineteen forty
six, Dorry's now in the main event, the tag team, of course,
it reads is just a preliminary to the main event, which matches Hammond's
own sailor Dorry Fun. Excuse me, and sailor is a capitalist god.
So not only was he in the navy, they name him Sailor Dory Funk
for a time. I don't think anybody knows that about Dory. But there
it is. I don't think anyone wants to know that about Dory Punk with
Walter Palmer, the unbeaten Chicago bruiser. So Walter Palmer despite being you know.
In addition, I should say to being one of the standout Chicago heavyweights
of the fifties, not only wrestles Dorry and kind of ushers him innt of
the business, but teams up with him in main events as well. Palmer,
undefeated for four years, refuses to take Funk lightly. Quote. I've
seen Dorry Rassell three times, Palmer says, and he impressed me as one
of the best young heavyweights to come up in the last ten years. Look
at that otey. I've seen Dorrance, I've seen him wrestle, I've seen
him dead as things done, and I'm going to tell you something about that.
He may be the best thing I've seen. This week, Funks to
use tricks Navy taught him. This article reads Dory Funk, Hammond heavyweight promises
to use secret weapons tonight, Oh my God, in quest of a wrestling
victory over Walter Palmer of Chicago. Unbeaten for four years, Funk and Palmer
are matched in the sixty minute main event in the Civic Center. I learned
several tricks in the navy, Funk said today, and I'm saving them all
for Palmer. I don't like to pop off that. Mister Palmer will need
his best stuff tonight. He's a navyman, Boss, He's a Navy man.
He's something, all right, So Dorry Junior, as we referenced coming
into the world in nineteen forty one, Terry Funk coming into the world three
years later June thirtieth, nineteen forty four of the exact we witnessed the birth
of Terry Funk. And where did he get his name from? The first
name Terry. According to his book, his mother named him after after A
Haul Cogan. Hell, good guess any other guesses nineteen forty four than Terry
four? M No, I can't think of anyone. I didn't expect you
to. But maybe this was a more well known thing than I appreciated at
the time. There was a comic strip that would run on all the major
newspapers called Terry and the Pirates No fucking Clue. It was later adapted into
a television series, and one of the lead characters on the show was Terry
Lee, who according to Wikipedia, was a teenager when the series begins,
who is excitable and loves adventure. Brother. As the series goes on,
he matures and joins the US Army, becoming a pilot, and after the
war he worked for the government in the post war territories. It says,
as does Terrry Funk himself. That's right. In his last comic strip,
every twenty fifth of nineteen seventy three, Colonel Lee is a USAF officer who
helps break up a heroin smuggling ring which results in the rest of its head
the president of a foreign country. So, according to Terry Funk, his
mother was a big reader of this comic strip and decided, you know,
with the characteristics of this Terry Lee character, that that would make just a
fine name for her precocious young boy. And Terry Funk in so many ways
would live up to the characterization. That is true. That is true.
Reference that it became a television series on CBS. So let's get a taste
of what Terry and the Pirates would have sounded like. And we actually hear
a little bit from the Terry Lee character in this clip. Back then,
Terry and the pirates somewhere over Asia. The modern airplane blends with the endless
clouds. This is one of the planes of air play. Proprietor chop Sticks
Joe, a colorful Oriental with a flair for occidental hep talk. We have
services to one and all, but first of all to himself. Hey,
Terry, hot chops, see hot Shot, what are you doing on the
Hey so early I thought I tolos grease monkeys to candy chatter. Told him
my number one fly boy was in the sack, Like I say, it
was hot Shot. Some places in the wild yonder if the wings hold together?
What there are times when a man has no choice. Uh, Sometime
urgency require expediency. Translation plays rollers say that again, Terry translation please translation
phase Pretty remarkable as they kind of talk about this Terry character or someone that
would go on, you know, international adventures to the country of Juan.
Yeah. Well, and that seems familiar exactly what Terry Funk goes on to
do. So there is the character in dialogue with Yeah, Chopsticks Joe.
You better believe it's an offensive Asian caricature. A white guy, you know,
with eyebrows made up to look like a Japanese man and they talk core,
oriental and occidental and all that, and yeah, that's off the time
accidental as well. So that's the inspiration that Terry's mother drew in naming him.
So as the years ago, Dori Senior, as he raises his new
family, decides to go full time, to drop the machine job, to
drop the factory job, and to go full time pro. Eventually, an
alliance was formed with a guy by the name of bock Estes who was a
local wrestling promoter in and around him in Indiana, and Buck Guestes, according
to Terry, tells Dory to seek experience elsewhere, to become really somebody that
Fred Kohler would be interested in featuring. So he goes to Toledo, Ohio
and wrestles for a promoter named Cliff Moppin. And it's here where Terry Funk's
earliest memories come from. This is basically like a gypsy lifestyle. It's a
time when wrestlers really just bought r v's and traveled with their whole families.
This is exactly what Fritz was doing when he lost his first son. Remember
this in Niagara Falls, New York. I do I do You didn't just
work a territory back then. You well you did, but it was much
more of a traveling Carney lifestyle, truly Carney in that you didn't even buy
or rent a house in the market. You literally just drove your trailer into
town like the circus coming to town, yep, and set up your tech
for a few months. Which it is that you know, that's exactly what
it is. It's the fucking circus coming in to town. Absolutely common DNA
there. And these are the earliest memories that Terry Funk has of living in
an RV with his family, traveling to different areas so that his father could
pick up wrestling paydays. And he writes in his book, they borrowed a
house trailer from my aunt Dorothy and enough money for a used Oldsmobile. The
Funk family was ready for the road. I never really thought about us being
nomads. It was just a way of life, traveling around and living in
the trailer parks. So here is Terry, I believe. Yeah, this
is from a roast of Terry Funk event that the folks at KFAPE Commentary's put
together a few years ago. Yeah, you're familiar with this as well,
yes, and upon, you know, sort of standing at the at the
days, at the very end of the roast and addressing the people. Terry
Funk talks about his memories of this trailer life. Why did I do it
because unloved I loved the number shut out four or five years old. It
was a life time with my father did back then we didn't even have a
home, especially did the homes by a hen. We had tril like want
to be hid the cars and would pull those trailers around and we would have
those traders and we locked every other. We loved every trader report and we
went to because there was other guys there, other wrestlers. That's what it's
about, is the compassion that you have for that guy sitting next to you,
for that guy and rang with you. You've gone to have that compassion
to be a great one. If you don't have compassion, you're not going
to be a direct one. You don't have compassion for you, You may
not you may make a lot of money, but you won't be considered a
great one. The great ones, what are there? The credit belongs the
wrestler in the ring. His face is covered with fun and sweat, dust
and dirt, the wrestler that does the best not only for him trail,
but for his opponent and most of all for those fans that have given up
their hard to see something special. So there's Terry Funk talking not only about
the trailer life of his early years, but also a little bit of the
lessons of Funk in there as well. Yeah, all right about what it's
you know, what it comes down to. And I found it an interesting
kind of thing. I hadn't considered it as he's describing this. You know,
not only do you do you move in with your family into a trailer
park, but so do all the other wrestlers who are in town on the
circuit. That's so fascinating. So you kind of picture, you know,
the little rug rats kids of all these wrestlers running around, knowing each other,
playing with each other, the wrestlers being in and out of each other's
trailers, you know, sitting for dinner or just having small talk. Yep.
So like in the fifties, like whatever market you were in, there
was probably a trailer park somewhere near you where you could wander over to and
see where all the wrestlers lived. Just as Mickey Worke lives in the wrestler
that's so wild, it really is, and kind of depressing, kind of
depressing, but in a way a colorful way to grow up in a way
where Terry Funk from the very beginning, he's the word of compassion. What
I think he was trying to say, there was camaraderie. Yeah, you
know, in terms of like from the very beginning he observed his father having
a family in the professional wrestling world and understanding that their success was his father's
success and vice versa. There was no like, you know, my dad's
this wrestling god. He goes out to the arena. We don't see him.
He kills people and he comes back and sometimes we go to the arena
and scream because he won't tell us it's fake. But he's sort of liked
this, this god, this distant traveling guy. No, you didn't leave
your family back then, or at least the Funks didn't, And it sounds
like a lot of other people that Dory Senior wrestled with didn't. Your family
was amongst it with and shoulder to shoulder with the families of the other wrestlers
living the nomadic lifestyle at the same time in the same trailer parks, And
I just never really thought of that before until I heard Terry start talking about
it, that, yeah, there was a time when being a traveling pro
wrestler in this country did not mean abandoning your family for fifty out of fifty
two weeks of the year, and that perhaps if the wrestler told you that
that was the case, that that was the required sacrifice. Maybe that's just
because they wanted to be away from their families. Well, I can tell
you one thing right now, it was not my fault, right, I
had nothing to do with it. I certainly did not ever say that they
had to leave their families. I did not issue itineraries that said you need
to be in Sightle today and Delaware tomorrow. I have never put people in
a position where they're not comfortable with their with their job and not also able
to raise a family. I've never done that. I don't appreciate you accusing
me of doing that thing. Is are all any destroyed family you're going to
reference while these guys were under my employe, it's entirely there they doing to
themselves. They listen. I can't be blamed for everybody's actions. Right,
that's right, Vince. So this is you know, I just I won't.
I won't be blamed. It's your coincidence that after I put my plan
into action, that suddenly abandoning your family and being successful and wrestling were the
same thing. I've never blamed anybody for things of that nature. Terry writes
in his book. At the time, that old trailer didn't seem small to
me. Heck, even the back window of our oldsmobile seemed big. I
remember crawling up in the space between the rear window and the back seat and
riding four hours down the road. I always liked it best. And when
we were traveling at night, Mom would make Dorry Junior a bed in the
back seat with blankets and a pillow, and then fix me up a bed
in that little rear window nook. We would listen to the radio for hours
as we drove across the country. I loved the life of Riley, but
the Shadow scared the devil out of me. I really like to think of,
you know, Funk picking up those early promo lessons from listening to the
radio and radio dramas for hours. Yes, that's really awesome. Is a
well read guy and I really like to think of that as something that helped
inspire his incredible promos. Wrestlers in the late nineteen forties, he writes,
were like a bunch of gypsies, roving vagabonds, traveling throughout the country.
We stayed at a trailer park in towns that were centrally located to the towns
the promoter ran, as did a lot of other wrestlers' families, and we
bonded with a lot of them. It was immediate acceptance with the other wrestler's
families. The kids stuck together, and the families did too. It was
much more of a circus atmosphere than what you might imagine, not as far
as how they earn their money, but in the way of life. It
was close to what the circus of Carney's way of life was. You'd go
into a terrory, go into a territory, stay three or four months or
as long as you could, and then move on to your next territory.
And those trailer courts, we were all part of a big, extended family.
I believe a lot of it was that we had common enemies. We
might fight with each other, but we could come together against the people who
call wrestling fake or phony. On weekends, they would have get togethers with
plenty of beer and all the food everyone could eat. I do like I
do, like boss. The vision of all the wrestler's families having a fat
ass barbecue. Oh yes, that's fucking absolutely all these fucking like yep,
these these giant men of comic proportions huddling over the ribs and the kids running
in and out of each other's trailers. I kind of like this what I'm
seeing here. Oh, I think that's spectacular. I never knew a wrestler
or a wrestler's wife who couldn't make one hell of a meal. Yes,
looking back, I guess that thirty foot trailer was a little small for a
family of four, but it was home. My mother decorated the room Dory
and I shared with paper stars that glowed in the dark at night. We
said our prayers and she kissed us good night. Then she turned off the
lights, and the moment she did, the stars would glow. We were
among the heavens, or at least we thought we were. Talk about.
Need turn to Dori, who's also derout junior, that is, is also
growing up at the same time in the same context as Terry, and he's
got more specific memories of going having been a few years older. This kind
of makes sense of going to the arena to follow his dad and to see
what he was up to when the lights went up. And one of the
earliest opponents that the Funk boys remember their dad taking on and sort of like
a grudge match scenario, was a wrestler by the name of Frankie Hill Murdoch,
who was indeed the stepfather of the Great Dick Murdoch, who was a
close confidant of the Funk family, one of Terry's closest friends and working partners,
and again a future owner of the Mrollo office after the Funks wanted to
divest, and that all started with their father feuding with Frankie Hill Murdoch on
the circuit. This from Dory Funk's book The Last of a Great Breed.
Dorri Funk was bleeding profusely from the forehead. Yes he was. He had
taken a beating from Murdoch and now he was fighting back. Murdoch was bleeding
back. Stepping away from the angry Funk, Murdoch threw the referee aside and
both continued swinging wildly at each other. The referee returned and walked right into
a haymaker by Funk. As we just saw Dorry roughing up the ref there
moments ago. Yep. They fought out of the ring and back to the
dressing room. Funk followed Mernoka into the dressing room. Fans could hear the
sound of crashing chairs and breaking tables. Six wrestlers threw Funk out of the
dressing room and slammed the door. This wasn't w CW or w w F,
nor was at the Amarillo Territory in the seventies. This was Amarillo,
Texas in nineteen fifty three. It's the hottest feud in professional wrestling. Dori
Funk Senior against Frankie Hill Murdoch. They once worked seventeen Maine events in one
year in Amarillo, selling out each time. Jesus as the arena started to
clear, my mother, Dorothy Funk, was going to see two at the
Terry and I stayed in our seats like good little boys. I looked across
the nearly empty arena to see two younger kids, one tall and lanky for
his age only seven, and his younger brother Andy much shorter and rotund.
The two were running wild, stomping empty cups, throwing ice at each other
and other Who's worn wild? What Yeah? And sailing seat pads across the
arena. Terry jumped up from the chair in an attempt to join the fun
Mother's hand reached and grabbed him by the arm. She had that special kind
of squeeze. She knew she meant, He knew she meant business. A
little out of pain, a little out of fear, and a little out
of respect for his mother. Terry returned to his seat. The tall,
lanky kid running around the sports arena was young Dick Murdoch. At this was
the beginning his beginning in the world of professional wrestling. So that's Dory Senior
in the earliest days in Amarillo, which would be the future stomping grounds of
the Funks. Of course, as Terry writes in his book, it was
nice to stay put, not to have to go somewhere else and start anew.
As I'd said, though, my brother Dorry was the one who endured
switching school so many times. I started first grade at the boy's ranch.
Brother, So truly a son of Amaillo is Terry even more so than Dorry,
who did have some early formative years before they decided to truly take root
in Amarillo, and a much more traveling and nomadic upbringing. But by this
point, by Terry's you know, adolescence, his father had already taken the
job as superintendent at the Boy's Ranch, So right, much more, you
know, and let's I forget they agreed to move in to the Boy's Ranch
to the Funk family so that Dorry could work as the superintendent. So just
another trailer they hitched to, you know, Basically another post they hitched their
trailer to was the Boy's Ranch where my father worked as superintendent. I would
like to add that I received an award that year for being the best speller
in the class, Terry writes. Of course, I was the only first
grader at a Boy's Ranch, and they had a rule that each class got
at least won award. So somewhere around this time, Dorry Senor decides to
not live so much in the Boy's Ranch but buy some land in Umbarger,
Texas. I hope I'm saying that right, excuse me. And it's here
that he would rename that property the Flying Mayor Ranch, the first ranch of
the Funk family with a wrestling pun for a title. This article from the
Odessa American newspaper Odessa, Texas from nineteen fifty five January twenty seventh to be
exact, And why didn't you know it? Dorri Funk's going up against none
other than Gorgeous George, the biggest wrestler of the fifties. Gorgeous George here
for every fifteenth. The most talked about, the most talked of event around
the Permian Basin among wrestling fans is the February matches coming up in the new
Actor County Coliseum. Dorry Funk from the Flying Mayor Ranch in Umbarger, Texas
meets Gorgeous George in the future bout That is something. So he's referenced in
the local press as of nineteen fifty five as representing or being or hailing from,
we should say the Flying Mayor Ranch. That's wild. Here's another article
from that year for Boys Ranch Texan to help out with benefit card. Dori
Funk, former worlds Junior Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, former North American Champion, and
present Southwest States Champion, will be in Tampa December twenty second for the special
Boys Ranch benefit wrestling card. Funk is not only a champion wrestler, but
a pass superintendent of the Texas Boys Ranch. This is from the Tampa Times
in nineteen fifty nine, pardon me not the same year. So he goes
to Tampa, Florida to wrestle where Eddie Graham, who was a family friend
as we're going to talk about, sets up a very similar Boys Ranch to
the one that Dory Funk, Senior was working on. Funk is not only
a champion wrestler, but a pass superintendent of the Texas Boys Ranch. He
heard of the special card being held here in Tampa and wired promoter to Lutraal
cowboy Latreuell that he wished to appear here to offer aid to the Florida Ranch.
A graduate of the University of Indiana, Funk starred in college football and
wrestling. His father was police chief of Hammond, Indiana, and this is
where Dorriy first developed an interest in juvenile delinquency sounds because he was one right.
The Whosier, now turned Texan began working in nineteen forty nine with officials
in Texas with the Boys Ranch, and in nineteen fifty he was made superintendent
of the ranch and served in this capacity for three years. Boys Ranch in
Texas is supported entirely by wrestlers. Although he is no longer superintendent, Funk
is still an able right hand to cal Farley, President executive of the ranch.
Funk is also a successful rancher. He owns the large Flying Mayor Ranch.
He also has his own weekly television show in Amarillo Sunday afternoons called in
Funk's Corner. I'm here to lay it down. Anybody who could ever produce
copies of Dorrifunk Senior hosting in Funk's Corner and Amarillo Television will hereby be lionized
in the lapsed fan cannon. Oh fuck yes, I mean these things have
to exist in like maybe the television archives of the station that aired them.
It must have been some network affiliate in Amarillo, you know, it's pretty
well known, like the call letters of the station at the wrestling aired on
in that market. Where the fuck are these tapes, folks? Where the
fuck is any footage of Dorrifunk's senior being such a man of the community that
not only does he own the Flying Mare Ranch and is associated with the cal
Farley's but He also has a television segment called Infunk's Corner. YEP, this
is necessary, this is what we need. He shouldn't be a needle in
a haystack when it comes to television at the time, because it sounds like
everybody in the city would have known about this. None of us should ever
be a needle in a haystack. There should be all this shit be you
know, it should it should be illegal to to to record over tape.
I mean, I don't know now the terry's passed away. I mean,
you've got to do like a you got to do a Funk museum in Amarillo,
you really do. You gotta put somebody in charge, you can,
you know, pull together all the artifacts and just like tell the story of
pro wrestling that these guys' careers reflect and find as much stuff that might exist
in the city, in the metropolitan area from the television and news archives and
just make something of it. There's a lot of the von Erics stuff that
you know, Dallas is a bigger market, not even close, so that
might have a lot to do with it, but there seemed to be a
lot more, you know, and Fritz was much more minded toward preserving tape.
I think that's that's true, that's considered, uh, you know,
accepted, But I don't know. There's just like even like Texas history stuff
that I consulted on the legendary of the Lamentable tragedy just seem to have so
much more about the Von Eric's coming up than it did about the Funks.
And it's a damn shame. Gotta be yes it is. I'll proceed to
the benefit of this card here on December twenty second, it says we'll go
to the Florida Boys Ranch. That was what Eddie Graham was starting up,
the Florida Boys Ranch. Tickets now are available at the Wrestling Office. Wrestling
Office. Terry writes in his book, it was always evident that my brother
and I had different personalities. So we're starting to we're starting to now draw
the distinctions between Dorry Junior and Terry, and they were evident from a very
very early stage, according to just about everybody that knew them throughout their lives.
Junior would operate behind the scenes. Terry wrote, well, I was
just goofy enough to try anything. One time he said, hey, Terry,
I have an idea. What's that Junior I think you'd be able to
run really fast if we tied a piece of plywood to your back, So
that's what we did. Of course. Well, the wind was blowing about
forty miles an hour that day. We found a large piece of plywood to
put around my arms and tied me to what. I picked up a lot
of speed, as I recall, but soon became the world's first manned tumble
board. Junior was a quiet one, the quiet one Terry Wrights. So
yeah, kind of like that's the brother dynamic between these two. Like Dorry
would have crazy ideas and make Terry do them. So just think of Dorry
that way, just keep that image in mind, and I do. Eventually,
Dorry Senior gets a phone call as he's working the nomadic lifestyle for promoters
that are you know, second and third degree related to Fred Kohler in and
around Chicago, that there's quite a thing going on down here in Amarillo,
Texas. I guess Dorri Funk Senior new Cal Farley from the wrestling circuit and
afri Cal had obviously setting down route to Amarillo and started the Boys Ranch.
He reaches out to Dori Funk and by nineteen forty eight. This is the
first reference I could find to Dorry and the Amarillo Papers January nineteenth, nineteen
forty eight, to be exact. His name is coming up in association with
the Amarillo, Texas Wrestling Circuit. The Funks have come to Amarillo nineteen forty
eight. Here double main events slated for Matt. Card headline reads Matt promoter
Dory Denton. If you can believe it, the first Ambillo promoter that the
Funks worked for was also named Dorri Wow. What are the odds of that
Dorrance? I'm sure he was a Doorrance. Yeah, that promurt Dorriy.
Detton has decided to make it a double mand event on his weekly wrestling card.
Rod Fenton, who hasn't appeared since his unsuccessful effort to throne al Getz
as the Southwestern one hundred ninety pund champion, will meet Gordon Hessel of Radium
Springs, New Mexico in one section of the twin headliner. Detton previously had
listed brawlers Lean Kernienco and pad O Dowdy Strange, former taxing partners, for
one of the Thirsty and Night features. Both of the spotlight bouts will be
for the best two or three falls limited one hour. A flip of a
coin will decide which about climax is the card A newcomer to Amarello competition A
newcomer? Okay, so this is nineteen forty eight. He's being framed as
a newcomer. Dorry Funk of Hammond, Indiana will make his debut. Yes,
so we have an article that puts exact date on Doriy Funk Senior's Amarillo
debut. His debut in the opening UH opening contest, meeting George Lopez of
Tampaco, Mexico. I didn't know George Lopez had had a wrestling here.
A very unusual name only can be one. Funk was a collegiate standout,
it says, at the University of Indiana, during the coaching regime of famed
Billy Tom So there you have it, nineteen forty eight January, Dorriy Funk
comes to Amarillo to wrestle. Wow. Still reference to being of Hammond,
Indiana. As a matter of fact, for a promoter, Dori Denton,
which will be you name? It will be important to the Funks establishing roots
and then eventually taking over Amilla Wrestling. As the years trying that UH Dori
Denton, Texas. Not quite now. I think he spelled it d E
T t O N anyway, but certainly it can be forgiven for thinking I
said Ninton Danton, Texas as it were late Dallas mentioned junior heavyweight there mentioned
earlier that Doroy funk is a former junior heavyweight champion. One of the things
Terry's talked about is that eventually there were some turnover and the territories as far
was working in that they wanted to focus more on heavyweight wrestlers. Sure,
and Dorry Senior was at least early in his career small of stature and considered
a junior heavyweight kind of more of like the Danny Hodge level. He looked
like it. He looked very very small. Yeah, I was interested to
hear that was one of the first things you picked up on him. You're
looking at him. Yeah. And Dorry Junior had periods of his career too
where he, like you know, went so crazy with the cardiovascular training that
he thinned out a lot too. And it was actually something that the Funds
had to put a lot of concerted effort in Terry and Dorry to stay sort
of heavyweight size. It didn't necessarily come naturally to them. Although Terry was
a lot bigger and they were able football players, it seems like if they
kind of laid off the weights a little bit, pretty soon they looked like
junior heavyweights in their own right, and that was something they really couldn't afford
to do after becoming two of the more successful and famous heavyweight wrestlers in the
country. But for Dorry Senior, it definitely pushed him into territories that were
more comfortable featuring smaller wrestlers, as evidenced by some of the clippings we've been
reading. So Dory's now in Ammerello, it's nineteen forty eight. Here's another
article from nineteen forty nine. This is in Hammond, Indiana, where they're
reflecting on who Dorry used to be back here around these parts and who he's
becoming down there in Texas. Funk helps boys become good citizens. It reads
hometown paper here taking note of Dory Funk, former Hammond wrestler, now superintendent
of Boys Ranch and Boy's Ranch Farm at Old Tscosa, Texas, and his
family recently visited town. Marshall Adam Funk of Munster and mister and Missus Ernest
Mattlock of Hammond Boys Ranch is situated on the site of a western ghost town.
The purpose is to give boys from slums and broken homes a chance to
become worthwhile citizens. Oh shit, there are one hundred and fifty boys between
the ages of six and seventeen to live there, go to school, learn
a trade, and help keep the ranch in order. Missus Dorothy Funk assists
her husband and his duties. She has organized a choir. The institution is
similar to Who's Your Town? So apparently she's acquired what now a choir?
I guess I know, or she was musically inclined. I'm just being humorous,
brother, as they say, why as in bel Deemont? What institution
is similar to Hoo's your Town? Okay, apparently there's a ranch in Indiana
called Hoo's Your Town as well? Who knew? Build a Who? Dude?
What is that? What the movie Hoosiers is about? What? I
know it's about basketball? But yeah, is it boys ranch? Basketball?
No? I picture I picture Mike Pence doing a speech for Dora for Adam
Funk, I do too. Adam Funk was a great Indiana Indiana. There
was there was once just f there was once of a showdown at a farmer's
residence. He was suicidal and he was homicidal side and he was institution is
similar to Hoo's your town. It was started by cal Farley, a World
War One veteran from Memmilla. It says in the him in Indiana newspaper it
spells it A M A R I L l A. Of course that's what
it is. And we're talking about Amarilla. We're not talking about Amarillo.
That's a different thing. That's for that's for idiots who don't know what the
fuck they're talking about. A businessman, we're talking Amarilla, motherfucker hammer Hammarilla.
A businessman farm supports the boys ranch along with other business leaders who are
interested. Just said, go get me the hammer rilla from the shed,
I guess from the woodshed. I was like, yeah, I want to
go eat a hammerriller. Boom m h. There has to be at least
one restaurant in the city that has hammilla on the menu. It's just a
juke. It was just like a cute hamill. Can we get a hammer?
Can I get a hamarilla and cheese? Please? A businessman Finally,
supports the boys. Man, what's happening in here? You bitch? With
other business leaders who are interested in building the character of the lives of boys
who otherwise would be put in to reform schools. Roy Rogers and his wife
Dale Evans will be the guests of the Funks Wow during the annual Fall Rodeo,
which is given by the boys who bronco ride, do rope tricks,
and demonstrate the skills learned on the ranch. Do the rope tricks include hitting
the ropes? That's my question? Mmm, Roy Rogers, is that a
big deal? What does that mean to you? Uh? Yeah, yeah,
it's a big deal. I mean he's he was a he was a
he was a big He was a big deal back then, Roy Rogers,
and he was a big star. And you know, uh yeah, he
was a big TV star, the movie star. I thinking the movies too.
I think of him as a movie star, but he was on TV.
Maybe not TV. Maybe a mistake. Great Hamburgers too. Yeah.
God, remember I went to a Roy Rogers one time and I wanted to
vomit afterwards. I just got so sick that it wasn't even that I didn't
like it, but I just remember, you know, you have one of
those memories of and you know, God, this is hilarious. It's it's
the I don't know if it's still there, but there was a Roy Rogers
like off of like one eight, right I think, so, yeah,
yeah it's that one and and I went there one time and I got a
sandwich and I just felt so sick like while I was eating it. And
this is when I was a kid, and so I've never been able to
go to Roy Rogers again. Yeah, that's that's powerful when you're a kid
and have a bad experience. Yep. I once I got a pretzel at
a place that's like an outdoor like amusement park when I was a kid,
and I got strapped throat after I came home, and I always forget it
blamed pretzels after that, like you remember, Yeah, and what was there
was then? I don't know that is that still a Shane? Yeah,
I had food poisoning from there one time, and I'll never do it again.
Amazing. I couldn't no, never again. Oh it was awful.
It's the fucking worst. That's a that's a very powerful thing. Man.
You really draw the short end if you're running a business and someone gets sick
of your business because you're never going to see them again. Yep. So
there it is, Dory Funk Senior being celebrated even back home for his exploits
on the Boys Ranch. This is how Dory Funk Junior remembers some of the
colorful stories growing up on the ranch. One of the chapters of his books
entitled Murder in the Dark. Yeah, murder in the in the darkened bedroom.
I guess we'll find it. I guess we'll find out. I think
our buddy Chromus Lamb and all the other great Laps artists need to start working
on some concept for Adam Foulk break into a dim lit Yes, I think
they were coming to a prog wrestling tee store near you. Definitely get something
going, like, uh, something something Clint East would like. Yes,
Yeah, with a flashlight in one hand and a fucking nineteen thirties machine gun
in the other. How we're talking screaming only lit, only lit by the
the muzzle flash of the machine gun. Murder mouth wide open. But enough
of the Japanese wrestling commentary, enough of Kobaji. Murder in the Dark.
Dory Funk's senior grimerston pain as he struggled to free his arm from a double
wristlock skillfully applied by his opponent, former NCAA Amateur wrestling champion out of Oklahoma
State, Wayne Martin. The crowd at the Amerala Sports Arena was pulling for
Funk, the young and slightly balding superintendent of cal Farley's Boys Ranch. At
bringside covering the wrestling matches was Amarillo Globe News sports reporter Harry Gilstrap. The
ring announcer was Bill Fairley, and doing the play by play coverage of the
wrestling matches on radio was Earl Curly Williams, forty miles north of m Marilla.
At the ranch, Dorothy Funk can here. Two children, Dorry Junior
and Terry, were glued to the radio. I've been listening to your father
wrestle on the radio. That's something I cannot fathom. There are thunderstorms in
the area and reception wasn't as good as thunder and lightning and rupted the broadcast.
Even so, they listened and twisted and turned with every move, pulling
for their father to free himself from the hold and win the match with Martin.
Several hundred yards north of the boot Hill Barracks residents for the older boys
high school age. A group of the boys ranch wrestlers had also gathered to
listen to the matches on radio. So yes, think about the boys and
the ranch listening to Dorry on radio as well as he goes off to wrestle,
gathering around the radio to see who if your favorite's gonna win. Amazing,
Curly Williams continued. Funk's hand is turning white. Funk is in pain.
Dorry Funk is coming to his feet and pushing Martin into the ropes.
The referee is calling for the break. Dory, let's loose with a haymaker.
Martin fights back, and now, ladies and gentlemen, it has broken
down into a peer six brawl. Funk has a cutover his right eye.
Wayne Martin is bleeding. They are swinging wildly at each other, and now
Dory Funk has the spitting toe hold. The referee is patting Funk on the
back. Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the match is Dorry Funk.
And we missed our calling. We should have come up in the era where
there was jobs calling wrestling matches for the radio. Oh seriously, that's what
we were born to do. That's you're damn right crowded. The sports arenas
standing and cheering. Dorothy Funk is smiling. Terry and Dorry Junior are jumping
up and down. Over at Bootill Barracks, the Boys are celebrating. Radio
announcer Earl Curly Williams was signing off with his last words, reminding everyone that
for twenty nine ninety five they could get one of his famous baked enamel paint
jobs over at Earl Curly Williams paint and body shot. That's his shirt,
Earl Curly Williams paint and body and body did they do Finn Baller's body paint?
Cal Farley's idea of bringing professional wrestler Dorry Funk to Boys Ranch to gain
control of what was becoming a rowdy bunch of kids was a success. Dory
Funk had only been at the ranch a short time, but the installation of
athletic programs, especially amateur wrestling, was already paying benefits. The ranch also
had a football team, basketball team. Rodeo was a part of the program,
and his wife Dorothy was leader of the music program that put on performances
throughout the Panhandle of Texas. So there you go, Dorothy carrying on her
musical exploits running a program at the Boys Ranch. It almost seemed like everybody
had a job for these kids, didn't it. Everyone had used to put
them too very interesting. It had been a long day for Dory Funk.
He had left the ranch early that day to stop at the Boys Ranch office
in Amilla at the BF good Rich Tire Store at fourth in Fillmore. The
good Rich Tire Store was Cal Fartley's original business, and he still maintained the
office there. The ranch was already carrying all the kids they could, one
hundred and five boys, but Cal had another boy from a broken family that
needed a home, Funk said, will make it. I'm sure, I'm
sure Cal had a lot of boys. Yes. Cal Farley was a professional
wrestler himself for many years until the duties of Boys Ranch became too much.
He used to tell used to love to tell stories about his friend who helped
him so much in getting the ranch started. Professional wrestler Dutch Mantell. Not
that Dutch Mantel. By the way, there was another dutch Man tell that's
wild. That was a a colleague a contemporary of Dory Senior. Old Dutch
was mean as they come in He used to always come to the ring with
a short, stubby cigar in his mouth and wouldn't hesitate to rub it in
an opponent's eyes. But Old Dutch had a soft heart for kids. Cal
Foley remembers Dory Funk learned much of the history of all the wrong fucking words.
I know, isn't that weird? I don't know all the wrong words
there. Dory Funk learned much of the history of the Boy's Ranch in the
Panhando area from Cal. The Bivens family had donated the original land to Cal
for the construction of Boy's Ranch. Cal Vivens are so nice. They're wonderful
people. Absolutely. If not for them, I mean, all these young
boys would be out being truants. Colin Bivin and and and and Ruth Bivin.
We all know Ruth what a sweetheart. She was an angel on earth.
Really. Yeah, she stipped up when she brought out her fucking her
little uh uh police baton. You can picture her putting like like a saucer
on the table. Yes, yes, Cal used to talk about the days
when he Roy Rogers and the sons of the Pioneers used to travel the area
and at times had to shoot jack rabbits for food. Because of Cal's longtime
friendship with Roy Rogers, he and his wife Dale Evans would be appearing it
this year's Boys Ranch Rodeo. Dori Funk was in the shower now, hurrying
to get changed so we could get back to the ranch. How do they
know these details? You know? How do they remember these details? Family
passes them on down, you know, sit down around a cup of coffee,
and we remember. Remember when he was in there, he was taking
a shower. I remember that very well, so you do, Dorry.
I think I was watching him. The weather forecast was the weather forecast was
for rain that night, and he knew the water could rise at the Canadian
River crossing an old Tuscosa road in those days there by the way, of
course, the Canadian River has no proximity to Canada. And by and by
and by the weather report, I mean my trick knee. In those days
there was no bridge and yet to ford the Canadian River to get to the
ranch. The water was usually shallow, but there was always the danger of
quicksand too many cars had been lost at the Old Canadian River crossing over at
boot Hill Barracks. The Ranch kids E P. Sleeth, that's the name.
Makes you wonder why people ever fucking went to that crossing. If many
a car was fucking long might avoid it. Yeah, Eddie Baker, Bill
Angus, d k Young, Dwayne Halford, Tommy Cannon and the others looked
out the window as the rain came down heavy. They were supposed to be
in for bed check by ten pms. Tomorrow was a school day. Mister
Funk will never make it across the river tonight, said Baker. Let's go
to the gym for a game of murder in the dark. Mister Funk will
never know, dorrifun. These kids are always up to mischief when they think
the boss is away. Dory Funk was out of the sports arena early that
night. He stopped to say a few words to Ray and Marry Jeffrey of
Jeffrey Plow Company. All right, nice plug checks in the mail, Dory,
Jesus, they know everybody, get down, anybody with a business.
He waived at Ralph Dykman, founder of the Maverick Club, of course,
and Dykeman a hardware it's all like every office he's talking about looks like a
Wild West saloon. You know, in my mind, seriously, you you
walk in, there's no actual doors. You just walking through those double doors
double doors there. Yeah, who ran the concession stand over on the far
side of the arena. Then he went upstairs to get his pay from wrestling
promoter Dory Detton and did ask what the gate was that night, as he
knew that ten percent of the wrestling gate in those days went to cal Farley's
boys ranch. Oh god, thank you very much. What get ten percent
of the gate? Exactly? Why? Not? Interesting? As Dory left
Amilla, the weather was okay, we go, well, we gotta cover
up some ship that goes on down there, and that shot ain't that sh
ain't free covering shit up. Cal Farley had so many streams of income.
I mean, this guy was a full off. He had yep, yep,
and he had so many underbelly dark come on, col all right,
like we know, damn well, yes he ain't doing this on the up
and up. There's a lot of things that are going on that are just
a little suspicious. Col. Oh my god, there's could be like a
truth commission about this guy in like thirty yes, yes, with the with
the jackal exactly exactly, ye, Kurgan, I don't know about that.
Let's not get carried away. He was a truth commissioner. He was,
Oh yeah, okay, forget it. He was. So that's what I
met that I was. I was saying he was not on the truth Commission
when I said that. As Dory left Amilla, the weather was okay.
However, twenty miles north of a Mailla on Old Tascosa Road, it began
to rain. Then it became a good old Texas downpour. Dorry knew he
would be lucky he gets you just a few hours sleep tonight, as he
always tried to be up with everyone at the ranch for breakfast at six thirty
in the morning at the mess hall at the Boys Gym Boys Ranch Gym just
north of the Residents where Dorry and his family lived, The Bloothill Barracks Boys
were going to have a ball. They were sure mister Funk would never make
it across the river, especially in his brand new nineteen forty nine Oldsmobile.
He'd never take a chance with a new car in the Canadian River. As
Doroyfunk arrived at the Canadian River, his fears were realized. The river was
flowing bank to bank. There were no hotels and no one to spend the
night with. He didn't relish the idea of waiting till the water subsided,
and he didn't want to drive forty miles back to a Gorilla and then eighty
miles around the long way through Dumas and Channing, especially knowing the condition of
the sixteen miles of dirt road from Channing to Boys. Hey, God,
as well as you know, we're driving through dumbass. You know him,
it's cal Cal's a dumb ass. Shout out to the Homy Haystacks Calhoun for
the pronunciation of dumbess, but definitely dumbass. Canadian River to his house in
the ranch was only a short walk or swimming the Canadian River flowing bank to
the back bank to bank at night is no easy task. But Dory was
an excellent swimmer. This fucking guy did not swim in no way, no
funking water, and the last thing he was was excellent at it. It
says here Dory was an excellent swimmer, having competed in freestyle. I don't
know what that has to swimming because he didn't go out for the Greco team.
Like, what the fuck you're saying? Kurt Angle is a great swimmer
too, because he won the gold medal freestyle. We worked freestyle, won
gold medals freestyling. It's like say, Eminem freestyles too. This eight miles
reckon, He swim eight miles across the channel. It because he did give
me a break and butterfly stroke back in Indiana. Yes, he parked the
car, changed to his wrestling tights and over the Canadian River. Well,
that guy you just saw wrestling doved with that outfit. I don't believe this
anyway. Over the boys ranch, the kids were whooping it up. The
name of the game was murder in the Dark. There were fifteen or twenty
kids in pitch dark. It was like hide and seek, but when you
found somebody you could wrestle them to the floor or get wrestled to the farmer
again, what's that? Is the farmer again going wild? I mean shooting
in the dark. Murder in the dark. The farmer going wild, fucking
popping a guy with a fucking point blank range with a goddamn shotgun. Idiot.
I'm suddenly flashing back to the testimony of those survivors we talked about last
time, and I don't know if Murder in the Dark was their favorite game
to play. Then you had to turn them loose and start over. The
gym was bedlam. They were laughing and yelling at the top of their voice.
After swimming the river. It was only a short walk home. From
a quarter of a mile away, Dorry could hear the racket Funk made his
way to the front door of the gym. Inside it was pitch dark and
everyone was having a ball. Dory Funk just slipped into the gym and joined
the game of Murder in the dark and his fucking wet trunks gross, oh
yeah, absolutely fucking sloppy, no shirt, no pants, pervert yep,
wet crotch, wet, chafed. Give me a break, you know,
from walking from the river completely chafed, just miserable and fucking that smell,
that awful smell of like you know, just standing river yep, skin and
wa yep ah. No one knew, but no one knew the difference,
Dorry Junior writes, except there were few surprised boys when they were taking off
their feet with such ease. Okay, after having a little fun, Dorry,
I can't even read these things anymore, knowing what we know. Yeah,
I know. After having a little fun, Dorry Funk quietly eased over
to the light swim and switched it on. Aha, I cut you,
guys. There's going to be trouble now, got you guys? Buck naked?
Dorry Funk loved the surprise, and you'd love to catch people unaware.
Fifteen kids were caught red handed, and they knew there would be punishment,
as Dory was a strict disciplinarian. The punishment will be working on one of
several projects at the ranch, painting the fence in front of the gym,
pouring concrete for the sidewalk leading to the mess hall, peeling potatoes for supper,
or planting trees in front of the old courthouse. I don't know.
I got to believe that at some point these kids were doing things that were
sold so that they could make money off of them. Yes, yes,
there's no way there was this much fucking manual labor that was needed every single
day as punishment the next morning. Yeah, there must have been some kind
of suffering, like some kind of entervise going on on this ranch. Yes
that point, yes, yes, yes. The next morning at the mess
hall, they don't suffer for free, exactly one hundred and five boys gathered
for breakfast at six thirty am. Dorry sat at the table with Terry Dorry
Junior, Gene Harriman, and four of the younger younger boys ranchers. Dory
Funk Senior was the head table discussing today's agenda with photographer and ranch publicist Sherm
Harryman. Boys rancher Tommy Berry rose and spoke over the microphone. Let us
pray, Dear Lord, thank you for this beautiful day here at Boys Ranch.
Mmmm. That's the chapter murder in the Dark. So Jesus Dory Senior
swim in the Canadian River so we could go on the dark and take kids
down. Sounds right out of Terry Funk's book. My dad didn't show any
favoritism to me, even though I was his son. The first fight I
ever got into there was when I was six, and I got into it
with a kid named Dicky Harp, who was two or three years older than
me. He was a tough kid. But when I got up from my
seat at the mess hall during lunch one day, I came back and he
was in my seat, so I snuck up behind him and put the first
illegal hold I guess I ever used on him. I grabbed him from behind,
put both fingers in his mouth, and pulled back as hard as I
could. Jesus, i'me to think of it, I guess I invented the
dastardly fish hook. Anyway, he was screaming and hollering, and my father
came over yelling, all right, all right, what's going on over here?
Dickie wasn't doing anything, so I was feeling pretty good, like a
tough guy, Dickie. My father said, what's the deal here? What's
going on here? Mister funk? Terry grabbed me from behind and pulled me
down. Dicky said, well, why didn't you fight him? Well?
I didn't want you, mister funk. That's your son. I thought i'd
get in trouble. It's okay, Dicky, you go on ahead. In
addition to being my first fight, that was also my first loss, because
Dicky beat the shit out. Imagine that uttered Dory's watchful eye. I'll go.
You know I don't cared my son. You go kick a shit out
of him, I'll go go make him suck his own cock. I didn't
see that one coming, I really didn't. Every Thursday night, my dad
would take the boys from the ranch to the matches. Each week there'd be
a bus out there to bring the kids to the arena where we had our
own roped off area to sit in. Wait a minute, didn't they have
to listen to the radio? According to Dorry anyway, I went every week,
but not everyone cook, you know, they're just do That was just
that week due to the inclement weather. Right, There's a lot of stuff
going on, that's all. There's a lot of stuff going on. Is
that always what you say? I what I dodn't, I don't, I
just you know, there's just I've just got things happening, a lot going
on. I'm not at liberty to di bulge my personal affects anything else you
want to say, sir, I didn't do it. I didn't accuse you
of anything. Hi do Hi, mister funk, Hi, mister georgy function.
Here I'm writing a I'm writing an unauthorized biography of your father called I
didn't do it. Well, that's true. I didn't do what I didn't
do it. I wish you'd continue relaying. Imagine someone calls you and says,
I'm gonna write a book about your dad called I didn't do it,
and your response is, well, that's right. You don't even know this
guy. You don't know what he's gonna write. You know what this is
gonna say your dad didn't do He didn't. But I know he didn't do
it. I know I didn't do it, So what's the what's the problem?
Dorry fuck fucking padding his hair down with crem fresh. Oh god,
Oh I love the sweaty, stringy hair of Dory Junior. Sixty five minutes
into a match in Tampa, Florida. I mean it's like sixty five,
more like five minutes into him. Well, imagine how it's worse it as
sixty minutes after that. Oh oh, going back to the shower, stiff,
getting stiff. After that, his skin is shiny. That's how fucking
sweat drenched he is. It's like one hundred and six degrees in Tampa and
he's wrestling Jack Brisco for you know, I hate to talk one of the
guys I work with today, all right, you know, because we're talking
about sweat and today rehearsal, and it's just like, you know, he's
he's he's just he's bald up top, and and it's just like there are
beads of sweat on the top of his head. I've never seen that before.
I've never seen like just you know, beads of sweat forming on the
top of someone's dome like that. That story Funk's junior right there sounds fine
to me. Yeah, that's normal, is what it is. I wish
you to continue Terry Funk's dispatches from a post fight with Dicky Harp on the
ranch. I went every week, but not everyone could. It wasn't an
automatic deal. It was a treat. It was a good incentive for me
to which they needed because this wasn't exactly a bunch of good kids living out
at the boys Ranch. There were some rough, troubled kids there. They
didn't have any cigarettes on the ranch. Anyone my father caught smoking he'd take
to the gym. He'd make them drink a glass of warm milk and then
roll around on the gym floor until they puked. Still waiting for the problem,
yeah, still waiting for something that could arguably be abuse. I took
a pack at a time of my father's sliding the rest of the cart and
down like they were all still there. Well, it only took my father
a couple of times from to figure out something funny was going on. I
think there's something funny going on here. Yeah, maybe like your dad swimming
across the Canadian River and his wrestling trunks, sneaking into a dark room and
wrestling children and his soggy trunks. He finally caught me stealing a cigarette,
so he took me outside where there was a big bell. He rang the
bell he lives in, and he just it's like he grew up in a
comic book, this guy. Yeah right right, like every other story has,
like even all the way back to Adam Funk, there's like a what
the fuck to it? You know, it's like what a heck? Yep
yep. You know, everything's going around in the picturesque kind of like humdrum
way, and then all of a sudden, a big four hundred pound fist
of a clown just smashes everybody, or something like random all of a sudden,
all of a sudden, an elephant fell out of the sky and we
just went ahead and kept on moving. And my pants fell down, and
all of a sudden, I didn't have a penis anymore. Enough of the
metaphorst Terry, no metaphor here, It's all fact. He rang the bell,
which meant everyone had to come running. All one hundred and forty kids
came running. He knew all the kids liked me, so he had everyone
gather around, and he said, I caught Terry's stealing cigarettes. Now Terry,
climb up this step ladder. I climbed up the step ladder he had
set up out there ahead. Now pull down your pants. Christ I pulled
down my pants, and he pulled off his belt and beat my ass in
front of one hundred and forty kids. God Benny said, if you want
Terry to get his ass beat like that again, you just go on and
have him steal cigarettes, you, o, kid. Well, nobody asked
me to do that again. They liked me, and they loved me.
Dory Junior had a few scrapes at the ranch too. My brother was on
a wood pile once just playing the Birth of the Funker. Okay, yeah,
right, be exactly, and I said it. I keep saying it,
Birth of the Funker. And there was also a beehive near the pile.
I don't know if he touched the hive or what happened, but those
bees went crazy after him. He had bees buzzing all around him, stinging
him, and one even made it up his pants and stung him thirteen times
on the end of his pecker. Just normal shit, ah, dorry acker.
Well, naturally, his pecker swelled up and looked like a gnural tree
limb. Fuck nah. Now, my parents used to have the boys French
teachers up to the house in the morning for coffee. Dad's favorite deal became
to show his boy's disfigured pecker. It's normal, ship. I'm still waiting,
like I said, for anything that could conceivably abuse. Abuse. Everyone
who came by the house in the morning, he'd yell tell me. My
brother would come into the room, and my dad would say, show them
where the bee bit you. Dad, I don't want to show them.
Turn it shame. That's what it says the book. That's what it says
in the book. Damn it. Show them what the bee got you,
boy. So Junior would unzip his pants and pull out this naughty, horrible
looking thing. They used to be his little pecker and those women would scream
in horror. I'm surprised you didn't end up with a lifelong complex about bees
after that. What about fucking women looking at his cock? What about people
looking at his birth of the birth of the fuck? JUDI? You whipped
out your cock, deformed cock right now? Cut it out? Shouldiers women
with deformed disgusted fucking tacking short, He goes to the fucking cock. He
kids like ten fucking cock to turn your fucking talk. It's stop stupid,
stop s tal't you're stupid talk boy? Brother the fuck you know what I'm
saying, No doubt node no forming at the cry. Was a very tough
man. It's my father was a very tough man. I would go those
balders. It took an episode and a half here on the last fund,
but it is now silly season, and all it took was a story that
Terry Funk offered up to the world about his brother's deformed cough, deformed penis.
Oh god, it's mangled junior fucking cock's so as you say, normal
shit here. So that's just a glimpse of what it was like, you
know, as a youngster hanging around the Funk family and of course that's on
the Boys Ranch. But later when Dory Funk Senior established roots on the ranch
outside of Boys Ranch and Flying Mayor and things, of course, he'd have
his family and friends over to the house, his friends in the wrestling business,
including Eddie Graham, a great friend of his, or at least in
the unique way that two hyper competitive wrestlers of the fifties could be best friends,
and that they just as often beat the shit out of each other as
you know, supported and did things for each other. But naturally they'd get
together at times, including when Eddie's young son, Mike Graham, a teenager
at the time, was traveling with him and coming over to the Funks and
the aforementioned roast of Terry Funk that kfab Commentary's put together. Mike Graham took
the dais and told this story about the the Grahams and the Funks getting together
in Texas around the fourth of July one year, and again extremely normal things
happening. My dad was wrestling in an Emerald of Texas with his father and
we go out to his dad's ranch and Dad say Terran and I have to
say his third generation Funk because it was Dorry Senior, Dorry Junior, and
Terry. So that's third generation. Because Steve was he always gets sick with
me and all the other kids go take care, go play with the kids.
Terry, go play with the kids. So we when at about thirteen,
my dad bought his first new airplane. So we fly out to Kansas
City to Sessina to pick up his new airplane. So of course he said,
we're close to the punk. He's got an airplane. Now the world
was on his fingers. He would fly all over the place. We fly
an Emerald. His dad picks us up. We're out Dad. Of course,
that's since nineteen fifty eight, till Terry entertaining the kid. Will you
it's one o'clock in the morning. Terry looks at me like, what do
you like to do? I said, Well, in Florida we fish and
we'd get stuff and spearfish, and you know, we're in the water all
the time. He said, hey, let's go frog gigging, frog gigging
you gig a frog, you know, He said, come on, kid,
So he gives me a stick with some prongs on it and he takes
me out in the middle of the night, and of course he's hammered because
he's like, I'm thirteen. He's thirty two at the time. So he's
drunk and mad at my dad. So he takes me walking down this stream.
I swear to gosh, it's not any wider than meat a cactus.
And we're walking back at the forth across the stream for like a half an
hour, and we're gigging poor little frogs, and there an im going,
oh, this ain't fun. So we walked down for a little as we
see some eyes down the pond there, and Terry said, my walk across
the stream, you got a better shot. How he moved there. I
step off the bank of the same creek we've walked across thirty times. It
ain't going up to my knees. Disappeared down. He had walked that stream
a thousand times. He'd helped me off in a ten foot hole. I
came up at one o'clock in the morning, gasping prayer. Thirteen year old
kids, scared to death, and he's just on the bank, laugh and
laugh and laugh, and I said, oh, this is real funny,
thank you very much. It's about the third of July. Fourth of July,
we go to Stanley Blackburn. I don't know if anybody out here knows
Stanley or has heard of Stanley, but he was a president of the nw
A a lot of stuff. And it's the fourth of July. So in
Texas, you know, they got firecrackers and they're blowing little things up,
and you know they're all having's fun. Terry goes, he went to Sizzies.
You know what firecrackers are. I'll be back in a minute. Meantime,
my dad's got me fighting the dory senior, the president of his bank,
and all this other fun stuff go on. Terry comes back, Guy
blas his current wife Vicky was drunk puking out of the door of the barn.
Terry comes out and u he says, to stand. He says,
Stanley, I've been looking that on nasty shit out there for about ten years.
Don't you think you ought to rebuild it? Stanley goes, you know,
I probably should. Terry goes cool. He had broke into the armory
at the National Guard that he was working sold a hand grenade. He comes
back and pinches a hand grenade the end of this building and it blows it
gut building out and turns around their way goes now, that's some fireworks there,
boys, and his dad's going, that's my boy, that's my boy.
Terry goes out stuff his girlfriend at the time back in the car in
the little Mustang, and away they go. Wow. Now, you know
what the best part of that story is that it's obviously very true and not
embellished. Yeah, of course, not at all out of thin air,
but just you know, that's Funk through the eyes of a thirteen year old.
That's Terry Funk. Just a complete fucking basket case. Yeah, a
lunatic, like what the president of the bank in detail? What was that?
Like? What are you talking about, Mike? What is happening here?
It's normal, he's in this funker like there's just so many recree possibilities
of him just standing There's so much fire going on in this in the Funk's
life, you know, they're always standing in front of a huge, raging
inferno, the infernos to their back. You know, they're facing you and
the vere Ganya wrestling pose and there's a the world is burning behind them.
So that's Mike Graham's memories and this, you know, he mentioned, of
course, the kinship between his father Eddie Graham and the Funk family. And
like I said, it's a unique it's a unique relationship. Let's put it
this way. Let's turn it to the Funker to explain what it means to
be dear, close personal family friends with the Funks. Eddie and my father,
they they were they they loved each other, they really did, you
know. But Eddie had this thing about him where he always wanted to go
ahead and uh just kind of try my father and get the best of him,
because he knew that that would be the epitome of everything for him to
go ahead and beat up my father, you know. But I mean it
never happened, you know, And I'll never forget. One time we were
in Florida, you know, and we were down there on Eddie had his
boat, you know, which was a huge boat at the time, and
it was just a gorgeous, wonderful yacht or if you want to call it
that. It was forty five foot fishing boat, you know, and at
that time, I was a monstrous fishing boat for somebody to own, you
know. And he went ahead and uh was coming up. We we we
were in Ruskin with my father's parents, which is a place a small town
outside of Tampa, but it was on the on the water, on the
ocean, and I had a dog here everything, And Eddie went ahead and
brought us up here, and we got out of the boat and we were
all running up here to the place we were staying. And my brother ran
up here, and my mom got out, and my and I got out
and everything, and we came up here, and Eddie got out, and
Mike Graham got out, and we were all going up here to where my
grandfather's place was. And Eddie was just this was Eddie. You know.
He'd get to drinking and he'd get a little goofy, you know. He
had one eye that was kind of looking that way or something, you know,
like that, you know, and he he gets these crazy ideas when
he got to drinking, you know, and he just knew that he could
go ahead and get the best of my dad. You know, it's one
time, you know, And so he went ahead and he kind of followed
my father along there, and all of a sudden he went ahead and he
just he just caught him with the He blindsided him a big one, you
know, and just bam right bam as hard as he could and my father
went ahead and he kind of went down to his knee and then he got
back up. I remember watching it, and then he beat the shit out
Eddie. And they were friends, right, they were friends, and he
did the same thing. And then Eddie one time in Ambrella. It's all
crazy, you know, Eddie. One time in Ambrella, they were in
a dressing room, you know, and Eddie decided he's going to go ahead
and do that with my father again and Ambrella, you know, and my
father went ahead and took him down and got him underneath the dressing room table
and beat the shit out of his men too, you know. But Eddie
just never did learn. You know that you can't. You know, it
doesn't work. So, you know, great friends, a lot of love
for each other, except for the fact that every time Dorry turned his back
on him, Adie grahamad try to kill him. So exactly, I'm so
glad you feel that way about it, That's all I was thinking. Yeah,
I think this is totally normal, appropriate behavior, just you know,
alpha males, right, right. So that's from the tremendous Back to the
Territories sessions that John Oliver did at k FAPE Commentaries. Of course, Terry
Funk. They're sitting with Jim Cornett reflecting on the early days in Amarilla.
But yeah, in the unique chemistry, to say the least, between two
of the more famous leveragers of Boys Ranch fame, Dori Funk Senior and Eddie
Graham there. So that's kind of what it's like down to the ranch.
As for a Mailla the wrestling territory, as we already referenced from the news
clippings of Dory Funk Senior's arrival in that part of the country promoting that area,
was a promoter by the name of Dory Detton. This is from Tim
Hornbaker's book on the National Wrestling Alliance History. He's talking about a tournament that
was going on one staged by two months in Philadelphia to give credibility to the
assent of a wrestler by the name of Dean Henry Detton, who was born
in nineteen oh eight and passed away in nineteen fifty eight. Horn Baker writes
Dton was a shooter strongly backed by Toots Mont, who we've talked about there
we go sure off and on as one of the Toots huge wrestling promoters from
the early nineteen hundreds and mostly in New York with a one way ticket to
the World Championship. His tournament victory came in Febry twenty eighth when he Doy
Denton conquered Strangler Lewis anxious to get the trusts. This is some the trust
being a reference to I think the Startist Trio or some powerful alliance of promoters
that had an iron grip on who the champion was anxious to get the trusts
titled away from Dano A Mahoney Toots wanted approval from Bowser. Paul Bowser was
the wrestling promoter in Boston at the time, which at the time was one
of the leading the leading wrestling market in the whole country. Wanted approval from
Bowser for Dano. Dano was the aforementioned world champion of Irish heritage. We
could pick draw in Boston and New York for Dano. About him, we
talked about him some on a cinemat and I don't remember which one. It
was probably the one about Stanislaus Bisco being in a No, it was it
was it was more recent than that. Wow, we talked about it.
No, I don't remember it. Thee Yeah, I don't remember the movie,
right, selling out Fenway Park and stuff for wrestling matches. Yeah,
and get your head around that. To yield the belt to Dton, preferably
on March ninth, nineteen thirty six in Philadelphia. Other contenders for the championship
or Yvon Robert and Ernie Dusk, but Mont's influence was making headway. Joe's
old prodigy Dick she Cat was booked to wrestle with Dano at Madison Square Garden
on March second, and their match was expected to go according to the script,
leaving O Mahoney's title intact for the match with Ditton. So that's pretty
much the most famous double cross of that era in pro wrestling, where Dick
she Cat, a legitimate shooter somebody with limited stardom in pro wrestling, is
put in the ring with Dano, a Mahoney who was expected to go over
and who was a massive draw but couldn't really wrestle a lick. He was
just you know, super over as being this this this Irish folk hero to
Irish American spectators and wrestling spectators writ large at the time, but was totally
exposed by Dick she Kat and shot on in a Madison Square Garden to lose
the World Championship in a match that wasn't supposed to go that way. But
what is perhaps not as historically noted when telling that story is that Dory Detton
was the person waiting in the wings to challenge Dana Wolmahone if he emerged as
planned still the champion. That never happened. Dorriy Detton obviously finds its way
down to Texas and gets the book down there and is booking a Marilla when
Doriy Funk Senior rolls into town. The big arena in Amarillo, kind of
like the sport and tournament of the area, was the Sports Arena. It
has been demolished. This article from twenty ten and news Channel ten out there
after more than sixty years providing sports entertainment in the area, the sports Arena
the Tri State Fairgrounds is no more. Western State Sports was the company that
was founded by Dorriy Detton in nineteen forty six. Western State Sports It's kind
of like a Southwest Sports that Fritz and Eric started. Sure didn't call the
company itself World Championship Wrestling in terms of like official incorporation paperwork, but had
a different name for it here. Western States Sports was the name of the
company founded by Dory Denton Dtton. It reads here this is from the Hornbaker
book. Staged his first show in the Tri State Fairgrounds March fourteenth, nineteen
forty six, making the first professional wrestling show to be held in Amarello in
over five years. In nineteen fifty one October, Southwest States Enterprises joined the
National Wrestling Alliance. So when Dorri Dtton first set up Chop, he wasn't
part of the NWA, but that changed in nineteen fifty one, and thus
began a long and fruitful association of the Amarilla territory with the NWA and eventually
the Funks with the National Wrestling Events. Okay. Western State Sports aired an
hour long television program on KFDA, which was channel ten each Saturday afternoon.
The program ed in West Texas along with New Mexico and Colorado, hosted by
Steve Stack, as we heard sitting at the Desk earlier with the Dorry Funk
Senior. The program featured a combination of matches recorded in the KFDA studios in
Amarilla, matches recorded at house shows, interviews and clips of matches from other
territories. Western State Sports Promoter professional wrestling events in multiple cities across West Texas,
including Amarillo. This is the circuit am Moilla, Abilene, al Paso,
Lubbock, Odessa, San Angelo, along with Albuquerque in New Mexico,
Colorado Springs and Pueblo and Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle. So that was that
was basically where they went. They paid talent. According to The Observer,
forty five percent of the after tax gate in the territory, which was quite
high. In fact, Melchi called it the highest of any territory at the
time. So known as a well paying territory was named Maillo. And the
reason they did that was because they had to pay top play again explan that.
So the they tax and yeah, so you have the gates, I
pay the state, but they are owed on the gate. And then after
that, what you split between the talent Oh okay, yeah, so it's
like you used to start of take it off the top, you know it.
So, yeah, we did one hundred thousand, but twenty percent of
it goes to the state and what's left over is what we all divvy up
amongst ourselves, the owners and the ash talent, and it melts a note
of the reason they had to pay so high down there is not necessarily are
the goodness of their hearts, but because to attract the top talent to that
kind of remote part of Texas with no really major metropolitan cities on the circuit.
I mean, Imriellos is hardly a huge city. I'll pass. It
was hardly a huge city in the spectrum of top cities in the country like
Houston, Dallas. They had to pay pretty high to get guys to come
there, but they did, gotcha. It's kind of a territory that punched
above its weight in that regard, just based on you know, how it
developed and who ended up getting the book down there, in the influence and
connections they had in the business. So this is from Terry's book. At
that time, Dad was making five hundred dollars a week, which was huge
money in those days. Can you believe it? Five hundred a week huge
money. I'd ask you to give the rest of the fans here pastus a
little snippet from Terry's all right, at that time Dad was making five hundred
dollars a week, which was huge money in those days. Another one of
my father's big fuse was with Frankie Hill Murdoch. They wrestled each other thirty
two times in nineteen forty eight. The majority of them were singles matches,
and every time Funk and Murdoch were mashed up, the building was full.
I got to be good friends with Frankie steps On Dick Murdoch. We played
when we were kids. We always had a little asshole. Oh, we
always had a little asshole. Okay, boss, your mind out of the
gutter, please, you're reading the Funker's book. He always was a little
asshole like I was, and we both ended up following in our father's footsteps
as wrestlers. We would sit around in the arena while our fathers waited to
get paid. Now, Terry, you just sit down there for a moment.
Daddy's gonna get paid to peel off his percentage of the gate and stuff
it in an envelope, and if we don't, if I don't get enough,
then we're gonna have to go home and make sure we put Dorry outside
so we can show off his cock to the neighbors and we get paid.
That way, there you go. It took an hour or so because they
had to count the house and figure it all up. We'd go around the
na and collect ups. In the meantime, you go around and pick up
the litter, all right, okay, Dad, exactly Growing up in the
business, the birth of the funder. Yeah. Once we got around fifty
cups all stacked up, which set them down one at a time and stomp
on them on the floor to make them pop. M it's like you'd make
crowds pop up. Way to do it. I learned a lot about payoffs
later. Here's what the honest cut of the gate was supposed to be.
Ten percent came off the top for booking fees. Then the rest was to
be split forty five percent to the promoter forty five percent to the boys.
All the promotional expensive were supposed to come out of the promoter's half, and
the boys would split the other forty five base on the promoter's discretion in regard
to where on the card each got wrestled. He writes, the drives were
long and never ending. You generally worked six or seven times a week.
Wow, this is from I think Meltzer. Terry noted that he and the
other wrestlers went from city to city driving about one hundred miles an hour because
that was the only way to make the cities. In many cases, the
top baby faces would drive all night to get to the city. Around lunchtime,
go downtown where the business and restaurants were. During the lunchhouse and the
Funks and Romero would hang out. This is Ricky Romero, one of the
top draws, particularly of the Mexican fans down in the territory, and a
guy who is pretty much just as celebrated as the Funks as being an absolute
central part of Amillo wrestling. Would hang out with people at lunch and try
to talk them into buying tickets for the show that night. It was the
old days of wrestling when driving two hundred fifty miles for twenty five dollars payoff
wasn't unusual even for a top star. To break up the monotony of the
drives, they would bring guns and try to shoot birds and rabbits while going
at breakneck speeds. Wow, so you can't really find, like I said,
black and white footage of the early days of the Amarillo television show when
Dory Funk's Senior was first coming in to prominence. But here's a little flavor
of what it was like and what it sounded like to watch Amarillo regional wrestling
end of the seventies. This is of course, after Doroy Funk Senior won
the World championship. You hear Dick Murdoch here on commentary. Uh Dorry of
course, the son of Dorry Senior and Dick being these steps on Mury.
This is here with announcer Nick Roberts, not Steve Sacks. This is one
of the one of the weeks where Steve Stacks wasn't in the chair in his
backup. Nick Roberts was providing commentary on the Embella Wrestling television show with Dick
Murdoch in the color chair. And listen in as they hit the beats that
kind of tell you how the fans were supposed to feel about Dory Funk Junior
and what he had accomplished and his methodical, no nonsense style, because during
this clip, Dorriy Funk Junior is in fact in the ring wrestling, So
they're talking about the ways in which you're supposed to think about Dory Funk and
the you know, the tradition that he represents and his ranching ways and the
ways in which he strongly contrasts to his brother Terry. Well, let me
say one thing about Dorry Funk Junior. If I was nothing coming starr and
profession rapps and I think of a lot of paper, I'd rather go against
Dorriy sungk Jenior formal World February last, NA champion for four and a half
years. And Nick, believe me, Zack Risco, Terry Funk Harley race
breast with in Kininski, I breast with all the world champions, win the
world champions and the aft of that. And believe me that Dory Funk Junior
was the toughest man that ever held that world savyweight title. As the people
watch Dory Funk Junior, I've wrestled the man. Hey. He never gets
excited and never loses the concept of what's going on in the ring. He's
uh, he starts slow. Here's a very very beautiful suplex Dory and and
he goes right into a three quarter Nelson. Dorry Funk Junior, start and
slow, Nick in that ring, And the longer that that match goes on,
the stronger that he gets. Believe me, he has got that.
It not been hereditary from his father. He is a totally different type rattler
than his brother Terry. But Dory Funk Junior gets stronger and stronger the longer
a Max progresses and leave me around at thirty and forty five minute mark.
He is kind of wishing you to beat him around a five minute mark because
he's stronger and you're tirer. Take a lot of things people sitting at her
don't understand. Hey, we travel all night A lot of times. We
get to the arenas where you people see the best there is in the NWA
Championship raffing. A lot of these stars that you're watching right on the program,
travel all night, get here to bring you this in great network raffling.
Hey, uh, that's not just a twenty minute drive, believe me.
Doris On Junior, myself or the cattle business together, we ranch a
little bit and farm a little bit. He's a very very good friend of
mine, and I look up to. The one man that right now that's
active in professional rattling I really look up to and respect and admire the most
is Dory Funk Junior. To me when I was a kid, you know
my dad, Nick, you knew my father and my uncle and lu Tez
everybody looked up Lutha six times Worlds, everywhere's appling champion. But Dory Funk
Junior right now, the current day Raffles is the man that I admire the
most. Believe me, Dorry Junior has always got control of his mental faculty.
He's in there, he does. He's a complete opposite of his brother
Terry Funks, who quite often blows his top. Terry has also all his
mental faculties that you say years ago, but I'm gonna tell you something right
now, you're not gonna beat You're not gonna beat Dory Funk Junior. Where
the body says, I'm gonna guarantee you that it takes a heck of a
lot to beat this man. Other this could be that step over to host
and he to host the one that he won. The world championship went from
g Kiniski. Hey, Nick, you might as well get you mail ready.
There it is. That's it, that's it. You call that one,
right, Dick Murdock, Here bet Dorry Funk Junior. Dory Funk Junior,
the winner won a tremendous guy. This guy down the world say,
went championship belt? Right? Well exactly it Well every match is an important
match, right, Dick. I know you've got some real important things coming
up. But even when you regardless of who you meet, you gotta win.
You just got the name of the game. It's the name of our
business. You see Junior shake his hands of people and enjoy Dory Funk Junior.
I'm telling you, he had a grin on his face, just like
if you'd won the World's title again, Junior, graduations, Thank you,
congratulations. You're looking better every time I see you. Dorry Junior. You
know, Murdock and I were just out there admiring you, and we both
agreed that you're our favorite wrestler. You keep your cool, You're always in
there and you know exactly what you're gonna do. And I was listening.
Uh, I guess you look as I kid, I had a match in
my hands. But I'd like to say this, old Dick Murdock here is
doing a heck of a job. I like what you're doing, and I
know that probably no truth. Old Dick's on the trail and heavyweight World Heavyweight
Championship, probably more so than I am. And Dick, it means a
lot to you, and I know that you got what it takes to beat
Harley Race. Not because you're a friend and not because you're from Junior.
I'm sorry, we got to wrap this up. Championship Wrestling. We'll see
you again next week. You just saw from a world title holder, Dory
Jr. We'll see you on Championship Wrestling again. I love that. So
it's like, you know what I love most is the trend, the contrast
between Terry and Dorry. Yes, they were singing that song really after the
first like five years, as we'll get to in the lapsed funk of their
career, it became the story was Dorry Junior was the cool, collected technical
wizard who was going to march his way to the championship and defend it in
the in the proudest traditions of Gene Kiniski and Pad O'Connor and luth As.
But he had this wild fucking crazy brother. Yeah, and a guy who
hadn't even resorted to the wild brawling tactics that Terry Funk would be known for
in the eighties and nineties, but just a guy who is he was crazy
because of how unlike Dory was. If you just presented Terry Funk outside of
the context of who his older brother was and how he wrestled, he might
not appear so nute, he might not appear so unwild, unwieldy, because
Dorry took that Texas wrestling style outside of or at least he took as a
representative of West Texas his matches to all different corners of the of the match,
of the the country, and indeed the globe. His traveling world champion,
he also kind of exported this idea that Terry Funk, his younger brother,
was bringing that real Texas style, and it was kind of like a
subtle heel face thing. Yeah, because while you know Dory Funk would defend
the championship with integrity, and every now and then, printing the Jack Brisco
series, he'd do a little few things that made you think he wasn't above
bending the rules at those really critical junctures and hope you didn't notice. That
was always a great way. One of the things that's most celebrated about the
classic Dory Funk Junior Jack Brisco matches the seventies Prickly in Florida, where Jack
Brisco is a huge babyface, was how Dory was able to not portray his
style, but still do little subtle heel things to make it seem like this
is a Dory Funk match, but he's Jack Brisco's clearly getting to him technically
because he's got to do these little things like hold the ropes one second too
long, maybe sneak and eye poke in there, and act like he didn't
do it on purpose. And it's after the races. But before it got
to that, before the big, hungry local challenger got the shot at Dory
Funk Junior in the World Championship, they brought in Funk's crazy younger brother,
Terry, and Terry would go much further than Dorry ever would Wow ending the
rules trying to keep another challenge, or at Bay trying to keep another hungry
challenger, and inevitably that challenger would defeat Terry, and the next time Funk
Junior would come into town as the defending world champion, and it would be
great business because you've already sold the fans on the more charismatic of the brothers
being the gatekeeper, being the guy that would take it to a physical place.
The world champion just couldn't out of propriety if nothing else, and your
local hero survived that onslaught that blitz from Terry, who just wrestled a more
wide open style. And so now you extra believed in your local hero because
he survived Terry, and now he's got the you know, the more conservative
world champion. He's going to take that belt and he never did, but
until Jack Briscoe actually did it. So you get the point. And that
right there, that commentary track is so even though I had to excerpt it
because it was the only real surviving bit of footage from what was the Amberillo
Territorial Wrestling Show. Yeah, fortunately for us, it contained so much of
that sort of framing, Yeah, totally of where the funks came from,
who they were, what they were about, and how they were celebrated,
and how they were contrasted and how they were presented to whoever was listening.
Interestingly enough, that clip which survives on YouTube comes from a version of the
Ambilla Wrestling Show that played of all Places, that was syndicated of all places
into San Jose, California. During the course of that broadcast, there are
several localized promos cut by the likes of Scandor Acbar and others. Dick Murdock
as well, talking about this company, the San Maillo, Texas Wrestling coming
to San Jose, and I don't know, that's wild how that came together.
This is kind of around the time that Vern would run San Francisco and
there, you know, promoters out in California would go out of business and
the promoters that they had strong allegiances with elsewhere, like roy Shire and vern
Gania would sort of fill in the gap there and come into town, take
those towns over and run them. And it wasn't considered a you know,
a big put, a big threat of a national push from a promoter because
they weren't unseating existing incumbents. They weren't coming after existing promoters and trying to
promote in their own city. They were taking over after the incumbent promoters for
some reason couldn't or didn't want to do it anymore. And so I'm going
to a read into that maybe as the circumstance because they had a lot of
Mexican stars. Of course in the Mbillo territory with El Passo on the circuits
where a lot of the guerreros came up. We talked about Ricky Romero probably
made a natural fit try to sell tickets in San Jose to go with the
territory that really understood how to present Mexican draws in America. Just a guess
of mine, but I couldn't believe my years. I was like, is
they're a part of Texas that's referred to as San Jose that I don't know
about, Like what, No, they meant San Jose, California. So
that's the only reason that footage survives is because someone with a VCR in San
Jose. I'm guessing it's not Dave Meltzer, but it could have been.
I don't know where this footage comes from, just because someone in San Jose
tape to the Ambillo show. It's not even like this tape comes from Texas.
So that's wild. But there you go a lot there as Fortunately we
hear Dick Murdock talking as well, and he was there, as just described
in those in that vignette you read from Terry's book and Dorry remembering Terry's Terry
trying to get out of his chair to go act a fool with Dick at
the matches and his mom holding him back. That those ties bind deeply among
the absolute litany of future wrestling stars. That came through Amarillo and learned under
Terry Funk was merced Soalise, does that name mean anything to you? Who's
Merceaid Salice boss? Is that? I don't know Tito Santana, Oh,
yes, because he had played football at West Texas State. But you heard
Dorry Senior reference when he was doing the commentary over a footage of his kids
training. West Texas State, of course, hilariously produced dozens of pro wrestlers
to the almost foolish, from Tully Blanchard to Mulligan to Dusty played at West
Texas State. DiBiase played there. So many wrestlers coming out of West Texas
State and Bobby dunclem murdoch kind of claimed to go to West Texas State and
actually showed up and played in the alumni games, but it never actually went
to the college, which is fucking hilarious. But everybody associated themselves from West
Texas normal and correct. That's that. That sounds normal and correct. And
so Tito Santana, as Merceaid Solis's real name, played at West Texas State.
Dennis Stamp went there as well, and and so we'll get more.
We'll get more from Tito's story there as well, but that's something they play
up as well in the San Jose version. Yeah, the Ambrello tapes as
they talk about merced Solis quite a bit between nineteen forty nine and nineteen fifty
five. According to Tim Hornbaker's n w A book, outside of a few
johnts to other regions, Dori was the number one grappler for Dori Detton Stuff
Withy. Dory Funk was the number one grappler for Dorry Denton in West Texas.
Funk exemplified toughness and brutal matches with diverse opponents, and through his creativity,
helped turn Amarello from a basic run of the middle wrestling community into a
world center for all grapplers. In nineteen fifty five, Carl Sarpoulis this is
an important name, also known as Doc Sarpolis, and Dorry Senior bought Denton's
booking office. Now have the transition of Fritz the wrestler to Fritz the owner,
and not much in the way of subterfuge suggested as opposed to the way
Dorry Funk took the book over from Ed maclamore, who was running wrestling at
the Sportatorium before Dori before Fritz, who was the biggest star for Red Macklamore,
took over here in fifty five. It seems like a pretty clean transition,
although I'm sure there's somebody somewhere that thinks Dorry Senior stole the book.
Carl Sirpoulis and Dorry working together take over the book for Amilla Wrestling in nineteen
fifty five, and with this Doc Sopolis assumed the NWA rights to the area.
The territory expanded with help from television. According to the Hornbaker book a
Stint, his NWA World Junior Champion preceded Funks jump to the heavyweight class,
and he took on all the era superstars, including luth As, Mike Di
Biassi, and Fritz van Erik. Dorry Junior was a varsity athletic Canyon High
School and wrestling in basketball, but it was on the football field for coach
Bill Davis that Dorry Junior shine the brightest. He was a tackle at West
Texas State the afore mentioned and the Buffalo even won their nineteen sixty three Sun
Bowl game against Ohio. We turned out at Luthez's book, as he has
reflections on Dorry funk surin where he fit in the grand you know constellation of
wrestlers that Luths came across in his story career. And oh, why do
I feel like this is not going to goluth As always turn the knife a
little bit? God? Is he like a you know, Jesus, like
a Bob Holly, or a or a Brett Hard or or a Paul Roma,
somebody Telly Blanchard, someone who has great stories to tell. But you
turn to and you know that they're gonna bring somebody up just because they got
a little something I had to get off their chest about the motherfucker about fifteen
ships on the shoulder. Not always unalloyed praise, It never is, Luthez
Hooker. It was winter and I was booked in Hereford, Texas, and
I promised I'd get this right, and I'm already forgetting it. How do
you pronounce it? It is Herford, Texas, Herford, Texas in the
Panhandle where it can get really cold, Thas writes, one of those Blue
Northers blew in a real blizzard, and I figured there were no more than
forty or fifty people in the arena that night. I was supposed to work
with a young guy who had been a pretty good amateur, so I suggested
to him, we just go out there and have a workout, just to
show the fan some real wrestling. If I hook you, I'll let you
go, I said, and if you hook me, you'll do the same.
The guy agreed, so that's what we did. It was simply a
show for the diehard fans who cared enough to show up, and they seemed
to appreciate what they saw. The locker room emptied out too, which is
what always happened when a contest where a workout was taking place, and they
liked what we showed them. The following day, I'm back in Amarilla and
I dropped by the wrestling office. Doroy Funk Senior, who was the behind
the scenes owner of the territory, said to me, what are you trying
to do kill my town? Obviously, one of the locker room snitches had
already told him about what we'd done in Herford, and Senior was upset.
I just shrugged it off, which is all I could do. Senior was
a genuinely tough guy and a good wrestler, and he would have done the
same thing if he'd been in my shoes. It never ceased to amaze me
how guys like Senior, who had fought the promoter's tooth and claw when they
were wrestlers, could switch side so easily when they became promoters themselves. Mm
hmmm, where's that fucking WIHO? McDaniel? Lou come on, Lou hook
him also a big name out there, and he started to he kind of
started his wrestling career out in West Texas. Really, yes, I didn't
know that. And his he came out with a book kind of posthumously.
His family, from what I can tell, and friends kind of stitched it
together and told a bunch of stories. And that's been published as well,
and it includes this passage. While Who's Running West Texas ended abruptly that spring
for much the same reason his WWWF run ended the year before one evening,
while who was booked in the main event in front of a packed house,
While who was given a check for two hundred dollars, he knew the house
was about fifteen thousand fans, and he knew something wasn't right. While Who
went to Dorry Funk Senior and told him as much. Funk asked him would
you rather make two hundred dollars today or be off? I'd rather be off,
why Who said, And I guess I'll have to fire you, said
Funk. No, you won't, said Wahoo. I quit. While Who
left the building, where he was quickly mobbed by a number of wrestlers.
Impressed with his guts. I'd love to take a stand like you did,
one of the boys told him, but I have a wife and two kids.
I need this job. While Who was lucky he didn't need that job,
and he proved it. He went home and made a phone call.
Two days later, he was working the main event in Florida. So Dory
Funk Senior not one of those promoters that every single person, to a man
celebrates like a donno when as a great payoff man or somebody that you know,
yeah, yeah, even know. The territory had the reputation of paying
big. If you ask luth As, if you asked wellha McDaniel, if
you ask some others, there's a little edge to how they feel about Dory.
Dory learned from Cal Farley. I think yeah yeah, and Terry Funk
himself kind of acknowledges this. I think Terry has a lot. It seemed
like he wanted to say about his dad that he was only ever comfortable inferring
mm hmm and interviews and in writing. But here's what he says about Wahoo,
and that might be a good thing, because this business of wrestling can
be hard and it forgets you. I think of Wahoo McDaniel the only guy
I ever saw who would fight for the underneath guys. Every single place he
went to get them more money. He always busted his ass in the ring,
and then he'd be in the back fighting for somebody else's payoff, which
no one did. You weren't going to find anyone else to do that,
but Waho would. My wife and I drove two hundred and fifty miles to
his funeral in Odessa, Texas a couple of years ago. There were two
people connected to the wrestling business there, my wife and I. Guys don't
realize that Wahoo was someone who fought for them all those years. He was
always the leader, the crusader rabbit, always the guy who'd go pitch the
bitch to the promoter, m including my dad. Basically is what he said
as a child. He says, I thought Dad was out there fighting for
his life. This is terry. Even though I knew that they knew each
other, I never once questioned that their matches were real. I truly believed.
I would go to the arena and ball every Thursday night terribly upset,
the way my kids would years later when they saw me getting beaten up.
Wow. And I had fight after fight at school defending it all my young
life. One time a kid told me my dad was a phony. So
I asked him what his dad did. He's a doctor, Well, I
said, what does he do? Give people sugar pills? I bet your
daddy gives them sugar pills. He's not a real doctor. That's the comeback.
That's your son of a wrestler. And someone accuses your dad of being
real, say, well, you're it's fake. Your dad's just as much
a phony. Yep. How do we protect the business even in a restaurant
setting? Dory, Mister Dory Funk, Senior, this is how you do
it. My father was a very tough man and lived a very tough life.
He really did, you know, And he was as tough as there
was the whole Amberill area. And he was one of the great of the
of the very very good shooters in the business. Uh because you know,
as uh he was going to Indiana University whenever he like I said, as
he four time state champion, he is going to Indiana University and uh wrestling
at the Indiana University when he got drafted. So he was a great athlete,
you know, a great amateur whenever he you know, so he would
just he really did protect his profession at that time, and people did protect
it, you know. As I can remember to this day that uh being
setting in a restaurant in Amrella, Texas, whenever I was oh, probably
seven eight years old, you know, and this guy came into the restaurant.
My mom and deet father and a couple of their friends were in a
booth in the back room, kind of in a room separate, not that
far away from one another in a restaurant, normal type of thing, you
have. My brother and I were any other one and he recognized us and
he said, down by me, and he says, oh, says,
well, she tell me all of that wrestling is fake, isn't it.
It's all a bunch of bullshit, you know. And my brother heard that.
I said, I don't think it is. I said, I think
it's real, and he said, well, you know it's not real.
It's all phony, it's all a bunch of crap and garden. Well,
my brother took off, told my father and he came around the corner,
and that was one of the first times I've ever seen anybody just beat the
living shit out of somebody, and it was my father just beat his ass
up right there in the restaurant. Wow, protect the business, that's what
you gotta do. I don't know if this is the same story, but
Dorry tells it differently, and I want to convey that as well. Dorry
Junior. It's called Joe Banowski's Playhouse Cafe medium rare match one. Blood was
streaming from my father's head as he tried to regain his balance and come to
his feet. Size twelve shoe caught him flush in the face, knocking down
again. Dory Funk Senior tried to fight back, but his efforts were futile,
as Big Frank Murdach continued as ruthless assault. As I watched this beating
take place, every blow as if it were happening to me, and every
time my father tried to fight back, I was fighting with him inside my
heart. I looked at my brother Terry. Tears streamed down his face.
He was out of his seat and on the way to my father's side.
Mother reached and grabbed him by his arm. I could see her give him
the squeeze and pull him back to his seat. I was only eleven years
old and Terry was eight. Mother was the boss. You don't tell him
it's real. Boss. You don't tell your kids it's real. You never
say it to tell your kids it's fake. I should say, it doesn't
matter what they go through. We were at the Sports Arena, Namoral of
Texas. The event was professional wrestling. My father swung wildly his opponent.
The man they build is the fabulous textan I twisted in my chair, hoping
and praying that he would not get hurt and come back for victory. The
fabulous text and Frank Martin, you know it strikes me. How do you
raise a great pro wrestler. You tell them your matches are real until they're
fifteenth course, you tell them your matches are real, and you let them
appreciate what it feels like to sit in a chair and watch somebody that you
love, that you have the deepest possible emotional connection to get beat up and
make the comeback. Something tells me you start off with such a head start
when you get in the ring and try to do that same magic. If
you felt it sitting in that chair, it felt it, Yeah, not
just as a fan, but felt it as a son. Mm hm.
So I think lying to your kids about whether wrestling is real probably sets them
up to make millions in the business later on. Just probably, I would
imagine that's the case. To guess the fabulous textan frank Murdoch slept behind and
reached for the sleeper hole. My father charged the turnbuckle in the corner of
the ring. Murdoch crashed face first in the corner and fell back into the
ring. Dad reached to wipe his face so he could see better. Now
his hand was covered in blood. He just stared at his bloody hand.
My heart jumped and I nearly fell off my chair. I knew when Dad
saw the blood he would go wild, and so did the four thousand fans
jammed into the Amreello Sports Arena. They were going crazy, cheering my father
on to beat the hell out of Frankie Hill Murdoch. Murdoch was back on
his feet, but hesitated when he saw the look in my dad's eyes.
The crowd at the sports arena was going crazy. They knew when Dorry Funk
saw blood, something was going to happen. Soon Murdoch moved in close.
My father swung with all he had. He could hear the punch land and
see the perspiration fly. As Dad connected with the right to Murdoch's chin,
Dorry Funk picked up the six three, two hundred and fifty pound Murdoch high
over his head slammed him to the mat to a roar of approval from the
fans. Now Funk had Murdoch pin in the corner, landing blow after blow.
There was so much excitement and so much noise that he didn't hear the
referee telling him to stop it because Murdoch was caught in the ropes. In
an effort to pull them apart, the referee grabbed Funk from behind, and
a fit of anger, Dorry turned and blasted the referee with a forearm to
the chin. It was all over, Dorrifunk was disqualified and Murdoch was the
winner of the match. Match too the next night. The next match to
the night, I should say, was about to come. I knew it,
the clean up crew knew it, and the fans few fans who stuck
around to wish Dorifunk well knew it. Wrestlers were paid by the promoter in
accordance with how many rear ends they could put into the arena and Emerald of
Texas, my father, Dorifunk Senior was the number one box office attraction.
After his wrestling match was over, the second fight was even more important.
The fight for his money tonight was no exception. He came out of the
dressing room and spoke to the fans who were still there. Then he walked
through the gate that said authorized personnel only. He went up the stairs to
the office of the promoter, Dory Dtton. What followed was the damned discussing
and fighting. You ever heard accusations of thievery, stealing and lying erupted.
I could hear Promoter Detton say, fuck Funk, this is a business,
not a sport. And I could hear Dad say, fuck Detton. I
can beat any wrestler you have, so that makes it a sport, and
I can draw you money, so I fucking well deserved to be paid.
Guessing Dorry Junior means fucking when he puts all kinds of you know, symbols
in place at the swear word. In time, everything was quiet. My
father came down the stairs, followed by Dorry and Sally Detton. Everyone said
Helloe, and we're nice as could be. It was just business. That's
three. We left the sports arena and turned south on Tenth Avenue on the
way to our favorite place to eat after the wrestling matches, the Playhouse Cafe,
owned and operated by an old time wrestler, Joe Banaski. Joe was
a former junior heavyweight champion. He had lost one eye from wrestling in old
boxing rings. It was the rosin and the mat that caused his blindness.
It was a quiet place where our family could escape the violent world we'd just
come from. The playoffs. Cafe was small, with only a bar and
a table area in a back room with four booths. Jeff's Joe's wife,
Mabel, worked in the kitchen, and Joe was always there with a kind
word for the customers. As our family. He wasn't the only Mabel in
the kitchen. As our family entered the booth section, a man who was
by himself said, well, Dorry Funk, it's sure as good to see
you. Dad shook his hand and said hello as we both took the booth
behind him. This has to be the same story, because he's describing the
kid's position in the same way Terry did in the restaurant. As I passed,
the man looked at me and said, well, you must be Dorifunk
Junior. Won't you join me for soda? As he grabbed my arm and
pulled me into the booth. I am not. You gotta change your name
before someone changes it for you, right, Dory, mm hmm. He
ordered a soda for me. I could see he was drinking whiskey. I
noticed the bottle on the seat besides him and could smell the stench on his
breath. Without introduction, just looked at me and then said, no,
tell me, boy, how'd your daddy do tonight? I answered that dad
had lost his match tonight. He said, come on, son, yo,
daddy is a better man than old Murdoch. Now tell me Frank Murdoch
can't beat your daddy. I answered, yes, he did. No,
your daddy just let oh Frank Murdoch win that match tonight, little Daddy,
Little Dorry, Yo, Daddy through that match. Mother was there quickly took
my hand and led me to the adjoining booth where our family was sitting.
Dad said, what do you say to you? I answered, he thought
you let Murdoch win tonight. Dad was out of our booth and confronting the
man behind us. When Dad was mad, everyone knew. The top of
his head got red and fire came to his eyes. Senior grabbed him by
the front of the shirt and said, God damn, you son of a
bitch. If you want to ask me something about my business, speak to
me, not to my son, you bastard. If you want to insult
someone, talk to a man, not a kid, you son of a
bitch. Bam. I could hear the noise of a blow landing. Now
Joe Banaski and several other people I didn't know were pulling my father off the
man in the next booth. I could see blood coming out of his nose
and mouth. Others hurried the man out of the playhouse cafe as my father
was yelling, get that son of a bitch out of here before I beat
the hell out of him. Dorry Senior protecting the business. What's interesting is
the two stories Funk the way he tells it as relaying there back to the
territories. Yeah, the guy was straight up telling the kids, I think
it's fake, and story is more like he's saying, he let Frank Murdoch
win. He threw the match, which is something a little different than it's
fake. You know, throwing the match is almost something you'd be accused of
in boxing to or just because that happened doesn't mean you think the whole thing
is fake. And every match is fake, right, the whole business is
fake. You're more accusing one participant of faking a match for business reasons,
or maybe he was so drunk he was just trying to make the kid feel
better about his dad losing the match. But whatever the case, this guy
got his ass beat by Dorry Senior. And that story very much stuck with
Terry, who was being told, you know, until geez, until his
teenage years, that his father was engaged in real combat. And if anybody
questioned that there was to be a response. Terry writes in his book,
I'm very glad it was presented to me that way. It made me respect
my profession much more. It made me have a lot of admiration for the
guys who were in it, and it impressed on me that it was not
easy. It never has been easy, and I kept that with me over
my career. There was just a handful who I smartened up to the business.
Once you enter into the profession, you're in the fraternity. When I
was fourteen or fifteen years old, my father smartened me up. So there
it is fourteen or fifteen. Think about it not being your dad, that
he's not in a fight for his fucking life until you're fourteen years old.
That's right, Jesus. I don't think believing in it for so long did
me any psychological damage. I think his waiting so long to smart me up
helped me. Maybe other things did the damage. Helped me to appreciate what
a special thing it was to be smartened up in that day and age.
After he told me what the truth was, I continued to defend it as
a shoot because I understood it was necessary to present it as a shoot,
especially in this area and at that time, because of the small populations of
the areas and the number of performances they had to do. If it wasn't
looked at as a shoot, they wouldn't be doing much business. Wrestling wasn't
the circus coming to town. It was a weekly pastime. The lessons of
funk TLF can also stand for the lessons of funk. Now you're damn right.
And when we talk about believability and we talk about it used to be
better, Yeah, to cry is not the way the current crop of performers
choose to go about their matches. It's what we lost when believability stopped being
so important. It's just a matter of again, you know, is that
do we even understand in this day and age? You know? Is what
we are supposed to do as professional performers, whether it be you know,
I mean, whether it be a movie, or whether it be a play,
or whether it be wrestling, or whether whatever it might be. You
know, is uh. It's the story that you tell, and it's the
suspension that you put into it that you have to have. It's a necessity,
more than anything else, is believability. If you do not believe,
it does not work. It doesn't have the stardust on it. And that's
it. It's the stardust. The stardust. I like that. I love
that. It's not that there's nothing left. It's not that the whole thing
is not worth doing. If the misbelievability isn't there, it just isn't magic,
and it could be. Yep, it's there for the taking. If
everyone can just get together and agree that we're not going to do things that
scream it's not real at the people every ten minutes, every five minutes,
every move, every gesture. If we could just if we could just agree,
you know that we need to protect this business. We can't agree.
Though we might get more terry funks in development. No, something tells me
that's not happening anymore. Not going to happen. Ry says in his book,
the mystique of the business was that we hardly let anyone into it.
If you got in, you were accepted in. But we let very few
of them in. Some didn't really want in. They just wanted to prove
a point. It never went well for those guys. One time, when
I was in college, there was a guy who said he wanted in the
business. He said he'd been an amateur wrestler and was a tough guy.
My father told him to come to the arena and if he could beat me,
then he could be a wrestler. Sadly, he decided to bring his
wife and daughter to his tryout. They sat in the front row and watched
as I beat the living hell out of him. It just made a fool
out of him. He ended up busted open and blown up, and his
wife and daughter were crying by the time it was over. I really was
dejected afterwards because it had taken place in front of his wife and daughter.
But my father told me, Terry, don't feel bad. That guy brought
his wife and daughter for only one reason, to show what fools we were.
I had never looked at it that way, but my father was right.
That man had wanted to ridicule professional wrestling. Once that sank in,
I didn't feel bad for the guy anymore. So Dorry doing his thing headlining
violent, violent versions of matches. He was known as the NWA Brass Knuckles
Champion for many years. This is the territory West Texas, Amilla that started
the whole idea of brass knucks championships, which we've seen resurre. Oh sure,
I hate those, yeah yeah, which basically just means like all out
brawling matches. So that was a staple of the Western State Sports Promotion.
According to Wikipedia, was created in nineteen sixty four and used briefly before being
abandoned and reactivated three years later, defending sporadically until the Amerala Territory closed in
nineteen eighty one. Specialty matches, the combatants would wear brass knuckles during the
match. This came up, I think also in our review of fritzlan Eric's
career, because he took part in some brass knucks matches as well coming up
in Texas. But of all the opponents, we mentioned Frankie Murdoch several times
as one of the great opponents of Dory Funk Senior that really gave shape to
the territory under his guys and under his ownership of the territory. Of all
the opponents that Dory Senior faced across the ring with the one that's perhaps most
storied is Iron Mike DIBIASI, a stepfather of Ted Dibiassi. I think Ted
was actually adopted. I know that Iron Mike was not Ted's biological dad,
but certainly Ted grew up with him as his father and went to the matches
and learned the business just Terry did from his father by watching him perform in
Amarilla. These two battled so many times that they created the idea of the
Texas Death Match, which we still hear. Wow we're Texas. Oh shit,
yes, yep. Think about Dori Funk and all I think about these
two Funk and Debias. Think about nineteen sixty five, the year in which
Dori Funk Senior and Iron Mike DEBIASI, you wrestled each other in Amarilla for
three hours and ten minutes. Fuck, accept it, let it sink in.
That's un un that's crazy. Of course, the Texas Death Match idea
being one, two, three, and then you get a ten count to
rise to your feet afterwards, and I believe there's like a period of rest
too, and if you can't get to your feet after being pinned, the
match is over. So it's basically the last man standing match that WW does
today, although the last man's standing you don't have to get the pin first,
right Yeah no, no, hit the mat and they start the ten
count. Yeah. That started here, and that defined what it meant to
have a Texas style. Associated Press July thirtieth, nineteen sixty five, dateline
Amarilla, Dorrifunk Senior and Iron Mike DiBiase wrestled three hours and ten minutes last
night, the longest match in the last twenty five years. According to the
National Wrestling Alliance, State Wrestling Commissioner Kirby Suggs stopped about at one am because
of the curus. Amazing, I've seen four hours, I've seen. It's
everyone like kind of like generalizes as the decades passed, and that's what that's
what the paper set at the time. Three hours and ten minutes July thirtieth,
nineteen sixty five, Amillo Globe Times Wrestling history was recorded Thursday night at
the Sports Arena. Dorrifunk Senior and Iron Mike DiBiase battled three hours and ten
minutes in a Texas death match. It was stopped at one am by orders
of Kirby Suggs of the Texas Athletic Commission because of a curfew went on the
advice of the physician. Both Funk and Debiasse were badly cut around the face.
According to the National Wrestling Alliance headquarters in Saint Louis, it's the longest
match in the past twenty five years. There wasn't a decision, so Funk
retains his North American championship and a Texas death Match falls don't count the men
go until one of them can continue. As a special bonus, each fall
was worth fifty dollars to the winner. Each man had five five falls a
peace Boss, Jesus. Most of the New York capacity crowd was still on
hand when the match was stopped. Tim Woods, Ricky Romero, and Jose
Lethario came out with a triumph over Killer Carl Cox in the semifinal and more.
That's what Ted Dibiassi remembers about the series from his book that WW put
out. During the course of this match, I heard in the radio that
my dad and Dorry were entering the second hour of their match. My mother
worked it even for us. She reacted like she was all upset and told
us not to go anywhere. She was going down to the sports arena.
It turned out that my mother was in on the match. Yes, she
was helped build heat. Dorry wanted my mother to speed through town and get
stopped by the police. She got in her car and drove right through the
heart of Amilla, speeding and running every red light. Can you imagine this
woman? Can you imagine the k fabe I love the maniagal idea that she's
just going crazy and did ted go on to be an absolutely fabulous pro wrestler.
Yes, does it have something to do with this, I would suggest
yes. My mom Okay, she was trying to get stopp by the police,
but nobody stopped her. She finally got to the arena and security detained
her. My mom, who worked in the business for years, didn't miss
a step with her performance to make it look real. With my dad and
around. With my Dad and Dorry both tired and busted up, the finish
of the match was even more astonishing. They knew that the city had a
curfew. They had started their match around ten o'clock at night, and at
that time it was already fifteen minutes past the one o'clock curfew. It was
obvious that they were in direct violation of the city ordinance. The police and
fire Marshall were called in to shut the building down. They stopped the match
and sent everyone home and the end Dad and Dorry had wrestled then a half
hour draw. The next day, it was all in the news. It
was incredible. The arena was completely sold out for weeks. Dory and my
Dad were not only good friends, they always had classic wrestling battles. Dad
was guaranteed he'd make a decent living and be able to provide for his family.
The Funk family was always good to my father, and they treated our
entire family with class and respect. Young Teddy, he says, so,
he says, so learning the biz. That's right, thanks to the wild
ways of the Funker. And they basically promoted it in the rematch after the
Texas Death Match three hour match, I think it was, they came back
and know what they said. They said, there's only one match on the
card. It doesn't make sense after what they just did to each other to
put anything else on the card. One year, of course, and I
just I love that idea. I've always loved that is pretty cool. I
mean, if you're going to stack a card like everything stacked now stacked,
oh so deep, the cards stacked. This is a four West six way,
This is a ladder match. This one's gonna be four and a half
stars. This one guy in this match. One match. Who's got the
balls? Who's got the balls? Nobody? And you know you have other
matches under the guys of you know, we don't know how long this featured
match is going to go. But if it goes the distance, We've got
time. If it doesn't, we've got backup matches on standby. I swear
to god, you will do a massive by rate. People will just be
so fascinated with what you present on a one match card. Who's gonna do
it? Nobody. I understand it's a big risk if one of the two
guys gets hurt or something, but look, just replace it with another one
on one match. The the the mentality is there. You don't do it
every time. You don't do it every show. You do it once a
year. The match, the pay per view, the match. It's how
boxing works, you know, the pay per view setting matches, the record
setting matches in pay per view and combats sort it's one match show yep.
Every now and then, like the UFC one hundred, you can say a
full stacked card accounts for it, but in ninety five percent of the cases
you can say it's one match. Especially in boxing, it's always one match.
And if you presented just that match, just as many people would buy
it, maybe even more because the last time they bought the big match,
it wasn't a four and a half hour fuck fest before they got to what
they paid to see while they're falling asleep on the East Coast at twelve thirty
at night. Yep, do it, and do it now. Terry Funk
in his book one of the most successful feuds in the Mold the nearly nineteen
sixties was when my father battled Iron Mike Debiasi for the right to be called
King of the Death match. Their first match went about thirty falls, well,
thirty falls, excuse me, Wes, it's not but it's sad.
In the newspaper Terry said five falls apiece, so I'm not sure about thirty
falls. But they went thirty falls in thirty five falls and Larry falls ager
fall, Larry false very good, well over the three hour mark without a
winner. They called a curfew at one am and they both went for hard
ways, where wrestlers are truly busted open, usually from punches to the head
of the match, so they both had to go to the hospital to get
stitched up afterward. That's just the way things were done, for believability and
to make things intents, which helped the business. You open the sports page
the day after a guy one hard way and there was this picture with the
head looking like a melon. What would you think about the believability of what
the guy was doing? A lot of times they do a hard way.
If they had a bunch of smart asses in the front rows yelling it's all
bullshit, we'd go right in front of them. I'd let them see someone
getting punched right in the face. Oh, I'd love it if they just
ran the razor. Is this fake? Oh? This blood's fake? Hab
Well, what do you think of this? And they slice their forehead without
evening touched by the other rest there right in front of them. What do
you think he did that? He'd point to their opponent, This is what
he just did to make you just did that? Bullshit? Fuck you?
I see the blade, he says, I see the blade in nineteen sixty
eight, I'm gonna blade your face. It would keep them, oh my
god, punching him in the head with the blade like punk. Yep.
It would keep them wondering terry rights if it was real or not. I've
done hard ways. Yeah, that's it, that's the sound. Yeah.
Ah, let's get that trickle going, baby, I've told you this,
I tell you. On the air, though, and the Dark Side piece
about Abby, they talk about how he got color by taping the blades to
his fingers, and his forehead skin was so scar tissued and so sensitive and
so willing to be opened up that all he'd have to do. I want
you to take your middle finger, stick at your index finger. Stick it
out, make sure you have a blade taped around where your fingernail is.
M tap your forehead with your fingernail. Tap it. How awful is that
that you've fucking cut up your head so bad? You need is a slight
tap Like it's imperceptible because they downa footage of him doing it. Oh,
that your skin is so fragile that all it takes is that to fucking put
an end to it. What a business? Huh? Yeah? And like
eighty percent of the money he put in his pocket over his career is because
he was willing to do that. He's no dummy. Terry writes. I've
done hard ways and other guys before, and I've had them done to me.
Both my dad and Mike had black eyes and busted mallets after the match,
and naturally, after getting out of the hospital with the stitches, my
dad was exhausted and they went head and then they went ahead and it was
like eight months later they brought the return back and they all booked on the
return, Like there was an opening match with two guys, and then there
was the Texas Death Match and that was it. They had a match,
an extra match also in case he didn't go that long, and they had
a standby match at the end there and they went ahead and that was like
only six people got paid on the card. But I mean, wasn't that
a brilliant thing to do? Terry says, sitting with Jim Cornett. Yeah,
you know, it was a really great way to do it, and
what a way to keep the league over. I'm thinking, yeah, that
is wonderful. Imagine too, like the economic of it, Like you don't
have to pay anybody besides two wrestlers. Imagine how much like more the wrestlers
can make those two. I know, how they'd fight for that position every
year. You should do battle royals all year. And you know what I
mean, it's like the last two to win us when tournaments get to have
the opportunity for the one match pay per view, I fucking love the idea.
And people are gonna act like they didn't hear it here, but that's
where it came from and I want to see it in action. So this
is the Texas style. The way we're describing the Dory Funk Senior matches with
Frankie Murdoch and with Iron Mike Di Biassi, the Texas death stipulations, the
brass nuts, the ten falls, the three hours, the hard Way juice,
all of that came to typify the Texas wrestling style. This certainly wasn't
the kind of matches you'd be seeing in Saint Louis under the watchful eye of
the traditionalist Sam Muchnick, who wanted to present the wrestling matches as clean athletic
contests and like one guy cheated a year for a heat angle and that was
it. And the NBA World champions went to show their full technical prowess,
and it would create a fascinating conflict with the Funk style when they would go
to Saint Louis. After Funk Junior won the NWA Championship and Terry Funk goes
to Saint Louis and tries to get heat the same way there that he would
get anywhere else in the country. And sure he got heat, but it
was so it was such anathema to what Sam Muchnik was looking for oh I
bet yeah, yeah, yeah. But there were times they wouldn't even air
some of Terry Funk's hottest stuff because it got too much heat, not the
kind of heat they were looking for, the kind of heat that would make
everybody else look somewhat weak or less interesting by comparison, or make the referees
look like complete and nincompoops and morons for allowing this level of violence to continue
and carry on. These referees respected members of the community. In some cases,
these referees are refereeing youth sports in and around Saint Louis. They can't
be looked at as complete bozos who perform on the weekends and pretend not to
see bad guys cheating. But this is the Texas style. And while unfortunately
we don't have Dori Funk Senior talking about what the text stuff was like,
we got flavors of it, hearing Funk and hearing the Terry Funk and hearing
the descriptions of the matches and such. We're going to have to turn to
Paul Bosch for this because in nineteen seventy two a documentary was made called Friday
Night at the Coliseum, and it featured the fans of Houston Wrestling, which
of course was one of the hottest wrestling territories in the country, and Paul
Bosh one of the leading promoters in the NWA for decades. You know,
we've seen these kind of pieces before where documentarians go to the matches and talk
to the fans. There's some of this and I like to hurt people right
for Detroit totally with none other than the funks in the ring, thank you
very much, against the Sheik correct amnd uh huh. And they interview Paul
Bosch in his office sort of in Paul Bosh a very very smart guy,
very writerly, very well read, a guy who would you know, wax
poetic about the history of the wrestling business in this country, and just an
absolute master at like running everything through the filter of k fabe so that he'd
he'd tell the truth of the business without admitting the matches are faked. He'd
come up with these reasons why wrestling was the way it was. You know,
if a smart as sports editor sat down in front of him and started
to complain that the referee didn't see cheating, or that why is this allowed
and not this, he'd have a reason for days. He would debate you,
I love it. He'd bring the intellectualism to it. But he also
understood that Texas sold a rough wrestling style, and how can we fit that
into what the NWA wanted pro wrestling to be, what they purported to present
professional wrestling to be. How could it be so violent in this part of
the country and not others. So we turned to Paul Bosh, a friend
of the Funks, who brought in Dorry Senior and Terry and Dorry a few
times to do some strong business in Houston and bop some houses. He's going
to tell us here from this documentary Friday End at the Coliseum, what the
Texas style meant. Well, we have a reputation in Texas by having wide
over the rules, but I think that this is true in many many areas.
Some areas commissions aregularly tight on the rules, but the fans are responsible
for the rules much more than the commission, much more than the referees or
anybody else, much more than the wrestlers. Matchmakers are going to match people
who styles and track the fans. If fans come out in great numbers to
see rough wrestlers, then they're going to get rough wrestling. Conversely, if
they come around and plead that they want to see fast and scientific wrestlers in
action, then you're going to have the matchmaker trying to make an effort to
please them. But he soon discovers that those who ask for that type of
wrestling don't even go out and see it on a rainy night. That people
much prefer the wide open style of the rough style, or as they say
in some part of the country, the Texas style of wrestling. Thanks Paul,
love it that way because the people come out for it. And if
the people tell you they want clean wrestling, they're lying. And it's the
promoter's job when you want the people going to go out, Yes, they
say they want clean wrestling. All these fans of the Babyfaces say want clean
wrestling. The media says it's supposed to be clean wrestling, But if you
gave them that, they wouldn't even come out on a rainy day for it.
Paul Bosh speaking facts well at the same time protecting cave Fabe. Where
did it go? Where did the art go? Now? We have phone
conferences where promoters talk shoot terminology with wrestling reporters, of course, and they
talked about how you can do the same thing. How can the face do
something to a heel and get away with it and not get disqualified when the
thing he did is the same thing the heel did earlier and got dequ'ed four
screamed at you think Bosh has an answer to this critique of tactics in his
wrestling ring. Very often fans will boo tactics, but what they are really
doing is not so much tactic. It so but they don't like the person
to use it against their favorite. Yes, you take that same man,
put them in against somebody who's tough of rugged. He can do exactly the
same thing that share them the the echo. So like throwing the Christians to
the lions, it just depends on which Christian you're true and to which lion.
We talk about that all the time, don't we. You're damn right.
We become that babyface when you use the heel tactics in the defense of
good, when you fight fire with fire against the pieces of shit, and
it doesn't make you a bad guy because you're doing it for righteous reasons,
and it's about the look on somebody's face. Which Christian are you throwing to
which Lion. Thank you, Paul. So, now that we've got those
fundamentals of the Texas style that Dori Funk Senior so embodied and obviously instilled deeply
at least into Terry Funk, because Dori Funk went along with a much more
technical style, we can move now to Harley Race, who also was someone
who had his formative years in and around m Maillo in terms of understanding the
business and leveling up in the business. This is recollections from Harley's book.
He'd been injured before he's set to make a shot in m Maillo, but
he finished the match and a head an her mile drive to Nashville before seeking
medical treatment. He returned to Missouri and stayed there until his leg healed.
When he started back, he wrestled in his home state for a while before
heading to Amarilla, Texas, in for about five months he was going to
be there. During that time, he says that I met one of the
all time great wrestling families. The Funks talked about. Dorriy Funk Senior had
started wrestling a decade before he did, and Funk's oldest son, Dorry Junior,
was just starting his own wrestling career and his youngest son, Terry,
what had recently started college. Dorriy Senior, Harley wrote, was a respected
scientific wrestler, former champion, and his sons would take after him. When
I first met Dorriy Senor, he was running what was known as the Amarilla
Territory Texas race, wrote, was divided into three chunks that were parts of
the more than two dozen and wa territories across the US, and the Amarilla
Territory also included part of New Mexico, running from Albuquerque Danwell Passo, then
in East Abilene and north to include the whole Texas Panhandle. They sometimes ran
chose in the Panhandle area of Oklahoma as well. I was wrestling for Dory
Senior near Lovington, Texas, on the night of November twenty second, nineteen
sixty three. Harley recalls President Kennedy long, Oh my God killed earlier that
day in Dallas, and I pleaded unsuccessfully with Dorry to cancel the event if
for no other reason that no one was going to show up. I said,
only was the president killed here in our own state, but he was
a Catholic, I said, the state has tons of Hispanics. They're all
Catholic christ Wrestling. The Devil won't draw a crowd tonight like I suspected.
The crowd was tiny, But we went on with the show. Dory went
on with the show the night Kennedy was killed. Of course, of course,
Harley said, no, right, that's one thing. He brings up
historical stuff in his book, like all these wrestlers do when they were always
the one on the right side of the debate. But you know, yeah,
yeah. So eventually he hardly leaves the territory, ends up working in
Los Angeles, and he says, I can't say Los Angeles taught me anything
about booking matches, but it did get my foot in the door after two
months. I called the Orifunk Senior after that and he offered me a job
and in Amarilla to help him book in that territory. So Harley Rays booked
wrestling for the first time for dor Senior and Amarilla and learned the lessons of
the business from the Funks in Amarilla. Yes, at the time, he
writes, if he wanted to get involved in the business side of the profession,
it helped to be a member of the family that ran a particular territory.
But Dorry hired me because he trusted me and because he needed a break.
For the next nine months, I operated the territory along with the Funks,
including Terry, who had just started this wrestle of his wrestling career.
Meanwhile, Dory Funk Junior was being put in line to win the WA title
from Gen Kiniski. Thursdays were the biggest days of the week as far as
business was concerned. It was on those days I would meet with the Funks
to decide who would wrestle whom at which venue during the upcoming week. Pairing
opposing wrestlers to give the most excitement to the fans was in art and my
training during this period would help me down the road without Without my experience and
the contacts I made while running the Amerilla Territory, I think my path had
become the World Champion would have been much longer. My job running the territory
included matchmaking, pairing wrestlers with similar chemistry, and putting the right wrestlers in
the ring in the right town so that fans filled the seats when they arrived.
There were probably four wrestlers who were keeping that territory afloat. Three of
them were the Funks Dorry, Dorry Junior, and Terry, and the other
was a Mexican wrestler by the name of Rookie Romeiro. He was a talented
wrestler and a hero in the Texas. This part of Texas and its towns
heavily populated with Mexicans. In those towns like albuquerquell Pas, I saw little
Field Clovis in St. Angelo. You could sell out for the night if
you paired Morrero with a good wrestler who could push him physically. I often
pitted Mike DiBiase or myself against him. DiBiase was a national collegiate wrestling champion
at the University of Nebraska. He went on to win various regional NBA titles
ten times and had notable feuds with Dorry Funk Junior and Senior. He once
wrestled an hour and forty four minutes. Okay, no, now it's only
an hour forty four with Dorry Senior. On July second, nineteen sixty nine,
Mike showed up for a match in Lubbock, Texas, Oh Boy,
after spending the better part of the day hauling furniture to move his family.
He looked exhausted and his face was pale. You look like you're worn out.
I told him before his match, you don't have to wrestle the night.
We can change things, but Mike declined my offer hardly. I wouldn't
be here if I didn't want to wrestle tonight, he said. He proceeded
with his match against Man Mountain Mike, a bearded brute from Montana, weighing
nearly five hundred pounds. As I watched the match, I saw the UBIASI
grab his chest and fall. The referee froze, not knowing whether he should
start the count as part of a referee's job. When someone was injured in
the ring, I ran into the ring and started administering mouth to mouth and
CPR at Dbac, but it was too late. He was pronounced dead at
the hospital from a massive heart attack. Jesus, that was probably all started
before he stepped into the ring. So again, Harley told him not to
do it, Thank you very much. That's right, of course. Yeah,
Harley Race was helping to book Amarillo during all of this. That's why
Dbasi died in the ring. And we hear that called out in the wrestler.
Do we not the nineteen seventy four one. Yes, yes, indeed
absolutely those two periodsity among gunkle and and uh my mom Al July sixth,
nineteen sixty nine, Beatrice Daily Sun newspaper DBAC is dead. Known by fans
here. This is a newspaper in Nebraska, but it's covered by the AP
Lubbock, Texas. Mike DiBiase forty four, a wrestler known as Iron Mike,
collapsed and died during a match Wednesday night. A preliminary diagnosis was death
from a heart attack, and autopsy was ordered. Dibiasi was a former AAU
champion at the University of Nebraska. His home was Omaha, although he had
lived here since May seventh, wrestling in the West Texas circuit. Is that
where he made his summer residence? Yeah, that he made his summer residence
in Lubbock, wrote Nick. Robert said he understood there was no contact with
Dibiassi's opponent, Gary Fletcher, recording the AP was Gary Fletcher, he wrestled
Hardley, Not Man Mountain Mike, but whatever who claims to weigh six hundred
and fifty pounds. Perhaps Gary Fletcher was Man Mountain Mike's a real name Robert
said Dibiasi collapsed and fell backwards out of the ring. Friends said Dibiasi told
him he was winding up his wrestling career shortly and going to business in Wilcox,
Arizona. Nope. So not only did Dorrifunk Senior and Iron Mike DiBiase
light Amarilla on fire with their wild three hour Texas death matches, but Iron
Mike perished in the rings of the territory. Tedy Biassi Wednesday, July second,
nineteen sixty nine was the worst day of my life. My best friend,
my dad, Mike di Biassi, died. Dad was wrestling man Mountain
Mike and Lubbock. Mike was a big man, about six y four weighed
more than four under pounds. During the course of the match, Mike threw
Dad out of the ring. His dad proceeded to get back in the ring
by grabbing the second rope. He collapsed and fell face down on the floor.
The fans thought nothing was out of the ordinary, and the referee began
his count. As the referee was counting, things weren't going as planned.
Harley Race, a wrestler who would later become one of the greatest in the
history of the sport. Was standing in the back watching the match. He
said something was wrong and rushed to the ring. He performed CPR and did
the best of breathe life into my dad. An ambulance called and Dad,
with Harley by his side, was rushed to the hospital. He was pronounced
dead on the emergency room table. Harley Race contributes to the book, writing
earlier in the evening, Mike Dibiassi told me he had moved all its belongings
and his entire family from one apartment to the other the same day. He
looked very tired, but didn't complain about a thing. I think half of
the reason he didn't complain was because he was wrestling Man Mountain Mike and MMM
as he calls him, whoighed more than fourder pounds, so Mike knew he
wasn't going to be moving at any high speed. As the match started,
there were some pushing and shoving. Mike then took a back bump. All
of a sudden, Mike folded his arms over his chest, backed up,
undo the ropes, and went right out under the floor. I was watching
the match from the back and immediately knew something was wrong. I ran to
ringside and intended to Mike. He had a pulse but wasn't breathing. I
administered CPR and did my best to keep him alive until the ambulance arrived.
He was alive when they left in the ambulance. Terry Funk also contributed to
the book, writing, a lot of people don't know this, but I
didn't go to Lubbock the night Teddy's father died. In fact, that was
the reason why Mike went. Teddy's father took my place that night to wrestle
Man Mountain. Mike whoa. He was very tired, but being the person
that he was, he took my place anyway. I wish I would have
gone. At the news of Dad's death, I immediately started to cry to
ted deb Beiausi writes, I was dazed and in disbelief. Mom went hysterical.
I never saw her in such distress. She was out of control,
and I remember her screaming at the top of her lungs. This can't be
true. That Saturday, July fifth, the funeral services were held in Amarilla.
The local funeral home was packed with family and friends. My brother Michael
got to leave from the army and was there with his wife. My dad
had touched so many people, and I was shaken by seeing him in a
casket. I had to be pulled away when they closed the lid. Dad's
body was leadershipped to Willcox where he was buried under Texas lawn. Autopsies required.
The discovered that Dad had a heart attack. He had arterial sclerosis,
a hardening or thickening of the walls of the arteries, and one artery was
completely blocked. Scar tissue was found around his heart, showing he had had
earlier heart attacks. Wow, so they went to Warren, Texas. They
went to Warren, Texas. Yeah, and this is all happening around a
young Terry Funk, a coming of age. Terry Funk is the future legends
of this business, from Teddy Biassi to Harley Race, Dick Murdoch and so
many others are filtering through and seeing through their own families legacy in the business
in the rings of Amarilla and Funks growing up, and the wrestlers are coming
over the house and they're showing up at all hours of the night after the
matches, and they're chopping it up with his dad and Terry Funk even though
he was a young boy here the commotion in the house, realizes that it's
it's story time, and even though he should be asleep, no one's gonna
blame him if he gets up and plays fly on the wall while these wrestling
legends get together in his own house and talk about the business. And you're
going to tell me that these aren't the conditions that a future wrestling legend are
built in, or forst just doesn't happen anymore. That's your terry. Describe
it. One two o'clock in the morning. They come back from well back
then it would be Abling and Odessa and all of those southern towns and Herford
want to they it closer. And my mom would go ahead and she cook
up those wonderful stakes and wonderful meals and everything at twelve thirty, one thirty
at night and everything, you know, and I'd come into there and it
was just wonderful. It was what a what a way to grow up to
listen to their stories and especially you know, one of your hearing stories about
World War two and all of these different things that happened to him and everything.
You know, it's just wonderful. And then their experiences in the business
itself were so interesting too. Well, we had a we had a place
in our garage. But you know, those guys that come by, but
what it would always do would always break down, you know what we're going,
and they'd be in the kitchen, you know, and talking. Whether
it was in the afternoon or two o'clock in the morning, it didn't matter,
you know. But if they don't get in there, and I mean
you get those guys together, get a few, get a few beers there,
move that furniture back, and pretty soon there they go right to the
floor, you know, and see who's the best. You know. That
was uh, it was amazing times for me and for my family. Just
cook up those steaks and fucking you know, it's sizzle. That's sizzle.
These crazy ass wrestlers are all there gathered around telling stories. Yep. And
Terry Funk sitting Hey, you know what, that's what all wrestlers do in
the rings. They tell stories. And he's remembering and he's reflecting, and
he's listening, and he's learning, and he's meeting his future sweetheart, his
future his sweetheart, future wife a Vicky. In nineteen fifty six, it
was the year he met Vicky They had gone to different elementary schools in Canyon,
Texas, but we're in the same middle school together. Terry writes,
I always thought she was pretty great, but we were really just friends until
high school when we started dating. And then Boss, Let's have you take
a look at what I just sent you. This is the wedding announcement for
Terry and VICKI Funk, his strongest tag team partner throughout the course of his
professional wrestling career, his muse in so many ways. Sure give me a
second here. Where is there at the floor Funk wedding nuptial ceremony, Your
night's Miss Weaver. Terry Funk, Miss Vicky Ann Weaver became the bride of
Terry D. Funk middle name D E E. You got that R Terry
the Funk in the in late evening nuptial rites conducted at the First Baptist Church
of Canyon last Saturday. The bride is the daughter of mister and Missus D.
R. Weaver of Canyon. Parents of the bridegroom are mister and Missus
Dori Funk, Senior of the Flying Mayor Ranch of Ambarger. Vicky Weaver's family
must have loved reading that in the newspapers. Oh my god, is the
son of a flying mayor ranch? He's he's the flying What the fuck the
flying man? And how are they gonna ranch of this shit? And what
the fuck is it? Ambarger? Is that like embargoed? Is it?
Are they cuban? Fuck? Says it'ster Weaver like double ring nuptials, double
cross nuptials? Maybe U were solemn solomkes with Reverend James M. Dunn,
director of the Baptist Student Center at West Texas State University, officiating. Traditional
wedding music was presented a by the organ by Missus Glenn Dowlan, the soloist
mis Missus David Gibson, saying because and whether thou goest? White gladioli and
greenery decorated the church, where the altar accented with a white satin drape and
four sets of candle of bruyes, candelabrum okay yes. The bride's honor attendants
were all members of her sororities Ada Tao Alpha. They were Verna Joe Benson
of Sweetwater and Sue Rutherford of Canyon, with Miss Terry Nelson of Cape Cod,
massachusettss made of honor My maid of honor was Terry Nelson. Oh,
my god, from Bounstable. You didn't see that coming to the Funk family,
not at all, Oh Jesus. Dress identically. The honor attendants were
attired in street length pink satin dresses featuring fitted bodices with pink pos accenting the
waist. Short sleeves were featured in the dresses, and each wore a pill
box hat. Two match the dresses with a circular cascade and fink net.
Oh I did demand that they have pill boxes for the men. Yeah,
a bunch of wrestlers there. Eaves carried pink rosebuds amid clusters of greenery.
The bridegroom's brother, Dory Funk Junior, served as best man for the ceremony.
Groom's men were Ralph Cabe and Willie Weaver, brother of the bride.
Ushers for the occasion were Roy armand Trout, Vernon Kosob, Jess Sheets,
Bob Bergert and Jim Yeng's names can be real. They're all wrestlers given in
marriage by her father D. R. Weaver. The bride wore a floor
length gown of white satin accented with Pois de sois buttons on the sleeves and
at the back waistline, the skirt extended into a chapel. What the fuck
is going on here? Strange all this descriptive? Seriously. The skirt extended
into a chapel train and the fitted bodice was accented with lace and seed pearls.
The fitted sleeves extended into pedal points above the hands. The bride's pillbox
hat was studded with seed pearls and covered with lace to match the dress bodice.
Her veil of silk illusion extended to the waistline. They she carried a
cascade bouquet of pink and white rose buds. Serving as candlelighter was Cameron Davis.
She was dressed identical to the bridal attendants and carried one large candle which
was decorated with rosebuds at the base. The bridegroom's nephew go ahead, The
bridegroom's refuse nephew, dink Funk? What about the other clowns? About wink
funk and fun dude? You know what's funny? Terry Funk was supposed to
be one of Shawn Michael's knights. Wasn't that the same Survivors series about the
Doinks, No different different that was nice. That was ninety three with the
Nights. Ninety four was the one with the Winks and Dinks and Funk famously
was supposed to be one of the Knights and when he found out he was
gonna get beat down and revealed as Terry Funk, he left a note saying,
I can't do this, Vince, my horse is sick and didn't show
up. Wow. Left him in the dirt and left him in the lurch.
In the next year in the Survivor series, there's a guy named Dink
story son's name, I don't know, maybe served as ring bearer, and
Penny Funk, the bridegroom's niece, was flower Girl Floorer. Decorations for the
wedding and reception were prepared by H. R. Fulton. Following the evening
ceremony, a reception honoring the couple was staged in fellowship haul of the church,
with guests being served wedding cake, punch, mince and nuts. Now,
when you say staged, a fat yeah, all right, what do
you what do you by? Staged decoration theme for the reception was in the
bride elects chosen colors of pink and white. Terry Kosub President at the UH
presided, presided or presided, Thank you, presided at the guest as the
guest at at at the guest Register. Serving guests were members of the bride's
house party, including Barbara Irwin, Marie Manley, Linda Calloway, and Kay
Jarnigan. Huh brother, what are you? Who? Dude? Why?
For a wedding trip to Ruis Rudoso Ruidoso, New Mexico, the bride selected
a white three piece suit with a fitted skirt and elbow length sleeves on the
jacket. After August twentieth, the couple will make their home at two one
one three second. They're exactly dress in the paper and a thing that totally
acknowledges like a shoot name of story two one one three second Avenue in Canyon.
That's where you can send all of your family to show up to congratulates.
Show up, person, show up and and and and flash you're you're
junk at them? Well you say you said? Driving crazy Fans would call
the house all the time and he'd answer, imagine, hello, funk holes.
Yes. Is Marty, a nineteen sixty two graduate of Canyon High School.
The bride is a senior student at West Texas State. They were still
in college just like yeah, where she is majoring in elementary education. She
is a member of Zeta Tau Alpha social sorority and has been cheerleader at WTSU
for the past two West Texas State University. Yes, her husband also graduated
from Canyon High School in nineteen sixty two. He attended Cisco Junior College one
year and is presently a senior student at WTSU, where he is majoring in
physical education. Damn right, he is. Funk plays guard and tackle with
the WTSU Buffalo's football team and pledged Alpha Ta Omega social fraternity this spring.
So indeed, for Funk, it was on to West Texas State where he
did excel. Indeed, yes, he rights. When I graduated high school,
I was very small for my age, one hundred and fifty five pounds.
I got a tryout down at Cisco Junior College, and that summer I
had a big growth spurt, shot up one hundred and eighty five. There
were no steroids then either. I made the junior college team and just kept
growing. I weighed two twenty five and played linebacker in guard down there.
When I transferred to West Texas, I was about two forty. I was
just late in maturing. West Texas was where I wanted to go because it
was close to home. Junior and my brother just finished up there, and
the football team had gone to the Sun Bowl, where they be the University
of Ohio. I had been wrestling amateur, but gave it up my sophomore
year in high school. I still practiced my wrestling skills at home. I
worked out in our garage, which had been transformed. I focused on football
in college. Joe Kerbel was the coach, and he was a great coach,
but he was also absolutely nuts. He'd come right out there and kick
you right in the butt. He'd been sergeant in the Marines and was probably
one of the toughest men in coaching. He worked full time from that point
on. But yeah, the thought was he was always going to be a
pro wrestler. Let's be honest. He had a good enough college football career.
Dave Meltzer wrote to get a try out with the Denver Broncos. I
didn't know that about Terry Funk, and even got an offer from Bud Grant
for the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers team, But wrestling like his father and brother
was what he figured he was doing all the time. Terry remembers the West
Texas program as a bunch of outlaws who became big names in the wrestling business.
How about Brewis of Brodie, who Terry remembers They'd go to bars and
Bruis of Brodie would climb on top of cars that were parked along the sidewalk
parallel and run from car to car, hood to hood like a fucking mad
man to see how many he could do. Wow, that's that's how they
got to know Frank Goodish bruiser Brodie. Stan Hanson, also West Texas state
football player at two hundred and eighty pounds, got into the business in part
because Dorry said to him, I think you can make two fifty or three
hundred, and that's just start and stand. I'll see that you make more
than that before long. Stan says, well, I don't think I can
do that. I'm making five hundred and fifty dollars now in my teaching job.
So Dorry said. Dory Senior said a week, Stanzey's got wit said
a week, goddamn it's five hundred fifty a month I'm making now and just
like that stand Larry at Hanson was in the wrestling business thanks to the funks.
Jeezuz, the list just goes on and on. Virgil Runnelds, We'll
get more into him as Terry Funk has his one of his career defining feuds
with Dusty Roads in Florida and other parts of the country. Ushered into the
business and no small part due to the funks. Bob Wyndham later became black
Jack Mulligan, son of course of Barry, father of course of Berry.
Wyndham was from Odessa, Texas and got into the business and later on went
on to buy the Merillrestling Territory thanks to the funks. Teddy Biassi as well
came through West Texas State, of course, his dad working the territory as
well. We mentioned Dick Murdoch kind of being an unofficial member of the West
Texas alumni. Telly Blanchard a really good quarterback at West Texas State until he
got into a bad auto accident. His father, of course, Joe Blanchard
running the San Antonio Territory, so he jumped into that world. After the
football stuff kind of fizzled out. But Terry has met his wife, Vicki,
his confidant and his life partner for the next pretty much the rest of
his natural life, and the conditions are now being sent for Terry Funk to
make it to make a real run. Meanwhile, after Dorry Senior left the
Boys Ranch, you got into a disagreement with Dory Detton, according to Terry
Funk, which resulted in the Funk family actually picking up and leaving Amarillo to
go to Vancouver, British Columbia for a while. This was a strange little
detour. You would think that after all the stuff we talked about with Dory
Funk Senior becoming the wrestling legend in Amarillo, that it was just they were
there for the rest of the time. But there's actually a brief period of
time before he bought out Dory Detton that Funk picked up his family again and
moved to Vancouver and they wrestled there for a little while. Did Dorry Senior.
Terry remembers his father getting the fans so fired up that riots would break
out until they played God Save the Queen over the PA system. I would
stop the fans from throwing stuff, and they would stand at attention wow and
give Dorry Senior, according to Terry, a chance to escape out the back
while they were paying attention to the anthem. Terry writes, this has worked
for three or four weeks, but those fans finally got tired of it and
just kept rioting. He said, this is the first time I ever saw
my father work as a heel, and it was before my father smartened me
up to the business. But I never questioned why he was now being a
bad guy. We were from Texas and we thought our home was better than
Ontario, Canada. It made perfect sense to me. Canada was a real
experience Terry Wrights. But I was glad when the two Dorries patch things up,
Dory Denton and Dorry funk and we came back home. Not long after,
my dad ended up as part owner of the territory, and doctor Sharpolis,
a booker and promoter and a former NBA president as a matter of fact,
had come in and bought the Emerilla Territory in fifty six from Doroy Denton
for seventy five thousand dollars, which is a tremendous amount of money. Sarpolis
then offered my father a chance to buy in, and so Dorriy Funk Senior
became part owner of the Milla Wrestling Promotion. In the end, the Renegades
failed in their endeavors. Tim Hornbaker writes about the Mberilla territory and Muchnik recovered
as the NWA comes back together and he resumed booking Rogers Buddy Rogers, that
is, in a smaller circuit that concentrated on priority towns. In August sixty
two, Docstarpolis of m Mailla was elected NWA President. So Dark Sock Wowow,
the guy who, along with Dorry Funk Senior bought Amarillo, was pretty
much the most powerful guy in the entire National Wrestling Alliance, And this sets
the conditions for so much of what would lead to the Funks having outsized influence,
particularly when it came time for the Japanese offices like All Japan and New
Japan to try to find US promotions, to partner with one US promotion to
really feed them talent, and to send Japanese talent to the States to get
seasoning. And you better believe I'm not just talking about you know, Kienne
seasoning. I'm talking about n Ring seasoning. I prefer that good old fashioned
Cagun seasoning. So again, the outside's influence of Vamaarilla, a place that
didn't have huge metropoliss within its territory, but one that was bought out by
an NWA president along with Dorriy Funk Senior, and so naturally Dorriy Funk Senior
began to have tremendous influence, and as time goes, so did the Funks
across the entire wrestling world, those conditions being realized right here. In the
late fifties and the early sixties, Sarpulis had Gene Kiniski as his world title
holder, separate indistinct from the NWA before rejoining, so for time there it
was almost as if a Mailla was acknowledging a completely different world champion than the
rest of the NWA. Hornbaker writes, West Texas was a territory that recognized
the champion other than Buddy Rogers. At the time when Buddy Rogers's world champion
was kind of a divisive topic across the alliance, most people could sense that
Vince was trying to get exclusive dominion of Buddy Rogers and book him exclusively to
the detribute of all of the promoters and basically make New York the only place
you could see the NWA champion on a reliable clip, which was not what
the rest of the alliance had come to expect. And so we know the
story start to develop where Thees does the we can do this the hard way
or the easy way mid ring call between him and Buddy Rodgers in Toronto,
and they do a certain amount of Funck finishes that allow Vince to claim that
Rogers is still the champion and the n w way to claim then in fact,
Luthers won the belt in that match, is now the NWWA champion once
again. Not all unfolding here at the same time, powers being consolidated under
Darksar Polis and Dorrifunk Senior down in am Marilla and uh according to Dory Junior,
Fritz had come up to Amarillo and got to know Doriy Senior, and
Dori Funk's junior says his dad was actually quote very instrumental in helping Fritz get
his territory down in Dallas as well. So all the conditions are in place
and the Funk Boys are now able to come up in the wrestling business.
With not just an in wing legend as a father, but a powerful promotional
hand, an owner, a mover and shake or a shot callar in the
business. And it's time to start launching these boys into the stratosphere. It's
time for a couple of sons of a gun to make it into the business.
That's next time on the lapsed funk. It's just a matter of again,
you know, is that do we even understand in this day and age?
You know? Is what we are supposed to do as professional performers,
whether it be you know, I mean, whether it be a movie,
or whether it be a play, or whether it be wrestling, or whether
whatever it might be, you know is uh. It's the story that you
tell, and it's the uh suspension that you put into it that you have
to have, you know, good for nothing, eggs sucking dumb beas it.
Man. We did it our way because we love it that way.
We love it that way. And I have this wonderful gun feeling and I've
had it all my life. When it's time to going, just now,
there's time to go. H