It’s hot in the auditorium. Cigar smoke
slowly waves in blue layers under the white 8
lights. Centered in the lights is the green
matted ring. It’s empty now, but the edgy
crowd eyes the ring in anticipation. Soon a
pair of professional wrestlers will step |
through the ropes and face off in an
exhibition of brute strength, agility, and
animal theater.
"This is a sport," says Elton Owen, of
Wrestling Promotions, and promoter of Friday
night’s triple card at the Lane County
Auditorium. “Don’t knock it till ya try it.”
Pro wrestlers:
Big guts, no glory
The card tonight features
three matches The prelimin
ary match pits Tommy
Rodgers against Mike Miller
The second match has the
"British Champ" Chris Adams
battling Dizzy Hogan These
matches are just the build-up
to the main event — a tag-team
bout with Hack Sawyer and
Steve Pardee going against
the likes of Rip Oliver and
"Playboy" Buddy Rose
Pardee is the last minute
replacement for Sawyer's
original partner Rocky John
son. Owen announces that
Johnson had some family
problems and had to return to
Samoa.
"If ya want your money
back, come and get it," Owen
says
Two hundred or so wrestling
fans paid $4 50 and $5.50 for
ringside seats Nobody leaves
"I came all the way from
Roseburg,” an old man says to
the old man next to him
The fans are a mixture of
elderly couples, adolescents
and young kids Well-bellied
men swagger and send
sidelong glances as if walking
through an unfriendly bar,
spoiling to fight The older
women tend to be amply
hipped There's a docility
about them They cling in quiet
obedience to their men
The adolescents appear to
be early teens — 12 to 14 years
old
The bell sounds three times
Into the ring two wrestlers
jump Owen takes % ringside
microphone and ’introduces
Tommy Rodgers and Mike
Miller
The fans applaud Rodgers
He's shorter than Miller, not
fat, and wears his hair short
He looks like a clean-cut kid
Obviously Rodgers is the
"good guy." '
Miller snarls at the crowd
when they boo him He resists
letting the referee check the
bottom of his shoes More
boos and catcalls from the
fans
The bell sounds once and
the wrestlers crouch and ad
vance to the center of the ring
They circle and tentatively
grapple It seems only a pan
tomime until Miller throws
Rodgers to the mat and the
whole ring booms and shud
ders with the concussion
H0,.n t
an inaacapabla1
■ V,.yboy- Buddy Rose and Hack Sawyer sake , dive afie,
a mid-air
collision over the mats.
Rodgers shakes his head
clear and is quickly on his feet
In a flash he has Miller's arm
and is slowly twisting it. The
pain is excruciating judging by
Miller’s agonized cries and
contorted features
"Break it — break it — break
it,” young girls chant as
Rodgers twists and twists
Miller’s arm
Miller manages to free his
arm and the two wrestlers start
wailin' on each other — jump
ing and leaping and crashing
to the mat Miller has a trick, he
grabs Rodgers' hair and trips
him backwards. An old man is
on his feet raving at Miller from
the edge of the ring
"I seen you do it — he's
pulling hair, Ref!" the old man
yells.
Miller's trick gets him dis
qualified Rodgers wins the
match even though at the bell
Miller was sitting on Rodgers'
head, choking him on the
ropes
It's the same "good guy”
against "bad guy" situation in
the second match Dizzy
Hogan vs Chris Adams
Adams is introduced as the
"British Champ ” He's clean
I cut and slim, with a genuine
baby-face The fans root for
him automatically
Hogan is another story He is
massive, with long flowing
blonde hair and a handlebar
mustache He's introduced as
hailing from Los Angeles Any
of those factors alone would
turn the fans against him
At the bell Hogan and
Adams collide at the center of
the ring ferociously wrestling
"C'mon Dizzy — kill'em,” a
boy yells
Hogan somehow manages
to catch Adams and hauls him
up across his shoulders He
parades about the ring with
Adams writhing In the air
"Throw him," fans shout
Suddenly the momentum of
the match shifts in Adams'
favor Adams has rendered his
massive opponent into a
quivering, sweaty mass by
bending back one of Hogan's
fingers Hogan is on his knees
begging for mercy The tans
are shouting "No!", urging
Adams to put it to Hogan They
are only, satisfied when Adams
body-slams and knee drops
Hogan into submission
Adams wins to the fans
delight As he steps down from
the ring a tiny towheaded boy
runs up to him with a pad and
pen The boy looks way, way
up as Adams, drenched in
sweat, signs his autograph.
Between matches young
girls hover around the dress
ing room door. Rip Oliver and
Buddy Rose are standing out
side the dressing room waiting
for their match to begin A
blonde coyly approaches Her
girlfriends cluster a few steps
away, watching with big eyes
of shock and envy She talks to
Oliver and feels his muscles.
She runs back to her girl
friends and they all cover their
like a dead fish in Oliver s
grasp It looks bad He reaches
a feeble hand to Pardee in the
corner But Pardee is just out
of reach Then Rose is in the
ring He flings Sawyer out of
the ring. Sawyer is face down
on the cold concrete. Rose
drags him back into the ring
Once again Sawyer's trem
bling hand stretches across to
Pardee No, he still can't tag
his teammate.
Then Rose errs, throwing
Sawyer in the corner Pardee
gets tagged and he leaps into
The tag-team duo of Sawyer and Steve Pardee claim their victory after
a pro-wrestling bout at Lane County Auditorium.
mouths and squeal together
The professional wrestlers
travel a circuit, usually wres
tling five to six nights a week
We have college champions
wrestling here." Owens says
The fans are hooting and
cheering, caught up in an
ticipation of the monumental
clap and crack of the wrestlers
hurling their bodies at each
other with no thought tor safe
ty The preliminary matches,
with the boom of thrown
bodies and slap of grabbing
hands, were nothing com
pared to the titanic struggle
awaiting only the sound of the
bell
CLANG — and the match is on
with a roar from the fans
Rose, a long-time pro wres
tler, has become paunchy
The fans begin chanting
"whale on the beach,"
It's a seesaw battle, made
specatuiar by stunts Sawyer
and Rose bounce off the
ropes, leap and collide about
three feet above the center of
the ring They both crash to
the mat flat on their backs
Oliver manages to get
Sawyer in a terminal headlock
Poor Sawyer is floundering
the ring Rose's face takes on
a look of stark terror as Pardee
lays waste to him The fans are
on their feet shouting wildly as
both Rose and Oliver are be
ing thrown all over the ring by
Pardee The bell sounds and
Sawyer and Pardee's arms are
raised in victory by the referee
The tans slowly filter out of
the hot and smoky auditorium
They talk excitedly about
holds and throws Kids writhe
on the grass outside, imitating
the wrestlers Young girls talk
dreamily about the wrestler's
looks The elderly couples
smile broadly and shamble
across the parking lot — reas
sured by the pantomime of
violence that cheaters are al
ways found out and the
smaller and seemingly defen
seless can triumph over bul
lies
The well-bellied men stand
taller, sucking in their
stomachs, sure they could
measure up if only they had a
chance in the ring
Story by Cort Fernald
Photo by Mark Pynes
...ft 4A 1QOO