The First Family of Amarillo: Terry, Dory Sr and Dory Funk Jr.

We’re happy to welcome author and broadcaster Tony Richards (@tonyrichards4) to the show ahead of his receiving the James Melby Historian Award at this year’s Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame in July. We discuss how doing historical research has changed in modern times, the campaigns for Morris Sigel and Roy Welch to get in the WON HOF, discuss the careers of Dennis Condrey and Phil Hickerson, his podcast work with Jerry Brischo and JBL, Dory Funk and his connection to the West Texas State football team and more. It was great having Tony on the show finally and will be looking forward to seeing him in Waterloo soon.

Technical note: For some reason, there was a delay on the line when we recorded the show. We tried to clear that up as much as possible, but apologize for any odd gaps that we may have missed. Thanks for listening.

Steve Williams, in Oklahoma uniform, prepares to launch himself at Jim Duggan.

A podcast years in the making finally gets recorded, albeit minus one of the proposed participants.

I’m joined by Mike Sempervive to discuss football-playing wrestlers and who had the most success in combining a collegiate and/or professional football with their exploits inside the ring. Some oustanding football players could not bring that sucess to the squared circle. Some football players became all-time grappling greats. But who was the best at combing the two.

Some caveats: This chat only is concerned with the territory era of the sport, so excludes early pioneers like Bronco Nagurski and post 1980s stars like The Rock, Bill Goldberg and competitors from the modern scene.

A sampling of the almost 100 names on the list for discussion include Ernie Ladd, Wahoo McDaniel, Dick the Bruiser, Wilbur Snyder, Angelo Mosca, Steve Williams, Jim Duggan, Lex Luger, Ron Simmons, JBL, Russ Francis and the 11 alumni from West Texas State, from Dory and Terry Funk to Ted DiBiase, Tully Blanchard and Tito Santana. Some of the names on the list may surprise you, since their football past was never part of their wrestling gimmick.

Which wrestlers’ football exploits were real and which were just works to enhance their reputation for toughness? Which football players could have been exceptional wrestlers had they given up the gridiron for the ring? These topics and more are in this episode.

NB: Hopefully this is the first of two shows on the topic and we can schedule our absent third man in the booth for a follow-up show.

Episode 8 - The Cactus Plants Are Tough on Pants

Episode 2 - The Autumn Wind