When I was a kid pro wrasslin' was pretty big around Columbus as Al Haft, the local promoter lived in Reynoldsburg where I grew up. As it happened, so did several of his wrestlers. Frankie Tolliver was a real local hero, built like a fireplug with a developing beer gut. Haft had a ring set-up in a field behind his restaurant and hotel which adjoined the houses where we lived. Tolliver lived 2 doors away from a friend of mine and he would take a couple of us on those "great" occasions (to a 5th grader) back to the arena and show us how to flip each other and do some other "moves." We kinda' worshipped this guy of course. Then there was Chief Don Eagle who lived a few blocks away and had a daughter in school with me. His name was Don White and he looked no more Native American than most guys but he had a pretty good tan and a massive 6 foot 4 frame packed with lots of muscle and other flesh so to us he looked pretty good.

Years later I got to watching the WWF as it grew in the early eighties and frankly I would have loved a job with them as a script writer! After several years of watching I also had an idea to write some kind of thesis on the side-by-side journey into the American psyche of Big Time TV Wrestling and Big Time TV Religion. As both have suffered ills and declined in more recent years I remain convinced that they share the same fan base and audience.

Spaw