Ep. 440: The Complete Hulk Hogan | The Docks

thinking about suicide? Yes, yes, his name's Danny Brower, or, as we'd like to call him, the Tampa friend Hogan never named, yes or well, Terry once called him the mule who he introduced you to. There he was contemplating ending it all on Tampa's iconic Skyway Bridge, only to wake up, drive home, and be foisted upon by a young Terry Boleya and Ed Leslie, suddenly encouraging him to get up, get in shape, and pump iron with them.

More on Danny Brower much later, as we return one last time on the Complete Hulkgan to where it all started for Terry Boleya, Tampa and the life on the docks that Terry Boleya almost didn't leave behind. M And if we're headed to the docks like some honest to goodness blue collar gentleman, we've got to do it gripping the only beer that fits the occasion. Oh yes, the only beer that matches complete hul Cogan energy. We're talking about garage beer.

He wrestled in seventy seven before anyone knew who he was. Oh my god, this is gonna be Oh, yes, you know, but you gotta do that. You know you want it. You want that refreshing, that refreshing, cool crisp uh uh reward. Yes, at the end of a long day and you you head to the garage for that, maybe with your feet uh dangling in Tampa Bay. Maybe you know, yes, well, you have your your lunch, your honest to goodness lunch, and a garage beer the fastest growing independent beer brand

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let them know. The co chairman say to you, because yes, big thumbs up to sponsorship, big thumbs up to synergies, big thumbs up to partnerships, and big thumbs up to garage beer and the complete Hull Cogin setting down the definitive chronicle, respectful when it needs to be, disrespectful when it needs to be Yes of the life and times of Hull Cogin. So you always feel obliged to remind the Solar System that all we're doing on this one of a kind journey is made possible by support like that,

and of course by support like yours. We'll do this quickly this time because we've got a lot of dockworking to do with the long and short shoreman of it. But yeah, it's it's been a busy time at TLFHQ, not just in terms of trying to find ways to get content out to you, but as you know, the boss Man has been active in New York City. Tell them about just desserts, which by the time they hear this might be wrapping up. Yes, i'd say you. By the time you guys all hear this, it'll be our

last week. If you haven't come out yet, please do we We do perform and says Wednesday through Sunday, Wednesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at well Wednesday and Saturday at two pm, Sunday at three pm, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at seven p m.

one street down where we're one street up. Rather we're forty fifth Street and they're on forty fourth Street. And those putting the fuel into the engine that is Patreon dot com slash the lapsed fan that makes this worth it for us as well as worth it for you. It's going to be the beneficiary of one that curtain closes on the boss's latest thespian endeavors. Folks are thirst and tell them when they can expect under the cinemat

Marvel Journey to come roaring back. I want to say, you know, it's not like I've been doing nothing during those days off. I don't really have days off. We have Mondays and tuesdays off from the show.

the next one rolls around. So it's it's coming, it's coming, and we got a long way to go with that, not to mention you know, we're we're coming up. You know, we we still got a little ways to go on the complete hull Gogan. But there's gonna be another interruption at some point, probably within the next you know, I'd say a month or two when when we get to certain years where where Terry starts making some waves in the uh on on on on the small screen.

That's you know, finding people from Hulk Hogan's life, finding people who announced his shows, like Great Michael Saint John who we talked to who voiced over the Hulk vignette and Memphis, Like you know, Charlie Platt, who gave voice to Hulk Hogan's very first television appearances as a professional

wrestler in the Gulf Coast circuit. Like Don the Dragon Wilson who worked alongside Hulk ause he slang drinks before getting back into the business in seventy eight and Cocoa Beach Brian Blair and then of course last week The Birdman Coco Beware. Yes, just taking us to a place we never quite have been Antiella, Oh.

delayed basis Elimination Chamber coming up. I know you're gassed for them.

the for the crappy belt, for the fake belt. Now, I guess we're just marks for calling it that.

decided on the journey. Too funny enough in two thousand and two, he'd work the rock Yeah, no, realm, that's true. Do you smell what the docks are cooking? We're about to find out. I mean, you know, the only oh god, the only time he worked the docks harder was when he was looking for steroids and there's a whore and deal. Okay, precisely. So we decided to devote an episode to trying to basically figure out what the fuck he was talking about in his book and over the years about working on

the docks. We've already touched on a lot of this material, trying to thread it through, you know, his coming up in the world and getting acquainted in the business and taking I guess what you could call odd jobs. You know, he got he got on the union as a laborer with his buddy Anthony Borcello, who was the singer of.

where he was. I don't know. He seemed to have a few different jobs, some of which seemed incredibly physically laborious and others which didn't. So the timeline is one thing that's especially confusing, to say nothing of the geography, because he talks in his book about leaving Memphis and

going back to Tampa and working the docks. But we're about to convey some material to you that that exists on Facebook from people who recall working and one gentleman in particular who calls working with Terry Bully on the docks. And it was in Fort Pierce, which, as far as I can tell, is on the completely different side of Florida, much closer on the east coast of Florida to Cocoa Beach, which puts us in seventy eight when he was over there, rather than all the way over on the west side

of Florida. The other the other Coco be the other Coco Bee. Yeah, Cocoa beach where.

position that I think we take the time to appreciate. Yeah, I think there's a lot of people who could very easily work themselves into a similar lather around, you know, just where they are now and where the people that they you know, considered part and parcel of who they were who they met in the wrestling business are gone. And it's not just tragedy, you know. Now it's just old age. And that's a much different proposition.

you get fired. You kind of just take jobs when they're available. You show up at the hall and you kind of say, all right, I'll take the next you know, there's a big boat coming into port that needs to be unloaded. I'm here for this time period. I'll take the job and make the quick bucks. And it's good. It's good money. It's very good money because there's a lot of backbreaking work and tough work, especially in the

hot Florida sun. But I think, like so many things about his earliest years, it's you crave this sort of neat arrangement of this happened here, and then this happened, and then this happened here, and it all blends together, especially his stints on the docks, I think he was there in seventy eight when he was taking a year off the business in Cocoa Beach, you know, running the

gym and the bar. And I think in seventy nine he goes to the port in Tampa more so than the the Fort Pierce Port, which is on the other side of Florida. So it's not like there was just this one I don't think there's this one discreete little window where we can say this is where he went to the docks and then he came back to wrestling, right.

But we're going to do our best to sort of triangulate what he said about when he did this kind of work, what others said about when he did this kind of work, and see what we come up with.

And you know, we heard from Anthony Borcello, from our friend Brad Blucian, who we want to remind you, of course, that he's offering you know, special gut to members of the Solar System who sign up for his brad Pack Patreon and as part of his great book The six Pack, he interviewed all kinds of people from Terry's past and in cooperation with TLF and the Complete Hulk Cogan sharing exclusive audio of the conversations he had and putting that

book together. One of them is with Anthony Borcello from Terry's past, again the lead singer of Rucus, and he was someone whose father was involved in the Labor's Union in Tampa, and as we talked about, got Hogan involved in doing that kind of work. It seems like if Anthony Barcello has it right, well, I'm sure he has it right as it regards his role in getting Hulk involved in the Long Shorman's Union side of it, which

is a different deal. But as far as who set Hogan up, it wasn't Anthony Barcello, And it seems like Hulk in his book says that Borcello set him up both in the laborers Union and working the docks, but

those are two separate and distinct things. Borsello told Brad Bluccian that was actually a guy named Gary Devrend who was also involved in Rucus and some of Hulkogan's bands coming up, who later on went on to become a significant kind of like a big wig in the Florida area port unions, one of like the top two or three guys. It looks like in the Long Shoreman's Union or I think it's called the ILU or something like that. Whatever is the International Longshoreman's Union. And let's just say

this guy is not taking calls. Okay, I'm pretty sure we did all the work we could to try to find Gary de wrend and see if he'd be willing to reflect, even though he's very clearly out there as a big hot shot union guy, not someone that we were raised but Ford it's worth Barcelo says, Gary de Wrenn was the one to set hoking up on the docks, and he was the one who set him up as a laborer, and so that's just that's a distinction worth making.

We go to a Facebook post that was published shortly after Terry passed away on a Facebook group called the Fort Pierce Connection. Now, Fort Pierce are the docks on the west side of Florida, nearer to a pardon me, on the east side of Florida, nearer to Cocoa Beach

than Tampa that Hogan also apparently worked on. Because in this post, which actually it kind of resurfaced after Hogan's passing, but the initial post states all the way back to twenty eighteen, a guy by the name of Billy Johnson out of Tampa wrote the following, I used to work with a guy in Fort Pierce at the port. You know him as Hulk Hogan. Wow, I used to work for Coastal Steve Doring. I did not know him as Hulk Hogan in these days. He was a checker for

goods coming in the port. Back then, a checker. Hulk was a checker who check things.

followed his career when he started in Tampa. I started with the company in nineteen seventy nine, so that puts us in seventy nine. And there's some you know, people who follow up, and he says, I worked every with him. He was just a big bodybuilder. Then for lunch he drank these nasty shakes, Oh my god, and about five pounds of grapes. Oh. Someone says, grapes nature's candy. Are

they bodybuilding food? Billy responds, he said the grapes made his skin thin, so his muscle would make his veins show. Wait what, the woman responds, I just googled it. I didn't know grapes were a natural blood thinner. Interesting, Billy responds, wine is a blood thinner. Okay, so did you know that, boss, If you want that vascularity to show, you hit the grapes.

I did not know it. No wonder. Coco remembers them loading up on fruit primarily hit the road in the green and wild to think about, Yeah, especially a guy Jesus who's you know, as big as he is, and everyone kind of pegs as someone chasing apparently mister Universe, which I never really heard him try to pursue mister Universe. That seems so wild to me. That seems wild to me, given you know, I mean, are they sure they're not

are they sure they're not getting the Hulks confused? Well, perhaps Hulk went for a different Hulk win for mister Universe too, But you know what possibility I like to entertain. Boss, Yes, that Hulk is embarrassed to tell his fellow dog workers that he's trying to become a wrestler. Oh oh absolutely, it's more respectable to say you're trying to become mister Universe. Yep, yep, I mean listen, I can, I can, I can see that. You know that goes absolutely. How many people have you

told on your show that you do a podcast about sports? Well, you know what, you know what, so I'm going to tell you that. Okay, so I mentioned this before, it hasn't come up and he hadn't come up at all. Okay, but the.

doing something that is your own. It's like, that's that's just that's the dream. Honestly, it's the dream. And and so that's what I can get. I mean, I don't know, I don't I don't think you can get that. And your side of the of the coin, yeah for se well.

that way better the way discussion continues. This is subsequent to Hogan's passing. Billy Johnson takes to Facebook again with sad news. He writes, Hulk Hogan passed away. You know him from his wrestling career and Rocky movie. He was born Augusta, Georgia, nineteen fifth. His family moved Tampa, Florida, where he grew up. He was born Terrence Jean Blea. I worked with him here in Fort Pierce. I started working with him in nineteen seventy eight, so that puts

us in seventy eight and seventy nine here. As far as rememberssing him working on the docks very interesting. We worked in the port here for Coastal Steve Doring. Billy writes he was a real fun guy to work with. We all called him Terry at the time. He was in the gym every day for lunch. He ate seven pounds of grapes and drank the most nasty smelling drinks. I remember the first day I met him, My boss

Bruce Brennan, took me around to meet everyone. When we walked up to him, I asked, Bruce, who is this And he was super big back then. He was training for Mister Universe at the time. Wow, And my boss said, Oh, that's Terry. He does whatever he wants.

is just that huge motherfucker. Oh that's that's the best part carry from Tampa. That's who they see.

Sure people here knew them before they took on a stage name in presence, but it's it's a unique phenomenon, to say the least. Later on, Billy posts a picture of just some trucks moving around the yard somewhere, says, I took this pish for nineteen seventy nine. I was inside of a ship that had its nose of the bow raised up. I was a shipping agent for Coastal

Steve Dooring. Back then, we were loading the materials to build the electric power plant in I think he says Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are meant to write Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The generator alone weighs one hundred and seventy five tons alone. If you look to the west, you can see the seventh Street water tower that used to be the used to be to the west of there. One of the Union checkers that was on this job was Terry Bolea.

Do you know him today as Hulk Hogan. There used to be a lot of ships that came in the port of Fort Pierce back then, and indeed there was, and Fort Pierce has some connection to Hulk Cogan. If you remember all the way back to when we cover his first few months in the business in Florida in seventy seven as Super Destroyer. His first documented match and most career histories you'll find of the man was in fact in Fort Pierce was the match when he wrestled

Don Serrano as a late replacement. According to the newspaper clippings we conveyed on that episode, and even further, I found an article in eighty five and the Tampa Tribune after he hit it, Big Jack Briscoe remembers his first match ever at Fort Pierce. Of course, Brian Blair doesn't remember that he was, apparently on the card. He remembers being his match with Terry Bully and Hulk's first time ever.

freight terminal on the Indian River. Citrus ex spoker Bernardi get announced Thursday about forty freighters hauling eighty million pounds of Indian River citrus to Europe and Japan or expect to call at Fort Pierceport in the first season of shipping, he said. George Krikovich, president of Coastal Steve Doring that's the company, said the citrus activity will provide jobs for about one hundred and fifty Steve Doors hul Cogan among them,

perhaps Boss hul Cogan among them. Perhaps I would imagine many of whom were local men who worked out of Port Canaveral in past seasons, and Port Canaveral, as we talked about, it's even closer to Cocoa Beach, where Hope would have been at the time. Quote we expected to be a major port in the very near future, Egan said.

Most citrus that leaves Florida by ship now is handled through Tampa and Port Canaveral, So there's the connective tissue with Tampa perhaps following the citrus around those Florida oranges. Brother and that's Oh my god, he got so into it as his kin turned orange. I cannot handle this shit.

fire that gutted the building. According to Dick Reid, executive vice president of the local Chamber of Commerce, rebuilding of the terminal is a significant step toward revitalization of the port and lowering the Fort Pierce unemployment rate of nine point three percent, and that's quite high. Jim Shehan, president of First National Bank, normal, I don't know. I'm not used to hearing it broken down by like city like that, but I would say, like three four ten, ten seems.

But I don't know where we were at in seventy eighty. There was a lot of economic turmoil in the seventies. Jim Sheen, president of First National Bank, predicted that even in its early stages, the terminal would have a beneficial ripple effect on the local economy because the incoming ships will need repairs, fuel, and supplies. First National Bank is financing the project, Egan said. She and as president of the Local GOO Team Economic Development Committee, has helped coordinate

the port revitalization project. The main port facility, operated under the name of Indian River Terminal Company, Egan said, will be a refrigerator. It did one hundred by three hundred and sixty foot terminal capable of handling general cargo as well as citrus. The company hopes to attract general cargo, imports and exports, and perhaps even passengers, Egan and she had said. Also she had said several companies have expressed interest in opening plants in Fort Pierce when the port

becomes available. The port conservice ships drawing up to twenty five feet of water. Egan said the terminal company would exert every effort we can to get the ship channel deepened to forty feet, a project now under study by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Egan would not say

how much the project will cost. Last fall, however, he applied for a two point one two five million dollars Farmer's Home Administration loan to rebuild the terminal that loan application has been stalled, he said, since the February fire that caused an estimated six hundred and fifty thousand dollars of damage to the building. So Hogan came in after

the flames. He emerged as the port did from the flames. Wow, and this is a you know, before hul Cogan was an export to Japan, which we're getting to like eighty one, he was an export fruits to Japan, So he's always an exports. Krikovich said existing port activity is slight, limited mainly to a few shiploads of sand each year to the Bahamas. Okay, yeah, they're sending sand from Florida to the Bahamas.

Atlantic Ocean. The port has waited until now for a cooperative effort to reactivate it. After wreckage from the February fire was cleaned up, actual reconstruction of the terminal began in early July, Krikovich said. Egan said the completed terminal will be a modern facility comparable to any other, to any and other major ports. We are making every effort to make this facility something that the city of Fort

Pierce will be proud of. The outside surface of the building will be white paneled aluminum, he said, applied over eight inches of insulation. So big doings, big doings in Fort Pierce, and our hero is going to click right into that. Well, we were going to turn to Hulk Cogan's volumes to try to discern what we can about all this docks shit. And uh, I'm not talking about identifying law enforcement's address. I mean, I'm talking that's another

docks you would be particularly concerned with. As the years when the docks and me, brother, what on the dis ox? You call them the dis ox? Absolutely, he did, come on, I really think he did. Brother, I'm working on the dess Ox, dude, Lizong Shorman locked, I was thinking of this businessness. Brother, let's go back to the Diz. Got to book. Those the fans, those brothers, Stone Cold, Steve, Door, Austin. Let's be honest about it, right, I mean, you're first coming. Absolutely,

I actually proud of that one. So this is book number one, and how he talks about the docks. He's a chapter called the docs. The you mean the accurate one, the good doc. The accurate doc was George and Harry. And let's be clear about that. But we're going to try to, you know, as has become our custom on the complete Hull Cooke and compare and contrast uh the different versions in his two books and see if we

can't come out somewhere in the middle. But this is important because if you remember, way back when we did our Terry Funk tribute, the Funk in trying to assign all the different massively important wrestlers that Terry Funk had an important hand in guiding their careers, if not outright

making them as pro wrestlers. Hulk gave a very curious shout out to Terry Funk in his first book for being the one to physically come to the docks, having found out that this Terry Boulder, with all the promise that he had had given up on wrestling and convinced him right there on the docks to get back into the wrestling business. Hulk himself fingered Terry Funk for that job. Terry, of course never mentioned it, never took credit for it,

probably because it didn't happen. But for some reason, Hulk decided to cast Terry Funk in that role as opposed to the two or three other people who he probably didn't like who actually deserve credit, which is what he tends to do a lot. So beware and be on the lookout for that little piece of the history as well as Huck here connects his time retreating to the docks with making it all the way to New York.

bands I played with. Anthony had a wife and a child's support, so if his band wasn't working for a week, he'd go down to the Laborers Union and earn some money that way. And Anthony told me his father had strong ties with the union, so he could get me in if I wanted. I don't have any brighter prospects at the time, so I said, Hell, yes, I like a Vat's in quotes. Hell yes, yes, well it's a direct quote, he remembers saying. Course, So Anthony Barcello got

me into the Laborers Union. And the way that worked as I would go to the union hall and they would have a bunch of metal folding chairs, about fifty of them, and everyone would sit down on those chairs and wait for their number to be called they would say, hey, here's a job your one day's wizard porn. It's a minute the missle brother so, and you go to them all that day. Then you come back and sit in

the union hall again. But maybe the next time your number was called, they would say, you know, okay, Turmoila, you'll six months work on a government cleanup of a phosphate of a phosphate factory. You boy, you'd be happy to get that that job because it meant steady work. So I did the labor thing for about six months, splitting my time between that and getting beaten up by Hero Matsuda. So he's getting beat up. He went back to Hero Matsuda again. I thought this was seventy nine. Yeah,

I guess it. Like so he's doing that okay. Then one day then he had guys to co down work on the twenty second Street causeway in Port Tampa. Turn out if the job was loading and unloading ships, coat and meat, root in vegetables. Enough about his stas, I don't know Planet Stasia. Enough about his grocery runs in Memphis. And once in a while they would have cars come off. I'll never get to unload the car, so it's basically

hauled produce and stuff. No one, he's in the grapes, right, you get him for free, probably place it stuck a few off from himself. The job only lasted a week, but after that I became nosing around the docks again. What's going on?

But the question of color never came up. Not for me, not for them. I just figured I was in a hole with a bunch of guys. Hey, Terry, do you mind if I bring up the question of color. I don't see color, brother, Well, that's kind of funny because you always get that razor blade.

apparently yep. And all the lifting that I was doing, my arms were getting bigger and bigger. But as much money as I was making about for about six months, I'll figure something out that the Steve Door, the guy up on the the.

THAT i knew WHAT i was. Doing i'll talk about The Steve doors union A. Stevedor i'll direct to the load and unloading these big ocean going. Ships i'll check boxes and stamp them so everyone knew where they were. Going AND i was really excited to be doing this BECAUSE i was making six or seven hundred bucks a. Week it was huge that. Time So i'll figured, OUT idu this for a long time BECAUSE i still hadn't been given a professional wrestling.

wasn't an uncertainty. FACTOR i did my, WORK i got, PAID i got out. IT i got out of it exactly WHAT i put. In and all of a SUDDEN i had a call my old Friend Terry. Funk, okay so not only did they get a call From Terry, funk but old Friend Terry.

what the hell's wrong with? You what do you mean you could be the biggest star in the wrestling.

Day this Was vince's, Father vince mickmahon. Senior, really he isn't really A vincent McMahon, junior because you have to have the same middle. Name like that's how that, works, Right.

Away he bullied me to go To New. York BUT i didn't want to go in, here But Mike graham fucking threatened, me, dude little. Bitch Mike, Graham, yeah mid, event.

MAN i still wasn't completely, convinced but they got me to SAY i talked to, Him so they called Vincick Man senior and put him on the. Speakerphone vince, Said, HEY i want you TO i want you to come up north next. WEEK i was real horses. ASS i, Said i'll come, up But i'm not bringing my wrestling. Stuff i'll come up and talk to, you BUT i don't want to. Wrestle looking, back it didn't make any

sense for me to say. That, HELL i was making the trip, anyway but those were the CONDITIONS i, made and this Man senior accepted, them SO i flew up. North that's it turned. Out they didn't bring, it and they didn't bring me In New. York they probably An, Allentown, pennsylvania and for the first TIME i came face to face with McMahon's.

want The, briscoes who you. KNOW i think by this point we've established that The hulkochan looked at kind of a, skance you, know kind of skeptically as to what their true intentions. Were if it was all just a big practical joke to make this big oaf think that we were breaking him into the business while all the time we were just entertaining ourselves with how green he was and incapable he. Was maybe you wouldn't want to give

them that kind of central role in the. Story maybe that that's where the utility of Introducing terry Funk, is the guy who went down to the docks comes. From but Here Jerry brisco in conversation With Brad, beluccian tells us how he remembers playing a role and Getting terry back into the.

ALWAYS i mean we had a invest McMahon senior CLASSIC i think down In, Hollywood florida and in vent and then both vincas we were. There we had that really good working relationship with the. Guy so we knew if he went up there that it would benefit us in the long run, also and and you, Know jack AND i we owned the, territory but we also if we were friends with, you you, know and you weren't getting along. HERE i can't tell you how Many ricky, steamboats The

dutchman tells THE i can't Rick. MARTEL i can't tell you how many people that we sent out here to other. Places they were our friends and we wanted to see him to do. Good and we knew the long term set up Of florida that they weren't going to they were gonna get mid, level and they weren't going to get because they weren't gonna get Past. Dusty they weren't getting pass. Jacked they weren't get passed. Me certain might

weren't get past my. Ground there were certain guys that they were the, problem would be stuck right and that they were much. Better so we looked out for our friends due when we had the connection because we were ownership and in a territory and we were able to.

Back and not with interest Though. Tennessee and we told him. There we told him at that, time, There, terry go up there and get you. Experience and when you think you're ready in your, mind don't listen to. Them but in your mind you think you're, ready you come back And jack will get you booked In New. York he'll Call Vince. Senior he'll get you booked In New. York right, then it was Just vince because there's no junior player at the.

circumstances and this which is when he quit the business after being decided fight In memphis and then come back to the docks later. On he kind of realizes that there were two different. Episodes but it's just an example of kind of the difficulty here because people want to even congeal together holts different starts and, stops and wrestling is just one time he quit and one time he came in, right and this idea that like he knew

all along That New york was an. Option like if he knew all Along New york was an, option why didn't he go there to begaining? Right why is he going back to the docks thinking this is What i'm making In memphis is What i'm going to make in the. Business and that's the beginning and end of. It And american people to get anywhere. Else, NO i, mean they realized he was making money and they couldn't underpay him, anymore and they wanted to keep making that, money and

so they had to. DO i think what it took to facilitate him being able to access the kind of bank that he would leave the union work behind and, actually you, know see the kind of paychecks That New york could afford to cut and keep him in the business and, hopefully As jerry made very clear in those in those, comments win a bit on the back end when after becoming a name In New york and getting the magazine coverage and, such they could bring him back

down To florida and start making some money off the. GUY i think that's pretty MUCH i think that's pretty much what we're dealing with. Here as far As Terry, Funk brad did talk to brisco about that component of, things Because brad came into a lot of these interviews having Read holts books as well as we're doing right. Now and here's What briscoe would say About Terry funk's roll or lack the rob in the whole thing.

to go to the docks for one weekend and then wrestle the next. Weekend, right he makes it sound like he just Left, memphis like fuck. This AND i couldn't find any gap of any appreciable length in all of nineteen seventy nine for this. GUY i don't know where the hell this moment came where he went back to the docks and left the business behind And Terry funk had to come find. Him there's like a two WEEK i, mean he's pretty much working every week in nineteen seventy

nine upon starting With Ron fuller In. March there is like a two week gap in the fall of nineteen seventy nine where he has his final match for The Memphis territory Against Ron bass On september sixth the Rupp arena In, Lexington. Kentucky it doesn't wrestle, again according To Wrestling data Dot com Until september twenty, ninth nineteen seventy, nine and that's not In New. York that's For Georgia Championship. Wrestling everyone that talks About Hall cogan's story here jumps

From memphis To New. York but the fact of the matter Is georgia and his return To. Southeastern all those, matches Remember boss we covered at the end of seventy, nine after The PLAN B Knoxville war had played, out and Suddenly knoxville was opened up and sold in fact By Ron fuller To Jimmy, barnett and thus all of The georgia wrestlers that work for Jim barnett started to be able to go to those. Circuits hulk is now hyperactive in late seventy nine all over the. Place way before.

Watched it's so wrong to just like cut out the fucking NATIONAL tbs. EXPOSURE i think probably would happen more than, anything because just as much As Eddie graham had that connective tissue With vince, McMahon so Did, georgia Because georgia would borrow a lot From Eddie graham and would borrow a lot of talent in an. Exchange And Jim barnett had a good relationship With Vince senior as, well very

good in. Fact you, know look at the fact That Jim barnett went to work For Vince junior in eighty three When Vin's junior had pretty much no credibility yet built up in the business as this kid that, was you, know in over his head trying to take over the old man's business and down, there you, know Because, jimmy as we talked about on The Black Saturday, journey had been so, disenchanted let's, say With Ollie, anderson who was accusing him of all kinds of misdeeds and really going

to the mat trying to Force Jimmy barnett out of, power that he just went fuck this and went With, vince who then came down there and absolutely conquered all his ass and put him in his. Place so we had we had a situation where he's going To. GEORGIA i think he probably went To georgia as this conduit To New york more than the idea that Like florida figured they would get him back because he doesn't wrestle In. Florida the fact of the matter is he doesn't wrestle In.

Florida in nineteen seventy, nine he wrestles For Georgia Champiship, wrestling he wrestles for THE, wwwf and he wrestles For southeastern and The knoxville shows we just talked. About he even goes and apparently wins the one of the elusive championships That Louis tillette didn't put on him in the first.

Place but according To Ron, fuller led to him jumping To memphis at the end of the, day that they wouldn't strap him up In southeastern when he was, wrestling you, know for any period of, time when he's wrestling the likes Of Boston, Idol Knox, baker and so it's very strange that people remember him going from throwing his hands up in the wrestling business In memphis and then getting connected With vince McMahon out of like a sort of like a desperate plea to get him back into the wrestling.

Business because he doesn't go To New york right. Away in, fact he goes to a gig that's just about as high profile as any other gig he had Before New, york which Is. Georgia there's actual tape of. This everyone who had, cable satellite, cable which if you, know admittedly was very limited penetration at the, time but it's not like he was operating just this little corner of the wrestling world that nobody outside the confines Of atlanta was able to. See this is The Sterling, golden this is

Where Sterling golden comes. From it's this is this is We this is holes so, convoluted even for wrestling, history it really.

enterprising and dominant and select promoters in the. Business no one mentions when he did when he went To. Georgia even in his own. Books hulk is very opaque about when he was actually In. Georgia AND i think we've established very. CLEARLY i think you'd, Agree, boss having at all the newspaper, clippings all of the newspaper, advertisements for all the matches That hulk did For Ron fuller and For Jerry jarrett And Jerry, lawler he had not been Called Sterling. Golden he just had.

until he goes To. Georgia so where does The Sterling golden thing? Happen if he goes straight From memphis To Vince senior and Becomes Hulk, coogan because that's that's where he gets the. NAME i don't, know But i'm here to tell you that if there's any gap at all in his nineteen seventy nine where we might be able to pencil in his sort of like hiatus from the, business it would be Between september sixth And september twenty ninth of nineteen. Seven but just to hear others like

Those facebook, posts it was it was even before. That it was in seventy eight that he was active in and. Out so we're doing our best, here and we're laying all the facts on the. TABLE i guess it's up to you to. Decide so you've only conveyed his first. Book how about his second? Boss how about his second bite at the? Apple let's see if we can detect an irregularities here and consistent here coming to the boss, Man go right, ahead no, Boy.

Between tampa And Saint. Pete SO i, thought AND i, thought IF i could get in there and start unloading the beer off the, Trucks i'm gonna work my way. Up that's what everyone always told. Me you, know you could wind up driving one of those trucks and making at promoted a, supervisor and then you can be district. MAN i want to know who said. THIS i know that's a loss to. Him that's a. Lot who, Said, Oh, terry you could become district manager. Someday, oh that's pretty

fucking exciting to. Me on and on and if you do, that if you put in your twenty five thirty Years anhuis Or, bush you'll be. Set. Well guess. WHAT i never heard back from. Them the one PLACE i did find work was on the Diz ox on the off the twenty Second street. Causeway AND i was around two undred and fifty pounds in those, days a lot more

cut THAN i am. Today you could actually see my stomach muscles back and then instead of this one big ABB i got now and the Time i'd spend At hector's gym made me strong enough to do some big. Lifting Anthony barcelo one of the lead singers in one of the one of the seven or eight. BAMS i was in seven or eight? Bands did we count seven or eight?

Workers and one day if they send me out at the docks to help load and unload. SHIPS i took to that real, quick AND i was good at anything to do with. Math doesn't want to came to paydays.

Way so they kept me on these twelves before they kept they kept me in this in this. Version so they kept me on these twelve the fortune hour ships for about six months UNTIL i was good at, it and they invited me UNTIL i was so good at they invited me to join The Steve Doors. Union that was a really big. Deal Steve doors were the guys on the deck of the ship telling everybody word like put the, load just like, uh just Like bubba's. Wife, yeah good.

docks as something he did between. GIGS i think he's or maybe the author is conflating him taking work in The Laborers union With, barcelo which he.

whole hog into. It because it just DOESN'T i don't, know it doesn't add up that he was taking doc work while he was still involved in the.

i KNEW i had to walk. Away your music wasn't, perfect but at LEAST i was having fun looking at it out in a crowd full of beautiful girls and not sweating up on a container ship all. Day AND i landed one of those JOBS i applied. For who knows what would happened if somebody had called me back and hired me A Tampa electric and all those all these friends started congratulating me on landing a great. Job i'd probably still be working there. TODAY i might even

be retired by. Now i'm SURE i would have been a linesman with my own, crew a forman like my. DAD i would have grown my go. Tea i'm SURE i would have lifted weights and taking steroids and become a legend in my own mind standing on the side of the road all buffing ten with my hard hat, on posting as everybody drove, by being that guy that everyone wanted to be wanted me to be. Friends took those gigs who turned up a temp job unloading trucks

into a twenty year. Career And i'm sure If i'd have the opportunity making four or five six hundred bucks a week that big union, MONEY i would have done it. TOO i just thank God i'd never panned. Out, honestly at that point in my, LIFE i was nothing more than a two hundred and fifty pound piece of. PUDDY i had no, SKILL i had no. TRADE i didn't

have a degree in accountant or. BUSINESS i never even thought about becoming a doctor or or a lawyer or a dentist or let alone a marine bolishes or something interesting like the fucking they talking about talking. About, Honestly, okay, yeah so you never even thought. It so if you never thought about, it why do you even bring it up in this? Book, like if you never thought about, it who? CARES i get.

jesus come, on, BROTHER i KNEW i deserved. MORE i KNEW i was worth. More so when was clear that there were no giant raises in my, FUTURE i took a step back and try to reevaluate the whole. Situation my, conclusion wrestling for no money. Sucks so this is jumping ahead Into. Memphis, yeah, yeah so that was. That once, AGAIN i decided to. QUIT i drove back down To, tampa WHERE i always returned WHENEVER i wait a few days. Off this, TIME i really THOUGHT i was quitting for.

Good Just roth thought it was. Out chapter. Seven Just roth thought it was. Out BROTHER a lot of, part AND i knew seventy. NINE i set myself up in a room with The expressway in a.

know rock and, roll you, Know wanderlust kind of. Exactly it's, all, yeah it's that's that's that's the, uh that's that's the, dreamer you, know, right the dreamer fears the ordinary, life, right he fears he's going to get co opted by, it and then it's going in a situation where you CAN'T i get. It, yeah IT'S i.

The Cocoa beach. Days but we know nineteen seventy eight was Exclusively Coco. Beach that was his whole. Life so he doesn't ever conflate those. Two he never he never seems like he works at dogs. Then but it had to be right because if he's saying in seventy nine he put his name back on the, books and we

know how busy he was in. Wrestling but if we talk about, though if we think the idea that he actually did try that he did get a job as a longshortman from his Band Buddy ye when he was doing the, band and then he kept going back and forth to, IT i CAN i can see that maybe in somebody he didn't work the docks and then he's put his name back on the books after a couple of. Years maybe. Yeah, Yeah AND i was.

Go stop the fucking press. Book, one he's on the, docks on the. Docks terry walks up to, Him what the.

New york's a big man's territory. Here we've been watching, you and you, know we're really interested in. You we want you to come up, here and you, know why don't you come up here and wrestle ON tv and we'll see if you're as good as everyone says you, were and if the Crowds levy as much as everybody else says they. DO i told HIM i wasn't interested in you, know when he asked, WHY i told him about how much MONEY i was, making HOW i could

have send driving nine hours just For russell three. Minutes and THEN i was pretty much sick of the whole. THING i don't think you care about how much you wrestle as long as you get, paid, right, yeah, yeah if you were a, matter if you.

WAGES i don't, know, man it. DOESN'T i, MEAN i don't think he like it seems like, honestly it feels like he was making more money In memphis than he was doing on the. Docks it seems that, way doesn't.

could do so much. Better McMahon, said you never have the opportunity to make you the money you need to, Make, terry this is where you, Belong Madison, Square god In New, york the big. Time you belong, Here and just come up here and meet me face to face and see what you. THINK i was a heck of a. Salesman follow.

Busy let's not forget this. TOO i, mean we've got enough hints coming up through the surface, Already Charlie, platt seeing the vials, everywhere the gym, life the shadiness AROUND, fbi sniffing around the, uh the anchor. Club and maybe the Reason terry was able to make such a richer, living, okay quitting the business was because he knew how to move. Product all, right that is. TRUE i think we need to keep that in. Mind this is kind of like

a subcurrent under all this. Stuff we gotta keep we, goetta we always got to think about the.

i If i'm going to work, OUT i work. Out, okay. GREAT i don't know what that. Means, YEAH i.

to not go to the. Gym but at, least at Least i'm in a place where it's like he text, ME i get, IT i get just get a fucking. Go but like, MAN i. MIGHT i don't get. IT i don't get people who want to go to the. GYM i don't get people who like going to the. GYM i get no enjoyment out of. It the only, enjoyment the only ENJOYMENT i get is walking out at the end of. It i'm Happy i'm. Leaving that's definitely not the Wavelength aultster was, on not at. All AND i,

LISTEN I i, WISH i WISH i could enjoy. IT i WISH i could enjoy, it BUT i want to get out of there as fast as fucking possible kind of. Stuff it's it's and, listen And i'm. THERE i do an, hour do an. HOUR i do an hour every fucking day almost. Anyway And i'm not saying.

fucking like Uh. Putski, yeah like what he used to look like the, seventies fucking barrel of a. Man so fucking funny that a bodybuild or six pack wasn't the way to. Go it was too.

to watch the. MATCH i was wearing a tied eyed, shirt kind of Like Superstar Billy graham always, wore And graham was at his peaking popularity at that. Point i'll be, HONEST i really did try to emulate his look AS i was coming, up LIKE i, said the idea of stealing a little bit from all the best wrestlers with my whole game plan right from the. Beginning in, fact at that, moment with my, hair with my hairline receiding and, EVERYTHING i looked just like the, guy or at least

a younger version of the. Guy so WHEN i stuck my head out from behind that curtain to see what the crowd was, like all of a, sudden a whole bunch of people THOUGHT i was him and Superstar Billy. Graham they started. Yelling Vince cedar saw that and, said, hey don't have a, wet tight eye. AGAIN i think that reaction made him realize what he could do with.

he made. Up he made up his. Mind, Look i'll set you up an, apartment he, said in West, Haven, connecticut where all the wrestlers.

WHEN i worked for a promoter Named Jim. Barnett nineteen seventy. Eight you did not wrestle a single match in nineteen seventy.

Gay he took one look at me with my tan and my muscles and my long blonde, hair, said oh my, God i'm gonna call You, sterling my, Boy Stirling. Golden, Yes so WHEN i wrestled For Jim, BARNETT i Was Sterling. Golden so there you. Go that's the. Name it's not From Ron. Fuller it didn't exist before. This WHEN i wrestled For lawler And, GARD i Was terry The Hope. Boulder but no matter what NAME i, used one thing

stayed the. SAME i wasn't making very much. MONEY i was wrestling seven days a, week which translated into ten or eleven matches too And, wednesday, two One, saturday and two On. Sunday and the biggest CHECK i ever got for a whole week was one hundred and twenty five. DOLLARS i DON'T i do not believe. That in, fact did we have we had a check where he got more than? That, yeah for the week ending whatever it. Was what was that.

with professional, wrestling and, Yes. Melzer meltzer helps it make some, SENSE i. Think in his obituary For, terry he recalls In july of seventy nine an angle On MEMPHIS, tv which we watched last time on The Complete Hull. Coogan We're Ron bass And Pete austin were beating. Down Eddie boulder did a promo calling his big brother The hulkin

to help. Him they had a tag team. Feud terry ended up kind of splintering off and Challenging Ron bass many times for The southern title full time in the Territory meltzer right through Early september When Terry funk hooked him up With. Barnett now see that makes a lot more sense because you, Know terry was much more of an EMISSARY i think for The atlanta office And Jim barnett kind of at the highest peak of THE, nwa like Cause barnett was booking out while he you, know

was Booking, georgia not the whole. Country he was booking out THE Nwa world, Champion Jim barnett was the guy to. See he was the guy negotiating the dates for the world champion and who got DIBs on him and collecting at ten percent or whatever the booking fee. Was for all intents and, Purposes Jim barnett was THE nwa powerbroker at that point in, time and the champion was very much concentrated In, georgia which is why When dusty Hit

GEORGIA tv he won the. Belt Tommy rich had that title win all of a, sudden it was, like if you were on That georgia, television you were the biggest star in THE. Nwa even if there were a, huge you, know swaths of this country that had never even heard of, you you were in contention and. Consideration so that makes

that makes a little more. Sense not That Terry funk hooked him up With vince, McMahon which you Know Hull cogan said was the, case but that he actually hooked him up With Jim barnett because he goes to work For georgia. First meltzer, Writes funk Talked Jim barnett into bringing him Into. Georgia But Ole, Anderson barnett's, booker always said he wasn't impressed and claimed he fired him hogand that sounds about that makes. Sense we will certainly get,

there ladies and. Gentlemen just Because hogan doesn't PLACE gcw in his career trajectory doesn't mean we will fail to on that fucking complete. Okay hogan claimed the same and told a story about quitting wrestling and working in the loading docks In tampa Until Terry funk got him INTO. Wwf meltzer, writes of, course none of that was, true as would be the case of much of What hogan said over the, years including in his first autobiography that

was largely, fiction as were most of his. Interviews but he understood how to talk to people to like, him and as he spoke softly acting, sincere he understood how to Be Hulk hogan the character to the, media and how to be Sincere Hulk, hogan with his ability to admit wrestling wasn't totally, real disarming them thinking that they were talking to an honest person since he was betraying the biggest covenant of the wrestling. Business thus they would

believe his other. Fiction one voice we haven't heard from remembering this sort of hiatus from the business is Ed. LESLIE i mean he's tied at the hip To hulk Through memphis on. Through certainly he'd remember what happened we turned out to his, book we wrestled around a, bit but things were a little tough and the cash just wasn't coming. In terry decided then again to quit wrestling FOR us for a, time bummed out that he wasn't making very much. Money not knowing what to, DO i

suggested we go back to the. DOCK i suggested we go back to the.

funk took a liking to me At. Boulder he likened my naive rookie ways and my beautiful flowing hair to that of a ditzy, blonde so he called Me. Dizzy so apparently that's Where Dizzy boulder comes. From the boys in the back thought it was, funny SO i went with, it playing off the idea that we were truly. BROTHERS i sometimes wrestled As Dizzy, Boulder Dizzy, hogan ending on what our last name was whatever town we were working. IN i can even be seen from time to time

in results or videos. Online around nineteen seventy, nine perhaps wrestling under the Name Dizzy Golden terry wrestled As Sterling golden For Jim, barnett who was fascinated with his golden. Tan, right, okay when he wrestled, nothing when he wrestled with that name for The, fullers and he. Did, okay there's Ed leslie saying That Hulk hogan wrestled As Sterling golden for The.

and all the. Rest no record of it at. All there is a record Of ed coming back After terry Left alabama in nineteen eighty and wrestling Is Ed boulder all around the horn teaming With Ron. Fuller clearly they're Using Ed leslie to try to replace the void That Terry bolea left when he went to clean our. Pastures SO i don't even know where to start on all that, shit but clearly the degree to Which Ed boulder capitalized On Terry boulders success In alabama happened subsequent to all,

this not before. It In, Pensacola Leslie Wright Sterling golden Defeated Bob route for THE Nwa Southeastern heavyweight title in The Northern, division even though he dropped it a month later To Bob. Armstrong it was a great exposure for us as a. Team after this, run we had a little dry, spell so we took to some of the odd jobs THAT i used to do back In, Tampa

okay after this. Run so you now that puts us at the end of seventy, nine and there was absolutely no break For hope to be working the docks at that. Point as we'll get, to he was fully on the road with THE wwf in nineteen. Eighty there is truly no looking. Back, yes, YES i mean what the people who were collecting and collating results OF wwf shows were

more stalking you And i'm just reading what they. Reported but guess we are now reaching the point where your, Career terry is well documented enough that there is nowhere to, hide AND i know that that alarms.

down there As Sterling. Golden and again it's extremely clear from the chronology of his career that this is what he did after Leaving, memphis taking a brief hiatus and coming back it was To Georgia Championship. Wrestling and fortunately for, us on the COMPLETE. Hulll, cogan there is a decent amount of footage that survives Of Terry bolea talking and wrestling ON wtbs in those studios and, beyond and so

there you have. It as we as we point our our, mast there a couple of things we still got to talk. About the Mule we still got to talk About Danny, brower because if we're going to Leave tampa, behind we got to remember That Danny brower was among the people That terry would call upon on visits back to the, homestead and the real impact That Danny brower would have in the real role he would Playing hulkoke and. Story,

really it's not A summer of sixty nine. Thing it's not a summer of seventy nine thing as we've been talking about all these. Weeks it's more a summer of eighty nine. Thing and we got plenty of time to get to, that but suffice to say for, Now Danny

brower grew up In South. Tampa he goes back to sixty four With Eddie graham because his grandfather lived across the street from him in a trailer park Called Palm Beach court On West Shore, boulevard and there was a big lagoon over, there and his grandparents remembered Watching Eddie graham out in the lagoon with his fishing. Nets his grandparents moved Behind Paul. Avenue Paul avenue was the street That Terry bullya grew up. On boss M he Remembers.

Terry they play softball the trailers had three, rows and they'd get together at the trailer park and play softball. Together he Remembers Mike graham as the son of Neighbor Eddie, graham as a nitty bitty kid three years older Than Danny. Brower Was Mike. Graham he remembers one time he And terry were hanging, out or he was hanging, OUT i. Guess Danny brower was hanging out at a store that used to sell cookies and crackers and big glass, jars and there was a little tussle With Mike graham And

mike Grabbed Danny. Brower he went to, walk he wouldn't move out of the, way so they bumped into each. Other So Mike, graham according To Danny, bauer grabbed him and they crashed into this glass. Thing you, Know i'm Picturing gower's drug store right, now you, KNOW i, yes as you. Should cookies. EVERYWHERE a guy threw them. Out he was scared to death Of Mike, graham and one around the back hid in the palm, trees just stayed

there so we could see. Him he wasn't scared Of Mike, GRAHAM i. Know so we're starting to starting to get the sense this is all As Danny brower told to our Friend Brad, bluccian starting to get a sense that he's living a very parallel life growing up In. Tampa one may ask where Does Terry boleya's story end And Danny brower's. Begin later in high, school they run Into Mike, Graham terry And danny And Danny Tellell's brad That mike and his buddies used to go by The Junior. Mafia

that was the name of their. Clique Oh, junior my. God presumably they were juniors At Robinson High school and there was A jb football game one. Time and, here as everyone gathers around at this football, game we get a sense of the simmering tensions that might explain The tampa discord for so many years later Between Terry bolea And Mike. Graham he remembers that they were at THIS jv football game and they didn't back. Down they didn't

back down at. All Here Danny, brower in conversation With Brad, blucian talks about this encounter With Mike graham THAT i think adds a whole lot more color and detail to why this guy was such a bugaboo To Terry boleya his whole.

just walks right And terry doesn't. Move he just walks into him and he like spins around there the GUY i moved but it Wasn't, mike AND i don't remember what it, was But i'm just, like where's this? Going And mike and then they turn around but he doesn't say, anything and we just send her and we didn't, right and then they went on and really we were kind of, like fuck Was? Mike but, yeah it was like a. TEST i so like a little, thing but it was kind of a in that click deal and.

ruth And pete from The Bowling. Alley they would go To panorama together and get to know each other that. Way this is the same bowling alley That hulk's friend and friend of the, Show Vic pettitt right there we, go and they would they would meet at the Bowling alley and it was, there it was there as a, child over near the pinball mash machines That Danny brower Met Terry Bully.

ship box, guitar AND i had A penny's. Amp and he said he had a Band, master And i'm, like you got A fender Band. Master so next THING i, know we're over at his. House. Now what was the finball machine at the bowling? Alley, YEAH i was a ship. AHOY i had to play it all day on a. Quarter you just win games all day long.

we're playing guitars. Again that's how we made everything in the. World he's got a tender bandmaster and he's going to take lessons In Arthur. Smiths So i'm, Thinking i'm a pretty hot shot guitar. Player and we got over there And terry starts doing all these riffs and he could read.

would go. There we put our hours. Together it was like Two bucks, right and there was a guy Named Mike reisac who was in the opposite sexist band or Two guys and Two girls was the real famous by local. Band bands were a big thing back, then but before all the DJs and everything and live, music you, know that was. Happening so we started Taking what we would do is we would we would go in and give

him a list of stuff we wanted to. Learn and that's When Grand funk and all of him were coming out And Blues image and.

father who didn't want him to. Play where his old we, watched remember we watched the stories of growing up where, yes he never wanted to be on the team and he and they were he was a heel for not wanting to be on the team when in, fact he. Wasn't he was in fact on the team in junior. High according To Danny, brower so lies, lies you have, Truths, yeah things being left. Out but, yeah so big baseball

guy Was. Pete you. Know they would go to The Cincinnati reds farm club together in spring training to get. Autographs he remembers all this stuff about growing up With, terry and at a certain point in time he knows that he had fucked up me from, football And danny kind of conflates that with the hero metsuit a story a. Bit it's Like terry was already on a bad wheel like, that and he never never heard that matsuit actually broke his. Leg it's kind of funny to hear that get broached

and he's, like never wasn't. Broken he said they would tie you up in, knots but his knee had already been fucked up from football and he never had an operation to fix. It that's.

contradicting which is to our advantage of. Course but, Yeah so as things developed and they got involved more in the band, playing he remembers some, uh at one point his grandparents had moved and built a cabana field in the, back and that's where they started practicing their music when they were fifteen or, whatever and there was a guy in the neighborhood he remembers named Chet yoakam who had a set of drums and joined, them and some lady

in the neighborhood heard them playing music when they were fifteen and thought that they were really good and wanted to, actually you, know represent them and get them and manage them and getting them involved in playing. Music so he was there from the very, beginning but he never is. Mentioned Daddy. Brower he goes back to The Plastic Pleasure, palace the name of the very first high school band That Terry blea participated. In that's how far back he.

Went they didn't have a singer that they would, play and eventually that kind of bled Into infinity's end because they were playing two and he. Was that's when when they started playing the frat parties AT usf and, stuff And terry was the lead, player and it was kind of chaos for them at that. Age But Danny brower, says you, Know terry carried the, band to be honest with, you and they were very good for kids and booked.

Solid and you went through all the stuff about how they'd get fined if they didn't wear socks or if their hair wasn't, cut And terry would get fined all the time because he wouldn't cut his. Hair that's all stood, up so to, speak By Danny brower's, recollections and the summer of sixty nine was a hell of a. Summer

terry turned. Sixteen he was a year Behind Danny brower, was and he Remembers terry in his teenage years just wanting to do everything he wanted to go with the extra mile with what he, did hitting them over the. Lights danny thought he was a hot shot guitar. Player and then he goes over his house And Jesus, christ this guy has got all the greatest equipment in the world and he's going harder than to get every hope to go as a. Guitarist he wanted to shave his,

head he, remembers or something like. That he wanted to Clim he Remembers terry saying he wanted to Climb Mount everest at that. Age wow Remembers terry saying he wanted to try out for The university Of tampa football. Team at that, age he had good looking, girlfriends one girl Named. Debbie when he had the, ford he'd pick him up after. School debbie lived near. Him another another one Named, brenda who was really good. Looking they were together a long.

Time and When terry got his, car his birthday's coming, up and it's, summer and he's a, sophomore And Danny brower's a, freshman And terry's going to get his license during that summer In, august and brow remembers That terry's parents bought him a nineteen sixty Five fara lane two. Seater and this is like the month before he turned. Sixteen and it's here THAT i Think Danny brower gives us a real.

like a barefoot gas, fellow and got a sharing. Wheel but he got these chrome reverse wheels on the back with firestone white. Holes on the. Front he had regular wheels with white, holes but he had little moons on. Them, look you, know for the for what you could buy back. Then but he was already jazzing it. Up and we had we were making money on the. Weekends you, know the guys were bagging groceries for seventy five, cents and you, know on a WEEKEND i could make sixty. Bucks who

were going and playing to. Night, anyway so we Hit donnau and we're going to take him home and we're going up he lived Near Ballast Point Elementary. School and we're going up McDill and there's a road that goes off in a shell and it goes it's it's it's going to end up on Ballast, point but it goes aways and then it curves And terry gets on it and he's over his. Head just happened in the boat one. Time this is later. ON i knew he's over his,

head BUT i probably shouldn't tell you. That, Anyway we get into that corner AND i know, it and all of a, SUDDEN i see the mailbox coming in my head and it hit the back corner of the.

but the a frame. Broke its slammed like when it hit the when it hit and then slid and when it's slamming here and there was a telephone hole and a palm tree and we hit the palm tree about where the wheels are and it dug in the. Ground so and when it, did the wheel was like. This it had to be told all. That so so whatever that parents, say, oh it was all a big freak, out but they work it. Out AND i know it was a big deal about. It and we were and

we were playing somewhere that. Night we were late as, hell and, no but where in the hell are?

Relations it was one that he conveyed TO.

old one, was or maybe said, NO i don't. Know you had to sit in the north end and Now Little pittsfield was, out so we had to walk across the parking. Lot next thing you, know there's like ten twelve black guys all around us and we don't know what's going. On we're high school. Kids guys had this white suit. On he hey, Man i'll never forget. This and he, said, hey you got a? Cigarette, MAN i got, one BUT i need another. ONE i Remember terry popping

off like, no we don't, smoke. Man they said. Something and then he's, like, well hey, man you got cash SO i can buy. Something and next, THING i, know some something that hit me in the back of the, head not me right on my, ass AND i remember looking up and they were just all over, chair AND i remember and there were little. Guys there were some

little guys jumping around kill the white. Motherfuckers and these guys were probably in their, twenties and there were people, around but nobody came, over and they were AND i just remember they were all over, him and THEN i was looking and the summits kicked me in the, face AND i don't remember anything after. That and then BUT i Remember terry getting a shot in a guy going down and they're all over him and he's just like, failing and next thing you, know it's over and they're all.

Running and how all these people are running over, too is what.

into the, sixties actually into the. SEVENTIES i THINK i can't remember exactly where it, started But Port camp had a black section and growing up where we all got. Along where was That Port? Camp it was all the southern end where you're out To Picnic, island that was the black section that. Was it's still there today and it's that land is worth more, money and you can. Imagine but those they had their own junior high.

they we got. Along we didn't plan had a lot of. Problems my senior, Year terry graduate year for. Me but my senior year they started. Bussing we had forty two. Buses we had fights and. Stuff they were busting black students into the. Year, yeah they closed down the high, schools had all that, changed and they brought in a whole bunch of black teachers and, everything and it was. Crazy it was hard for those. Students they got their high school taken away from. Them they pulled you, know

everything we have now is all. Shared but it. Worked we had hell of the football. Team we went to state and the game was a. Disaster we played in all black schools And Fort. Pierce we pulled up and they turned the buses over for the band and they were beating up. Everybody we played in the stadium that had the stands went seven feet.

of the. Band but Eventually gary the various folks took, over such That Danny brower is kind of odd man out In infinity's end and he's no longer going to

Be terry's. Bandmate he remembers a band called The surfers that wanted him to come over and play with them and be in that, band and he heard about it and he kind of jumped ship a little bit To Danny brower and left the Whole cook And friends circle for a little, while kind of got himself fired as a. Result From infinity's, end but he remembers they'd go to the matches growing up at The sportatorium he, remembers and The Tampa armory he, Remembers Paul jones And Buddy colt

and one of those old timers he remembers Before dusty came, in they used to go buy wrestling magazine so they would know who the guys were going to be before they came Into, florida And danny remembers that When Dusty rhodes came in blowing through a championship wrestling From, florida nobody seemed to know who he was at, first but him And terry knew Who dusty was because they would read the wrestling, magazines WHICH i love to picture in my,

Mind terry flipping through wrestling periodicals at the at the at the pharmacy or whatever In Port. Tampa that of course would have been the outlaw tag team That dusty had with The Dick murdoch before he turned face and

lit the territory on. Fire, Eventually Danny, brower after splitting off From infinity's end and not playing music anymore With, terry gets into like the mini golf franchising business and gets a break at a pretty early age in that business and kind of starts to peel off a. Bit terry goes, off plays the music as we've talked about earlier in The Complete Hulk ogan and then eventually tries wrestling and visits With Hiro matsuda and the well documented

story he ends up training with, him and at this point in, Time, brower you, know he had been such friends With hulk growing, up and you, know getting rides and stuff From hulk's parents and stuff that he Would he would actually just stop by sometimes and say hi To. Ruth and one, time one time he stopped by and who's recuperating In ruth's bed from a leg injury from. Training But Terry bully, WHAT.

at the crossway in or you. Weren't but that's apparently during one of those limping over to the house to get taken care of by mommy, Sessions Danny brower stopped by and there he was so a little. More you, know what we're bringing here is just an absolute bevy of first person experiences on all of these little touchdowns that we've established thus far in the Complete Hulk hogan through the eyes Of Danny, brower who will take us to Places visavi The hulkster that THAT i think are quite.

Unexpected but we're still in the in the. Familiar we're still here In. Tampa and you, know one thing he said About Hulk. Hogan one thing he said About terry was that he was he was savvy and he could see he could See hulk developing the characteristics that that would come to benefit him. Later you know That hulk just knew how to how to work a. System, well there's one he's.

am radio selling tickets to the shows at the. Temple sat outside for a, while not sure what to, do knowing that this is the same, place you know The terry went too and went through the meat grinder and ended up In mama's bed with his leg up remembers going in, there said how you doing and Telling Charlie, LAY i want to, wrestle And charlie said What, Dan he, said whatever you got to, DO i want to do.

It Charlie lay just said get out of. Here brower, Said i'm, like, listen you don't UNDERSTAND i want to do, this and he's, like fuck you get the fuck out of.

Eddie graham and. Stuff at The. Sporatorum he trained With Professor Boris, malenko the same guy who stepped in front of The PLAN b cameras and told as many people that would see the videotape that he never had a real fight in his life and this is, all you, know complete. Bullshit that.

he did anything related to steroids was on his. Own Danny brower remembers meeting a guy at a at a golden gym In Saint. Pete the guy was a school teacher who worked part time at the gym and introduced him To Diana ball told him how it worked all, that and how he could get it all for. Him and he went from there to testosterone and learned how all this stuff worked and tried to understand, it understood that he was taking a, risk but doing it on kind of a, program a, regimen not just you, know

inject the stuff and see what. Happens i'd ask you, though when push comes to, Shove, Boss while he may not have Introduced Danny brower to, steroids who do you think taught him how to? Roid at the end of the, day who do.

get much tighter than these. Two it sounds like in the earliest years growing up In, tampa a lot of formative experiences, together car crashes into palm, trees getting jumped in parking, lots going shoulder to shoulder With Mike, graham playing the pinball machines and in, bands and he never seems to come. Up it's just. WILD i don't know if it has anything to do with those deliveries or.

Not ALL i know is they continue befriending each. Other last time on The Memphis, journey we went ahead a little bit to nineteen eighty, one When hulk had already made it, big so to, speak and had come back to Wrestle Jerry. Lawler will they hook up again around

that point in. Time in, fact When Danny brower was recalling that near death incident on The Skyway bridge and How Ed leslie And Hulk hogan just happened to show up the next, day he actually remembers that being in eighty one as opposed to seventy, nine which, IS i guess. POSSIBLE i don't really Picture hogan and ed running together thickest thieves at that point in time as opposed to seventy,

nine but it could have been what he was. Describing but what he does say is When hulk Rematched Jerry lawler and The Bayfront, center remember we watched that promo From Florida. Television he was, there And Danny brower is very much partaking in the fringe benefits of wrestling stardom at that. Time he's getting head in. Cars all, right let's make that. Clear, yes let's get a little more meat on the bone in terms of how closely he's riding With terry bullat in eighty. One so there's a.

the same bridge THAT i think it. Was Gary barriss told us That Terry wants claimed to have climbed up a billboard next to. You remember he had his big tall tale about. That so everyone seems to have A

Skyway bridge, story Including Terry. Funk WHEN i was hearing the, STORY i was, like, wow this actually With danny's describing And i'm not not to diminish what seemed to be a very traumatic and desperate moment for, him but it really seemed to be very similar to a publicity stunt That Terry funk once, pulled according To dick's later on that exact. Bridge just very quickly here From dix' later's. Book one, Day terry AND i were sitting there eating.

Breakfast we had some other things we were trying to do to get some really good publicity on.

believe anybody has. Survived he wanted to be the first one to jump off The Skyway bridge and actually survive the fall and the swim back to. Shore, now of, course being that he wanted to get publicity known for doing, that he had to figure out a way to get up on The skyway and make sure they knew he

was going to. Jump of, course can't tell them you're going to jump, off and you can't stop your car on the top of The Skyway, bridge because the first thing they would do is they would probably lock you, up they'd baker act you as being. Nuts i'm sure they, would and they would arrest you for parking your car illegally as part of the. Bargain so we thought of. This we went down and rented a car at The Tampa. Airport terry sat down and he wrote a, big long

letter to his, Wife, vicki who was home In. Amarilla. Ooh in the, letter he put that he had been a rotten husband all his, life and he was real. Sorry he had been hated by all the wrestling fans because he was such a rotten, person and he'd beat Up Dusty roads and everybody else he wrestled in the state Of. Florida he figured that he wanted to be the only man ever to survive the jump off The skyway.

Bridge if he didn't make the leap and come out, alive then it was his own fault And god was going to take him because he was such a rotten. Person SO i was going to follow him over to The Skyway bridge in my. Car he was going to park the car on the top of The. Skyway he'd leave the door. Cracked he'd put the letter up on the. Dashboard when the police found the car on the top of The, skyway it would be registered to the car rental. Place they would check say it was rented out To Terry.

Funk the police would have found the, letter and then everything would have added. Up we left my apartment In tampa to go over to do. THIS i put him in the. BATHTUB i got three boxes Of epps and. Salts he lay in the bathtub and we poured the EPs and salts in. There he soaked in the salt from about three o'clock until let's say five o'clock in the. Morning that was two. Hours his skin looked like a.

PRUNE i had some sandpaper at the. House we sandpapered his elbows, down and his cheeks and his face to the top of his forehead and some of his nose where he was like kind of bleeding from his, nose and the sides of his arms and. Stuff he looked like he had jumped off the bridge and hit the water pretty. Hard the plan was to drive over there and park the car on the top of the. Bridge so off we went to The. Skyway it was a pretty good. Ride we had to go from Tamp over

To Saint. PETERSBURG i had to wrap him up with towels around his arms so his skin would still be the same texture as it was when we, left and he looked pretty. Bad so we took and parked the car on the.

him out as this little roadside. PARK i didn't want to be seen BECAUSE i was the, spotter SO i took the car back over to the other side of the. Road he went and lay half in the water and half out of the. Water he figured that the police or somebody would have found my car with a note and they would have radioed the coast guard out, there thinking either he was in the water or he had not made, it or he could be on, shore or

a boat could have picked him up or. SOMETHING i sat there in a roadside park on the other side of where he was for a good two. Hours nobody paid any, attention SO i had to drive back across the skyway again then come back to get him to his, side and that roadside PARK i pulled. UP i got out of the car and walked over. THERE i, Said, terry is this not going to. Work i'll try it again. Sometime so back out of the. Water he came in into the. Car all the way, home he told me

about how this was going to. Work the next. TIME i was just laughing my head. Off he was lying in the salt water for a couple. Hours he looked really. Bad we went back and Told Cowboy Bill watts we had tried it and it didn't. Work terry's always wanted to try that. Again So Terry funk again echoes through the story one way or another of hulk out and In.

Tampa but as the years turn summer of sixty nine to the summer of seventy, nine we get to the summer of eighty, nine and Soon Terry, bullay according To, Danny, brower was Avoiding danny all of a, sudden even at one point he recalls kind of pretending he couldn't even hear him on the, phone and he never understood really,

why or at least he claims to not understand. Why he was talking To Brad blucchian about being called as a witness By vince McMahon side in the trial in nineteen ninety, four, night in, fact Befriending Laura, Burvetti vince's attorney in the whole, deal quite a, bit and even heading out To Long island for the, trial and apparently being, ready if need, be to offer. Testimony and it's in a second book That Hulk hogan recalls entering the courtroom

In Long island and coming face to face With Danny. Brower, again he doesn't call Him Danny, brower he calls him his. Mule and Here Brad blucchian reads the passage From hulk's second book To danny's, face a passage he'd never heard.

time he'll return home known more by his birth. Name for, now it's on To Georgia Championship wrestling and then The Worldwide Wrestling federation of THE, wwf and from his childhood home to every corner of the. Globe they wouldn't call Him Terry boulder Or Terry bolea. Anymore they'd call Him Hull. Cogan no longer sitting on the docks Of Tampa. Bay

no longer sitting on the docks Of Tampa. Bay and you, Know, BOZZ i guess, unfortunately all will really ever have to color in these Final tampa, moments these final moments in the city that Reared, terry as we have illustrated over the weeks here on The Complete Hull, cogan all we'll really ever have is understand this low key part Of

terry's life was Those facebook. Posts remember for, Sure Billy johnson. Earlier, sure, sure that's just what we're going to, HAVE i, guess to get these fleeting glimpses of the final contributions Of tampa to what would become Hul. Cogan that would be all we have unless Hello billy, Speaking Hi Billy, Johnson, yes, sir next time on The Complete Hull.