CAC 2002 Part Two

Las Vegas is a city that never sleeps. It greets you on arrival and smiles to you when you depart on your way back home. During the time in between, it rivals with the great cities of our globe as the Entertainment Capitol of the World.

I was awakened by the sound of my phone ringing, and as I glanced at the clock in the suite, it only said 5:30 a.m. The voice on the other end of the line was my friend Dan calling me from Minneapolis, wondering if I was awake yet. Through a garbled voice, he began to express his regrets that he could not be with David Ring and me for this CAC reunion. He had to remain in Minneapolis to train and school himself in defensive terror tactics.

I told him not to worry; I would be taking care of things here in Vegas, and I would not let any police cars block the fire hydrants like they do in Minneapolis. We spoke for a few more minutes, and my door buzzer went off. I went to the door, and there was David Ring, wondering if I was ready for breakfast. I handed him the phone and went for the shower with only about three hours' sleep to carry me over.

At 7 a.m., after a hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy at Katy's, I glanced up to see a lot of the fellows and gals from the Golden Age of Wrestling start to come into the cafe. I went around to some of the tables and spoke with these great icons of our business and renewed friendships with everyone.

Lord Alfred Hayes, Harley Race, Bruce Swayze, Maria Bernardi, Paul Vachon and Ida Mae Martinez were just a few that I made contact with. Following a short break from hobnobbing, I went to the reception room, where Fritz Von Goering and Lou Thesz met me. As I glanced around the room, a huge man came into focus, sitting behind a very large luncheon table that was adorned with copies of his cookbooks and various pictures of him from his days in the ring.

I approached him with caution and stuck out my hand and said to him, "I will bet that you can't remember me." He took my hand and pulled me to within a few inches of his huge mustached face and looked for a moment. Then he reached for the bullwhip he had on the table and said, "YOU'RE that miserable little manager that handled Black Angus ... AIN'T YOU? You're the one that was responsible for Angus getting the duke on me in St. Joe ... AIN'T YOU?"

My knees began to tremble as I thought this is the last day of my life and Ox Baker has me in his clutches. My life suddenly went full tilt in front of me, and if it had not been for Ox's wife grabbing him by the arm and telling him to let me be, I don't know what might have happened. Then, as quickly as it began, Ox reached back over the table and shook my hand and told me what an honor it was to see me again. He then paused and came around the table for pictures with me and a host of other people that had gathered to see him do me in.

I spent the better part of the day talking and taking pictures with many friends that I had know from previous CAC events. We shared many a good story about our days on the road and the friends that we had. Even though a lot of them are gone, they are not forgotten.

At 5 p.m., I was scheduled to be on Saturday Night Slam, a wrestling program that I enjoy each and every time it is broadcast. They had a special four-hour show live from Las Vegas, and I was very happy to be a part of it. While I was waiting in the wings, I bumped into Les Thatcher, a terrific wrestler that I watched as a young man. I brought back a few memories for him from the old days of the Flint Arena. It was as if I had opened a book up for him to read when he began to recollect the names I spoke about.

I was seated next to the vivacious Penny Banner for the interview. What an absolutely wonderful lady she is. The 15-minute interview went so smoothly that I hardly had a chance to speak.

At 6 p.m., the doors swung open to the public for our baloney blowout. Through the courtesy of Jason "Wolfman" Sanderson, this was going to be a night I would remember forever. Jason is a director on the CAC board and also the fortunate winner of a huge multi-state lottery and has, for the past three years, put on a Friday night get-together for the people coming to the CAC. His generosity is very much welcomed by the many that attend the Friday night function.

The Destroyer and his wife Wilma, Mike and Mrs. Tenay, David Ring, and Sharon Valentine and her sister Brenda from Texas graced my table. Following a beautiful dinner, we sat around and talked more and took pictures and, every once in a while, you could see tears starting to flow with the memory of someone brought up.

At roughly midnight, we went our separate ways back to our rooms and called it a night. The biggest day was yet to come. I had slept in until 7 a.m. (10 a.m. EST) on Saturday and went to the buffet breakfast with David, Sharon Valentine, Fritz Von Goering, B. Brian Blair and Sharon's sister Brenda. Buffets are nice if you have a huge appetite. I did my fair share of eating and exchanging stories with Fritz and Brian. They are both very good authors and each has a book out.

To be continued…

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers