I had traveled to Northern Illinois just outside of Chicago to help my friends with a special card dedicated to helping those who are less fortunate. It was something that I was proud to do and was also part of the training I had while breaking into the wrestling business and being taught by the master, Buddy Rogers.

In the 30-plus years that he was involved in the wrestling business, Buddy Rogers was a guiding light to many young athletes that asked for his advice and talents. Buddy headlined many cards at the old Stockyards Pavilion, The Amphitheater, The Marigold and Comiskey Park in Chicago. He also was the Main Event at almost every huge edifice that held sporting events throughout the world.

I was a very young lad when I accepted his advice and broke into the wrestling business. I traveled alongside him for nearly a year while I absorbed, like a big sponge, all the stories he told in the car and in the dressing rooms. I learned how to move in the ring ... what holds to grab as a counter attack when grabbed by a defensive hold. He also taught me humility and humbleness when it came to accepting chores that sometimes seemed to be harder than I could understand.

He taught me how to help out others less fortunate than I was, and, if the timing was right, I could help more then hinder a situation. Sometimes the ideas that he gave me weren't all that positive, but after the ideas were in place, they were the answer and the only answer to why we did what we did. Buddy was a great humanitarian and was looked down by a lot of people as being arrogant, upstaging and impossible to deal with. His ideas, though, were far ahead of his time. I am glad that Buddy was my friend and one of my mentors.

We had gone to Frankfort, Illinois to do an autograph session that lasted two hours, and when it was finished, we returned to Peotone to try and rest up before the matches. After a nice lunch, we went to the auditorium in the school we were to wrestle at that evening. I had found a rubdown table in one of the sports offices and stretched out for an hour or so of catnapping. I had been awakened by the Illinois Central Railroad as it proceeded southward towards New Orleans every few hours with freight and passengers.

I had not gotten but maybe five or six hours' sleep the night before and had been up nearly 17 hours the day before and worked that day as well as driving the 250 miles to get to Peotone. I was tired and needed to just stretch out. Before I knew it, Juan Hernandez came in and woke me up for yet another autograph session in the school gymnasium. I glanced at my watch, and I had been asleep for just a little over two hours.

After grabbing a cold soda and my briefcase, I proceeded to the tables where I met Jimmy Valiant, Bruiser Graham, Tommy Ace and Hardcopy Coryell. A few moments later, we were joined by Buddy Roberts, The Russian Brute and Juan Hernandez. The fans were filing in and went from table to table getting autographs and buying photos of the stars and buying some of the collectibles that were offered by some.

After the session, I was asked to be a guest ring announcer as well as be the ringside color commentator. I began to get some butterflies in my stomach again as I approached the ring area. I shook hands with many that were at ringside and thanked them for attending.

I entered the ropes and was joined by a young lady that turned a few heads when she started to sing our National Anthem. Nikki Snoden (pronounced Snowden) was introduced to the sellout crowd and began to sing out with the grace and glory of some of the best in the recording business as we faced the wall that had Old Glory spread out on it. She was given a standing ovation for her efforts. If you are in the Chicago area and you need a guest singer that does many of Gospel's best as well, contact Mr. Karate at ciwmrkarate@cs.com. You will not be sorry for doing so.

The opening match featured Billy the Tiger, a strong young man from San Juan, Puerto Rico, against a ring veteran named Greg Lake from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Greg was accompanied by Cody Steele, his manager and advisor. Steele gave me a few choice looks as he came to the ring and commented again about my clothes. I had a new suit that was western in style with a beautiful handmade shirt and a favorite Three Stooges tie on.

The bell rang, and, almost instantly, Cody Steele was involved in the match, bantering everyone at ringside and Billy the Tiger inside the ring. Even though Greg Lake has the ability to defend himself in the ring, he took shortcuts by pulling the referee away from the antics of Cody Steele. He constantly heckled the fans in the audience, and, for nearly 20 minutes, he was a human dynamo in the ring and on the floor. The match finally ended with Billy catching the unsuspecting Greg Lake in a Sleeper Hold. Of course, Cody Steele grabbed the microphone and shouted out what a coward that Billy was using a choke on his man, but to no avail, as the referee raised Billy's hand once more as fans clambered around the dressing room area where Billy was headed.

Next on the card was Diesel Desperado, a 275-pound athlete that claimed America's Highways as his home. He faced a local hero in Chief Paul Farber. You might recall me writing about Paul being a Chief of Police in Peotone and training a few greats in his short tenure in the ring. Before the match even got underway, Diesel grabbed the microphone and began to berate the Chief and call him everything but an athlete. He then grabbed the Chief as he entered the ropes and proceeded to beat the stuffings out of him. Nearly 10 minutes later, Cody Steele injected himself into the match again as an advisor of Diesel.

The Chief now had two opponents instead of one. During a ruckus in the corner near us, Steele handed Diesel a Harley Davidson wallet that must have contained some kind of metal object, and Diesel smacked the Chief and he fell near the ropes and his foot flopped over the lower rope. The count went to three, and Diesel was awarded the match. One of the security officers on Chief's police squad from the dressing room came to ringside and threw some water on the Chief, bringing him to. Chief tried to explain to the referee what had happened, and the fans were shouting to the referee that the Chief's foot was over the bottom rope. The referee would not alter his decision, and Diesel got the decision over the Chief.

The Black Demon from Anchorage, Alaska was next to face Bruiser Graham of old Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The fans really got into this young man called Bruiser. The name Dick The Bruiser was very well known in the Chicago area and respected by just about every fan that had ever seen him wrestle. Bruiser and the Demon fought from one end of the building to the other in a style of the guys that fought in the old Stockyards building and the Marigold Gardens. Bruiser won the match but did not get to unmask the brilliant-thinking man under the hood as he darted out of the ring and ran back to the safety of his dressing room.

After a short intermission, Hardcopy Coryell, the U.S. Champion as honored by the Championship International Wrestling board, was next as he put his coveted title on line against Cel Hernandez, "Mr. Karate Jr.," a nephew of Juan Hernandez. Again at ringside came Cody Steele as he injected his so-called wrestling knowledge and ability into the match.

During the course of this match, I nearly lost my voice calling the events happening in and out of the ring. It was a real barnburner that ended some 25 minutes after it began with Cel Hernandez using a Karate Kick to the upper chest area of Hardcopy after being beaten almost senseless by both men in the corner. I nearly was involved a couple of times, as well as Chief Farber, who came to the ringside table to be a guest commentator.

Cel got his hand raised and was awarded the beautiful gold belt and the title that goes with it. The high-classed pair of Coryell and Steele began to plummet Cel to the mat again and beat him unmercifully from one side of his body to the other. Suddenly, as quickly as it began, Juan Hernandez charged the ring, and the two took off for the dressing rooms. They took the championship belt with them but dropped it during their haste to get away from Juan.

Even though he still suffers from a serious neck injury of some 10 years ago, Juan Hernandez is still a dangerous man to get involved in a fight with. Juan had been involved in over 5000 matches in his career and was nearly undefeated during his tenure.

I had just regained my composure and entered the ring for the semi-main event. I looked, and, approaching the ring, was a huge man that towered over me and made me feel much like a midget. He carried the flag of the USSR and wore a fur cap and a bright red robe that had his name on it. You could tell that he was The Russian Brute. He grabbed the mike and demanded respect. When he finished, he shoved the mike back at me and told me to have everyone in the building rise and respect his singing of The Soviet National Anthem. As I made the announcement, I thought to myself, who would be crazy enough to meet this monster that stood nearly 7 feet tall in this ring tonight.

As he started to sing, Tommy Ace hit the ring behind him and dropkicked him into the second and top ropes and propelled him onto our ringside table and onto the arena floor. He still had the microphone in his hand when he hit the solid oak flooring with no mats on it to break his fall. He and Tommy fought for a few moments when Tommy jumped back into the ring to break the ten count given out by the referee.

After a few moments of missing many right and left punches, The Russian Brute was whipped into a small package and pinned 1-2-3, and the match was history. Tommy was carried back to the dressing room by the fans, and The Brute went back to his dressing room very dejected and sad with the short end of the paycheck.

The Main Event was next with The Assassin, who wanted to give neither his weight nor his hometown, facing a ring veteran of five consecutive decades, Jimmy Valiant "The Boogie Woogie Man." Valiant, with his ring presence and knowledge, made easy work of the night as he outsmarted and outwrestled the huge gladiator with the black mask covering his features. After almost 15 minutes of battle, Jimmy grabbed the 270-pound masked man and used a rollup and press to beat him. As Jimmy pulled on the mask to show everyone who was under it, the masked man brought out a chain and smacked Jimmy in the forehead to get away from him and get back to the dressing room.

Thanking the fans for coming, I returned to the dressing rooms to say bye to the athletes who had come very long distances to help the hungry get fed. As I left the building, fans ran toward my car and thanked me for being there for them and helping out.

It sure felt good being involved again and helping others.

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers