Bobo & Luis

This story is being re-printed by popular demand.

Thursday evening, Toledo Sports Arena. The dimly lit dressing room had the aroma and aura of a place where champions had met before. It was the same room that the members of the Goal Diggers had met in.

The same room that the champions of the Original Tough Man contest got ready in. The same room that the Golden Gloves champions warmed up in. Electricity was truly in the air as I looked around the room.

I had just come in from Seattle the night before and was really tired. I looked around the dressing room, and huge men in various stages of dress were getting ready to go into battle. In one corner was Ben Justice, a masked superstar of the Detroit Territory. He was quietly speaking with his tag team partner, The Stomper (Guy Mitchell), about their upcoming match against The Skull Brothers.

Flying Fred Curry sat on a bench just relaxing. Luis Martinez, a fantastic mat technician, was seated across from the world famous headliner, Bobo Brazil.

I took a seat near them, said hello to everybody, and listened as they spoke of their day getting to Toledo.

Luis, who had come in from Chicago, was obviously tired and wanted to relax, but Bobo had different ideas. Bobo began the conversation with Louis by talking about yesterday's trip to Columbus, Ohio. He and the Reverend (Tiny) Tim Hampton had driven from their hometown, Benton Harbor, Michigan, to Columbus to wrestle. Luis, who was always intrigued with Bobo's stories, sat and listened. Bobo said, "You ain't gonna believe what happened to me and the reverend ... you know me, Louis, I don't stop at those fast food joints. I like eating only at the best restaurants in the big cities of the world."

Luis said, "I know, Bo. What happened?"

Bobo started, "Tim had to use the restroom, and I was so hungry, we stopped at one of those burger joints. As we came into the place, there was this UGLY OLD woman sitting at one of the tables right across from the order counter. She had on about three or four coats, a scarf on her head, and had two shopping bags in front of her. I went by her and nodded my head as to say hello to her and went up to the counter. I ordered four cheeseburgers with everything, an order of fries, and two big pops.

"The girl brought my order, I paid for it, and I asked her if they had mayonnaise and ketchup on them, and she replied, 'No, they are at the end of the counter.' I thanked her and went to the end of the counter, got the mayo and ketchup, and went back to my sandwiches. I looked on the counter, and my sandwiches were missing. I turned and looked and the old woman who was sitting there had my sandwiches and was eating them." Louis' face started to get red as the tone of Bobo's voice changed. He seemed entirely taken in.

"I started throwing a fit until the manager came out to see what the heck was going on. Big Tim just stood off to the side as if to protect me in case of problems. The manager was very apologetic but said to me, 'Sir, I'm sorry, there is nothing I can do' ... I told him, 'Just give me four more cheeseburgers and I'll pay for them, and I will go.'

"The manager brought me the four new burgers, and I grabbed the sack. I turned as if to go out and reached over and grabbed one of the old lady's shopping bags and ran out the door. Me and Tim got into my car and went on down the road to Columbus to wrestle."

Luis just sat there, kinda in a stupor, and then looked at Bobo, who had no emotion on his face, and said, "OK, Bobo---what was in the shopping bag?"

Bobo leaned down into his face and said "It was full of Bull Sh** ... like I've been feeding you, for the past five minutes." Bobo broke out in a laugh that could be heard well outside of the dressing room, and poor Louis was looking for a place he could crawl under. Bobo had done it to him again.

The next thing I knew, Bobo and Luis were laughing so hard together that tears were coming down their faces. Bobo shook his hand, hugged him, and said, "Louis, you are my best friend in wrestling, but I just couldn't help myself; I had to do it to you." This is just one of the ways we let off steam prior to going to the ring.

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers