Ernie Ladd

If anyone ever should be written about, it should be Ernie Ladd. He was a man that went from football to wrestling with the greatest of ease. He was more than just a competitor in the ring; he was a legend in the works.

Like myself, Ernie began wrestling in 1963 fresh from the gridiron in Houston. He wore number 77 on his jersey and was a star defensive lineman. He sometimes took three or more men to the ground in one movement following the snap of the ball. His career in football went from the San Diego Chargers to the Houston Oilers to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Ernie was a big man in both sports, towering over most of the big men of his era. Names like Bobo Brazil, Gorilla Monsoon, Big Ed Miller, Dr. Bill Miller, Sky Hi Lee and Don Jardine were the only men that Ernie looked nearly in the eye during his start. He stood 6 feet 9 inches tall, and his ring weight ranged from 315 to 330 pounds. Yet, he moved like a big cat in the ring and thus was dubbed "The Big Cat" by veteran announcer Sam Menacker.

Ernie always considered fans his biggest challenge. He once stated that fans were the reason that he went into wrestling and why he chose its challenge over football full time. It wasn't easy coming into a hard-knocks sport like wrestling, he said. "The fans gave me the desire to be in there for them. I provided the strength, the stamina, the endurance and the willingness to win. I also learned a lot by watching other great superstars while they were wrestling."

Ernie wrestled in main events at many of the huge arenas in cities like Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Houston, St. Louis, San Antonio, Omaha, and also in Detroit, where I first met him at the beautiful, air-conditioned Cobo Arena. He was a natural sportsman in the ring, following the rules set down by the various commissions in the states he competed in. That tone changed later in his career to him being a mean, vicious, vindictive bad guy in the ring.

Ernie and Wild Bull Curry were two of the feistiest men in the dressing rooms. While they were in a group, these two guys cussed each other out, stood toe to toe with each other and nearly swung fists to show who was the best the business had to offer. When nobody was around, they had the utmost respect for each other.

Ernie teamed with greats like Verne Gagne to face Harley Race and Larry Hennig and almost won the AWA title belts. The match resulted in a riot at the old Mecca Arena in Milwaukee and got Ladd and Gagne disqualified in the interim. It took a huge crowd of uniformed officers to get Race and Hennig back to their dressing room.

Ernie fought in singles matches against Mad Dog Vachon, The Sheik, Gene "Big Thunder" Kiniski, Killer Kowalski, Fritz Von Erich, The Destroyer, Lou Thesz, The Crusher and The Bruiser. Later in his career, he would face men like Bobo Brazil, Johnny Powers, Tex McKenzie, The Stomper, Ox Baker, Art Thomas, Fred Blassie, and a host of others.

Ernie fought nearly 2000 matches in his illustrious career and can count his defeats on both hands. He has been a tremendous spokesperson for the wrestling world. One of his greatest honors came in 1994, when he was inducted alongside Bobo Brazil into the WWF Hall of fame at Baltimore, Maryland.

Later in his life, Ernie became involved with promoting in the Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma areas. He also was an office man for the WWF.

Ernie is retired and living in Texas today and is involved with helping disabled children. May God continue to watch over you and keep you healthy, my friend.

Percival A. Friend, Retired
The Epitome of Wrestling Managers