I have not been right the last two days since I’ve heard of the passing of Dusty Rhodes. Dusty in my opinion was the greatest wrestling personality of all time. He set the stage for The Rock, Stone Cold and others to talk smack and back it up. I knew Dusty personally. When I was attending the University of Tampa as a freshman in college the Pro Wrestlers would workout on our campus. (Dusty, Dory Funk, Terry Funk, Jack and Jerry Briscoe, Dick Slater, Kevin Sullivan, Terry “Hulk Hogan” and others all frequented the campus and hung out at one time or another in the Rathskeller drinking beer. Curtis Hixon Hall was a stone’s throw from my dorm and the home of Championship Wrestling from Florida hosted by none other than Gordon Solie.
I was thrown out of the Jacksonville Coliseum trying to climb into the ring when Pacsun had his claw clamped down on Dusty’s arm. I cried like a baby and had a chance to tell him about it one day. (And he still had the scars.) “Who said wrestling ain’t real?” :o) Today I wear my elbow pad in honor of the American Dream. The Soul man. (The man of the hour, the man with the power, the hit maker the record breaker, he’ll make you back crack and your liver quiver, and if you don’t dig his mess, you’re at the wrong address…) Thank you Dusty Rhodes. Whooooooo!!!!!
— feeling proud.