My devotional is about Ernie Ladd -- my wonderful and dear
friend, who has just 'gone to Heaven' to be with the Lord -- after
fighting colon cancer for several years. (The funeral Saturday,
March 17th, 2007)
Ernie is such evidence in my life of God
working in and around me -- even when I was in complete rebellion to
Him......
Ernie and I first met on the football field.....in
the second year of the AFL when The Houston Oilers played the San
Diego Chargers.......
Then, later in pro-wrestling........in
the years of tremendous racial unrest in the US and even in our
capitol, Washington DC.........
We did not become 'true
friends' until the 80's......and God definitely brought us
together......and used us.......in some things without our realizing
it.....but later, we both realized and better appreciated God's
using us in His will......
Here are some comments in an
article that ran in Monroe, Louisiana:
This is a story from The (Monroe) News-Star
in 2005.
A living legend returns home
By Nick Deriso (I've just included some portions of the
article)
He still blocks out the sun.
Yes, Ernie Ladd, the former Grambling great, is every
bit of 6-9 - unbowed by age, a damaging career in football and
wrestling, even colon cancer.
He smiles wide and then folds
himself into my Beetle, and without complaint.
"I find Volkswagens," says the always-literate Ladd, "to be surprisingly
spacious."
Still, German engineering, it's safe to say,
couldn't have accounted for passengers like the Big Cat - who one
former competitor once said was so enormous that "it was dark. I
couldn't see the linebackers. I couldn't see the
goalposts."
I can't see the side mirror.
Crossed over
a 52-inch chest are 20-inch biceps, with similarly proportioned
calves leading to size 18D shoes. Ladd's knees, crisscrossed by surgery scars,
push high against the dashboard, like a parenthesis around his
face.
Yet, he couldn't be more animated, as the mileposts
shotgun by.
"I'm committed to Grambling, to the new president," Ladd says. "And not just in words, but also
in deed. When it comes to supporting this school, I will attack it
like a hungry wolf."
We're on the way to the town where he played college ball for
Eddie Robinson. And Ladd is on a roll,
riffing like a jazz musician in spurts then floods of enthusiasm and
intellect.
He had been, really, from the start: "You're not
asleep, are you?" Ladd bellowed,
cold-calling my cell phone at 10:30 a.m. last Monday, while I sat
waiting for the first group to make the turn at Doug Pederson's
Celebrity Gold Tournament in nearby Choudrant.
I laughed, not the first time that day.
"Ernie Ladd," he exclaimed, "is on
his way!"
When he gets out, the passenger seat is so far back
that my 3-year-old would have had to cross his legs in the
back.
Large and in charge
That sturdy frame propelled
Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd into the old
American Football League and later to wrestling. More importantly,
and this is how Ladd got that timeless
nickname, he was just lickety-split quick.
"The first year he
was here, he taught me a lesson," Robinson once said. "He told me
how good he was. Sure, I'd say. Then he hurt somebody. I'd feel
sorry for the people he was tackling."
Legacy to match
stature
Ron Mix, a Pro Football Hall of Famer as an offensive
lineman with San Diego Chargers and then the Oakland Raiders, also
had a memorable quip about Ladd: "He
wasn't a fat big, he was just big big."
Still is. A scary
truth writ large this week was that Ladd is more massive, even, than any member
of the current line at Grambling.
Ladd actually got bigger, at least in pop
culture, when he left football.
But first came a stellar
career with San Diego, after being selected 15th in the AFL draft. Ladd would appear in three of the
league's championship games, winning the 1963 title.
Ladd remembers those Chargers teams for their
football prowess, but also for their groundbreaking
sensibility.
"We were like a family," he says. "We were one
of the first integrated teams, with black players and white players
as roommates."
Elected to four straight AFL All-Star Games
from 1962-1965, he later played with the Kansas City Chiefs and
Houston Oilers. While with the Chiefs, he reunited with Junious
"Buck" Buchanan, another legendary fellow Gramblinite.
An
amazing quickness to match that big-bigness earned him the nickname
"The Cat" - then, more appropriately, "The Big Cat." That would
perhaps serve him even better in pro wrestling.
Surgery again
sidelined Ladd during the 1969 season,
even as the Chiefs ultimately defeated the Minnesota Vikings in the
Super Bowl.
By then Ladd had
already plotted his next move: He'd begun wrestling as a sideline
during his rookie season, and found the payday and fame so alluring
that he was ready to give up pro football.
Ladd's storylines resonated during
wrestling's earliest flowering as a national attraction, not to
mention signature moves that included the "guillotine drop" and a
boot to the face.
Rivalries with Andre the Giant and Dusty
Rhodes helped shape wrestling's 1970s persona.
Today, he's
the only person in both the American Football League and World
Wrestling Federation halls of fame. Ladd is also a 1994 inductee into the
Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and joined the San Diego Hall of
Champions last year.
Ladd's
intention concerning the disease - about being listed, quite
literally, at one point as day-to-day - is to stare it down.
Ladd has steadfastly insisted
that his religion spurred an undiagnosed recovery.
That spot
was found more than a year ago on his colon. Further tests showed
the cancer had spread through his stomach and into his
bones.
They called Ladd terminal, but he called their bluff.
"The doctor told me I
had three-to-six months to live," Ladd says. "I told him Dr. Jesus has the verdict on me."
This
born-again Christian, a father of four and grandfather to another
13, then roars with laughter once more.
He also answers his
phone, time and time again while I drive, by saying "Jesus Loves
You." He means it.
"I'm here right now because of my faith,"
says Ladd, a pastor in his current
hometown of Franklin. "The Lord comes first in my life. I trust
God."
My friend and brother in the Lord,
Ernie Ladd:
My dear friend, Jim Ross informed me of
Ernie's passing...........and I say "passing" because Ernie Ladd, my
brother in the Lord is right now in Heaven with His Savior, Jesus
Christ..........and the Lord is saying, 'Welcome, My good and
faithful servant, my brother, my co-heir to all the Father has
prepared'............Ernie Ladd was the loving and willing
bond-servant of Christ!
http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070311/UPDATES02/70311008/1006/SPORTS
He is an awesome friend! God sent
Him into my life.........and He impacted me so
dramatically...........I love Him dearly.
He taught me so much
about 'being black'..........as He explained, no white man can
understand, because we cannot walk in a black man's
shoes.............we shared so much together...........so
much.........he blessed my life........he touched my
heart!
He told me of growing up in the heart of 'racism'.....of his
father in jail in Baton Rouge......of the rules in Louisiana and in
Texas -- in certain communities of no blacks after a certain time of
day........so many horrible racist things..........that this giant
of a man had to deal with.........and I got to see him 'rise above
them'...........I was there the day Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil
Rights Act of 1964........and in the dressing room for wrestling
matches in Baltimore, when my tag team partner made a complete ass
of himself as he addressed Ernie racially......in anger.....in front
of everyone...and Ernie did not 'knock him out' because he was a
'bigger man' inside too.......and knew it would only inflame things
more....few there 'understood' this -- why Ernie was not retaliating
there and then....that was a very tense time in
America.........that same time in Washington DC where riots and
burning were happening.........
The Lord reached out to both of us
at about the same time-- about 1984.........Ernie was the headliner
for my wrestling company, and also had become my 'booker'........he
set up and arranged the matches.......a very trusted and valued
position.........
The story Ernie told me: He had gone to get
some additional knee surgery........and the night before, while
eating dinner, a man came to his table and sat down.......Ernie
thought maybe the man was 'gay'.........but the man said,
"No".......the Lord has led me to come share Christ with you! He
did, and Ernie accepted Christ as His personal
Savior.........
Whether that was 'him returning to the Lord' or it being the
actual first time he experienced the Lord.........I don't
know........but I do know........Ernie's life changed...........and
how he looked at life........and his family.......and I know Ros
Ladd loves the Lord too..........so this was huge for
her........
At the same time, the Lord confronted me -- as so many of you
know-- calling me back to Himself.........and I have told that
story.......and Ernie and I were exercised.......both of us wanting
to share it with each other........and also apprehensive because of
the business we were in..........but we did.......and we both
rejoiced..........
I feel Ernie was so much the 'more faithful to the Lord' by
his life.............I love him and his testimony for the
Lord.......it encouraged me when I was
struggling...........
Ros, his dear wife......was such a powerful
influence in his life too.........what sweethearts! He always would
make reference to her, and his love for her......and God's blessing
on his life by his marriage to her...........
I remember, when Ali
fought Leon Spinks for the title in the Superdome, Ernie and I (and
Ros) attended..........and I was taking he and Ros to
dinner.........and I had a rented car........a Lincoln.......and
Ernie got in the back seat with Ros........and I said, "Big
fella,"........."Why don't you sit up front here with me, there is
so much more room in the front seat"...........and sitting back
there with Ros, he said, "Ros, I told you when we met in college,
that if you married me, one day I would have us a big, fat, white,
honky chauffeur!" "Well, we have one now!"
That is the
friendship we had! I could share with you so many Ernie Ladd
stories...........he lives too in my heart!
I was just saying to
him recently on the phone..........."Ernie, I am afraid the Lord
will call you home before He does me.........and I'm concerned,
because the way you eat, there may not be enough food left in Heaven
for a banquet when I get there!"
I love Ernie
Ladd.........and am so privileged, so blessed, so tremendously
blessed to have that big giant of a man as my
friend!
He was big enough I booked him in a 'single's
match'............one-on-one against Andre the Giant in the
Superdome......and we had never done that
before.........
He was a 'star-maker' in the business........if
he felt someone could 'become a star'.......he would sacrifice to
make them one........
He had 'great integrity'........his word was
his bond! He studied the business........one of the first I ever saw
who did...........and he amazed me..........and taught me
too......
We had 'great arguments'.......and could 'take
them so far' because we were friends first........but too, he worked
for me, so when we would 'get to the final solution' and decide our
direction, he would say, "Case closed!" Meaning, we were in
agreement, and he was going to expedite our decisions........
He took me back to Grambling, and told me of how tough it was
there.........how Eddie Robinson drove them........and worked them
so hard......of the primitive and harsh conditions....they did not
have 'nice dormitories to live in either then' ...he introduced me
to Eddie, and we did some fund-raising bouts there........Eddie
Robinson's efforts were HUGE for 'breaking the barrier' for black
athletes in football............I can still hear Ernie's stories
about Tank Younger, and others......and their
struggles.........sports were an important factor in
race........because racial discrimination starts as 'fear' and 'what
you do not know' about the race you hate...........so, to get to
know black athletes was my first 'personal exposure to blacks' on a
personal basis..........Bud Wilkinson had 'broken the color line' in
1956 by recruiting the first black to play at Oklahoma
University.......Prentice Gautt.......and my friend Wallace
Johnson.......to interact with them on a daily basis was the
beginning of understanding them as a person..........Wallace and I
are still close friends.......Prentice has passed on too.......but
he was an awesome person..........
Ernie spoke of coming to Grambling to play
basketball.........but Eddie saw him, and walked along side of him
and said, "Big Red (his nickname), you look hungry........here are
the keys to the kitchen .......if you get too hungry, fix yourself a
sandwich......and Ernie filled out to 315 lbs..........and the rest
is history.......
We were 'rookies the same year'.......me with Houston, and
him with San Diego..........and played against each other
twice......but I got fired from the Oilers and Ernie became a star
for the Chargers..........we never 'met personally at that
time'.........I later met him in California when he was wrestling
and so was I........
Our friendship began years
later..........
Heaven is rejoicing for Ernie Ladd coming home to Heaven's
rest...............I know Ros and his family and friends are
mourning.........as am I.........but also smiling and thanking God
that He chose Ernie Ladd to become 'a child of God in Christ
Jesus'.......I can still hear his voice when I would call
him.......and he would answer, "Jesus loves
you!"
Jesus loves Ernie Ladd and so do
I..........
I'll see him when the Lord calls me home to Heaven
too..........
|
He first played on professional football teams --
the San Diego Chargers, the Houston Oilers, and the Kansas City Chiefs -- and
then found fame and fortune in professional wrestling, a sport that landed him
in the World Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame.
