I just got an email from a friend of Gary's...via Scandar Akbar... and I immediately called Akbar to hear it from his lips... and Akbar... who is a man of iron... a true 'stud' of our business... you could tell was really hit by Gary's death... as he had just been with him on a 'fan memory trip' ... and spent time with him... and Akbar related how he and Gary had spent a lot of that time speaking of me... and of Mid-South... and our years together in the business... and Killer Karl Kox... and Killer Brooks too were so close to Gary... and how they too were so touched by Gary's loss...

And I told him how Gary would call me faithfully every couple of weeks or so... and how we would visit briefly about so many things... in fact that I had 'Googled myself on YouTube'... and the matches I found there... in two of the three... Gary had been the 'reason' I had lost two different title matches... one against World Champion, Jack Brisco... and the other against Dusty Rhodes... in Florida... and we were laughing at that... as we were both 'villains there'... but also had this 'thing between us' too... so... he would be instrumental in costing me matches...

I first met Gary in about 1970 when I had bought into Leroy McGuirk's Championship Wrestling Promotion... and began my climb up the ranks of wrestling promoters...

Gary was managing The Spoiler... Don Jardine... another great in the biz who passed away this past year... and Fritz had sent them here to 'contribute to the dearly needed talent pool' we needed to 'spark the McGuirk promotion'... and to also begin the 'change to it'... from it just being a Jr. Hvywt. territory...

even though Danny Hodge... the NWA Jr. Hvwt Champion... and mainstay of the promotion... could draw money with any 'good opponent'... no matter size or weight... so we wanted to maintain that... but start bringing in the 'Super Heavyweights too... that fit my category... and that were featured in most of the dominant promotions... and the mix worked really well... but Gary Hart and The Spoiler followed the first really "HOT" angle I had worked here with Dutch Savage... that really established me...

And Gary Hart and The Spoiler... and I sold out the Shreveport Auditorium on a weekly basis more consecutive times than it ever had been then...plus really impacted the entire promotion... and put Jackson, MS... on the map as a wrestling town.... with our match in the old Municipal Building there... and me being late and having chartered a single engine plane through a tornado watch... when the commercials had cancelled their flights... and George Culkins had the police waiting at the airport with sirens ready as I changed into my ring gear in that car enroute to the matches...

but that success caused George to take a chance and book the Jacksonville Coliseum... in which we were so successful.... 

really the only 'previous' consecutive box office business territory-wide other than someone against Hodge... had been The Assassins (Joe Hamilton and Tom Renesto) vs the Kentuckians... (Grizzly Smith and Luke Brown)...

And of course too... Hodge had so many great feuds that drew great box office... including his famous ones with Akbar...

What memories! In fact, I saw my dear friend Danny Hodge Saturday night at a mixed martial arts event... as Danny is the chairman of the Oklahoma Boxing and Wrestling Com....

Gary though was the consummate 'pro'... I remember that first meeting with him... and he changed into a 'real tailor made suit'... and had alligator shoes... the most expensive men's shoes of that era... when most managers would wear 'cheap stuff' because it was going to get beer or coke thrown on them... or other things... so they would not wear really 'fine clothes ringside'... but Gary said... if I am going to 'be a Playboy from Chicago'... then I have to dress the part... and he did....

His interviews were fantastic... he could touch a person's buttons like no other...I mean he could get down and dirty...

And besides that... he was very 'flexible' business-wise... while still protecting his wrestler's gimmick... He truly was the consummate manager in more ways than just ringside...

So often a promoter or booker was trying to take things a certain direction... and limited by their own imaginations as to how to accomplish it... so would design things for short term success.... not seeing the bigger picture...

Gary... quickly would gain a rapport with the booker or promoter... because he always had lots of 'fresh ideas'... all he need to know is the direction... and he would have several ways to get there...win, lose, or draw... he knew how to 'get it done' in a business promoting way that worked best for the situation...

Still...if a promoter did NOT get it... Gary could then be adamant... even totally a "NO" if it compromised his wrestler's gimmick or box office appeal...

He was 'all business'... and again... we 'clicked immediately'... and I learned so damn much from him... and was so blessed to work with him in so many areas I booked or owned... In Florida he managed Pak Song Nam... the Korean Assassin... and had 'Hart's Army'... and we had it so 'hot' we even had billboards all over Tampa with Gary and his army... with a bounty on Dusty Rhodes or Jack Brisco... but more than that... he was one of my 'right hand men' in Florida... and we worked extremely close together on the total picture we developed there in the biggest bottom line year the Florida promotion ever had...and that is right from Eddie Graham's own mouth... and certainly he would know... and everyone knows...I consider Eddie my most important mentor in the business... who really took me to 'the next level'...