In this ongoing featurette of "Mephisto's Musings", Frank shares his memories of the people he met and knew in the wrestling business.
Pete Managoff
Oh! Pete Managoff. Pete Managoff used to live in a tent, and in the wintertime, he'd travel from the Carolinas to the area around Bristol, Tennessee, and would go fishing. What a rugged individual! He'd live all winter in that tent. I remember when Crockett had a new trophy made for the tag team boys. Crockett had it sitting on a table in the dressing room. When Managoff came in, Crockett handed him his bookings. Managoff sat there lookin' at them and must not have been happy with what Crockett gave him. (laughs) He took his pistol out of his bag and started shootin' that trophy. That trophy's bouncin' all around the dressin' room ... the boys was runnin'. That trophy hit the wall two or three times. (laughs) He unloaded the gun.
Pete had a brother who worked on the police force. Pete went into Chicago and got in the ring to work with Moose Cholak. Moose came in wearin' that big moose head. That moose head was heavy and hard to get through the ropes. When Moose Cholak first started wearing it, he lost his balance and fell off the edge of the ring apron. While they're gettin' instructions, they exchanged words, Pete hit him, and down Cholak went with that big moose head on top of him. That was a shoot! Fred Kohler was scared of Pete, so he called Crockett up and said, "Can you bring Managoff back down there?" (laughs)
Billy Two Rivers
One time, we were out on a canoe and we only had one paddle. We had hangovers and I remember thinking, "Why in the hell did I let him talk me into coming out on this lake?" (laughs) He went to sleep and he dropped the paddle. There we are, out in the middle of that damn lake, trying to get to shore. We had to paddle with our hands. (laughs)
There was a rooster that used to come around and crow. Billy Two Rivers had a bow and arrow and shot that rooster. It went through his neck, but didn't kill him. When he'd run around and crow, it sounded like the weirdest damn thing ... like it was in an echo chamber. (laughs) It must have damaged its' voice box. It ran into the woods, but would come back out every so often to find something to eat. Every morning, it would do that crowing, and it like to have drove Billy Two Rivers nuts.
Mike Paidousis
We were in Myrtle Beach or someplace and somebody shoeflied Charley Laye by mistake. Charlie didn't have a place to stay because all the little cabins were sold out. He had to go to the bathroom after they shoeflied him. They didn't do it on purpose, but you have to go to the bathroom right away. All the boys ran and locked the doors and wouldn't let Charley in. (laughs) He went in his pants and, after that, everybody called him sh– ass. I know that story isn't about Mike, but he was there when it happened.
Doug Kinslow
Doug was a nice guy, a class guy. He was from Kentucky. He wasn't rowdy like the rest of the boys. He was kind of straight-laced, a real gentleman. I remember when P.Y. Chung invited Doug, Terry Garvin and myself over to eat. PY had his little trailer, so we went in and Terry says to PY, "Is there anything I can help you with?" PY says, "Yeah, wash the rice." Well, before the Japanese fry the rice, they cover it with water and stir it, and stir it, and stir it, to get rid of the starch. Doug's sitting there, while PY is at the stove, and when they look, Terry's washing the rice with soap. PY says, "What the hell are you doing?" "Well, you told me to wash the rice." He looks around and Kinslow's walking out the door. (laughs)
I remember the guys going over to Doug's trailer in the dead wintertime. There was a valve outside that would shut the heat off. Terry and I, Sandy Scott, some of the other guys would go over and close that valve. Doug would come outside with a monkey wrench. He'd crawl under the trailer and would pound on them pipes, thinking they had froze up. He'd go in and we'd slip back and turn it on. The heat would be alright, and "bang," we'd turn it back off. It liked to drove him nuts.
Jimmy Smith
That was Rocky. That's when we were partners, before the Infernos.
