Ladd got his first taste of the mat world while playing pro ball.  In the early sixties Dick Beyer took the young giant from Texas under his wing.  During the off season Ladd wrestled for San Diego promoter Hardy Cruiscamp and Los Angeles promoter Jules Strongbow.  Ernie played out his option with the Chargers and moved on to the Houston Oilers and then on to the Kansas City Chiefs.  All through his football career he wrestled in the off season honing his skills with the help of people like Tiger Conway and Eddie Farhat, to name a few. 

In the mid-sixties, he convinced Buffalo promoter Pedro Martinez to let him work as a heel.  "That’s when the real fun began," the Big Cat recalls.  "I was too big to get sympathy by getting beat on, so I made a much better heel."

"I first met Ernie Ladd in around ‘66 and he was green -- just a few years in the ring -- but he just took to it.  He was very agile for a big man.  Most guys his size couldn't move.  Ladd could take a bump like a guy half his size,” recalls former NWA World Heavyweight champ Harley Race.

Ladd said, "After a few years I was making so much money wrestling in the off season that I figured I could make a lot more by giving up football and wrestling full-time.  I quit football at 28 and still had several good years left. That first year I made $98,000, and after that never made less than a hundred grand a year.  That was big money back in the sixties."

Former AWA World Heavyweight champion Nick Bockwinkel said, “Many people over the years have tried using their former sports experience to further themselves in wrestling.  Most of the time it’s little more than a gimmick.  Ernie Ladd could hardly be considered a gimmick.  It’s one thing to excel in one sport, but Ernie did it in two – in wrestling and on the gridiron.  That’s quite an accomplishment.”

"Wrestling was very good to me," Ladd continues.  "I had a lot of fun working with a lot of great guys.  My all-time favorite was Dominic Denucci.  We had a great feud working for Pedro Martinez.  Dominic would do promos saying he was gonna punch me in the knee to bring me down to his size and then punch me in the nose. I used to love to do promos about how I was gonna make that spaghetti-bender eat collard greens and hog jowels.  I could get those people so mad and we just had the best time in the ring."

"Back then I was a thief -- I stole stuff from everyone,” Ladd continued.  “Boris Malenko used to teach me how to watch the other guys work and note what they did to get the crowd going.  I stole Bull Curry's backward bump over the top rope, Luke Graham's taped thumb, and of course I stole ‘egg suckin' dog’ from Terry Funk."

Ladd retired from the ring in the mid-80s, and now spends most of his time working for the Lord, speaking in prisons and churches around the country.

CAC president Red Bastien said without any hesitation, “He is one of the greatest wrestlers in the annals of history.  We had a match in St. Louis that was absolutely fantastic, given our size difference.  Ernie could work with anybody – his size was not a limitation.  And he was always a gentleman, in and out of the ring.  You can’t get much better than that.  I’m proud to say that he’ll be sitting at my table in Las Vegas.”

Ladd said, "I am truly honored to be getting this award. It’s a big compliment to be recognized by your peers.  I really don't have the words to express how I feel about this."

 

(This article written and researched by Bill Kociaba.)