CAC member The NIGHT HAWK, looking back!
As I wind down my career as an active wrestler, I look back down the years and miles and the first thing that comes to mind is to thank those who helped me get this far with modest abilities but a great love of the sport.
Like anyone who decides the mat game is their passion, I started as a fan and I come by that honestly. My dad liked Lou Thesz and Don Eagle. My guy was always Jack Brisco and the classic matches with Dory Funk, Jr. captured my interest (and to later appear on shows with Dory was an honor). I learned amateur style wrestling in school but ultimately found success in other sports like karate and tennis.
Still, I was drawn back to the ring and started photographing their matches and writing stories for the magazines in the 1980s. My first thank you has to go to the late Gordon Solie who took me behind the scenes at Championship Wrestling from Florida and later WCW. Between telephone calls and backstage conversations, I learned how to understand the sport and respect it even more.
It was during those days that Steve Keirn was a frequent subject as half of the Fabulous Ones and as a single. It was during one of those interviews when he inquired if I had any athletic background myself and made the remark that I ought to consider getting trained to get in the ring myself. I had never thought I could but now I was determined to try. So, I thank him for making me believe it was possible and in looking at tapes of my tag matches, I can see how I unconsciously absorbed some of his mannerisms.
I got my first pro-style lessons there in Florida from Dean Malenko and from him I got so much more than how to bump and do my basics. I learned how to breathe, move, and have a presence in the ring. Perhaps the most important thing I learned was to tell the story in the ring with my body, not my mouth. I was never that good on the mic but I like to think I presented matches that had solid psychology and represented the sport well. My thanks go to him for getting my mind right.
It was in Panama City, in the remnants of the former Gulf Coast and Southeastern territories, that I continued my training and made my debut in 1990. Growing up, I had lived in the area and followed the stars of the region like Ken Lucas and Cowboy Bob Kelly. Having my first matches in that same area meant that I got to learn from Exotic Adrian Street and Bullet Bob Armstrong. They were examples of how a pro carries himself, goes about his business, and builds the right kind of reputation in the locker room. As a rookie, I got to be involved in several run-ins against the Armstrongs and wearing the glowing outline of the Bullet’s hand on my chest after a trademark chop was a red badge of courage and a rite of passage to me.
Bouncing around the indy shows in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama afforded me the opportunity to develop a little following. In the whole time, I never used any gimmick other than The Nighthawk, hoping to keep what little fan base I had! Getting to work my old high school gym was a special night but that was surpassed by the late Big John Studd calling me at home to ask if I’d come work a show he was putting together. He had already lined up Adrian and Mr. Olympia Jerry Stubbs and now he wanted to add me? That was definitely a “wow” moment.
Over the years, I got to do a bit of everything including promoting and matchmaking. One night, when I was supposed to main event a show, our referee went down with an injury after the first match. So, I pulled a referee’s uniform over my outfit, was the third man in all the rest of matches, and had the promoter get on the mic to appoint himself “special guest referee” for the main event. That gave me time to sneak to the back, peel off the stripes, lace up my mask and run right back out the other door for my match.
Heeling was fun and I did that until the last few years of my career when I somehow became a “respected veteran.” I think bookers liked the fact that I’d take as much time with the fans as I could, signing for everyone, and encouraging future attendance. Plus, they put me anywhere, singles or tags, and against cruiserweights or super-heavyweights. Granted, I never was big into hardcore but they knew I did a good bullrope match and that gave them something to work a programs towards.
But, none of those matches would have happened without a lot of help. So, I thank every opponent who ever let me show my skills and I hope I put them over, too. I thank my tag team partners and managers who helped so much in presenting me, especially in the early years when I couldn’t carry a match solo yet. I thank all the promoters and bookers who thought that I’d help their shows and that I might sell a few tickets. I thank all the fans who bought those tickets, who booed me as a heel and who cheered my as a babyface, who asked for an autograph and sent all that nice fan mail.
Finally, I thank Karl Lauer and all the great Cauliflower Alley Club members and staff. To have been accepted into the “Ring of Friendship” is the greatest honor of all.
The Nighthawk wrestled from 1990-2006 in the NWA, AWA, and various independent shows. His website can be found at The NIGHTHAWK .
