Backlund: From All-American Boy to Professional Wrestling's World Champion

by Bob Backlund

  16. If you are a parent—take the responsibility to raise your own children. Don’t leave that most important work for others to do. Set rules and guidelines with your children so that they understand their purpose, and then require your children to live by them. When our daughter Carrie was growing up and went out with her friends, the rule was that Carrie had to come home and give my wife a kiss when she got home. It was a simple rule, but it was one she agreed to. We didn’t have a lot of rules at our house, but that was one of them. My wife stayed home while Carrie was young until she went to school. They spent a lot of time together when I was away, and our daughter is a mature, responsible citizen of the world because of it.

  17. There is joy to be found in every day. Seek it.

  18. Look forward, not backward. The past is gone. Learn what you can from it, cherish your memories, and move on. Stay focused on the many great things that are going to happen for you in your future. After I lost the world title, I thought that my best days were behind me, and that there would be no way to recapture that kind of happiness again. I was wrong.

  Although the outcomes of my professional matches may have been predetermined, the story of my life, and the relentless pursuit of my dreams, is real. My American Dream was to use my athletic gifts to become professional wrestling’s world champion, and to then use that stature make a difference in people’s lives. The first part of that dream—the wrestling part—may now be in my past, but the second part—the making a difference part—is still very much a part of my present.

  Rob’s American Dream is to use his substantial gifts as a writer to tell stories that inspire people, to be a great husband and father, and to be a positive influence and a force for good in his community and his world. He found me—his childhood hero, and believed in me enough to want to work for five years to bring my story to life in a way that no one else in the world could have. His story and mine will now be forever intertwined, and while I was once his hero from afar, we are now close friends, and I am very grateful for that. Having met his family and friends, and having become a part of their lives and their community over the past few years, it looks like he’s well on his way to realizing the rest of his American Dream as well.

  So now it’s your turn.

  First, to all of you who have ever shaken my hand, given me a high five, or cheered for me from a seat in an arena or a seat in your living room, thank you.

  Thanks for believing in me, and what I stood for.

  Thanks for remembering the times that we shared together.

  And thanks for caring enough about that part of your past to buy this book, and to want to remember those days.

  But now, my challenge to each of you is the same one I now face—to look ahead, not behind.

  This part of my story is now told. By the time you read this, I will already be working on what the rest of this story is going to be. And I hope that each of you will join me in that journey as well.

  Realizing the American Dream is possible for each one of us. All you have to do is get focused on what your dream is, and stay relentlessly committed to it. It is what our country was built on, it is what has carried us through in the darkest of times, and it is precisely what each of us needs to do, right now, to help our country become strong again.

  We can do it together, each and every one of us.

  So let’s get busy.

  When times get tough, you can recall the stories in your own mind of our days together when we were both younger, battling the forces of evil in a wrestling ring, and you can draw strength from those happy memories. Or, if you prefer, you can recall the story you now know, about how, before I was champion, I was homeless, eating tuna out of a can, and sleeping in the trunk of my car in Louisiana.

  If I could make it, you can too.

  PMA. Always and forever.

  See you out on the road!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Bob Backlund

  I want to start by giving a big thank you to Rob for reaching out and sending me the letter that got this whole project started. Many other people reached out to me in the past, but I had been waiting for the right person to come along—and the words that Rob put in his letter convinced me that he was that person to write the book about my life. When we met in Glastonbury, Connecticut, the first time, I was amazed, because I thought that meeting would never take place and that I would have to leave this earth without having had the opportunity to tell my story. When we met, I was also very concerned that Rob would be disappointed in me, because I would not live up to my billing as his childhood hero—I was just me. But after we met, it reconfirmed for me that Rob was indeed the guy. He wanted to know the truth about my life, to tell the real story, and to learn about who I was not just as a wrestler, but as a person. I wasn’t into the politics of wrestling, so I knew very little about what was going on behind the scenes and was amazed to learn, through this project, about some of the things that were going on in the wrestling business. The sheer amount of research that was done and the conversations that Rob had with a variety of my peers has really helped to flesh out my history in the wrestling business and to make this a far more interesting book than it otherwise might have been.

  When I received Rob’s letter, I owned an oil company, and was a long way away from the wrestling business. This project brought me back to life and has given me the opportunity to do the things I’ve always dreamed of doing: to get back into the limelight a little bit with an eye on motivating young people and being a positive role model again. The project has opened doors for me all over the world, with the WWE, with youth groups, and others that remember me and want to hear from me again, and for all of that I am truly grateful. I can’t wait to get back out on the road and meet all of you again and talk to you about your lives and mine and what we’ve all been up to for the past thirty years.

  Of course, I want to thank my wife, Corki, with whom I just celebrated my fortieth wedding anniversary, and my daughter Carrie for supporting me during my wrestling career, and for supporting everything else I have done in my life. I know it hasn’t always been easy for them, moving from territory to territory and place to place, but they have both always been very patient and supportive through all of the havoc of the business. I know they’re both very proud and excited about this book and what it represents.

  I would like to thank Mr. Barry Trievel for allowing us to use some of his interviews and content about me that he collected years ago. Barry was an old teammate of mine from the North Dakota State University football team, so we go way back and share a lot of history. Thank you, Barry, for all you have done and contributed to this story.

  Big thanks also to Mike Gratchner, for his willingness to let us use so many photos from his personal collection in this book.

  I would also like to gratefully thank the many people who took time out of their busy and hectic schedules to make time for us, including “Rowdy” Roddy Piper for his gracious foreword, Bruno Sammartino for the generosity of his time and thoughts on my career, and to both Harley Race and Terry Funk for their contributions to understanding the history of my career in this business, but also for having faith in me in the early years to push me along my path.

  To Vince McMahon Jr. and Triple H for opening the door and allowing me to come home to the WWE, inducting me into the Hall of Fame, and entrusting me with the responsibility to talk to children and adults about the choices I made in my life and why I made them. To Scott Amann for helping to make it possible for wrestling fans the world over to find and enjoy this book and meet me out on the road with the WWE. And to Sue Aitchison from WWE Talent Relations, who handles my scheduling with the WWE with such grace.

  To Jake Elwell, our literary agent at Harold Ober Associates, who believed in this project from the beginning, helped us find the right publisher for it, and for his many bits of great advice along the way.

  To Tony Lyons and Jason Katzman at Skyhorse Publishing for their faith in the project despite the many d
elays that it took to make it the way we wanted it, and for their great work in taking the book from a large pile of paper to what you now hold in your hands.

  And finally to Vince McMahon Sr., no doubt riffling a stack of quarters in a back hallway up in Heaven, for trusting me to be his “All-American Boy” and giving me the chance of a lifetime.

  Rob Miller

  First and foremost, to Bob, for trusting me to voice the project that he had been waiting twenty-five years to write, and for his generosity, honor, and steadfastness of character. Few people in this world get to meet their childhood hero. Far fewer find that person more worthy of that status than your imagination had allowed.

  To Jake Elwell, my literary agent at Harold Ober, who for five books and fifteen years has provided me with his wisdom, ideas, and good counsel.

  To Tony Lyons and Jason Katzman at Skyhorse Publishing for their entrepreneurial spirit and undying faith in this project, and to Tom McCarthy for his editorial notes and assistance.

  To Napoleon Hill, for all of the inspiration that has fed Bob and me for the long years in the making.

  And finally, to Carolyn, Nick, and Lucas, for putting up with all of the stories and time away that was necessary to make this project possible. I love you guys.