by Ted DiBiase
Coach Dawson, the running-back coach at West Texas State, was calling to get me to sign. My grandmother told him that I was at a banquet at the University of Arizona. They were obviously in a state of panic at West Texas State, because they thought I would be wooed into signing with the Wildcats.
I told Grandma of my plans and she agreed. I picked up the phone and called Coach Dawson, “Ted, we still want you. You didn’t sign with Arizona, did you?”
“No sir. I didn’t sign.”
“I can be on a plane in ten minutes. I can come up right now and have you sign the letter of intent that makes it official.”
“That won’t be necessary, Coach Dawson. I’m not going to sign with any other school. Just put your letter in the mail. I’ll sign it and return it right away.”
I am pretty sure Coach Dawson still wasn’t reassured. Not wanting to lose the deal, he probed, “Are you sure we don’t need to fly over and bring the letter?”
I replied, “No, don’t worry. I’ve given you my word. I am absolutely positive. The mail will be fine.” And that was that. I made my decision to attend West Texas State University to play football and earn a degree in education.
With only a few months until graduation, I focused on my classes and working out. I partied with my friends and counted the days before I left for Amarillo. As the senior class president, I was required to give a graduation speech. I spoke to the class from my heart. I emphasized that you should always follow your dreams. That you can do whatever you want if you work hard at it. As long as you give 110 percent and do it to the best of your ability, then you will always be a success.
I couldn’t wait to pack my bags and head to Amarillo, but I was really going to miss my grandma. A few weeks after graduation, as I was packing my stuff, Grandma entered my room. With tears in her eyes, she asked if I needed any help. We hugged and bawled for what seemed like hours. I can’t even begin to explain how much my grandmother meant to me. I loved her so much and she was everything in my life. She was my refuge. I was going to miss her dearly.
8
WEST TEXAS STATE
My mom, Ted, and John all attended my high school graduation. Mike couldn’t make it because he was still in the army. As we celebrated, Mom said she was going to be the one to drive me to college when I was ready to leave. Less than a month after graduation, I was ready to head out to Canyon. In the hot Willcox summer of 1972, I loaded Mom’s car with my basics and her oxygen tank. Her emphysema was so bad that she needed the tank to breathe. After
hugging Grandma and finally letting go, Mom and I hit the road for the ten-hour drive to Texas.
It was my mom’s first trip to Texas since my father died. Prior to heading to campus, we decided to spend a week or so with the Funks. I was especially happy for Mom. She and Dory Funk Sr.’s ex-wife, Dorothy, were real good friends. They hadn’t seen each other in years. Mom stayed at her house. I was going to stay with Terry and his wife, Vicki. But when we arrived at Dorothy’s house, Terry was also there. After I settled my mom in, Terry said, “Teddy, pack your bags. You’re coming with me. Along with Dick Murdoch, we are going on a four-day wrestling trip. It’s your graduation gift.” It was my first wrestling trip with the boys.
I had a great time. We visited Albuquerque, El Paso, and Odessa. Although I enjoyed the conversation, they were long trips: two hundred seventy miles from Amarillo to Albuquerque; two hundred seventy miles from Albuquerque to El Paso; two hundred eighty-five miles from El Paso to Odessa; and two hundred seventy miles from Odessa to Amarillo.
When we’d arrive at the venues, I would watch the matches. In Albuquerque, the first wrestler I saw was Harley Race. I never forgot Harley and how he had tried to save my dad’s life. We spent some time together and reminisced. He was proud of my football accomplishments and knew that my dad had been proud of me as well. In fact, we are still good friends even to this day.
At the conclusion of each show, I would go out with the boys to eat and drink. With respect to drinking, I was making up for lost time. We would drink beer by the case. Terry treated me like a younger brother and during the entire trip, I never had to go into my pocket once. After partying all night, we would hit the sack and then get right back up and hit the road again.
When the trip was over, Terry dropped me off at his mother’s house. I briefly visited with my mom and then went right to bed. The next morning I woke up with a terrible headache. I had the worst hangover. Unbeknownst to me, my mother had a cure. She cleaned her oxygen mask, put the mask on me, and told me to start breathing. I was skeptical at first, but after about ten minutes of breathing pure oxygen, my headache was gone.
The next morning, Mom told me she had a surprise: a graduation gift. After my father died, the federal government started sending my mother Social Security checks. Since I was living with my grandmother, for three years my mother had been giving her a monthly check to help with my expenses.
Well, Grandma didn’t spend a single penny of that money. Mom handed me a lump-sum check, plus a little extra, for me to put down on a new car. I was ecstatic. Together we went down to the local Chevrolet dealer and I purchased my first car, a Chevy Nova. It was a two-door, blue sports car, with a white top and white bucket seats.
A few days later, we said our good-byes to the Funks in Amarillo. I hugged Mom and watched her leave for Los Angeles. I headed to Canyon. I had made arrangements to arrive at the campus early; they had no problem putting me up for the summer, and they even helped me obtain employment. Many players stayed on campus for the summer either to attend class or to work.
I stayed in Terrill Hall. At that time, it was the dorm for all the athletes. Any jock on a scholarship lived there—basketball, football, baseball, etc. The dorm was rectangular-shaped with a courtyard in the middle. There were eight rooms per unit. Each unit had its own living area with a community bathroom. Though there were usually two people per room, for the summer I had my own room. After that, my permanent roommate was Jeff Lloyd.
The cafeteria food was decent. I loved to eat and took advantage of the three meals a day. It wasn’t Grandma’s cooking, but I would always eat their hamburger steaks. They were so thick and hard and often referred to as hockey pucks. Although there was plenty of food, I often craved Mama DiBiase’s lasagna.
My summer job was at the Randall County Feed Lot. I sincerely believe that they created this job just for me. The lot housed ninety thousand head of cattle. And yes, they left behind mountains upon mountains of droppings. There were literally hundreds of these fifteen-foot-high manure mounds throughout the feed lot.
In the middle of the lot, they had this big grain feeder. It was where the cows were fed. My minimum-wage job was to push a broom for twelve hours a day. I was required to keep the grain from overflowing on the roof so that it didn’t collapse. It was a cake job, but it was boring.
After a few weeks, I hooked back up with the Funks. Every Thursday night I would go see their weekly show in Amarillo. Afterward, Terry and his wife, Vicki, would take me out drinking. One night I got so drunk. When I got up for work the next morning, my stomach was churning. Once I arrived at work, I started puking my guts out. I had one of my buddies tell the boss I was sick. The pattern continued for about a month until I couldn’t take it anymore. I eventually stayed away from Amarillo on Thursday nights.
TERRY FUNK:
It was just part of the wrestling business. After the matches, you take your wife and friends out to eat and drink some beer. It was a pretty big deal for Teddy, because I was always paying for it. I wasn’t buying him five-dollar whiskey shots, rather cheap beer. Still, Teddy thought I was a high roller. I never took him out during football season!
Because my job was so boring, I would often take a nap in a nearby cubbyhole. One time, one of the bosses caught me sleeping on the job. They called me into the office and I immediately apologized. “I’m sorry. I’m not lazy. Please don’t fire me. I promise you it will never happen again.” They didn’t fire me.
Rather, I was reassigned to work inside the grain pit. It would be hot as blazes, and my job was to make sure the pit didn’t overflow or get clogged, so that the grain feeder would keep running properly. Wearing a mask, I had to stay inside the pit and shovel the grain away from the feeder’s opening so the hole wouldn’t clog.
After a few weeks, I asked Terry if he could help me find another job. I wasn’t lazy or afraid to work, it was just too boring. Terry used his connections and helped me land a job as a roofer. It was hard work, but much better than working at the feed lot. I worked as a roofer for two summers.
Prior to the start of fall football practice, my friend Mike Crawford and I would work out hard to get in football shape. We had an organized routine that helped us get in the best possible shape. It proved to be very hard for me. After roofing all day, it was very difficult to lift weights, train, and run two miles, but I did the best I could.
Right before fall practice, I met with my counselor. We put together my short- and long-term education objectives and then I registered for classes. My major in college was physical education. I declared speech as my minor. My uncle Marvin was a teacher and a coach, and I thought I’d follow that career path.
When the football season began, wearing number 77, I started at defensive tackle on the freshman football team. We played a full six-game schedule and we went 5–1. When the freshman season ended, the entire team continued to practice with the varsity squad to get experience and help them prepare for their games.
In high school, I was the best football player on the team. I excelled on the field. But in college, every player on the team was equally talented or better. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I might not be able to play professional football. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the desire or toughness. It was my lack of speed. I had to work out harder over the next year to get faster.
After football season, I focused on my studies and getting into better football shape. I went to all my classes and did pretty well. Every Thursday night, even during the football season, I went to the wrestling matches in Amarillo. I would drive the eleven miles from campus to the arena. I never had to pay and was always welcomed into the venue by the boys. I would then watch the Funks, Dick Murdoch, Ricky Romero, Cyclone Negro, and Jack Brisco. Though I was smart to the business, I still got excited watching their matches.
During my freshman year, I pledged with a fraternity—Alpha Tau Omega, which was founded by Otis Allan Glazebrook. The ATOs on campus were like the characters in the movie Animal House. We were the party guys. There was never a shortage of beer. Jeff Lloyd was a fellow brother and we became good friends. We were the biggest guys on the freshman football team. During initiation, the brothers tried to haze us, but they couldn’t because we were so big and tough. They wouldn’t dare do anything weird. Once Jeff and I became members, however, we did some hazing of our own. I remember us tying some nerd pledge to a pole in the middle of the night. It was all in fun.
Shortly after the conclusion of the football season, I ran into an old friend, Ricky Romero’s son, Ricky Jr. He worked at a clothing store in the Amarillo Mall. One day, Ricky said, “Ted, there is a girl working at the store that says she knows you. Do you know a Jaynet Foreman?”
“Yeah, I remember her. I’ve known Jaynet since the sixth grade.”
A few days later, I went to see Jaynet at the clothing store just to say hello. We ended up going to lunch and relived some old times. I eventually asked her out. We started dating just before Christmas.
When classes resumed in January, I focused on three things: school, working out, and Jaynet. I really enjoyed being with her, but I could still hear my dad’s voice: “Remember, Teddy, you can’t stay focused with a girlfriend.” I knew he was right, but I was determined to make it work.
In the spring of my freshman year, I made another friend: Tully Blanchard. He transferred from Southern Methodist University. In order to play quarterback, Tully came to West Texas State. Tully and I immediately befriended each other. We had a lot in common. Like me, he was the son of a former professional wrestler; his father was Joe Blanchard.
TULLY BLANCHARD:
I arrived at West Texas State in the fall of 1974. Earlier that summer, Teddy got injured during two-a-days and missed the season. When my dad wrestled for Kansas State, he wrestled Teddy’s dad, who was a star athlete at the University of Nebraska. They became friends and both went on to become professional wrestlers. Because of these ties, Teddy and I quickly became friends and remain friends today.
Though he was a good football player, his injuries affected his performance. Unfortunately, good football players get hurt. Since he was going to miss another year of football, Teddy decided to start wrestling. You couldn’t blame him, and it was a good decision. I had actually started training to wrestle in the off-season and had refereed for three years prior to attending West Texas State. Teddy and I even had a few workouts together at the Amarillo Sports Arena.
Ted was a great professional wrestler, in the top 10 percent of all time. He had great success and drew a lot of money every place he went. There were very few people that were equal to him in ability.
When spring football practice came around, I had a decent session. Jerry Barons was the defensive line coach and I was determined to impress him. Though I was tough enough, my lack of speed was still hurting me. I did all the drills the coaches required and squatted a lot to build up my legs. I had to get faster. One time while running wind sprints during practice, one of the coaches jokingly said, “DiBiase, we are going to have to get a sundial to start timing you.”
It was at that time that my interest in professional wrestling peaked. I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to stress about not being able to make it in professional football. If I made it, fine. If not, I was going to become a professional wrestler.
Back in the day, there were no wrestling schools. The only way you got into professional wrestling was growing up in it; either that or somebody brought you in. Since both those scenarios applied in my case, Dory Funk Sr. had no problem with me working out in the ring. I did this in between roofing and spending time with Jaynet.
The ring was permanently set up in Amarillo at the sports arena. Any spare moment I had, I would go and take bumps and learn the fundamentals. I worked out in the ring with Steve Romero, Ricky’s son. Steve would later go on to wrestle as the legendary Jay Youngblood.
That summer, I also met Tomomi Tsuruta. “Tommy” was an amateur Olympic wrestler from Japan who’d signed on with Giant Baba’s All-Japan company. Baba had sent him to the Amarillo territory to be trained by the Funks, and Steve and I would work out with him. Since the Funks were his teachers, Steve and I would participate in the workouts. I was taught how to bump and lock up, as well as headlocks, armbars, and other basic moves. Tommy would later wrestle and star in All-Japan under the name of Jumbo Tsuruta. He is often recognized as one of the strongest and toughest wrestlers in the history of All-Japan.
We were picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference my sophomore year. I was six-four and weighed in at 250 pounds. I wasn’t good enough to start, but I got a lot of playing time. We had a horrible year going in, 3–7. A lot of people attributed the losing season to Coach Mayfield. Even though he knew how to coach and created a powerhouse at Permian High School, he was treating college players like high school players.
When football season ended, I unequivocally knew that I was still lacking speed. I spoke to Coach Barons about the reality. He said, “Ted, you are as aggressive as anybody on the team. But what you are lacking is speed.” So I committed myself to working out harder than ever before to overcome my deficiency.
At the time, my relationship with Jaynet was escalating. Every spare minute I had was with Jaynet. We were in love. A few weeks after the end of football season, on December 21, 1973, Jaynet and I married. It was a small wedding at a Roman Catholic church in Canyon. A lot of my fraternity brothers and friends, Terry and Vicki Funk, and a few other
wrestlers attended, as well as all of Jaynet’s immediate family. After the reception, we went to Willcox, where my family met my new bride.
When we returned to Canyon, Jaynet and I moved into a small off-campus apartment. Jaynet was working and going to school. During the afternoons, I did my off-season training with the team. I would come home to visit with Jaynet and get something to eat. I would then head back to the gym and work out some more. I got in really good shape.
Prior to the start of spring football practice, Coach Barons called me into his office. Sitting with him was the offensive line coach. “Ted, here is what we are going to do this spring. Because of your lack of speed, we are going to make you an offensive tackle. How do you feel about it?” Though deep down I preferred playing defense, I said, “If it is going to help me start, then great.”
I had a fantastic spring practice, and it showed on the field. I picked up the assignments rather quickly and was blowing people off the line right and left. I did so well on the field that I was scheduled to start at right tackle when the season started in the fall.
TITO SANTANA:
Ted and I played football together at West Texas State. He was a year behind me, we belonged to different fraternities, and I didn’t really get to know him too well until we both worked together in the Amarillo territory, and I got to know him much better in World Wrestling Federation.
I wasn’t a wrestling fan growing up. It used to come on TV real late in South Texas, so I didn’t know anything about the business. I only knew of Terry and Dory Funk because they used to come out and watch us practice. At West Texas State, Teddy would show everyone how tough he was by cracking beer cans on his forehead. I thought he was nuts for doing it in the first place, and sometimes his forehead would bleed. After a while, I realized his main goal was to become a professional wrestler.
