It's the unusual experiences that stand out when recalling what now can be considered humorous, but at the time were disastrous, in the promotion of professional wrestling. The coupe de grace of all those experiences took place in Anchorage, Alaska, the night we actually misplaced a wrestler.
In 1976, an Anchorage boxing promoter contacted me wanting to run a series of wrestling shows in Anchorage and Fairbanks. He promised me 'X' amount of dollars, but said if I would bring lady wrestlers, too, he would increase the guarantee by $1,000. Apparently, most Alaskans are not only starved for live entertainment and sporting events, but they're really hungry for female events. I promised him a complete card, including two girl wrestlers, and he went to work locally touting the show that would feature a ladies wrestling match.
Living in Seattle, I had no trouble booking the boys, as talent was everywhere ... but for two girl wrestlers, I first called Judy Grable, who resided in her retirement in Bremerton, which was an hour ferry boat ride from Seattle. She was unable to perform for the full five dates we were contracted for, so I phoned Mildred Burke in Los Angeles.
Mildred put two lady wrestlers on the plane who would meet up with us at the Seattle airport. From there, the entire crew would fly on to Anchorage. Mildred sent Sandy Parker and another girl. (Unfortunately, I can't recall for sure exactly who it was. I think it was Jane O'Brien but am not positive.) Anyway, we arrived at the hotel about five o'clock p.m. for an eight o'clock show. It was snowing lightly and under 10 degrees, but the local promoter promised me the weather didn't effect Alaskans, since they were used to it.
I sent one crew (via cab) to one TV station and went with the other crew to the other TV station in town, where we were featured on a live news/sportscast. From there, I sent two workers per cab to the auditorium. I rode with Sandy Parker and the referee and we arrived at the arena around 7:00 p.m. I had Sandy Parker leave the cab first and I watched her walk into the building. When she was out of sight, the referee got out of the cab and entered through the same door. I followed close behind.
Once inside, I noted there were four dressing rooms, two for the male crew and one each for the girls. I did my thing at the box office, receiving the balance of the guarantee from the local promoter, then went on to one of the dressing rooms. At 7:55 p.m. five minutes before the first match, Jane O'Brien (or whoever the second girl was), came into the boys' dressing room looking rather frantic. "Sandy's lost. She's not here!" I figured she was joking, because I watched Sandy enter the arena with my own eyes from the cab, but upon entering her dressing room, I noticed that not only was she not there, but her bag wasn't there either. Apparently, Sandy had never entered the dressing room.
I didn't want to alarm the local promoter (especially since I had a handsome payoff in my pocket), so I got all nine of the boys on the card, including the ref, to search the building for Ms. Parker. In hindsight, it was a side-splitting sight watching these men all decked out in their gimmicks (lumberjacks, Lords, Indians, masked men, a cowboy, etc.) running around the building looking for a lost lady wrestler. We were all hoping nothing serious had happened to Sandy. We thought she might have fallen and hit her head or something. However, we all agreed the show must go on.
I thought about having one of the boys challenge Jane O'Brien to a male vs. female match. Jane was hesitant to participate in such an endeavor, and then the boys backed out when they overheard her yelling at me, "... if I work with any guy, I'l wipe the mat with him."
By now the first match was on, but the local promoter noticed I was a little nervous, and he must have sensed something was wrong. I finally had to confess, "I temporarily misplaced a lady wrestler, but if we can't find her, I promise I'll have a new one here for tomorrow's show." Obviously, I was close to being delirious. The local promoter, who I believe was named Joey Lopez, thought about it for awhile after hearing we had searched the entire building high and low. He offered some good advice. "You know ... about ten years ago, one of my boxers accidentally walked into the furnace room underneath the balcony. Once inside you can't get out. There ain't no door handle inside."
We rounded up the janitor and rushed downstairs. Sure enough, there was a door marked "Furnace Room - Keep Out". The door was made of metal ... quite solid, quite thick, and soundproof. Soundproof because inside was a huge oil furnace generating enough heat to keep the entire auditorium above the freezing temperature, since it was well below freezing outside. The janitor made about five tries before he found the right key to open the furnace room door. The instant it was unlocked, someone from the inside bounded out, arms swinging, feet kicking and mouth gushing out profanities like no Alaskan ever heard.
Indeed, it was Sandy Parker. She stank. I mean she really smelled. Her hair reeked from oil fumes, her clothes were full of soot. It was like she had been working underground in a mine shaft for a week. But above all that, she was mad. I've never seen any human being as angry as Sandy Parker was that night and it took five minutes to calm her down, then another ten minutes to get her to agree to go on. She must have taken a 30-minute shower that night, before her match with Jane.
As we rode back to the hotel together in the cab I remember exactly what I said to her ... "I missed the boat tonight. We should have had a coal miner's glove match."
