 Race in 2007 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Harley Leland Race (1943-04-11)April 11, 1943 Quitman, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | August 1, 2019(2019-08-01) (aged 76) St. Charles, Missouri, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Lung cancer |
Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | The Great Mortimer[1] Harley Race[1] Jack Long[1] The King[1] Handsome Harley Race[1] King Harley Race |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 253 lb (115 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Trained by | Buddy Austin[1] Ray Hrstich[1] Stanislaus Zbyszko Władek Zbyszko |
| Debut | 1959[1] |
| Retired | December 1990 |
Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an Americanprofessional wrestler,professional wrestling promoter, and trainer.[1]
Race wrestled in theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA), theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, nowWWE), andWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW). He was a nine-time world champion, having won theWWA World Heavyweight Championship once and theNWA World Heavyweight Championshipeight times and was the firstNWA United States Heavyweight Champion (nowWWE United States Championship).
Race is one of six men to have been inducted into each of theWWE Hall of Fame, theNWA Hall of Fame, theWCW Hall of Fame, theProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame and theWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.
Race was born inQuitman, Missouri, on April 11, 1943.[1][3] Race was an early fan of professional wrestling, watching programming from the nearby Chicago territory on theDuMont Television Network. After overcomingpolio as a child,[4] he began training as a professional wrestler as a teen under former world championsStanislaus andWładek Zbyszko, who operated a farm in his native Missouri. While in high school, an altercation with a classmate led to the principal kneeing Race in the back of the head as he tried to break up the fight.[3] Enraged, Race attacked him, resulting in his expulsion. Already 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) and 225 lb (102 kg), Race decided to get his start in professional wrestling. Race then became the driver ofHappy Humphrey who was too large to drive at the time.[3]
Race was recruited by St. Joseph wrestling promoter Gust Karras who hired Race to do odd jobs for his promotion, including chauffeuring the 800 lb (360 kg) Happy Humphrey. Eventually, Race started wrestling on some of his shows and some of Karras' veteran wrestlers helped further Race's training. At the age of 18, he moved toNashville and began wrestling under thering name ofJack Long, forming a tag team withstoryline brother John Long (regional journeyman Billy Strong). The duo quickly captured the Southern Tag Team Championship. Race was seen as a rising star in the business until a car accident put him out of action, with his leg nearly being amputated. His pregnant wife, Vivian Louise Jones, died instantly; they had been married just over a month. Karras heard about his employee's condition, went rushing into the hospital, and blocked the planned amputation, declaring it "over my dead body". In doing so, he saved Race's leg. Although he recovered, doctors told Race that he might never walk again, and his wrestling career was over. Undaunted, Race endured grueling physical therapy for several months and made a full recovery. Race next went on to work for Jack Pfefer and Tony Santos in the Boston territory as the Great Mortimer in 1963.
He returned to the ring in 1964, wrestling forDory Funk'sAmarillo, Texas, territory. This time, he wrestled asHarley Race, after his father told him that he should not work to make anyone else's name famous. Race never again used a different ring name. In Amarillo, Race met fellow up-and-coming wrestlerLarry Hennig (later Larry "the Axe" Hennig and father of"Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig). The two formed a tag team and moved to theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA).
In the AWA, Race and Hennig branded themselves as "Handsome" Harley Race (which was actually a moniker given to him by fans in Japan[3]) and "Pretty Boy" Larry Hennig, portraying a cockyheel (villain)tag team with a penchant for breaking the rules to win matches. They quickly became top contenders, and in January 1965, they defeatedDick the Bruiser andthe Crusher in the sold-outMinneapolis Auditorium to win theAWA World Tag Team Championship. Clips from the match aired onWCCO TV.[5]
Two weeks after winning the titles, Race was involved in an altercation at The Chestnut Tree, a restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After Race confronted a man who was harassing a woman in the restaurant, knocking him unconscious, the man's friend, John Morton, stabbed Race in the back. Race was hospitalized and Morton was arrested.[5][6]
Race and Hennig were designated to feud with the Bruiser and Crusher and other top teams for the next several years, and were given three title reigns.Verne Gagne, in particular, was promoted as a hated rival of the team, partnering with several other wrestlers in matches, against Race and Hennig during their AWA run. In October 1967, Gagne was credited with "breaking" one of Hennig's legs, thus giving him some much needed time off from the ring. Race (as the storyline went) was allowed to choose a new partner and retain the AWA World Tag Team Championship. Race's choice was Chris Markoff, but the duo was defeated in their first title defense match against the team ofPat O'Connor and Wilbur Snyder in November 1967. For the next several months, Race teamed with Hard Boiled Haggerty (Don Stansauk) who over the years presented Gagne with some of his greatest matches. Together, Race and Haggerty often were cast against Gagne and"Cowboy" Bill Watts. In March 1968, after Hennig's return to the ring, he and Race were back together, though the two never again won the AWA World Tag Team Championship. Despite his tag team success, Race left the AWA after several years at the top of the division to pursue a singles career in theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA).
Race returned to the AWA in 1984 to wrestleCurt Hennig. The confrontation was fueled by Larry Hennig confronting his former tag team partner at the end of the match. Race also wrestled formerAWA World Heavyweight ChampionRick Martel as part ofWrestleRock in April 1986. Toward the end of his in-ring career, he returned to the AWA, most notably cast againstLarry Zbyszko for an AWA World Heavyweight Championship match in August 1990, which was featured as the main event of an AWA broadcast onESPN making it the final AWA television taping. The match ended in a double countout. AWA folded after the match.
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Race jumped betweenNational Wrestling Alliance territories in the early 1970s, renewing his rivalry with Funk in Amarillo, Texas and winning a regional title. He was seen as a gifted territorial wrestler, not quite ready for the worldwide spotlight, until 1973. InKansas City, he did very well teaming with Roger "Nature Boy" Kirby. As a singles wrestler, he held theNWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship as well as theMid-Atlantic version of theNWA United States Heavyweight Championship. He also started what would be many tours to Japan inAll Japan Pro Wrestling where he facedGiant Baba. He worked with All Japan from 1973 to 1989. He frequently wrestled for the Kansas City-basedCentral States Wrestling.
In 1973, Race took the nickname "Mad Dog" and facedNWA World Heavyweight ChampionDory Funk Jr. in Kansas City. Race emerged from the battle as the new world champion in what was perceived by fans as a stunning upset. Behind the scenes, Funk had pulled out of losing the title toJack Brisco, citing injuries in a truck accident; in truth, Amarillo promoterDory Funk Sr. did not want his son losing the title to a fellowbabyface (a fan favorite). Race, a known tough street fighter, was under orders from the NWA not to let Funk leave the ring as champion that night.[7] The ending was a "work" with Funk dropping the title in a third fall as planned and TV announcer Bill Kersten dropping the "Mad Dog" nickname during the match.
A televised title defense from this first reign, held inCalgary againstKlondike Bill, aired as the main event on an episode of the promotion's eponymousStampede Wrestling program (where Race successfully defended his title), resurfaced during the 21st century as part of theWWE Video Library. Most of his televised matches of this era weresquash matches held in television studios. Though Race held the title for only a few months, losing it to Brisco inHouston, Texas, in July, he became a worldwide superstar and perennial championship contender.
Race was determined to eventually regain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, often moving between territories and collecting several regional titles, including eight Central States Heavyweight Championships, seven Missouri Heavyweight Championships, the Georgia Heavyweight Championship, theStampede North American Heavyweight Championship in Canada, the Japan-basedNWA United National Heavyweight andPWF World Heavyweight Championships, and becoming the first holder of the Mid-Atlantic United States Heavyweight Championship, still defended today as theWWE United States Championship. This kept Race in contention for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, and Race vowed that he would only need one chance against the champion to regain it.[3]
Race finally got his wish in 1977, facing familiar rival Terry Funk, who had become the champion since their previous encounters, inToronto. Race won the title by submission with the Indian death lock, a rarely used submission move but one that put great pressure on Funk's injured leg. The NWA World Heavyweight Champion once again, Race this time established his dominance, defending the title up to six times a week and holding it for almost five years (excluding extremely short reigns by Tommy Rich, Dusty Rhodes, and Giant Baba). Race feuded with many of the legends of the NWA including Dory Funk, Dusty Rhodes, Dick the Bruiser, Pat Patterson and Angelo Poffo. In 1978, he had a series of violent matches throughout the Midwest with the Sheik, culminating in a bloody "2x4 with a nail in it" match in front of 12,313 at Cobo Hall. The NWA, AWA and WWF were on good terms, and Race engaged in title versus title matches withWWF Heavyweight championsSuperstar Billy Graham andBob Backlund, as well as AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel. Race toured extensively all over the country and the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and many stints in Japan, where he was already well known from his visits with Larry Hennig. On October 13, 1978, Race body slammedAndré the Giant. Race would repeat the feat on January 7, 1979, though it was outside the ring during the match.
Race, after many victories over Dusty Rhodes and other great wrestlers, lost the title to Rhodes in 1981. Rhodes lost the title to up-and-coming starRic Flair, though Race was able to defeat Flair inSt. Louis in 1983 for his seventh reign as champion, which the NWA recognised as breaking the record previously held byLou Thesz. What followed was one of the classicangles of the 1980s, which led to the first NWAStarrcade event.
Determined not to lose the title again, Race offered a $25,000 bounty to anyone who could eliminate Flair from the NWA. Bob Orton Jr. andDick Slater attacked Flair, inflicting what appeared to be a career-ending neck injury, and collecting the bounty from Race after Flair announced his retirement. Flair's retirement was a ruse, however, and he eventually returned to action, much to Race's surprise. NWA officials set up a championship rematch, to be titled "Starrcade: A Flare for the Gold". The match was to be held in Flair's hometown ofGreensboro, North Carolina, which enraged Race.
Shortly before the event, rival WWF promotor Vince McMahon offered Race $250,000 to no-show the event. After considering the offer to sabotage the event, Race declined and the match went ahead.[8]Race lost the title to Flair in the bloody and memorable Starcadesteel cage match (withGene Kiniski as the special referee.) Flair jumped on top of Race from the top rope and pinned him to become champion.
Race regained the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for a two-day reign in New Zealand in 1984; after many years, it is now a recognized title change with Harley as an eight-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. However, his loss to Flair at Starcade was largely seen as the torch-passing from Race to Flair. Flair would go on to credit Race for igniting his career. Later, Race left the NWA because NWA president Sam Muchnick was "losing his capabilities".[9]
In May 1986, Race entered the WWF managed by longtime friendBobby "the Brain" Heenan, bleaching his hair blond and billing himself again as "Handsome" Harley Race. He made his debut on May 31, 1986, atSuperstars of Wrestling taping in Toronto, Canada, defeating SD Jones. Race was undefeated that summer in competition againstGeorge Wells,Lanny Poffo,Tony Garea,Cousin Luke, andTony Atlas.[10]
During a time when the WWF did not recognize the existence of other promotions and the accomplishments a wrestler made there, WWF officials came up with a solution to recognize his wrestling pedigree by having him win theKing of the Ring tournament on July 14, 1986. After this Race had a "coronation ceremony", as he then had referred to himself as "King" Harley Race,[11] coming to the ring in a royal crown and cape, to the ceremonial accompaniment of the tenth movement (known as "Great Gate of Kiev") ofPictures at an Exhibition byModest Mussorgsky. After winning a match, Race would make his defeated opponent "bow and kneel" before him. Usually Heenan would assist the defeated opponent to "bow and kneel" by grabbing their hair and forcing them to bow before Race.
He participated in a notable feud with theJunkyard Dog, culminating in a match atWrestleMania III at thePontiac Silverdome, in which Race cleanly pinned JYD after abelly-to-belly suplex. JYD was required to bow to Race as the winner, but after he bowed and Race got up, JYD attacked Race before leaving with The King's cape to a standing ovation. Race would spend 1987 feuding withHulk Hogan andJim Duggan, who during a televised confrontation took Race's crown and robe, though Race later attacked Duggan and took them back.[11] His feud with Duggan was highlighted by an extended brawl at the 1987Slammy Awards. In early 1988, he suffered an abdominal injury in a match against Hogan in which he tried to hit Hogan, prone on a table at ringside, with a swan dive headbutt. Hogan moved out of the way and Race impacted the table inwards. The metal edge forced its way up into Race's abdomen giving him ahernia. Race continued to work with the injury throughWrestleMania IV on March 27, 1988, where he participated in the event's battle royal.
Following this incident and during his recovery, the WWF ran an angle where they acknowledged his injury, and his manager Heenan vowed to crown a new king. Race was absent for six months, finally returning on October 15 to defeatB. Brian Blair in Milan, Italy. He rejoined The Heenan Family, participating with Bobby Heenan's team atSurvivor Series. On Dec 3, 1988, on WWF Superstars he defeatedJim Gorman; after the match Race declared that he desired to regain the crown fromHaku and complained that Bobby Heenan never visited him in the hospital. On December 17, 1988, at Philadelphia he defeatedDanny Davis. After the victory he got onto the microphone and challenged Heenan to bring out Haku to face him. As the month drew to a close Race began to face King Haku on the house show circuit.[12]
Despite Race's anger at his manager, Bobby Heenan came to theRoyal Rumble match and cheered both Haku and the former king. Haku was victorious, and Harley Race departed from the WWF.[13]
After leaving the WWF, Race continued to wrestle until the spring of 1991, most notably withWorld Wrestling Council (WWC) in Puerto Rico,Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, Alberta, the NWA, All Japan and the AWA. He defeatedMiguel Perez Jr. for theWWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship on January 6, 1990, in Puerto Rico making it his last title reign until dropping it toJosé González on March 4. After his appearance in AWA he briefly retired from wrestling.
Race made his return to the promotion atThe Great American Bash on July 7, 1990, when he defeated former NWA World Heavyweight ChampionTommy Rich. He began making appearances onhouse shows and immediately would fill in for Ric Flair in several tag team matches, pairing up withBarry Windham againstLex Luger andSting.[14] Race would continue a program with Rich through the rest of the summer, as well as facingBrian Pillman andWendell Cooley. In September, he received several United States Heavyweight Championship title shots against then championLex Luger. In October, Race renewed his rivalry with the Junkyard Dog in two matches on the WCW house show circuit and finished the year facingMichael Wallstreet. During a house show match in St. Joseph, Missouri on December 7, 1990, Race sustained a shoulder injury and would ultimately retire from active competition.
Race made his first subsequent appearance six months later as a guest referee during a house show on June 14, 1991, inSt. Louis, Missouri. One year after making his initial return on The Great American Bash in 1990, Race returned at the1991 The Great American Bash to become the adviser/manager to Luger. Excelling as a manager as he had as a wrestler, he immediately led Luger to theWCW World Heavyweight Championship.[15] He managed Luger throughout his title run, as well as acquiring the contract forMr. Hughes fromAlexandra York.
In 1992, Race began to add other wrestlers to a stable that would includeBig Van Vader,Super Invader andVinnie Vegas. The stable was short-lived, and after Vader defeated Sting for the world championship on July 12, 1992, he became Race's primary charge. During his management of Vader, Race met with racial controversy when Vader was feuding with WCW wrestlerRon Simmons when saying during apromo, "When I was world champion, I had a boy like you to carry my bags!". This was actually part of the booking strategy of then-WCW headBill Watts to build support for Simmons, whom he would eventually make champion. The wily veteran was popular among the young WCW talent, and developed close friendships withMick Foley andSteve Austin, among others. On June 9, 1993, at a TV taping inLake Charles, Louisiana, Race began managing TheColossal Kongs, and on July 7 at theWorldWide tapings inOrlando, Florida,Yoshi Kwan joined the stable.
Race returned to the ring a final time on a trio of Florida house shows (November 26, 1993, in Davie, Florida, November 27 in Orlando, Florida and November 28 in Jacksonville, Florida), when he substituted for an injured Vader to face Flair. His former rival would come out victorious on each occasion.[16] These would be the last wrestling matches of his career.[17]
After losing the title atStarrcade in December 1993, Vader quickly became Race's sole stable member again. Race continued to manage Vader in the following months in rematches against Flair, and on May 22, 1994, he was inducted into theWCW Hall of Fame during the Slamboree PPV.[14] He continued to appear at Vader's side through the rest of the year.
As his early wrestling career had been nearly derailed due to a car accident, another car accident in January 1995 forced Race out of the wrestling business altogether. Race required hip replacement surgery, which, along with injuries accumulated after years in the ring, prevented him from even being a manager. Race would make a few independent appearances against Flair, but his inability to work was just too great. Race would make one last return to WCW television in October 1999 as the ring announcer for theBret Hart vs.Chris Benoit tribute toOwen Hart match in his hometown of Kansas City.
Race returned to WWE television in 2004 shortly after being inducted into their Hall of Fame. On an episode ofRaw,Randy Orton confronted Race and spat in his face, to go with Orton's "Legend Killer" persona. Race returned again forRaw'sWWE Homecoming episode in October 2005, marking the show's return to theUSA Network.
In 2004, Race was recruited to be a part ofTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling as a member of their NWA Championship Committee. Despite reportedly being an authority figure as a member of the committee, he never made any official decisions and only made the occasional on-screen appearance for the company.
At the WWE Hall of Fameclass of 2007 ceremony on March 31, 2007, Race andDusty Rhodes were "inducted" into theFour Horsemen byRic Flair andArn Anderson. On the August 8, 2008, episode ofMonday Night Raw, Race sat in the front row and was acknowledged by commentatorsMichael Cole andJerry "The King" Lawler. Before the show, Race accompanied then-GHC Heavyweight ChampionTakeshi Morishima to the ring for a dark match againstCharlie Haas.[18]
Race also made an appearance atTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling'sLockdown pay-per-view in 2007 as the special guest gatekeeper for the main event. Race made a special guest appearance at the second night ofRing of Honor's Glory by Honor VI: Night Two at theManhattan Center on November 3, 2007, inNew York City.[19] On January 4, 2014, Race took part inNew Japan Pro-Wrestling'sWrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome event, participating in the title presentation before a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and punching out defending championRob Conway's manager Bruce Tharpe.[20]
Earlier in his career, Race became involved in the ownership side of wrestling, buying a portion of the Kansas City and later St. Louis territories known asHeart of America Sports Attractions. St. Louis was a stronghold of the NWA, and around this time in 1984, WWF ownerVince McMahon began his invasion of NWA territories, including St. Louis, in his ambition to build a truly national wrestling promotion.[3] Race was enraged, famously confrontingHulk Hogan and the Funk brothers at a WWF event in Kansas City. Race lost over $500,000 as an owner of the Kansas City territory, and despite his championship years being at an end and wishing to retire from active competition, was forced to rely on continuing to wrestle to make a living. He continued to travel in the United States and abroad, and signed with McMahon's WWF in 1986.[3]
Race spent several years away from the business, working briefly as a process server before retiring with his wife in small-town Missouri. In 1999, he startedWorld League Wrestling (originally called World Legion Wrestling, but the name was changed a year later), an independent promotion which runs shows near Race's hometown ofEldon, Missouri, and other cities in Missouri including Kansas City.[3] A year later, he startedHarley Race's Wrestling Academy, which seeks to train up-and-coming wrestlers who could benefit from Race's unique experience and perspective on the wrestling business. Race's events are family-oriented, and usually raise funds for local charities. As well as featuring his students, legends likeMick Foley,Terry Funk,Bret Hart, and evenMitsuharu Misawa have made guest appearances. WLW had a working agreement with Misawa'sJapanese promotion,Pro Wrestling NOAH and had NOAH starTakeshi Morishima as a former heavyweight champion.[21] He is credited with trainingTrevor Murdoch who was then known as Trevor Rhodes, and NOAH veteransAce Steel, Superstar Steve, Brian Breaker, Jon Webb,Tommaso Ciampa, and Jack Gamble.[22]
In 2014, Race and World League Wrestling relocated to Troy, Missouri. Along with relocating his wrestling academy and promotion, Race also built the Race Wrestling Arena, where events are put on once a month.[23]
Race was born to sharecroppers Jay Allen Race and Mary Race in 1943.[3] Race married his first wife, Vivian Jones, in 1960. She died five weeks after their wedding in the same car crash in which Race nearly lost a leg. Shortly after Vivian's death, Race married Sandra Jones, whom he briefly mentioned in his 2004 autobiographyKing of the Ring. This second marriage produced a daughter, Candice Marie, and ended in divorce.[3] His third wife, Evon, divorced him in the early 1990s after over 30 years of marriage.[3] Together they had a son, Justin, who was anamateur wrestler but never participated in professional wrestling. His fourth wife, Beverly (B.J.) wasvice president of the Commerce Bank ofKansas City. They married in late 1995, shortly after Race's career-ending car crash. She often traveled with Race until she died of pneumonia. Race had five grandchildren.[24]
Race continued running World League Wrestling (WLW) and his wrestling camp inEldon, Missouri.[23] He later moved the businesses to Troy. Many of his trainees were sent to the NOAH promotion inJapan for extra experience. Over the years he neededsurgery to his neck, hip replacements, knee replacements and had fivevertebra in his back fused together due to the years of taking hard bumps. In May 2017, he broke both legs in a fall at his home, one in several places. He needed fourblood transfusions during surgery. Race would continue to promote WLW until his death whilst in rehab.
On March 1, 2019, Race's close friendRic Flair announced that Race was diagnosed with terminallung cancer.[25][26] On August 1, 2019, it was revealed by long time friendDustin Rhodes that Race had died from lung cancer at the age of 76.[26][27][24] He was buried next to his parents and one brother at Quitman Cemetery along Highway 113 in Quitman, Missouri.
Race participated in the 1998NBC special,Exposed! Pro Wrestling's Greatest Secrets. His face was covered to conceal his identity as he brokekayfabe and discussed the inner workings of the business.
Race's autobiography,King of the Ring: the Harley Race Story (ISBN 1-58261-818-6), was released on November 19, 2004. Along withRicky Steamboat andLes Thatcher, Race is author ofThe Professional Wrestler's Workout and Instructional Guide.
Race played himself as the distinguishedring announcer for a tag team match involvingMil Mascaras andEl Hijo del Santo in the 2007 filmMil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy.[28][29]
The career of Harley Race, became the subject ofVice TV's fifth season of theDark Side of the Ring.
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