But for me, that’s what regional wrestling is all about anyway….memories. I may be fuzzy on some dates and details, but in general, many of the stories are burned into my memory banks, and I look forward to sharing them with you.

As most of you who have read the reports of my predecessor may know, the legendary Danny Hodge was a big part of the Tri-State promotion during it’s hey-day. Hodge fought epic battles with a number of wrestlers over the year, and since the promotion worked a weekly rotation that included stops in Tulsa, Little Rock, Fort Smith and Oklahoma City and stops in Mississippi and Louisiana, many of the matches followed the same script in each town.

Hodge and Dr. X (Jimmy "Red" Osburne) worked a program of matches in 1970-71 that involved a battle for the NWA Jr. Heavyweight title, which Hodge held off and on for 15 years. One memorable night in 1971, the combatants had split the first two falls of a two-out-of-three encounter in a specialty match when the fight spilled first into the crowd, then into the lobby of the Sports Arena and then out into the street.

It was a fierce battle, and Osburne was bleeding from lacerations on his forehead that didn’t come from blading. Hodge managed to bodyslam Dr. X onto Hodges’ car leaving a massive dent on the hood. (This being in the days when the budget for props was nothing like the WWF has today, the only logical car to use was Hodges’, since Osborne was driving a new pick-up truck.)

The stipulations for the match were "belt versus mask", meaning that Hodge either lost the title or Osburne had to lose his mask. Since Osburne had jobbed to Hodge in the same kind of match on Monday night in Tulsa, many in attendance had already seen his face. But when the performers had made their way back to the ring and Hodge rolled up his foe in a small package for the duke, Osburne suddenly had an illogical change of heart about removing his mask.

Osburne stood in the middle of the ring and refused to take off his hood. The fans were howling, and promoter Lott even got on the house PA and announced that Dr. X would be banned for life if he refused to take off the mask. There was a standoff for about 20 minutes, with the fans basically refusing to allow Osburne to leave the arena, until he finally pulled off his mask, threw it down in disgust, and walked from the ring.

The refusal to remove the mask was a shoot, because Lott had given us a rundown of the show before the matches started and the work called for Dr. X to be unmasked. Since Osburne was known among the wrestlers to sometime take a drink prior to working, there was speculation that his refusal may have been linked to his pre-match refreshments.

Since few in attendance knew who he was (the fans had long suspected Dr. X was a familiar face who had gone under the mask) it was a disappointing end to the mystery of Dr. X. Osburne re-donned the mask the following week, and the show went on throughout the region for several weeks to come as if the incident had never even occurred.

It was rumored the Osburne was the brother of Tom Osburne, who went on to coach the Nebraska Cornhuskers for a number of years. I was never able to verify this as a fact.

A postscript: After the matches, we were on our way out to eat when my dad stopped at liquor store a few blocks from the sports arena. Osburne had followed us on the way to the restaurant, because he was going to get a bit to eat before leaving town. I went in for my Dr. Pepper and peanuts and Osburne and my dad went into the store for some adult beverages. There were some fans in the store that knew we worked for the promotion but didn’t recognize Osburne in his street clothes.

One of the "marks" -- a guy about 5-foot-2 and weighing 125 pounds -- starting ranting at us about that "*&(%#$%^* Dr. X and his loaded boot" and how if that "&*&%$#$* would just walk in here, I’d beat the living &**%$#$ out of him right here and now".

Osburne just smiled and told the mark that "I heard that the guy that wrestles as Dr. X is really a pretty good ‘ol boy when you get to know him".

We laughed about the incident later that night over pancakes and bacon at the local truck stop.

NEXT MONTH:

Terry Garvin and "Gentleman" Jerry Brown go shopping, and hanging with Jimmy "Jam" Garvin.