THE OTHER TOM RENESTO….

There have been many Assassins over the years, but the most famous Assassins were Tom Renesto, Sr. and Jody Hamilton. When I broke into the business Tom was the first booker I ever worked for. And Jody took me under his wing to help me learn the ropes. I even named my oldest child after them. They were and still are my heroes. For those that knew Tom only as the Assassin or as Mr. Renesto the business man, you really did not know him. He was one of the most articulate men I have ever met. He probably forgot more about the wrestling business than some of us will ever know. But when you knew the man, he was funny, and little bit on the devilish side.

The wrestling office was in the Sports Arena in Atlanta. It was an old building where they had country western bands and dances a couple of nights a week and wrestling when the city auditorium wasn’t available. Paul Jones, the Atlanta promoter owned the Sports Arena and he maintained a maintenance crew of about ten guys. There was a phone booth in the lobby of the building. Now picture this a real phone booth. It was about ten feet tall, had a light and fan that came on when you shut the door and a little place to sit inside the booth. Whenever that phone would ring the clean up crew would drop whatever they were doing and come charging toward that phone booth. They would almost come to blows trying to be the one to answer the phone, and whomever got inside to pick up the phone would close the door so the others couldn’t hear. One inside and nine panting at the door. Got the picture????