Good Friends are hard to come by Part 3

When I was first approached to begin refereeing on a full time basis I had been around the business and working for the office for several years. I was driving the ring truck and selling programs and any other work the office needed me to do. I was really getting rich!

I graduated from high school in 1972 and was immediately hired by Southern Bell Telephone Company. My starting salary was $ 105.00 per week. Charlie Harben offered me the ring job for $ 65.00 per week and I resigned Southern Bell after only two weeks with them. I can still remember my Mother almost having a meltdown over my decision. As I look back at that decision I would have been better off staying with the phone company, but on the other hand I lived out my dreams and had more fun accidentally than most folks have on purpose in a lifetime.

Tom Renesto was the booker at the time I started and he called me into his office. Tom was a great guy but also very hard to get to know.  I had never been summoned by him before and had no idea what he wanted. He explained to me that it was unnecessary to send another person to the towns to referee when I was already there. He asked me if I was interested in refereeing? I sure am glad I was able to keep enough composure not to jump up and kiss him.  I had finally made it.

I like anyone else who has ever worked or hung out at the matches thought I knew all there was to know about wrestling. Everyone I come  in contact with will say they used to wrestle, had a relative that wrestled, or they knew someone who did. It only takes about two minutes to know if they know anything about our business or not. I found out real quick I had a lot to learn. This is where my friend this month comes into play... Charlie Smith.

Charlie began refereeing in the 50's. He was a bellhop at a hotel in Atlanta and met someone in the business and the rest is history.  The first match Charlie ever worked was somewhere in Alabama. Farmer Powell who worked in the Atlanta Office at the time called and asked if he would go to Alabama and work. Charlie bought a bus ticket and off he went. He refereed 4 matches and was paid $5.00.  His bus ticket cost $ 7.50.  He went $ 2.50 in the hole but he was a referee.

Charlie was the typical referee of the day. Five feet, five inches tall and weighed ninety pounds soaking wet. Promoters back then thought using small ref's made the wrestlers look bigger and I guess it did. Thanks goodness that thought process changed over the years. Charlie taught me everything I know about refereeing. He would let me work matches that I was not scheduled to work to help me learn new things. Tom allowed Charlie to teach me how to work different types of matches and how to stay out of the way. 

Little things that you do as a referee most fans never pick up on. Like always work to the left of the heel. This gives the heel ample time to do his dastardly deeds and a good ref will never actually see him do it. This keeps the ref out of the middle.

I have seen and worked thousands of matches over the years. As I have gotten older I have had a chance to work several cards for friends of mine that promote independent shows. It amazes me that some people cannot fathom the fact that the referee is not going to draw a dime to the next show, the heat has to be on the heels, and not the ref. Guys would grab a headlock and point at someone in the crowd and expect me to turn away from them and let them choke or punch their opponent, then get mad at me for not doing it.  More...