Buddy Roberts

At 67 years old, Buddy Roberts has this physical status:

Dale Hey (June 16, 1947 – November 26, 2012) was an American professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Buddy Roberts.

Roberts, who was primarily a tag team wrestler, is best known for his appearances as one of The Hollywood Blonds in the 1970s and as one of the 1980s' The Fabulous Freebirds.

In 2015 and 2016, he was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, as well as the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.

Early life

He was born in Newton, Surrey, and went to Princess Margaret High School in BC Canada, graduating in 1965. He worked in local lumber mills as well as being a bouncer in nightclubs, including the Grooveyard in New Westminster, after school. In 1974, he became an American citizen.

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Professional wrestling career

Ivan Koloff had him trained as a professional wrestler. He debuted in 1965 under the ring name "Dale Valentine" and was described as Johnny Valentine's younger brother. He was competing in the American Wrestling Association as a provision wrestler in the 1960s (AWA).

Hey was recruited into the Oklahoma-based NWA Tri-State promotion by booker Bill Watts in 1970. Watts had intended to develop a new tag team made up of Jack Donovan and veteran journeyman Jerry Brown. Watts recruited Hey in his place after Donovan left the company following a dispute with Watts. Hey was renamed "Buddy Roberts" and began working with Brown as the Hollywood Blonds. The Hollywood Blonds was founded by Oliver Humperdink in 1972. Throughout the 1970s, Brown and Roberts' crews gained numerous regional tag team titles throughout the United States. In 1978, the group would disband.

The Fabulous Freebirds emerged from Brown, Roberts' separation from Brown, Roberts, with Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy. Bill Watts was instrumental in this decision once more. Hayes and Gordy had been working together in various roles in the Mid-South and Southeast areas of the United States for many years, but Watts was not as impressed with Hayes' in-ring roles as he was with his microphone skills. Gordy and Roberts were intended as the main tag team, with Hayes as their manager, according to his original scheme. Roberts did not serve full-time with the team until 1980, except for a high-profile stint in 1980 in Mid-South Wrestling (founded by Watts the previous year after breaking away from NWA Tri-State) with Hayes and Gordy as the Freebirds. Due to his penchant for consuming Jack Daniel's whiskey, he later became known as Buddy "Jack" Roberts.

The Fabulous Freebirds captured many titles and advanced to World Class Championship Wrestling in late 1982, kicking off a high-profile feud with the Von Erich family. They fought David Von Erich, Kerry Von Erich, Mike Von Erich, Kevin Von Erich, and Kevin Von Erich several times in 1986. Roberts also feuded with Von Erich ally Chris Adams, which lasted on and off for more than five years. In 1983, Roberts' most famous singles role was in WCCW, and involved the introduction of what the Freebirds referred to as "Freebird Hair Removal Cream." On June 17, Roberts and Iceman Parsons' hair match came to an end. Roberts had hoped to win the match by tight-pulling but the call was reversed and the match was restarted. Roberts' head was lathered in hair removal cream during the fiasco. Roberts wore a wig and was kept in place by boxing headgear at subsequent functions. Roberts and the Freebirds were only in the World Wrestling Federation for a short time in 1984, mostly competing in six-man tag matches. They were supervised by David Wolff, the manager of Cyndi Lauper. They left the service just after WWF officials announced that they did not want to split the team up. Roberts assisted Hayes and Gordy defeat The Road Warriors in the AWA World Tag Team Championship in 1985, but the decision was later reversed.

The Freebirds went to the Universal Wrestling Federation in early 1986, where Roberts took the UWF Television Championship on September 28. On November 9, he lost it to Savannah Jack.

The Freebirds split up and reformed in 1987. Hayes and Gordy fought with Iceman Parsons to feud with Hayes and the Von Erichs. Gordy left Roberts to rejoin Hayes. Hayes and Gordy departed for Jim Crockett Promotions in late 1988, and Roberts took over as the head of the Samoan Swat team before he resigned from wrestling. Roberts also had a brief feud with World Class referee David Manning, which culminated in many gimmick matches, such as Roberts wrestling with one arm tied behind his back. Manning, who was promoted to compensate for the obvious size gap between the two teams, took the majority of the matches on a fluke.

In one match against Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Roberts managed Hayes and Jimmy Garvin. He came out of retirement on April 2, 1993 for the International Wrestling Federation's Kerry Von Erich Memorial Show, and he and Michael Hayes (with Skandor Akbar in their corner), losing to Kevin Von Erich and Chris Adams (with Fritz Von Erich in their corner). Roberts later developed throat cancer and underwent surgery to fix it. "Don't smoke," He was quoted as saying. I believe the reason for this was because I was smoking too much. To anyone who does not smoke, I recommend that you quit right now. It's difficult, but it's well worth it."

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