Harley Race

At 76 years old, Harley Race has this physical status:

Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer.Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

He was a nine time world champion, having won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship eight times and was the first NWA United States Heavyweight Champion. Race is one of six men to have been inducted into each of the WWE Hall of Fame, the NWA Hall of Fame, the WCW Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

Early life

Race was born in Quitman, Missouri on April 11, 1943. Race was an early fan of professional wrestling, watching programming from the nearby Chicago territory on the DuMont Television Network. After overcoming polio as a child, he began training as a professional wrestler as a teen under former world champions Stanislaus and Wladek 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. 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 of Happy Humphrey who was too large to drive at the time.

Personal life

Race was born to sharecroppers Jay Allen Race and Mary Race in 1943. 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, who he briefly mentioned in his 2004 autobiography King of the Ring. This second marriage produced a daughter, Candice Marie, and ended in divorce. His third wife, Evon, divorced him in the early 1990s after over 30 years of marriage. Together they had a son, Justin, who was an amateur wrestler but never participated in professional wrestling. His fourth wife, Beverly (B.J.) was vice president of the Commerce Bank of Kansas 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.

Race continued running World League Wrestling (WLW) and his wrestling camp in Eldon, Missouri. He later moved the businesses to Troy. Many of his trainees were sent to the NOAH promotion in Japan for extra experience. Over the years he needed surgery to his neck, hip replacements, knee replacements and had five vertebra 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 four blood transfusions during surgery. Race would continue to promote WLW until his death whilst in rehab.

On March 1, 2019, Race's close friend Ric Flair announced that Race was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. One day later, CWFH promoter Dave Marquez said that while he was indeed diagnosed with lung cancer, it was not terminal. On August 1, 2019, it was revealed by long time friend Dustin Rhodes that Race had died from lung cancer at the age of 76. He was buried next to his parents and one brother at Quitman Cemetery along Highway 113 in Quitman, Missouri.

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Professional wrestling career

The 800 lb (360 kg) Humphrey was hired by St. Joseph wrestling promoter Gust Karras who recruited Race to do odd jobs for his promotion, including chauffeuring the 800 lb (360 kg) Humphrey. Race began competing on some of his shows, and some of Karras' veteran wrestlers assisted with Race's training. He moved to Nashville and began wrestling under Jack Long's ring name, and joined a tag team with storyline brother John Long. The pair advanced to the Southern Tag Team Championships in a snap. Race was seen as a rising star in the industry until a car accident put him out of action, with his leg almost amputated. Vivian Louise Jones, his pregnant wife, died in a flash; they had been married just over a month ago. After learning of his employee's illness, Karras rushed into the hospital and suspended the planned amputation, claiming it was "over my dead body." He saved Race's leg by doing so. Although he recovered, doctors told Race that he would never walk again, and that his wrestling career was over. Undaunted, Race endured grueling physical therapy for several months and recovered to a full extent. As the Great Mortimer in 1963, Race Nefefer and Tony Santos in Boston went on to work for Jack Pfefer and Tony Santos.

In 1964, he returned to the ring for Dory Funk's Amarillo, Texas, territories. This time, he fought in the Harley Race after his father told him that he shouldn't work to make someone else's name famous. Race never used a different ring name. Larry Hennig, a young wrestler who later became known as "Mr.") in Amarillo, Race met with fellow up-and-coming wrestler Larry Hennig (later Larry "the Axe") Hennig and father of "Mr. Curt Hennig (perfection) (Curt Hennig) The two members formed a tag team and later became members of the American Wrestling Association (AWA).

The AWA, Race and Hennig branded themselves as "Handsome" Harley Race (which was actually a moniker given to him by supporters in Japan) and "Pretty Boy" Larry Hennig portraying a cocky heel (villain) tag team with a penchant for breaking the rules to win matches. They quickly became a top contenders, and they won the AWA World Tag Team Championship in January 1965, defeating Dick the Bruiser and the Crusher in the sold-out Minneapolis Auditorium. Clips from the match were shown on WCCO TV.

Race was involved in an altercation at The Chestnut Tree, a Minneapolis restaurant, Minnesota, two weeks after winning the titles. After Race confronted a man who was assaulting a woman in the restaurant, knocking him unconscious, John Morton, the man's companion, stabbed Race in the back. Race was hospitalized, and Morton was arrested.

Race and Hennig were both agreed to compete with the Bruiser and Crusher teams and other top sides for the next three years, and they were given three title reigns. During the AWA season, Verne Gagne, in particular, was branded as a feared competitor of the team, competing with numerous other wrestlers in tournaments against Race and Hennig. Gagne was credited with "breaking" one of Hennig's legs in October 1967, giving him the much-needed break from the ring. AWA World Tag Team Championship was awarded to select a new partner and keep the AWA World Tag Team Championship. Chris Markoff was the race's pick, but the pair was disqualified in their first title defense match against Pat O'Connor and Wilbur Snyder in November 1967. Race partnered with Hard Boiled Haggerty (Don Stansauk), who over the years gave Gagne some of his best matches. Gagne and "Cowboy" Bill Watts were often cast together, as did race and Haggerty. Hennig's return to the ring in March 1968, he and Race were back together, although the pair never triumphed the AWA World Tag Team Championships. Despite his tag team's success, Race left the AWA after many years at the top of the division to pursue a singles career in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

Curt Hennig was the first wrestler to wrestle in the AWA in 1984. Larry Hennig was fuelled by his argument with his former tag team partner at the end of the match. Rick Martel, the former AWA World Heavyweight Champion, also competed as part of WrestleRock in April 1986. He returned to the AWA in August 1990, most notably against Larry Zbyszko in an AWA World Heavyweight Championship match, which was broadcast as the final AWA television taping. In a double count out, the game came to an end. After the match, AWA folds.

In the early 1970s, races in the National Wrestling Alliance territories developed, resurrecting his rivalry with Funk in Amarillo, Texas, and winning a regional championship. He was seen as a natural territorial wrestler who was not yet ready for the international spotlight until 1973. He did a good job teaming with Roger "Nature Boy" Kirby in Kansas City. He competed in the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship as a singles wrestler as well as the Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. In All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he met Giant Baba, he began what would be many tours to Japan. He served with All Japan from 1973 to 1989. He competed for the Central States Wrestling Association, which is based in Kansas City.

In 1973, Race became known as "Mad Dog" and met NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr. in Kansas City. In what was seen by followers as a shocking surprise, a race emerged from the tournament as the new world champion. Funk had pulled out of losing the title to Jack Brisco after suffering injuries in a truck crash, but Amarillo promoter Dory Funk Sr. did not want his son losing the title to a fellow babyface (a fan favorite). The NWA had warned Race, a well-known street fighter, not to let Funk leave the ring as champion that night. The result was a "work" with Funk dropping the title in a third fall as planned and TV announcer Bill Kersten dropped the word "Mad Dog" during the match.

The first television broadcast championship defense from this period, held in Calgary against Klondike Bill, aired on Friday as the main event on a segment of the WWE's eponymous Stampede Wrestling program (where Race successfully defended his title) resurfaced during the 21st century as part of the WWE Video Library. The bulk of his televised matches of this period were squash matches held in television studios. Despite the fact that Race held the title for only a few months, losing it to Brisco in Houston, Texas, in July, he became a worldwide superstar and perennial champion.

Race was determined to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, seven Missouri Heavyweight Championships, the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship, the International Heavyweight Championship, the Japan-based NWA World Heavyweight Championship, and the first holder of the Mid-Atlantic United States Heavyweight Championship, among other regional titles, including eight Central States Heavyweight Championships, seven Missouri Heavyweight Championships, the Georgia Heavyweight Championship, the New York Heavyweight Championship, and the First holder of the WWE World Heavyweight Championships The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was in contention, and Race promised that he would only need one chance against the champion to regain control.

In 1977, the race finally fulfilled his wish by defeating Terry Funk, who had been battling Terry Funk, who had been the champion since their first meet in Toronto. Race gained the title by submission with the Indian death lock, a seldom used submission tactic but one that put a lot of emphasis on Funk's injured leg. This time, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion established his reign, winning the trophy up to six times a week and then for nearly five years (excluding Tommy Rich's brief reigns (including Extreme Rhodes and Giant Baba). Dory Funk, Dusty Rhodes, Dick the Bruiser, Pat Patterson, and Angelo Poffo were among the NWA's most popular figures, including Dory Funk, Dusty Rhodes, Dick the Bruiser, Pat Patterson, and Angelo Poffo. With the Sheik, he had a string of violent matches throughout the Midwest, culminating in a brutal "2x4 with a nail in it" match in front of 12,313 at Cobo Hall in 1978. The NWA, AWA, and WWF were on good terms, with Race engaged in championship versus championship matches with WWF Heavyweight champion Billy Graham and Bob Backlund, as well as AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel. Race toured extensively around the region and the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and many stints in Japan, where he was already famous from Larry Hennig's visits. André the Giant was slammed by the Race body on October 13, 1978. Although the race was outside the ring during the match, it would repeat the feat on January 7, 1979.

After numerous victories over Dusty Rhodes and other great wrestlers, the race returned the crown to Rhodes in 1981. Rhodes lost the championship to up-and-coming actor Ric Flair in 1983, but Race was able to beat Flair in St. Louis for his seventh reign as champion, beating the record set by Lou Thesz. What followed was one of the 1980s' classic angles that culminated in the first NWA Starrcade event. Race gave a $25,000 reward to anyone who would prevent Flair from the NWA, ensuring that they did not lose the title again. After Flair's retirement, Bob Orton, Jr., and Dick Slater assaulted Flair, inflicting what seemed to be a career-long neck injury, and receiving the money from Race. Flair's retirement was a ruse, but he soon returned to action, much to Race's delight. Officials from NWA have arranged a championship match dubbed "Starrcade: A Flare for the Gold." The match was scheduled to be held in Greensboro, North Carolina, which enraged Race. In the bloody and memorable Starcade steel cage match (with Gene Kiniski as the special referee), the race lost the championship to Flair. Flair jumped on top of the Race from the top rope and pinned him to be the champion.

After many years, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was revived in New Zealand in 1984, but the torch-passing from Race to Flair has largely been seen as the torch-passing. Flair would continue to blame Race for jeopardizing his career. Race left the NWA later because NWA president Sam Muchnick was "losing his abilities."

In May 1986, Race began under the hands of longtime friend Bobby "the Brain" Heenan, bleaching his hair blonde and referring himself as "Handsome" Harley Racer. WWF officials introduced a way to honor his wrestling heritage by helping him win the King of the Ring tournament during a time when WWF did not recognize other promotions and the achievements of a wrestler made there. Modest Mussorgsky said at a "coronation ceremony" after the race, as he later had to refer to himself as "King" Harley Race, to the formal accompaniment of the tenth movement (known as "The Great Gates of Kiev") of Pictures at an Exhibition. After winning the game, Race will make his defeated foe "bow and kneel" before him. Heenan would usually help the defeated opponent "bow and kneel" by pulling their hair and yelling them to bow before Race.

He was involved in a major feud with the Junkyard Dog, culminating in a match at WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in which Race pinned JYD after a belly-to-belly suplex. JYD was expected to bow to Race as the winner, but JYD was beaten by Race and eventually died, causing a standing ovation. The race will spend 1987 feuding with Hulk Hogan and Jim Duggan, who took Race's crown and robe during a televised confrontation, but Race later removed them from Duggan. An extended brawl at the 1987 Slammy Awards brought his feud with Duggan. In early 1988, he sustained an abdominal injury in a match against Hogan in which he attempted to shave Hogan, prone on a table at ringside with a swan dive headbutt. Hogan stepped out of the way, and the table was ruled by the race. The metal edge pushed its way into Race's abdomen, giving him a hernia. The WWF landed on a collision course and recovered, with his chairman Heenan promising to a new king. In late 1988, Race rejoined Heenan's crew at Survivor Series. Following a brief recovery from hernia surgery and an effort to regain his crown from the new King, Haku, in early 1989, the WWF dropped the sport.

After leaving the WWF, Race continued to wrestle in 1991, most notably with the World Wrestling Council (WWC) in Puerto Rico, Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, Alberta, the NWA, All Japan, and the AWA. He defeated Miguel Perez Jr. in the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship in Puerto Rico on January 6, 1990, his last title victory until losing it to José González (wrestler) on March 4. He briefly resigned from wrestling after his appearance in AWA.

On July 7, 1990, Race returned to action at The Great American Bash, defeating former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Tommy Rich. He began appearing on house shows and knew Ric Flair would be in several tag team matches, alongside Barry Windham against Lex Luger and Sting. Rich's program will continue through the summer, as well as facing Brian Pillman and Wendell Cooley. He fired several United States Heavyweight Championship title shots against Lex Luger, then champion Lex Luger. In October, Race revived his rivalry with the Junkyard Dog in two WCW house show circuit matches and ended the year against Michael Wallstreet. Race sustained a shoulder injury during a home show match in St. Joseph, Missouri, on December 7, 1990, and decided to withdraw from active competition.

During a house show in St. Louis, Missouri, Race made his first return as a guest referee six months later. Race returned to Luger as the advisor/manager after doing his initial appearance on The Great American Bash in 1990. Luger was sent straight from his father as a wrestler to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Luger was withheld throughout his career, as well as acquiring Mr. Hughes's deal from Alexandra York.

In 1992, Race began to bring other wrestlers to a roster that would feature Big Van Vader, Super Invader, and Vinnie 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. As Vader was feuding with WCW wrestler Ron Simmons, he was confronted with racial insensitivity when he said during a promotion, "I had a boy like you to carry my bags." This was actually part of Bill Watts' booking plan to gain interest for Simmons, whom he would eventually become champion. The wily veteran was a favorite among the young WCW talent, and he and Mick Foley and Steve Austin, among other things, formed close friendships with Mick Foley and Steve Austin. Race began directing The Colossal Kongs in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on June 9, 1993, and Yoshi Kwan joined the team in July 7 at the WorldWide tapings in Orlando, Florida.

After being substituted for an injured Valiant to face Flair, the race returned to the ring for the final time on three Florida house shows (November 26, 1993 in Davie, Florida, and November 28 in Jacksonville, Florida), when he brought an injured Vader back to the ring for the final time. On both counts, his ex adversary would triumph. These will be his last wrestling matches of his career.

Vader was formerly the sole stable member of Race in December 1993 after losing the title at Starrcade in December 1993. In the months after months of rematches against Flair, Vader continued to battle him, and on May 22, 1994, he was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame for the first time. He continued to appear on Valiant's side for the remainder of the year.

Although his early wrestling career had been almost derailed due to a car crash in January 1995, Race was forced to abandon the whole sport altogether. Race needed hip replacement surgery, but being a manager prevented him from being a boss for years. Race would make only a few appearances against Flair as an outsider, but his inability to work was just too bad. In October 1999, Race will make his first appearance on WCW television as the ring announcer for the Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit tribute to Owen Hart's hometown of Kansas City.

After being inducted into the Hall of Fame, race returned to WWE television in 2004. Randy Orton confronted Race and spat in his face in order to go with Orton's "Legend Killer" persona on an episode of Raw. In October 2005, raw's WWE Homecoming episode premiered, marking the show's return to the USA Network. Rob Conway was taught a lesson in honor by race and the other legends in the ring.

In 2004, Race was accepted as a member of the NWA Championship Committee. Despite being a member of the commission, he never made any official decisions and only made the occasional on-screen appearance for the company.

Race and Dusty Rhodes were "inducted" into the Four Horsemen by Ric Flair and Arn Anderson during the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame in the WWE. Race sat in the front row on Monday Night Raw's August 8, 2008, and commentators Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler acknowledged it. Race accompanied then-GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima to the ring for a dark match against Charlie Haas before the show.

In 2007, the race also appeared at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Lockdown pay-per-view as the special guest gatekeeper for the main event. On the second night of Ring of Honor's Glory by Honor VI: Night Two at the Manhattan Center in New York City, Race made a special guest appearance. In Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2014, Race took part in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 8, playing in the title presentation before a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and knocking out defending champion Rob Conway's boss Bruce Tharpe.

Promoting career

Race became involved with wrestling's ownership early in his career, purchasing a piece of the Kansas City and later St. Louis territories known as Heart of America Sports Attractions. As late as 1984, St. Louis became a stronghold of the NWA, and WWF founder Vince McMahon began his invasion of NWA territories, including St. Louis, in the effort to establish a truly national wrestling team. At a WWF function in Kansas City, the race had enraged, with Hulk Hogan and the Funk brothers prominently confronting them. Despite his championship years coming to an end and wanting to retire from active competition, the Kansas City territory owner was forced to compete to survive. He continued to travel in the United States and elsewhere, and in 1986, he joined McMahon's WWF.

Race spent several years away from the company, first as a process server, before retiring with his wife in small-town Missouri. He founded World League Wrestling (originally called World Legion Wrestling), a youth movement that plays near Race's hometown of Eldon, Missouri, and other Missouri cities, including Kansas City. Wrestling Academy, Harley Races, began a year ago to prepare up-and-coming wrestlers who might benefit from Race's unique insight and perspective on the wrestling industry. Most of the races are family-focused, and they usually raise funds for local charities. Besides showcasing his students, celebrities such as Mick Foley, Terry Funk, Bret Hart, Bret Hart, and even Mitsu Misawa have made guest appearances. WLW had a working deal with Misawa's Japanese promotion, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and NOAH's Takeshi Morishima as a former heavyweight champion. Trevor Murdoch, who was then known as Trevor Rhodes, is credited with training Trevor Murdoch, as well as NOAH veterans Ace Steel, Superstar Steve, Brian Breaker, Jon Webb, Curtis Deierling,Tommaso Ciampa, and Jack Gamble.

Race and World League Wrestling relocated to Troy, Missouri, in 2014. Race also moved his wrestling academy and promotion, as well as establishing the Race Wrestling Arena, where events are scheduled every month.

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