Bobo Brazil

During my youth (1950s), I was a fan of boxing which was frequently shown on TV, especially Friday nights (sponsored by Gillette razors and blades).  When I had some money (not regularly), I would buy and read boxing magazines.

One popular magazine was Boxing and Wrestling.  I was not as interested in the latter sport, but I couldn't ignore what I had in front of me.

One of the combatants I found in the wrestling section of the magazine was Bobo Brazil.  He was born Houston Harris in 1924 in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Bobo adopted his "exotic" professional name as the "South American giant."

Bobo Brazil wrestled professionally from 1951 until 1993.  He was a very big man: six foot, six inches tall (198 cm) and 270 pounds (122 kg).  

Brazil, an African-American, is credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling.  His competitors included Killer (Walter) Kowalski, Dick the Bruiser (William Afflis), Haystacks (William) Calhoun, Bruno Sammartino and Buddy Rogers (Herman Rodhe, Jr.).  Bobo's favorite wrestling move was a headbutt (known as the "coco butt").  

When I was a teenager, my brother Joel invited me to the TV station in Rochester, NY where he worked which put on live wrestling matches on Saturday afternoons as a way of advertising future matches the public would want to buy tickets for.  I remember somebody told me the ring floor would vibrate 5 times louder in order to exaggerate the effect of a wrestler being thrown down.

Sometimes when my daughter was young (1980s), we would watch wrestlers such as Randy Savage (Randall Poffo) and Rowdy Roddy Piper (Randall Toombs) on television.

When my son Bret played Little League baseball (1990s), one of the most popular wrestlers was Bret the Hitman Hart.  One of my son's baseball coaches used to call him Bret the hitman because of his batting prowess.   

Once I noticed an advertisement for a wrestling match at the nearby Nassau County Coliseum between Bret the Hitman Hart and another favorite, Stone Cold Steve Austin.  I bought tickets for Bret and me to attend the show.

When we arrived at the Coliseum, there was an announcement that neither Hart nor Austin would be there that night (but other wrestlers would be).  I think it was a gimmick for the promotors to advertise popular wrestlers in order to attract a big crowd.  We decided to go in and watch the wrestling matches anyway.  Never again!