Letters to the
Editor
(reprinted from
Ringside Vol. 1 Issue 3)
Dear Ringside:
I am writing to let you
know how much my Mother and I enjoy wrestling. My favorite is
Blackjack Mulligan, and my Mom’s favorite is Ric Flair, but we love
‘em all. We are looking forward to a feature on Ric and Blackjack.
I enjoyed your features
on Ricky Steamboat and Paul Jones, but I’d like to see more personal
things like the wives and family included along with the hobbies.
Also, we were glad to
see the address for Ric Flair’s fan club. Needless to say, we’ve
already joined. So, keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Amber Thomas
Dear Ringside:
I think a big mistake
is being made by wrestling fans about Roddy Piper. People seem to
overlook the class and genius this man poses. I admit he does take
the short cuts, but with the wrestling skill he has, he doesn’t need
to.
At the age of 26, Roddy
Piper is second only to Harley Race. Most wrestlers are just
beginning to wrestle at the age of 26.
I’ve been a wrestling fan for 12 years and have never seen a
wrestler use the basic wrestling skills that I learned while
wrestling in high school and college. Fans boo him and call him
sissy because of his ancestral kilt, but they don’t realize that’s
what he wants, that’s his motivation.
Roddy Piper has a
certain charge in him that gets the people going. And that is why
Roddy Piper is U. S. Champion, and “You’re Not!”
Neil Rhodes
Columbia, SC
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Roddy Piper – All Around Competitor
When Roddy Piper isn’t sweating and straining as a professional
wrestler in any one of thousands of rings throughout the country,
chances are you will find him alone, deep in the woods, making
music.
It isn’t ordinary music, by the way. None of this “lilting flute” or
“harmonious guitar” stuff. As befits his Scottish heritage, Piper
plays the bagpipes – and suffice it to say, he is very, very good.
“I’ve been playing the pipes since I was six years old and living in
Glasgow, Scotland,” said Piper. “Right now, I like to go into the
woods and play them without being disturbed. That’s when they sound
nicest.”
“But I’ve been involved in some serious bagpipe competition and I’ve
played in championship pipe bands. I was a member of the World
Champion pipe band which won a competition on Toronto, Canada. The
band was in the ‘Pro Class’, which is the highest classification.”
It’s not unusual that Piper would take up the pipes, since he is
Scottish, but it seems unlikely he would stick with them throughout
his many travels.
“I am a professional gypsy, or so it seems,” Piper said with a
laugh. “It’s hard to remember all the places I’ve been.”
To start, there’s Glasgow, Piper’s home. He left there when he was
six years old and moved to Melbourne, Australia. When he was nine,
his family made the move to Canada.
“And I’ve lived in every Canadian province but one, and that’s
Alberta,” Piper pointed out. “But I never lost my interest in the
pipes, even when I started wrestling.”
Piper began his pro wrestling career on the West Coast, where he got
a chance to win the America’s Heavyweight Championship several years
ago. “I won, too,” he said.
Before that, Piper’s interest in wrestling was kindled by his
father, who was an accomplished amateur in Scotland.
“Back in Scotland, we had the Highland Games, with such events as
the hammer toss, the caber pole (that long, heavy wooden pole) toss
and wrestling,” Piper said. “We kids would get out there and tussle
and later we’d wrestle catch-as-catch-can.”
“My father was a burly man and he did a lot of wrestling. He was
always involved in the local championships and he won a lot of them,
but he didn’t wrestle much beyond home. He set me in the right
direction as far as wrestling goes.”
Today, Piper rules as one of the top wrestlers around and has even
earned the United State Heavyweight Championship title. True to his
gypsy image, he still travels a great deal.
“But I’ve got another hobby I like when I’m not traveling,” he said.
“And that’s fast-draw. Not art, but gun-slinging, like in the
movies. I had an old wrestling partner out in L.A. who was very much
into it and he got me interested.”
“He was so good, he could draw his gun and fire before someone else
holding a gun on him could get the cocked hammer down. I’m not that
fast, but I enjoy it.”
Piper explained he uses a light-weight, balanced Colt .45 when he
does his gun-slinging. “I keep my eyes open for some good models and
I’ve got a few nice ones.”
Piper also enjoys dirt-biking, which he learned from a Hollywood
stuntman who would do tricks on a motorcycle. “It’s fun to get out
there and run all over the place, taking lumps and bumps”, Piper
said.
Piper’s got quite an interesting set of hobbies – bagpipes,
fast-draw and dirt biking. “Well, I never said I did ordinary
things,” he explained.
“Still, it is so hard to find the time to do any of them. I travel
so much that I’m seldom at home. There are times when I’d like
nothing better than to be able to go into the woods and play my
pipes, but it’s hard.”
“It seems like I’m always fighting in the rings. So when I get a
chance to enjoy one of my hobbies, I do it to the fullest.”
Ringside Editor -
Steve Waid
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