Ric Flair: The Final Countdown
Mid-Atlantic
Gateway
Greg Davidson is a social studies
teacher and the head wrestling coach at Independence High School in
Charlotte NC.
He is helping promote the Anderson
Brothers Classic Tag Team Tournament (ABC3) on May 5th at
Independence High School.
More information.
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I have no doubt that over the next few days you will read articles
in mainstream newspapers and fanboy websites about the career of Ric
Flair. In fact I am one of those fanboys and I will be reading the
volumes and volumes of press his retirement will generate. I
however, feel it necessary now to take time to write about Ric Flair
the man, my hero. Whether he was a heel or a face, the Champ or the
challenger, the leader of the 4 Horsemen or going it alone I always
cheered for Ric.
I began pulling for The
Nature Boy because that’s who my grandmother cheered for when I
would sit on her lap to watch Mid-Atlantic Wrestling on Saturday
mornings. My uncle would always say that if Flair says he is going
to do it, he does it. I honestly believe they both went to the
graves believing in the authenticity of the sport. In 1989 when I
was 13 years old my hero-worship of Flair was solidified. The
matches he had that year with Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk, and Sting
were classics, it was in fact a matche he had with Steamboat on my
13th birthday, full of holds and counter-holds and
reversals and near-falls that got me interested in amateur
wrestling. All these things made me his fan, it was meeting him,
however, that made him my hero.
My mother is friends with
the wife of the late Klondike Bill, another of my Mid-Atlantic
heroes. In 1994 as a high school graduation present Bill got me
into the locker room to meet Ric Flair. I “marked out”, I shook his
hand and thought wow, I just shook The Nature Boys hand. It doesn’t
sound like much but to me that brief meeting marked the first of
several times that our paths would cross.
In August of 1994 as I was
getting ready to begin college my father had a massive heart
attack. On August 9 my 18th birthday my dad was taken
down to have 5 bypasses. Right after our family prayed together and
they started to roll dad to the O.R. my sister passed out. The
first action I took as an adult was signing my little sister into
the emergency room while my dad was being cut open. Not exactly a
fun 18th birthday. My mom was worried and told me to go
downstairs and eat something so that I wouldn’t pass out, too. For
some reason instead of going to the cafeteria I went to the little
food court across the street under the Orthopedic Clinic. As I
waited in line I looked up and there in front of me was Natch. I of
course marked out and grabbed the first thing I saw, a copy of the
Charlotte Observer and asked for an autograph. When Bill snuck me
into the locker room just 3 months earlier it was just a few seconds
to say hello and get a handshake. To my surprise, not only did he
oblige with an autograph but he remembered meeting me and took time
to speak with me. It was a brief conversation but it was enough to
lift my spirits, his presence and kindness was enough to turn one of
the worst days in my life to the best birthday I ever had.
It seems sometimes that I
can mark my life by the encounters I’ve had with Ric Flair. He was
eating at the same restaurant we took my parents for their 25th
wedding anniversary. On another one of my birthdays we just both
happened to be eating at the bar in P.F. Changs and had a short
conversation. This one time I bumped into him in Matthews and got
embarrassed when he looked at me and said, “Nice hat.” (I was
wearing a Stone Cold hat that day and was angry at myself for not
putting on the 4 horseman hat I had in my car). Each of these
serendipitous encounters and others hold a special place in my
heart. I was fascinated by The Nature Boy in the ring, I was
awestruck by Ric Flair the man, but, I have been most impressed with
Richard Fliehr the father.
Inspired by the matches of
Flair and Steamboat I became a high school wrestler. A lot of my
identity and self worth is wrapped up in wrestling. I’m not ashamed
of that at all. In college and during my first years teaching I
volunteered as a wrestling coach and in time worked as an assistant
coach. My first match as head wrestling coach at Garinger High
School was against Providence, the school where his son Reid
wrestled. When I saw Natch walk into the Gym I ran down to the
Coaching office and called my dad. I had him rush up to the school
with a copy of the Ric Flair DVD I had just bought. Once again I
marked out, and had to get my DVD autographed. Ric got up in the
bleachers and like any other father coached and rooted for his son.
Over the years I’ve coached a lot of kids. In that time I can sadly
say that many of the kids I’ve coached never once had a parent show
up to see them wrestle. Ric, however, always made time for Reid and
his daughter Ashley. I can not recall a single wrestling match with
Providence, volleyball game, or wrestling tournament that Ric did
not show up to. Seeing the way he interacted with his children led
me to realize that while Ric Flair the wrestler inspired me, Ric
Fliehr the man inspired me even more. He is a good man and a good
father.
I by no means want to
leave the impression that I am a long time personal friend of Ric
Flair. I am simply a fan of both the legend, and the man behind the
legend. So many times people meet their idols and role models and
are disappointed by what they see. I can honestly say that Ric
Flair has never disappointed me. I believe in God, and I believe
that God puts people where they need to be. Ric Flair might not
know it but every major event in my life is marked by his presence.
God put him there when I needed to see my hero, in times of self
doubt, and family tragedy when I just needed a smile and a glimmer
of hope, he was there.
This weekend watching the
Hall of Fame induction Ric’s speech brought me to tears. The next
day, watching Wrestlemania XXIV I knew what was coming. Hearing the
WHOOOOOOO and watching him walk down that aisle and style and
profile like only he can to the thundering sound of Thus Spake
Zarasuthra. In a robe that would make kings and emperors of the
past jealous he entered the arena. There he was, The Nature Boy,
The Champ, The Man about to take his final bow and with all the
flash and flare that we have come to expect, he delivered. Ric
Flair the wrestler may retire but the legend of The Nature Boy will
never die, he will always be The Man and my hero.
……and so I end the only
appropriate way I know how…with a great big
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Greg Davidson
March 31, 2008
Photo: © WWE.com
© 2008
Mid-Atlantic Gateway
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