During the early 1970's and through the early 1980's the Lanphier High School gym in Springfield, Illinois was the "battleground" for many of the "legends" of professional wrestling.
Throughout the years, 3 different professional wrestling organizations held shows at the Lanphier gym. The A.W.A.(Verne Gagne), the W.W.A.(Dick the Bruiser), and the I.C.W.(Angelo Poffo)
Many of the greatest pro-wrestling stars of yesteryear stepped into the ring at Lanphier at one time or another. Such legends as "Superstar" Billy Graham, Pat O'Connor, Harley Race, Dick the Bruiser, "King Kong" Brody (He lost the right to call himself Bruiser after a famous mid-west feud with Dick the Bruiser), Nick Bockwinkel, Jesse "the Body" Ventura, Ernie Ladd, Wilbur Snyder, Yukon Moose Cholak, Ken Patera, Bobo Brazil, the Valiant Brothers, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, and a chubby, brown-haired rookie named Rick Fleihr (yes, the future 13 time world champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair...whooooo!) were among some of the names who were either cheered, booed, loved or hated in that gym on numerous Saturday nights so many years ago.
There were many "memorable" as well as many "forgettable" moments in that dingy little gym which seemed to generate as much, if not more exitement than any present-day WCW or WWF pay-per-views. One of my personal favorites was the night that a female fan presented purpetual baby-face, and at the time, Dick the Bruiser's son-in-law, Spike Huber, with a brand new sweatsuit, which he wore to the ring. As he was thanking his adoring fan for the gift, he was "attacked" from behind by his former tag-team partner and arch-nemesis, "Golden Boy" Paul Christy who promptly ripped the ever-so-fashionable sweatsuit to shreds. The fans totally "marked-out". Paul Christy was attacked by a crowd of irate "marks" and barely made it back to the dressing room in one piece. It was was one of the all time great moments in wrestling! Another "memorable" moment was the night that "Gentleman" Jerry Valiant chased hillbilly hero J.R. Hogg out of the building, threatening to eat the baby pig that Hogg and his brother brought to the ring as a mascot. (O.K., that may have been one of the forgettable moments but it was funny as hell.)
The biggest drawing card ever held at Lanphier High was the night that Dick the Bruiser "clashed" with "King Kong" Brody. It was one of the wildest and most exiting matches that I have ever witnessed. Sam Menacker, the Indianapolis announcer for the W.W.A. said that they turned away 2000 people at the door because there wasn't enough room to accomodate the crowd. (This was probably exaggerated).
Usually a well-known "heel" would terrorize the organization and pound the tar out of "hero" Spike Huber. This would usually culminate with Dick the Bruiser, in turn, coming to town to "settle" the score and running the "villain" out of the territory. The storylines were quite predictable and some of the "big" names from the St.Louis promotion who were supposed to face Dick the Bruiser in the main event, such as Gene Kiniski and Dick Murdoch, never showed up, so instead we were treated to "top-notch" replacement wrestlers like "Nature Boy" Roger Kirby and Gene Lewis who usually ended up a bloody mess when ol' Bruiser was finished with 'em!, but for some strange reason, it never seemed to get old.
The fans at Lanphier were witnesses to an assortment of chain matches, saddle matches, yellow-paint matches, "brass" knucks matches, Texas death matches, battle royals, cage-matches, and street fight matches about once a month on a Saturday night and a few rare Friday nights until the early 80's when 'rasslin became known as wrestling and Hulk Hogan became a household word.
Gone, are names like Max Blue, Greg Lake, Wally Watts, Ben Cagle, Chief Bobby Bold Eagle, The Hangman, Sheik Ali Hassan, El Bracero, and Johnny Starr, but the many memories of these "ring-warriors" and the valiant battles they fought at the Lanphier High School gym will forever live on in the hearts of Springfield 'rasslin fans.....This page is dedicated to you!