The Natureboy and Michigan Football
For those of you who paid attention to SotS yesterday, you might have noticed that Ric Flair said he was recruited by and offered a scholarship by Bump Elliott. Several former players confirmed that this is true, and they took him to Beta House during his university visit.
I must have misread, because I thought I read that he signed an LOI - did their used to be different rules on LOIs? Could you sign more than one and then choose? Or perhaps Bump let him out of it? More likely he just said he was offered one, I don't know.
Regardless, I wanted to see what became of his football career if this is indeed true. Turns out, Ol Richard Fliehr was in fact a Golden Gopher, ever so briefly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_football_te…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_football_te…
He was an O-Lineman with the team in '69 and '70, though I can't find record of him after that. According to his wiki page, he started training for pro wrestling in the winter of 71 - so if they mean Jan/Feb '71, he probably dropped out of school following the end of the 1970 season. The Gophers last game that year was 11/21 - a loss at Wisconsin to cap a 3-6-1 year, so that timeline would fit.
Unfortunately, as an OL, there are no stats. He would've been a very small O-Lineman, as he's only billed at 6'1" - I suppose in that day he might have been a couple inches taller, 6'3" or so. Likely a center?
February 4th, 2016 at 9:55 AM ^
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February 4th, 2016 at 10:53 AM ^
February 4th, 2016 at 9:55 AM ^
I think OL/DL were more squatty back then. Seriously. And players were smaller, in general. Watch some of the old NFL films highlights.
February 4th, 2016 at 9:57 AM ^
But 6-1 would still strike me as small for an LT or something. Maybe not.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:00 AM ^
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February 4th, 2016 at 10:03 AM ^
Your avatar is Steve Everitt. You must well know that enormous, badass OL have been around since the Viking ages.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:12 AM ^
I'm probably wrong, but I've become convinced that Brown Bear is in fact Steve Everitt IRL. Please nobody prove me wrong.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:06 AM ^
Flair used to be built like a lineman. Maybe that's how he survived a plane crash which broke his back at 26 and had a great career after being told he would never wrestle again.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:13 AM ^
He and Hogan used to go at it a lot. Hogan IS huge, billed at 6'7", and I always thought they looked relatively comprable when they were toe to toe.
I wouldn't have guessed Hogan had 6 inches on him. He's a big dude.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^
Which is strange, because everything else is 100% real.
February 4th, 2016 at 2:41 PM ^
That song is 100% really awesome.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:09 AM ^
February 4th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^
Who isn't a fan of this guy to be honest
February 4th, 2016 at 10:41 AM ^
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February 4th, 2016 at 10:11 AM ^
football players used to be. i remember i think it was a penn state v. georgia sugar bowl (?) for the nat'l championship sometime in the early 80's where keith jackson was expounding how big the georgia O-line was, weighing on average over 250 lbs/ guy. 6-1 and 230-250 would be a fairly standard college lineman back in the late '60's.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:35 AM ^
The Fridge Perry was considered an absolute marvel in the NFL for being 300 lbs
February 4th, 2016 at 3:19 PM ^
it wasn't just that he was 300 lbs, it was because he had hops also.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:12 AM ^
February 4th, 2016 at 10:15 AM ^
I'm 6'1" and even back when I was in HS (early 80s) that was considered big. Now, these kids are over 6 feet in their freshman/sophmore years. Crazy!
February 4th, 2016 at 8:54 PM ^
February 4th, 2016 at 10:26 AM ^
...kiss stealing, Woooooo! Wheelin dealin, limousine ridin', jet flying, son of a gun!
February 4th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^
To be the man, you have to beat the man! I grew up watching Georgia Championship Wrestling back in the early 80's. If you can find some of his early matches and interviews, it is totally worth the time. He was ahead of his time.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^
It's the whole milk, and steaks!
February 4th, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^
If you search Google Books for Flair's book To Be The Man, the preview for page 15 describes his recruitment visit to Ann Arbor in 1968. It's... hilarious. Apparently there were academic issues that kept him from coming to Michigan, so he went to Minnesota instead.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:59 AM ^
that explains the LOI thing then. Thanks, Bando!
Edit: Okay, so, I just read that.... wow. Uh... Wow.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:29 AM ^
Being from Minnesota, I'll give you a little more insight on wrestling and Ric Flair. Verne Gagne started the AWA in Minnesota in 1960. So a lot of wrestler's at that time came out of affiliations to Minnesota. Ric was on the Gopher football team in the early 70's with Greg Gagne, Verne's son.
Being that Ric got to know Greg, he joined the Gagne's in the AWA in the early's 70's after his stint in college football.
So if Ric were not on the Gophers, he likely wouldn't have become a pro rassler.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^
No Giants here
http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/rosters/search.php?data=football&year_…
Only three players over 249.
Freshmen weren't eligible so no weights shown.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^
February 4th, 2016 at 10:35 AM ^
Interesting. Thanks for looking it up. I was interested to see what happened too.
February 4th, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^
Hormones in the food. Makes people big but also causing health problems.
February 4th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^
The "weight room" back then was on the balcony at the south end of Yost Fieldhouse. A few weight benches and some free weights. No S&C coach or year round weight training. And the high schools had even less.
February 4th, 2016 at 2:07 PM ^
Many people who now play in the NFL likely would have been boxers, thats where the money was.
February 4th, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^
Does anyone have video of Ric Flair doing his Michigan version of "Stylin', profilin', limouseine, etc" from NSD? The only clips I can find are from BTN and does not cover all of it. Here in Memphis, the birthplace of 'wrastlin' I'd love to have that clip.
February 4th, 2016 at 11:16 AM ^
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February 4th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^