Chappell: We’ve mentioned
him briefly, but please tell us
a little about “Mr. Wrestling”
Tim Woods.
Scott: Tim Woods was one
of those laid back type of guys.
Good wrestler, and he had a hell
of an amateur background. He
would do anything you asked him
to do.
Tim was a real, real good guy.
Chappell: You saw Ric
Flair from when he came in 1974
as a nearly 300 pounder with
short hair, to the WCW days in
the 90s.
I know it’s hard to condense the
Nature Boy’s career to a few
minutes, but please give us some
of your thoughts on Ric Flair.
Scott: (pauses) Ric
Flair…is one of a kind. We’re
good friends, Ric and I.
When he gets in that ring,
everything else is out. What’s
in there is his deal…that’s what
he’s doing. Besides what he’s
doing outside the ring, but what
he does in that ring…is exactly
him…that’s him.
He was on time. A very, very
kind guy. Nice guy. He worked
out, and always stayed in shape.
He’d do anything he could to
help anybody. He’s that type of
guy.
Chappell: That tracks
with what many others say about
Ric.
Scott: I saw him when he
came in at 275-300 pounds,
whatever it was, and he got
himself down to 235. I mean, he
was like a machine…in and out of
the ring.
Bourne: What about Don
Jardine, the Super Destroyer?
Scott: He was a guy that
could really walk the ropes. He
was a very quiet type of guy.
He’d sit in the dressing room,
like he’d rather not be bothered
before his match. A lot of times
he was reading a book.
Bourne: He just passed
away, too.
Scott: Oh, he did? I’m
very sorry to hear that.
Chappell: I believe it
was from a long bout with
leukemia.
Scott: He used to walk on
the ropes, and I remember when
somebody greased the ropes!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Chappell: Was it a Johnny
Valentine rib?
Scott: I don’t remember
who did it, but he hit those
damn ropes, and he went
down…BOOM!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Scott: Those guys would
play tricks on each other, and
do things that you wouldn’t
believe!
(laughing) Unbelievable what
they’d do!
Bourne: Somebody else who did
that kind of stuff was
Gene Anderson. I’d like to hear
your thoughts about Gene.
Scott: (pauses) Gene
Anderson…the enforcer. You had
to be in shape with Gene. And
you looked at Gene and maybe
thought he wasn’t in shape, but
he was. He was the enforcer.
He and Ole were a great
team. Like I said before, Gene
would try to knock the wind out
of you. He’d maybe give you four
or five slams right in a row,
trying to knock the wind out of
you. And take over and control
you.
He tried that with Nelson Royal
and I. And what we did, was we
turned the tables on him!
Chappell: How did you do
that?
Scott: (laughing) We did
the same thing to Gene!
And he got so damn mad, and like
I said before, he tagged Ole in
and about knocked Ole’s arm off!
But, that’s what Gene used to
try and do. He tried to control
you by knocking the wind out of
you. A lot of guys tried to do
that, but Gene was one of the
best at it.
Chappell: Tell us about
the wrestler’s wrestler, Abe
Jacobs.
Scott: Oh, Abe Jacobs was
a super guy. Oh…super, super
guy. I’ve known Abe for many,
many years, and have never heard
him say a bad word about
anybody. He trained very hard.
And he loves onions…
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Scott: RAW ONIONS!
Chappell: (laughing) Stay
clear of Abe!
But seriously, Sandy, you
mentioned Abe’s training; he was
still working in a gym when the
Gateway interviewed him a few
years ago.
Scott: He was a manager
in Steamboat’s gym for a while.
I don’t know where he is working
at now.
Abe was trustworthy…you could
trust him with your life. Just a
great guy.
Bourne: A guy from here
in Roanoke, a guy that I think
you broke in, was Tony Atlas.
What a character he was…or is!
Scott: I used to get into
Roanoke at 9:00 in the morning,
and go down to the YMCA to work
out. So, this one morning, this
guy comes up to me…nice body,
big arms.
He asked if I was Sandy Scott,
and I said that I was. He said,
“I’d like to get into pro
wrestling.” I said, ‘Oh, really?
What do you do?’ He said he did
amateur wrestling, and I asked
where, and he said in high
school.
I said, ‘Okay, next time I’m in
town, come on up here and we’ll
work out on the mat a little
bit.’
Chappell: Was Tony
interested at that point?
Scott: He said, “Oh yeah,
okay…great!”
So the next time I was [in
Roanoke], he was there, and I
said, ‘Let’s do some amateur
wrestling. Do you want down or
do you want up…standing or down
on the mat.’ He said, “Let’s
stand!” (laughing) Okay,
good, so right off the bat we
get off to a real great start.
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Scott: Then Tony said,
“Look, when we’re working out…no
suplexes!”
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing)
Scott: I said, ‘No
suplexes?’
So, we’d be working out, okay,
and I went in behind him, got
him up and he hit on his back,
BOOM, and up he got…and he ran
out!!
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing hard)
Scott: (laughing) I said,
‘What the hell was that?!’
Chappell: (laughing) But
he came back!
Scott: (laughing) He came
back.
Chappell: I remember
several times on TV in later
years, Tony credited you with
making him a wrestler.
Bourne: I think Tony’s
exact words were, “Sandy Scott
beat me to death!”
Scott: He came back, and
I said, ‘Tony, let me tell you
something. If you’re going to
wrestle, you can’t be afraid of
anything.’ I told Tony, I
said, ‘Number one, you come in
and you tell me already that you
don’t want suplexes.’ He said,
“Ah, ah…I don’t want to get
hurt!” I said, ‘I’m not gonna
hurt you.’
So, we start working out,
working out, working out. I was
tough on the guy. I was very
tough on the guy.
Finally, I talked to Jimmy
Crockett about bringing him into
Charlotte…to work out, not to
wrestle. So Jimmy said, “Bring
him in.” So I brought him in,
and Jimmy saw him and liked his
look.
Chappell: At that time,
in 1975, his physique really
stood out.
Scott: Oh yeah. So, he
got a room at the Y, and I’d get
down there a couple of times a
week, and I’d work out with him.
Okay, then, I asked Johnny
Heidman, who was a referee at
that time, if he would like to
work out with this new kid. He
said, “Yeah, I’ll come down
there and hook up with him!” Well, Johnny was a
little more rugged with the guy
than I was!
He’d have him screaming, left
and right, “OHH, OWW, OUCH!!!”
Chappell/Bourne:
(laughing hard)
Scott: But I told Tony, I
said, ‘You’re gonna meet all
kinds. Guys that are halfway
decent, and guys that are a
little vicious!’ Anyway, he worked
out down there for eight or nine
months…and finally they gave him
his break.
So, at first, he wrestled once
or twice a week. And then…the
big head came into play.
Chappell: What happened?
Scott: They heard about
him in Texas. They wanted him to
come down to Texas, so they sent
him down to Texas. Where he had
a hell of a body, and he made a
lot of money.
Bourne: He was down in
Georgia a lot, too.
Scott: Yeah, he was. But,
you know, he just couldn’t
control money…couldn’t control
money.
And I saw Tony here about a year
or so ago. And he told me he was
going to come back to Roanoke
and be an assistant coach at one
of the schools...Well, I told him,
I said, ‘Tony, don’t b.s. me.’
He said, “No, no, no…I mean it.”
I said, ‘Tony, don’t b.s. me. Do
you think a school will take you
in after what you’ve been
through? All the bad stuff?’ He
said, “Well, ah, ah…I’m clean,
I’m clean!”
I said, ‘Yeah…sure you are. They
ain’t gonna do it Tony, so you’d
better think of something
else.’ He said, “I’m broke…I
don’t got nothing.” I said, ‘You
HAD something, what did you do
with it…you spent it all? You
can’t do that.’
That was the last time I talked
to Tony. I don’t know what he’s
doing now.
Chappell: We’ve been
talking about Roanoke. Any other
towns or venues in the
Mid-Atlantic area stand out to
you?
Scott: Well…Greenville.
Richmond. All of them, really. I
enjoyed all of them.
The reason for it, was because
we had that open thing with the
fans. They’d come up and talk to
you, and tell you about their
families. A fan would come up
and tell me, “My husband changed
jobs, and he has a job at a saw
mill now.” You know, things like
that.
But I really liked all the
towns. Lynchburg, Roanoke,
Bristol, Charleston, West
Virginia. All of them…we had
great fans.
Bourne: Another guy that
fans associate you with is Bob
Caudle. Tell us a little bit
about Bob.
Sandy Scott reunite at a show in
Floyd VA, spring of 2007.
Scott: Oh, Bob Caudle was
great. What you might not have
known Dick, is that in Raleigh
for TV, when we went on camera
we didn’t have a format. We
waited until somebody came out,
and we would say, ‘Oh, here’s so
and so, and he’s gonna wrestle
so and so.’ We didn’t have a
format, so we just ad libed back
and forth as to what went on.
Chappell: No scripts and
writers back then!
Scott: Well, finally the
station got a format because
they went to a forty-eight
minute/twelve minute deal.
Twelve minutes to the station;
forty-eight minutes to us. With
the commercials. We had to have
a format because of the
commercial breaks. Before that,
we just played it by ear.
You know, after the second
match, the guy would say, “Hold
it.” And we would stop, and they
would do whatever they had to
do, commercial-wise or whatever
it was, and they would come back
to us, and away we’d go again.
Bob
Caudle with Sandy and George
Scott at WRAL TV, circa 1969
Bourne: Bob was always
the constant through the
Mid-Atlantic years.
Scott: Bob was the
mainstay, no doubt about it.
Bourne: He had a
connection, didn’t he?
Scott: Oh yeah. Well, he
got out and talked with the
fans. That’s what’s missing
today.
They brought Gordon Solie in to
do a couple of shows in
Charlotte, and it just didn’t
click. They did a couple of
shows together. But Bob was the
mainstay, and a good, good guy.
A very good guy.
Chappell: I’m sure a lot
of folks would be interested in
what you’ve been doing after
wrestling.
Scott: Well, I invested
wisely. I invested in land and
real estate, and it’s paid off.
So, I haven’t been doing that
much, you know. I have a friend
who is a contractor, and I
helped him build a couple of
houses.
Other than that, I’ve been
taking it easy.
David, one guy that we’ve missed
talking about is Ronnie Garvin.
Chappell: Please tell us
about the man with the hands of
stone!
Scott: Believe me…he has
hands of stone! Trust me!
Bourne: He still gets in
the ring from time to time.
Scott: Oh yeah. Ronnie is
a good guy; good friend of mine.
We go down to the Mobile reunion
every year. That’s where you
guys should go sometime.
Chappell: I’ve heard it’s
quite something…
Bourne: Growing and
growing.
Scott: Ronnie is a good
guy. He was always ready and
willing to go. And a very tough
guy, very tough guy. But a nice
guy as well.
Chappell: Any other
people in the business that have
touched your career? Or ones
that you particularly want to
single out?
Scott: Well, just my
brother. You know, I got started
with him…and lived with him in
the business for thirty years,
day and night.
But, yeah, I give my brother the
credit to where we got…and all
the work he did.
Chappell: When you think
back on all of your work and
accomplishments in professional
wrestling, what stands out the
most?
Scott: (pauses) You know,
I had a guy the other day at the
Tanglewood Mall (in Roanoke), a
fan, come up to me and say
you’re Sandy Scott. I told him I
was. And he said, “I used to see
you when you came here to
Victory Stadium, and you haven’t
changed a bit. You haven’t
changed one bit!”
Chappell: When I drove up
today and saw you walking in the
parking lot, I said the same
thing! It’s Sandy, and he hasn’t
changed a bit!
Scott: But that was the
secret to our success. No big
head, no nonsense, do what you
had to do, and do it right.
Chappell: Did you wrestle
overseas, and if so do you have
any memories of wrestling
outside the United Sates or
Canada?
Scott: I mentioned
Australia before. I also
remember a tour of Japan…
Bourne: When was this?
Scott: It was in the 70s.
I went over for about four
weeks.
Chappell: Who was over
there at the time you were?
Scott: Let’s see…the
Animal…George Steele. (Alex)
Karras, Mil Mascaras, Dick
Beyer, and Bob Roop, if I recall
correctly.
Chappell: Do you follow
wrestling today at all, at any
level?
Scott: Not really. I was
with Mike (Weddle) over here,
and we went over to Floyd and
Rocky Mount, Virginia. I watched
some of those guys in there, and
some of them need work, you
know.
But, I think they could get a
little territory going…with the
right attitude and the right
direction. Maybe down the road.
You’ve got to have talent,
number one, and they have a
couple of good guys,
talent-wise. But I think they
could do it. It’s tough, because
you don’t have the TV…but maybe
you could do something with the
local cable. I think the people
would be drawn to it.
Chappell: When you say
the word “talent,” what
constitutes a talented wrestler
for Sandy Scott?
Scott: Talent? You’ve got
to have an amateur background.
You’ve got to take care of
yourself. You’ve got to know
where you’re going, and what to
do, and when to do it.
Chappell: All of it!
Scott: Yeah…you have to
work at it.
We would watch films. Like P.Y.
Chung, when he came in. I got
some film out of Tennessee and
watched it, and that’s how I
knew what he’d do here. That’s
what you’d have to do.
I did that all through my
career…sat there and watched
films of different guys. That
way, when you went into the
ring, you knew what to expect
from them.
Chappell: In closing,
Sandy, is there anything you’d
like to say to the Mid-Atlantic
fans. There are a lot of them
out there, and I’m sure they’d
like to hear a message directly
from you.
Scott: Well, the truth of
the matter is, if it wasn’t for
the fans, we wouldn’t have done
what we did. They were the main
80% of it…we were the other 20%.
If they’re not in the seats, you
have an empty arena…and it’s not
going to work. So, the fans
actually make you.
That’s why I think a small
promotion can still make it
today…but it has to be done
right with the fans.
Chappell: Sandy, thank
you again so much for spending
this time with the Mid-Atlantic
Gateway today…we really
appreciate it. It’s been a real
pleasure.
Scott: Thank you, guys.
It’s been my pleasure.
Mike Weddle, Jim Nelson, Sandy
Scott, and the Gateway guys!
Roanoke VA
Sandy Scott and Jimmy Valiant at
a recent ACW event in Rocky
Mount VA.
Photo by Jim Nelson |