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The House That Humperdink Built

Posted: Mar 27th 2011 By: CMBurnham

?Time to go home.?

In pro wrestling jargon, the expression is used as a form of communication to signal that it?s time to go to the finish of a match. A savvy veteran always knows when it?s time to go home.

For John ?Red? Sutton, it was an easy call. He had gamely fought the good fight. But at the age of 62, with the end in clear sight, the man known to his many friends as ?Hump? called his own finish.

Given the option of going through grueling rounds of chemo to combat a late stage of bladder and kidney cancer, and already greatly weakened by heart disease and a bout with pneumonia, Hump decided to let nature take its course and said his final goodbyes last weekend.

A game warrior to the end, the legendary wrestling manager known as Sir Oliver Humperdink passed away in St. Paul, Minn., during the early-morning hours of March 20.

Hump, upon making the decision to go into hospice, reassured friends that he was at peace and ready for the next stage. He was a lucky man, he said, who had enjoyed not one, but two, great lives ? both in and out of wrestling.

?Happy Thanksgiving,? he greeted one his oldest wrestling friends, former AWA announcer Mick Karch, in a phone conversation near the end.

?Now I know what he meant. No more pain and suffering,? said Karch. ?I will miss him very much, but now it?s time for him to hang out with (late wrestling promoter) Wally Karbo and share a lifetime of stories.?

As the delightfully captivating character Sir Oliver Humperdink, Sutton enjoyed a colorful wrestling career that allowed him to see the world and do what he did best. And that, simply, was being one of the greatest managers in the business.

Throughout the ?70s and ?80s, the bug-eyed, red-haired, red-bearded manager incurred the wrath of fans from coast to coast, putting together an infamous stable of heels known as ?The House of Humperdink.? They were brawlers, misfits and outcasts, men like Bruiser Brody, Abdullah The Butcher and Bam Bam Bigelow, who were meticulously guided by the conniving, fast-talking Humperdink, whose vocal skills added even more depth to his notorious charges.

Sir Oliver?s unique appearance, which included outrageous ring outfits and apparel, once prompted fellow manager Bobby Heenan to describe him as ?looking like he fell out of a box of cards.?

His accomplishments in the wrestling business are well-documented. He managed The Hollywood Blonds (Jerry Brown and Dale ?Buddy? Roberts) to stardom during the ?70s. His decade-long feud with ?American Dream? Dusty Rhodes cut a torrid swath through Florida. He was known as the manager of champions, and that list included a ?who?s who? of mat ruffians.

It may seem odd that a man so hated in the wrestling business could also be so loved and respected, but as the walls of kayfabe came crashing down, many of those same fans became some of Hump?s biggest admirers. In later years he became an immensely popular regular at wrestling reunions, fan conventions and other gatherings and, through social media, attracted a vast legion of followers.

It didn?t matter to Hump if you were in the wrestling business, or if you were a ditch digger or a bank president. The jovial and engaging man never met a stranger.

Tobias McGregor of Charleston recalls meeting Hump in Key West, Fla., where both were living during the ?90s.

?Hump was a truly wonderful guy. If you didn?t know him from the wrestling business, you?d still think he was a wonderful guy, because he really was.?

Hump, says McGregor, was a fixture at the famous Sloppy Joe?s bar.

?We used to hang out there, and we just became great friends. He?d come into Sloppy Joe?s bar, which was the biggest bar in town, and everybody took notice. He?d walk in the place, and he just had a presence that lit up the entire room.?

Donning his ever-present Hawaiian shirt, shades and shorts, the lifelong bachelor loved the island charm and laid-back atmosphere of the Keys, even though he had spent most of his life in the cold climes of Minnesota. The area?s gravitational pull on artists, writers, musicians, nonconformists, free-thinkers and other assorted eccentrics seeking to escape from the urban world held a certain appeal to Hump.

He was a natural for the Keys, says McGregor, a painter, musician and self-described ?old beatnik from way back? who lived there for nearly 30 years before moving to Charleston four years ago. It was a close-knit community where everyone knew each other.

McGregor says he really didn?t pay much attention to pro wrestling until he met Hump and another local wrestling friend, referee Mickey Jay (Mickie Henson), a longtime Keys resident.

?We were like brothers ... we were naturals. Hump fit right in. It was funny that some of the folks who met Hump knew him from somewhere, but they couldn?t figure out that it was from wrestling.?

Knowing Hump, says McGregor, sparked an interest in a profession that had been foreign to him until that time.

?Then I saw the human side of it, and it became a really wonderful thing to me.?

Hump truly was a man for all seasons who could be comfortable in just about any setting. He was well-versed in a variety of topics. Among his many interests, he was a blues aficionado, and could talk for hours about that genre of music.

?He could handle himself really well with any type of conversation. He was a lot more than many people even realized,? says McGregor.

Hump had dodged death a number of times. He survived a serious accident in the late ?60s when a ring truck he was driving hit a snow bank in Minnesota. Ten years ago he underwent emergency surgery to replace an aortic valve and had a pacemaker installed. Two years ago he was hospitalized after developing pneumonia due to complications from congestive heart failure. He was once declared clinically dead on the operating table.

McGregor recalls when the Key West crowd held a benefit for Hump in 2001 when he developed serious heart problems.

?Everybody showed up. They loved Hump. When he made his presence in Key West, he became a celebrity figure, an icon, you name it,? says McGregor. ?He loved the gals ... he loved the young ladies. He just had that presence about him.?

It?s true that Hump made an indelible mark on the business he loved. But he made an even bigger one on the many fans and friends he touched.

The House that Humperdink built was more than a rogue faction of wrestlers. It was a fraternity bonded by respect and admiration for a man who enriched those lives around him.

I suspect there was a reason Hump made a concerted effort to attend as many reunions and fan gatherings as he could in recent years. He understood so well that life is precious, and that it?s a gift not to be taken for granted.

And he knew when it was time to go home.

-- The UWO (Underground Wrestling Organization) will hold its ?Rise to Glory? show 2-4 p.m. April 3 at Palmetto Bar & Grill, 113 Santee Lane, Walterboro.

Admission is $5; kids 12 and under free. For more information, call 843-906-9782