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Professional wrestling bonds fighter with father, fans

Posted: Nov 12th 2014 By: Kevin Modelski - ColumbiaMissourian.com

GREEN RIDGE, Missouri ? "Handsome" Harley Race once used his hands to pummel, punch and pin opponents en route to eight professional wrestling world heavyweight championships in the 1970s and '80s. Saturday night, those hands signed autographs.

About an hour before the "Rumble in the Ridge" event in the gymnasium of Green Ridge High School ? located about 80 miles southwest of Columbia ? fans started to pour in, and Race scratched his curly white hair, took a bite of a chocolate chip cookie and gripped a Sharpie in his left hand.

One fan plopped a T-shirt on the table in front of Race. It boasted his name, face and the motto "Shut Up and Wrestle." His hands trembled as he swished the permanent marker on the shirt.

Race, a Quitman, Missouri, native, knows professional wrestling (that type you might see on TV with pyrotechnics, bikini-clad women and ? dare we say it? ? staged results) is all about the fan experience. He's been in the business nearly 55 years, including 15 with his independent promotion company, World League Wrestling.

"Do I miss wrestling? Sure I do," the 71-year-old said. "Especially when it's the only thing I've ever done in my life."

Race hasn't stepped in the ring as a fighter since 1993, but the sport still consumes him. After he sits and signs autographs for fans at matches, he watches his son Leland Race, 30, entice crowds and compete with the same hard-nosed attitude that "Handsome" Harley Race popularized.

Like father, like son

Leland Race knows wrestling took its toll on his father's body ? that body that strolled around Saturday's event with a walker.

"The math is there," Leland says about his father's diminishing physical health. "The conditions that we wrestle in now, it's like wrestling on a mattress compared to what he wrestled on. Those things were as tough as concrete."

The daily bludgeoning Harley put himself through would have been enough to steer a young Leland away from the sport for good.

But that didn't stop Leland from pursuing the sport he loved.

At 17, he went against his father's advice and wrestled professionally in Charlotte, North Carolina. He did it under the alias Jason Jones.

Why the fake name?

"I had to prove it to my dad and other wrestlers that I was able to stand on two feet and not have to use my last name to propel myself," Leland said.

In 2008, Leland returned home to the state that made his father famous and trained under his dad's tutelage at the Harley Race Wrestling Academy in Troy. He began using his birth name again.

Leland has used the name to establish himself in tight-knit Missouri communities, such as Green Ridge, which don't have the glitz and glamor of World Wrestling Entertainment venues.

He never made it to the big leagues, never became a well-known name like "Handsome" Harley Race. But, like his father, wrestling is his life.

"It's the only thing I want to do," Leland said. "I've cut grass for a living, I've worked in warehouses, I've served tables, I've been a substitute teacher at a school district, and nothing compares to what I love to do. That's this."

There were just 143 fans at the "Rumble at the Ridge." For them, it was a cheap Saturday night activity ? $10 to $17 for tickets ? and maybe a distraction from work, bills and other stresses. The intimate setting offered fans clear views to the ring and the wrestlers.

"There?s not a whole lot of money behind us, but in the same sentence, this is the way wrestling was in the '60s, '70s and '80s," Leland Race said. "When we do these events, it gives the fans a chance to connect with the wrestlers. We?re tangible to them."

Saturday night's match featured up-and-coming wrestlers in different match formats such as a triple-threat competition and head-to-head matches. The rumble's fifth and final event featured Race, for his moment of glory.

A "Race" to a pin

A distorted heavy metal tune blasted over the loudspeakers. A half-dozen young children lined up outside the Green Ridge gym locker room where the wrestlers were posted. The door creaked open as the master of ceremonies for the night, Brian Thompson, called out the wrestlers for the final event: a 3-on-3 tag team match.

"The team of Kyle Roberts, Superstar Steve and Leland Race," he introduced.

One by one, the three of them left the locker room, encountering cheers and applause. They high-fived the children and made their way to the ring.

"Let's get the show on the road, yeah!" a fan with a cowboy hat said as he slapped hands with Leland Race and Superstar Steve.

Leland walked into the ring and removed a black warmup jacket with powder blue glitter lining its sleeves. He wears only black boots, knee pads and a blue Speedo when he competes.

Harley Race watched, silently.

Still seated at the autograph table with fellow long-time wrestler Bobby Eaton, Harley clasped his hands in front of his body as the bell rung to begin the six-person wrestling match.

The action commenced with a game of tag-team musical chairs. The fighters shuffled in and out of the ring, trading blows and dropping the opposition like bags of dirt.

"There you go, squeeze the juice out of him!" a fan said as Superstar Steve wrapped his opponent in a headlock.

The action intensified, especially as Leland and an opponent became more vocal. Fans engaged in a rhythmic slow clap.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. A crescendo of noise burst out in the small gymnasium, and the momentum tangibly shifted toward Leland Race's team. And that's when it happened.

Leland reached into his arsenal of moves and pulled out his finishing move, the "Thundergun." He picked up his opponent and violently smashed him into the mat, mimicking the sound of a shotgun blast.

The referee Richard Wright flopped down and slammed the mat once. Then twice. Then three times, signaling a win for Leland and his team.

"Atta boy, Leland!" some yelled among the whistles and cheers.

The referee raised Leland's hand into the air, signaling victory. At the autograph table across the gym, Harley Race smiled and lightly clapped his hands.

In a town of roughly 500 people, Leland Race was a superstar. It's moments like these, however small the crowd, that keep him going.

"It gives fans a shot at seeing how wrestling was and how it still should be," Harley Race said. "It's as good as it gets."