Tully Blanchard

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Once the Russian nightmare. Now the devil's worst nightmare in your tagteam partner Nikita: it's time. Welcome back to another episode of the man up show with Nikita cool off no longer the Russian nightmare. Now the devil's nightmare started the gates of hell when the people into the kingdom of God and each and every week I try to bring a special guest on the show. This one super special. I'm either all special in my eyes, but for real. This minimizes super special because comedy introduces appear to the wrestling industry to the wrestling world, a name that you will be totally familiar with and if you're not your head must be a say in the sand, especially wrestling fan and that's not other than one of the legendary for horseman Mr. Tully Blanchard telling welcome to the manifesto well you break to be here right to be with your wife come through well and is where this can have a conversation in ad and for the listeners out there mean there's some who we know quite a bit of your story are quite a bit of your history that gathers some who may not meet already the show and just just over years been been downloaded and 58 different countries and so that the message is getting out a course at centers around it all centers around Christ, but also around the life of an individual and and I certainly want to I want to be able to talk about that. Maybe a little later in the Shelby before we get there.

Let's let Alyssa listeners see your group in Texas and in San Antonio. Tully so San Antonio, Texas, and I'm just trying to recall course you came you come out of the wrestling family. Write your dear dad Joe Blanchard right was very involved in wrestling because I don't I don't know that I know this, but was you got always a promoter that he wrestled before he promoted her or what would you like my dad would years.

It was big a champion in 1950 heavyweight amateur wrestling while at Kansas State.Locksley was the big seven he went to Canada played pro football very when Bob just sent me a picture of Jean Comiskey, Wilbur Snyder and my dad and Darrell Royal Darrell world's first head coaching job with the Eskimos and coached my dad, Gina Glover and they were all superstars in professional wrestling gene can escape down to be the world champion and just great guys. We moved from Indianapolis to Texas to move into the promotion part.

Dad was able to buy into the promotions in South Texas okay and so that was a good thing for our family so I was in the fifth grade I became a San Antonio like okay for screening and I'm famous. It was instrumental for me to.

I moved out of the projects I call that the projects the ghettos of Minneapolis out to the suburbs suburb called Robbinsdale but let me ask you just when someone with your dad would've played in the sea like what was in the 60s. He was in the CFL or when would have been up all know about Plato.

The I was born in Calgary before okay and so it would've been the 5152 5354 while here, he played with three years of their nets were started wrestling started? Started. My dad wrestling in professional wrestling was. Then he got booked and we moved into the United States when I was six weeks old mile wrestling travel travel right travel travel travel and so he was part of the legendary dungeon as I know, it's the stew heart dungeon now what I guess you might put it that way.

My dad could really ruffle yet not very Gagne style brand Reagan style that I began so for sure. A lot of those guys back in those days curriculum wrong. Tell even some of the names you mentioned. I mean, the majority of them had that amateur wrestling background right I believe so yeah there were burglars was national champion if I'm not mistaken universe Minnesota yeah yeah and then you had Dr. big Bill build a big amateur guy to Danny Miller. Some people and and Baron von Roski great think he was a national chip into yes depressed. I think you yeah you he was just monster of all the athletes came into professional wrestling back in your and not everybody's son went into wrestling Greg Gagne and myself. Eric's kids all wrestled but it was it was it was harder to become a star.

If your dad okay so I'm fortunate that my dad won championships in stock but he realized that promoters were the ones making all the money so he he moved that direction so that was exciting. I didn't know it was exciting but it was it got us off the road. I got to go to school to play football and college scholarship. Yes, I knew yes I need and I deeply fight deeply.

Getting getting rest so you can do amateurism know because South Texas amateur wrestling had not gotten there yet.

Hello okay so we amateur wrestled the football team because it was my dad talk to the coaches to Phuket amateur Russell make alignment better and so we end up having amateur wrestling off-season, so it is, it was good on me and I had amateur wrestling in the garage realized my nice little 17-year-old felt that my dad was right all men are good so see you so you brace football at a young age. Obviously football in Texas is tending go hand-in-hand like you're saying they go hand-in-hand right I mean high high school football in Texas for those who don't know is probably as big or bigger than college football and in some states across America possible.

Certainly writing. I like Jan is a big deal in Texas yeah I got remembered Tully CIBC. Picture 10 15,000 fans in a Friday night high school football Gillick. We were we were happy to get 10 or 15 fans in our high school football game of right slightly, but I saw some huge crowds high school and any other state. The state championship game in Texas would would have 60 70,000 people.

See, that's it. That's insane. I can wrap my head around that like you know we didn't have that in Minnesota I can just tell you right now we we yeah it was no crowds of that size.

Other than that of Adam but that's an invite Minnesota Viking game, not a school championship game that's amazing wow well so you have his football career and in high school. He said, and you mentioned you got a scholarship. Now this wrong quarterback right yes okay yeah I went to eye with you on a high school okay try was head coach you okay and he got fired for the last game.

My freshman year, they brought in a new coach which changed our offense changed a lot. They changed me from quarterback to fullback spring training time freshman year and then we went back for two days they changed me from fullback to deep weak side because again, oh wow. Okay. And I was actually second-team, so I made the traveling squad and I told my dad I said that I would waste all your ability going run down right this crazy and so he agreed.

So I dropped out of school and came home or semester and didn't really look at it different place to play because I wanted to go back there you could transfer the big colleges and why I registered and to a junior college so that I could graduate. If you graduate from a junior college, then you are eligible to redshirt set out and so with the Cisco junior college and got all my classes to finish my sophomore year in graduate and Terry Fox talk to my dad said your boy needs. God bless Texas had Amarillo with my but I ended up going up there on the trip and throwing the ball for the coaching etc. etc. may offer good scholarship and so and it was it was Missouri Valley conference. It was still Division I duck time and so no forward. Everything was good with school and probably the most crazy thing that happened. Not a lot of people know about when I graduate. When I finished the fall semester or spring semester I Cisco junior college. I had two weeks off and I had to come back for summer school and finish so that you graduate in summer school and then report to West Texas and we got to go back home.

I refereed in Abilene on the Friday night that I went back to San Antonio grow most of the night got a friend of mine wanted to go out to a place called edge falls with you about 30 minutes north to jump off cliffs into the water and that we been there many times. In fact, it was Mike Blackley was his older brother and younger brother were part of the killer bees the Blackwood Brothers played for the Dolphins and while click okay and Mike and I were in a car wreck. I was. I have my right arm. My right lap muscle was severed like to my ribs and took him five hours and wrestling with success 100.

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I still didn't tell him about the car wreck until he saw me without a shirt on and when a shirt on what happened you should. Oh my gosh it was in April that that's a story you know that something you know right you try to make the starting spotter or make the team. You don't really want devote some of the affirmation tonight is a question so it's all about West Texas state because you I hear questions all the time. You know I question all the time at all the professional wrestlers that came out of out of Bob Rob is a high school but many W had quite a few guys. It came on West Texas. Some of what you played with and ran off a few of the names that came out of West University, Dorian." Who will champion bruiser Brody Tito didn't even go there to Tito Tito played with me and I play tight and yes he was okay and I Playboy for Europe and Canada, and he was the last cut of the Chiefs. One year okay and and became back in his teaching degree. My dad said you know he's handsome. He's Hispanic. We need to get him and wrestling a 6 foot to bag so we recruited him to start wrestling so when I graduated midterm Merced nod went to water and started Jim Barnett fell in love with shot them up to Atlanta and they ended up changing his name to Tito Santana rest is history. Yeah but you but you got Stan Hansen was there all Lotta guys go to DiBiase was there when I got there then he realized that, no wife of the child that you make more money to build scholarship will when they changed the rules that you could wrestle. You could be a professional in one sport and not in another still be an amateur.

I went Russell summary jetty with that summer and he didn't come back to school and I came back and played last year. Last year, and if so what you're what you're with you in Tito's was that you got broke into the radio professor and I wanted it was 74 okay and that Merced was was a senior and played my sophomore year, we played together, and then DiBiase and I would think he and I would been the same class got you because when I graduated from junior college.

When I had. I was a sophomore in eligibility Junior in school okay and so that that was that, since there are some there's Manny Fernandez played after me. I think that's about it.

Let slip that it's simple pretty big names and interesting free when is wrestling fan so so usually school you get into wrestling and was in his easy decision for you decided to dance only promoting an answer was pretty easy decision for you to decide you want to do that as a career as well. Well what I wanted.

I wanted to go learn the wrestling okay.

I wanted to because I knew that I would be a promoter and produce TV shows and stuff like that so I want to learn what it was to be lowered were not a workable one. I wanted to learn what it was like to be on the road because the guys that you now are hiring you know how how do you deal with Howdy. How do you make it make it a good job instead of sorry job right so II with the Florida and learned that now about TV production about TV shows how they did their TV show a small setting but it made it look like an arena with live live crowd and stuff like that so that was you and then I realize that dream yes okay okay and that he liked me and he came. I met Eddie five days a week at studio and he and I wrestled about philosophy and talk about what to do and how to do it when to do it and probably accelerated my career 10 years, but they didn't pay really well so I got all the stuff and while who's up in North Carolina and so I called Wahoo asked him if they needed so anybody and so I got hired by the Crockett's up there the end of 1977 and went up there and my income purple which was nice and pay increase. You and their territory was doing unbelievable business knowledge problem long without guys like blackjack Mulligan some guys while McDaniel, who else while McDaniel block blackjack Mulligan Johnny Weaver Johnny Weaver at that time Sgt. slaughter. Think was still there. Roddy Piper's either. Piper had already been stolen got you at that time they were just pushing steamboat LED.

I forget what they called him master superstar or something like that superstar superstar and slick flare was that at that point right well Joe. Where was just just starting to be on top and learn what it was like to be a star. It was a lot of good people to learn from you lose one of the great comeback baby face guys right in the business so right.

I watched Hillman and watched the rest of them and I went out my 30 minute beat up by the old-timers that were just there have been working yes I did so then the end of that year into 77. I figured I have learned two of the best territories in the country on how to do it what to do, how to produce your TV shows to make it interesting or wrestling fans and so I took that knowledge back to San Antonio okay and told my dad that we needed to make some big adjustments because of you.

The old way of taping first three matches on your house show and make that your TV show was not conducive to big, big business, production, objective, wrestling was in it you are transitioning the wrestling business in full for your dad and and you have to do we have to part two because when he got to believe that the meat of your career which you want to talk about it and so we got just a couple minutes left here but she go down to San Antonio share with your dad everything you learned, and then it was things began to transition and in your dad's promotion. Yes we we started making big changes. The thing I never wanted was to be promoters.

We got a push and didn't deserve right right and so I I didn't want to earn it. Want to earn it.

III was not. I was not a box office baby right and and so I finally talked my dad into Wahoo. Out of his book. Knowing they were trying to get me to be involved in it just wasn't working.

I said guys switch me heal and whatever and we did and our business mix doubled overnight. Okay, but it was it was pulling teeth with Wahoo because promoters kids were never healed were always made.

And so it was a a big step with my dad being the promoter and help with announcing and etc. etc. it was the thing that ended up being great, and it was really simple and it was probably one of the simplest things in the world.

We started the Southwest Appian ship bell and we had a tournament for an I rustled up workable drill for the championship match and the spot where he didn't leapfrog leapfrog high enough and I getting headfirst into his private areas and he went down referee said no it was an accident, all people said it was an accident.

Bob Loblaw, and although I didn't say okay you can't continue give me the belt.

I wanted on a cliffhanger so we let them know today for part two to figure out what happened here. Okay, so let's let's let's do this. Take a break tune in next week for part two of the legendary horseman Kelly Blanchard. Thanks for listening to the man show today men I would like to challenge each of you to consider spending five days and I am pursuing the heart of your listening will send your manhole with God godly husband and God you give them your blessing them.

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