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Andre the Giant at Fouts


Marty

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The other guy is easily 6'.

1 hour ago, Stix said:

I would guess that he came to visit Bill Mercer, but why wouldn't the photo be of him and Bill?

This image is before my time, but I like to think that cultural/societal norms of that day and age permitted Andre to talk to other people besides Bill.

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Hmmm...something is not right about this photo.  The NTSU scoreboard, so beloved at Fouts, is in the background. However the game against Tennessee was played in Knoxville, not Denton.  I suspect that this was photoshopped or whatever the equivalent was in those days.  Or, the final score of the NTSU-UT game was reconstructed on the Fouts scoreboard for the photo.

My guess is that Andre the Giant had a show at the Dallas Sportatorium, one of the greatest wrestling venues of all time!

Yes, it was a hairy time!

 

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I was about 6 in 1975 so I definitely would not know what was going on, but having grown up with a Dad that loved wrestling and would not let you change the channel on Saturday night on channel 11 after High Chaparral and before Roller Derby to watch wrestling, I had to become a fan. Between the Von Erichs, who some played at North Texas, and Bill Mercer being at North Texas my guess is he was there to see one of them. Back then wrestling was regional so guys would come into your region and stay a while before moving on to another region. Andre was in the Dallas region back then. As far as Ray Braswell, he was an Assistant Principal at Denton High School by the time I got there and I remember him being shorter. Plus this guy doesn't look like him to me. However, I could be mistaken because he definitely didn't have the long hair and facial hair when I knew him at Denton High School. 

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I believe Andre was there with Fritz von Erich watching Kevin practice. This was Kevin's freshman year, I believe... backup fullback? Fritz supposedly came to a lot of the practices, and brought Andre at least once (well, obviously).

I was -3 in 1975, though, so this is all based on internet history, so...

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On 3/31/2021 at 6:06 AM, Venson said:

I was about 6 in 1975 so I definitely would not know what was going on, but having grown up with a Dad that loved wrestling and would not let you change the channel on Saturday night on channel 11 after High Chaparral and before Roller Derby to watch wrestling, I had to become a fan. Between the Von Erichs, who some played at North Texas, and Bill Mercer being at North Texas my guess is he was there to see one of them. Back then wrestling was regional so guys would come into your region and stay a while before moving on to another region. Andre was in the Dallas region back then. As far as Ray Braswell, he was an Assistant Principal at Denton High School by the time I got there and I remember him being shorter. Plus this guy doesn't look like him to me. However, I could be mistaken because he definitely didn't have the long hair and facial hair when I knew him at Denton High School. 

  The Saturday night show on Channel 11 (Main Event Wrestling) was filmed at Northside Coliseum in Ft Worth Stockyards.  It's now called Cowtown Coliseum.  I don't remember who the announcer was in 1975, it was either Bill Mercer or Dan Coates.  Fritz was the main draw, neither Kevin nor Kerry were wrestling yet at that time.  Other faces were Red Bastein and Alberto Madril, the main heels were Blackjack Mulligan and of course The Spoiler.  They were both managed by Gary Hart, who was also the co-promoter.

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NTSU did put the score on the Fouts scoreboard following the game.

The game was in Tennessee.

It was the only game played of the two game series.  Tennessee mailed us the check for both games and told us not to come back next year.

Don't know what Andre was doing in Denton.

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2 hours ago, Texas Stranger said:

  The Saturday night show on Channel 11 (Main Event Wrestling) was filmed at Northside Coliseum in Ft Worth Stockyards.  It's now called Cowtown Coliseum.  I don't remember who the announcer was in 1975, it was either Bill Mercer or Dan Coates.  Fritz was the main draw, neither Kevin nor Kerry were wrestling yet at that time.  Other faces were Red Bastein and Alberto Madril, the main heels were Blackjack Mulligan and of course The Spoiler.  They were both managed by Gary Hart, who was also the co-promoter.

You sure that was in FW?  I always thought that it was filmed at the Sportatorium.

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sportatorium#:~:text=The Sportatorium in Dallas%2C known,was located at 1000 S.

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In the 70's there was 2 cards a week, on Monday nights in FW and Wednesdays (I think) at Sportatorium.  The Monday night card was what Channel 11 showed on Saturday nights in the 70's.  By the early 80's, the Ft Worth cards petered out and the focus shifted to the Sportatorium, this was when the Von Erich "kids" started, along with the Freebirds, Chris Adams, Skandor Akbar, etc

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