Tommy Rich shared a series of his wildest road stories during a recent appearance on the Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw show, painting a picture of life as a top draw on the territory circuit in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Three DUIs In Two Nights And A Flipped Lincoln
Rich said one of the wildest stretches of his career involved three DUI arrests in two nights, capped by flipping a brand new Lincoln with 500 miles on it.
“Ole Anderson, I got three DUIs in two nights and flipped a brand new Lincoln with 500 miles on it.”
The first arrest came outside a bar in Columbus, Ohio.
“We got back, Tony Atlas and my cousin Johnny, we got back. I told him, let’s go eat right down the street, what, 100 yards. They didn’t want to go eat. Anyway, I said, kiss my foot. Anybody got the car pulled out the bar parking lot onto that main road. Didn’t have the headlights on. Police pulled up behind me and got me out.”
The Lincoln Flip In Mansfield, Ohio
Rich detailed the wreck in Mansfield, Ohio that totaled the brand new car.
“We was in Mansfield, Ohio last night. Me, Tony Atlas, my cousin Johnny, and Nick Patrick, the referee. We left the building, stopped at the store, pulling out, I hit the guardrail. We should have known that was a bad omen, but nobody else volunteered to drive. I thought I was doing alright. We got on that interstate, I hadn’t gone 200 yards, and that thing flipped over.”
“I think we kind of started in the curve, and I might’ve oversteered. When I cut her back up, she just flipped. I think I might have had a concussion. I was a lot concussed.”
Rich said referee Nick Patrick was injured in the wreck.
“He messed his neck up, but me, Dick and Johnny was in good shape. It didn’t even hurt us. Just tells you we’re kind of loose.”
Ole Anderson Was Furious And Cheap
Rich said Ole Anderson, who was running the Georgia office, was furious about the situation but had been collecting money from Rich’s checks each week to cover the wrecked Lincoln.
“Ole Anderson, God bless him, he was taking money out because there’s a DUI, the insurance would pay. He’s taking money out of my check every week. I knew this girl in Columbus. She told me she’d get me a good lawyer. Ole every week was smiling, taking that money out of my check.”
The cases all got dismissed.
“All three cases got throwed out. Y’all should’ve seen Ole’s face when he had to give me all my money back.”
Wahoo McDaniel Pistol-Whipped A Stranger And Accidentally Shot Dick Slater
One of the wildest stories Rich told involved a night outside an Atlanta bar with Wahoo McDaniel and Dick Slater.
“We were there. We went in the door. Me, Wahoo and Dickie and my wife, Jerry Lynn, would go in the door. Some guy said something to my wife, and I said something to him back. We go on, having a good time. I went outside. This guy comes out, goes to his trunk and gets a big old axe, and he started around after me.”
Rich said Wahoo intervened with his pistol.
“Wahoo was in his trunk, getting something out of his trunk. Wahoo see what he was doing. Wahoo come running across that parking lot, had his pistol. Anyway, backed that boy up against and hit him in that.”
Dick Slater walked out at exactly the wrong moment.
“They had told him what was happening inside. Dickie come out. Wahoo hit him with that gun. The gun went off and shot Dickie. It went right through his leg. He didn’t, like on the inside of the top of his knee, come out the bottom side of the outside of his knee. Didn’t mess, just went straight through. Didn’t tear nothing up.”
“We had to take Dickie to the hospital. Everybody had a gun. That was crazy.”
The Charleston Holiday Inn Bar Stunt
Rich also recalled the night he turned a slow weekday Holiday Inn bar in Charleston, West Virginia into the talk of the town by issuing a public challenge during a match with Buzz Sawyer.
“There was a lady that ran it. I told her, I said, if I fill this bar up tonight, can we drink for free? She kind of smiled. She said, yeah.”
Rich made the announcement during his match.
“I went to ringside. I said, Buzz, after I get through kicking your ass tonight, we’re having a big party over the Holiday Inn, right next door.”
The crowd followed.
“Time we got through the shower and got dressed and started over, there was as many people at over at that Holiday Inn as it was at the Coliseum, I think. They had to call security in and everything. It was like rock and roll stars. Three Birds, me and Mike and big Terry and Jimmy Garvin. We got out of the cars, started in. People look, said, there they are. So we took off running, run through a door, started down a hallway. There’s a dead end. They had us pinned.”
The bar owner honored the deal but warned Rich never to do it again.
“That lady was madder than heck. She let us drink for free, but she said, don’t ever do that again.”
