Nick Bockwinkel

Bockwinkel vs Hulk Hogan in the AWA

I was traveling out of town on my way to Florida for a family vacation when I heard the news the incomparable Nick Bockwinkel had passed. It was sad news. Sad for his family. Sad for all the aging fans of the Midwest where Nick had his greatest success in the now long gone AWA.

Class. Pure Class. That was the best, most common way you heard Bockwinkel described. It was right on. How he spoke and carried himself in the ring. In his colorful interviews with one of the greatest talkers standing next to him, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. And outside the ring, Nick brought a bit of class to a sport that often was treated with the respect and dignity of second run drive inn movies.

I was fortunate to spend a couple days with Bockwinkel. He flew into my hometown to be the star attraction on a legends night of wrestling show I was part of and helping organize. 

I met Nick at the high school on a Friday night in October. the promoter had brought him to the local football game to do the opening toss at the start of the game. After the coin toss we all headed upstairs where the local Muscatine station was broadcasting the Muskie football game live. Nick sat in the broadcast booth with the announcers for a few minutes and added some color to the game while he promoted the upcoming wrestling card. It was a game he was intimately familiar with having played Division ONE college football at The University of Oklahoma. 

All who knew him could agree he was a stud athlete first and foremost. A great football player who was trained in amateur wrestling by his dad who worked out with some of the toughest of the tough in St. Louis such as Lou Thesz and George Tragos. Nick had an athletes physique. He was always trim and in great shape.

After the game I met Nick at the local Applebees where he mesmerized me with his stories from his Hall Of Fame career. I learned he started in California after training with his dad Warren Bockwinkel who was a star in the area. That was where he did some local acting and had a small role in the T.V. show, The Monkeeys. He also appeared as a contestant on Hollywood Squares in 1968 with such stars of the time as Lorne Green and Vincent Price among others.

All these parts just added to the glamourous image of the handsome jock athlete. the cocky persona of the bad guy Nick Bockwinkel who hailed from Beverly Hills California.

Nick threw us some gems when talking about the cast of colorful characters who made up the AWA. On the legendary Crusher who was a huge star in the AWA that fans loved. "Wrestling Crusher was me having 2 minutes of Heat (offense) and Crusher doing a 15 minute comeback!"

On Jesse Ventura. he said he liked him but laughed, "Bodybuilders, so thinned skin."

On Verne Gagne when he gave his notice after almost two decades of working for him to take a job as an agent for Vince McMahon. "Verne told me he would keep going, he was going to continue competing against Vince. I suggested he sell or close down." Competing with Vince was futile said Bockwinkel. "Its Vinces business, his family, his legacy, his job, his hobby and his passion. How do you compete against a man like that?" His words would be prophetic.

I learned Nick defended his AWA title outside of the Midwest more then I was aware of. Besides his legendary trips to Memphis to defend the belt against Jerry Lawler, he also worked Houston and San Antonio. He told me he owned a piece of the office in Houston with Paul Boesch. I remember him telling me Harley Race was scheduled to defend the NWA title and couldn't make it. Nick had wrestled a one hour match already defending his AWA belt. He had little choice but to to go out and work a second one hour match that very night. The fans had been promised two World Title defenses and they would get it. It was an exhausting feat but he did it. He said he went right to sleep as soon as he hit the pillow that night!

The next day Nick took pictures, signed autographs and told stories to all the fans who came to relive their Sunday morning childhoods with the AWA. He brought his old AWA belt that Stan Hansen drove over with his pick up truck for the fans to see and hold. He never was selfish, sharing stories with fans who asked about The Crusher or Billy Robinson when they mentioned them as their favorite wrestlers.  

For a brief moment when I picked him up in the afternoon he was on the phone with his wife back home in Las Vegas where he retired. I overheard him flirting with her, asking if she missed him. He spoke of her highly and wasn't full of the usual road stories many old timers are when it comes to their personal life. 

Maybe my best memory of Nick is simply as a fan. He headlined my very first pro wrestling card I ever attended in Davenport Iowa. I was in 5th grade. With my dad next to me I saw Nick and Mr. Saito battle the young tag team sensations at the time, The Fabulous Ones. Nick wrestled a tremendous lightning fast, action packed tag team bout even as he was approaching 50.

What an athlete. What a wrestler. What an entertainer. What a gentlemen. Thank you Nick for the memories!