Two Sentences

Chapter 4 - Southern Man

Rick Ciccone sat in his office, reflecting on his life. Most of the last 40 years of it were summed up in this small space - his Ricky Rage ring jacket was in a frame on the wall behind his desk. Wrestling photos served as bookends on a shelf that contained books on bodybuilding training. The rest was outside his door in the gym itself.

He was still reeling from the fact that he was wrong about Tommy Clifford's tragic death. It gnawed at him. He looked back on the events that led him to meeting Tommy in the first place, which began 4 years earlier.

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Rick was 19 and had no prospects to be anything. He wanted to write, but his parents all but killed that dream. He managed to make a Super 8mm short subject film, about gang rivalry. Furthermore, he needed a kid of about 14 to do a stunt for him - fall down a hill. A mutual friend suggested George Hess. George was a pretty boy, blonde hair with green eyes. He bore a strong resemblance to future Hockey Hall of Famer, Mike Modano. George liked what looked

back at him in the mirror, but he wasn't stuck up about it. To the contrary, he was a good boy, well liked, who never gave anyone a lick of trouble. His family was well-to-do, with fine moral standards - a lot like Tommy Clifford's.

George agreed to do the stunt. "Sure. No sweat." He said. It went well. George dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, put elbow and knee pads underneath he used for skateboarding, staggered, then fell down a hill. 4 takes from 4 different angles. Out of that, a close friendship was formed.

A lot of people were bothered by the 5-year difference in their ages, except Rick and George. George was once asked by a friend his own age, "Why do you hang out with him?" George shrugged and replied, "Rick's my big brother."

Rick introduced George to fellow filmmakers who used George in their films and got George some modeling jobs. George did OK with both, but he wasn't enamored by it and gave it up. Plus, he'd soon start dating a girl he met in high school who'd become his wife. Eventually, George Hess became an electrician.

George, on the other hand, introduced Rick not only to his sister, Rachele, but also to the gym. George joined California East, a local gym in George's hometown. California East was owned by Rudy Supino, a well known fixture in the community. He was 60 and his toupee was as old as Rick. Rick used to joke that Rudy washed his hair in Woolite. George invited Rick to train with him. Rick loved it from the start and gave up training in his parents' basement. They became training partners.

California East had a couple of Mr. Olympia competitors training there, as well as several professional wrestlers. There was Ricky Robinson, who Rick worked with at Holiday Spa as fitness instructors. Robinson was friends with Dave Rogers, whose father was "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. Born Herman Gustav Rohde Jr., the elder Rogers grew up in Camden, N.J. became the NWA World Champion and was the first WWWF Champion. Buddy's heart condition forced him to retire from wrestling in 1963, but in the early 1980s, he was a fixture on TV as the manager of "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. Buddy was training Dave to wrestle. Ricky Robinson was also his student.

Also in the gym was Mike Moore, an imposing figure who was every bit the Teddy Bear, even though he looked like a member of Hell's Angels. He was "Man Mountain" Moore, trained by Playboy Lanny Layne. He just returned from Montreal, where he was feuding with Canadian strongman Dino Bravo. Mike Moore and Rick would meet up down the road in the wrestling business. By that time, Moore was part of the tag-team known as "The Motor City Madmen." Later, Moore would be a World's Champion. Moore and the others got in Rick's ear about wrestling. They loved his look and his attitude and said to Rick, "Whenever you're ready..."

It took a while for Rick to summon up the courage. In the summer of 1986, the 21 year-old tried out for Lanny Layne. Layne was not impressed and told him, "You're too small to be a wrestler, but for $2,000, I'd be willing to train you," which discouraged Rick. He knew many of the top wrestlers in the business at that time were no bigger than he was, and he told Layne so.