by This past Thursday the world lost a global icon, the one, the only, professional wrestler, The Immortal, Hulk Hogan. Terry Bollea, his real name, was pronounced dead in his hometown of Clearwater, Florida at the age of 71. His cause of death has been reported as cardiac arrest. When the news broke my phone was sitting at my desk at work. I looked over and noticed that I had received quite a few texts in a short amount of time. I finally picked up my phone and saw one of the notifications had read, “so sad”. I opened my texts only to read the unfortunate news of Hulk’s passing. I was immediately taken to sadness because of the impact that this man, this character created by Vince McMahon and the then World Wrestling Federation had throughout my life. My feelings then turned to disappointment because Hulk had been in northeast Ohio in August 2024 promoting his Real American Beer at local grocery stores and bars. The appearance times weren’t ideal for my schedule, so I didn’t make the effort to go see my long-time childhood hero in person for a face-to-face greeting. Now that opportunity has also passed on. I can at least say I’ve been in the same building as him several times and that I will never forget.
When I was growing up in the 1980’s I can remember so many amazing things happening during my childhood. I’d like to thank my parents, family, and friends for making that happen to me. My parents did a great job raising me and allowing me to absorb all the things going on with pop culture around me. From Cleveland sports to Star Wars, Hot Wheels, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Master of the Universe, the Atari 2600, the arcades and bike rides with your friends just to list a few. Cable TV came, and I was exposed to MTV and music videos were something I’d watch frequently. If you’re wondering why I didn’t list pro wrestling, well it deserves it’s on story.
My father grew up in Maryland and on several weekends a year, we’d travel back to my grandparents’ house in Frostburg. We’d usually get there late Friday evenings, so I always looked forward to waking up Saturday mornings. Grandma always had the hook up of a box of Cookie Crisp to start the morning off right. By dinnertime my dad had already made plans for him and my mom to go out with his friends from high school for the evening so my sister and I would stay back to spend time with our grandparents. Most of the time I’d spend the time with my grandpa who I call Pappy in the living room. I’d sit on the couch watching the old wooden framed floor model TV loaded with family pictures on top. What really got my attention though was what he was watching, pro wrestling. My pappy wouldn’t sit in his chair as much as he’d stand behind his recliner leaning his forearm into the top of the back. As the matches would be happening, my pappy would be throwing a short jab to mimic what was going on in the ring on tv. He would be laughing as a Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen, Magnum T.A., The Fabulous Freebirds, among others would be cutting their promos that many lead to fights in or out of the ring. Both my pappy and the wrestlers I found very entertaining. See, at home my parents didn’t watch pro wrestling at all but now I was hooked and took that desire to watch it back with me to Ohio.
At that time in the mid 80’s MTV’s popularity was growing but in January of 1984, pro wrestling became more mainstream when Hulk Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik for the WWF Heavy Weight Championship at Madison Square Garden in NYC. That helped elevate the WWF by having a face of the business, a superstar in making to market around the country and the world as Vince McMahon was crossing into all the pro wrestling territories in the US. MTV and WWF partnered to create the Rock and Wrestling connection. The theme music that played for Hulk, Real American by Rick Derringer, was originally attended for a tag team when it was released on the WWF’s The Record Album which was released on vinyl and what I purchased at the time, the cassette. On March 31st, 1985, WrestleMania was born, and rock and wrestling were the spectacle with pro wrestling stars, music stars, tv stars and other celebrities being a part this new event that had everyone talking and watching. Now I had to go to a video store and walk in and hoped that nobody had rented the VHS tape to watch it and watch it I did. Again, and again and again. Yes, I loved it so much I’d rented it multiple times. On the April 29th, 1985, edition, Hulk Hogan made the cover of Sports Illustrated. The first and only pro wrestler ever to be on the cover.
Now this is some of my most favorite memories of growing up 80’s because in1984 the WWF released a toy figure line by LJN and a wrestling ring. They were my toy of choice in 1985 on the Christmas list, wanting to act out the matches that I was now watching more frequently at home. I can remember “Santa” had a hard time finding them that year. After Christmas my mom took us to Zayre and they had one single Hulk Hogan LJN figure hanging on the peg in the toy aisle. The plastic was a little damaged, but it didn’t matter. This one was mine and Hulk came home with me. I don’t remember how I got Rowdy Roddy Piper’s figure, but I was super excited to have his hated rival to play with. During the same Christmas break, my mom took me to visit my great aunt and uncle in Parma. We made my first and only visit to Kiddie City in that area. They had what I had been looking for. The Sling’em Fling’em WWF Wrestling Superstars wrestling ring! Finally, my Hogan and Piper matches didn’t have to be on the living room carpet! I’m glad I had Christmas money to spend that year.
That LJN figure line was incredible and very hard to come by in stores. One of my neighborhood friends named Bobby, I would stay overnight at his house sometimes and on Saturday nights and we’d stay up late. Why? Because at 2am when the paper route person would drop off the Sunday morning paper, we’d run out to get it to check to see if any of the local department stores would have the LJN figures pictured on sale in their sales ads. If we saw some figures that we wanted in the ad, then we’d set an alarm to wake his mom up early Sunday morning so we could be at the store in line before they opened. We’d arrive about 9:30am for a 10am opening at our Gold Circle on Rt 62 in Canton, Ohio. Bobby and I knew which guys we needed in the series of figures, so we stood there and planned that once the doors opened, I’d run to the right, and he’d run to the left because that way whoever got to the toy area 1st, we knew which figures to grab for each other. Yes, it was like that back then. You could say we were a tag team. It wasn’t the Cabbage Patch Kids craze of 1983, but it was close. I was thankful that after we both ran back there that he got his figure, and I got my Brutus Beefcake figure I was aiming for. We beat the other kids that were in line with us as competition. That was the beginning of my figure hunting. I still have my original LJN figures and wrestling ring to this day.
My love for pro wrestling continued to grow as did the popularity of Hulk Hogan and the WWF. My parents knew how much of a fan I was becoming and how Hulk and the WWF were now cutting into my cartoon time on Saturday mornings with their matches but also their own cartoon, Hulk Hogan’s Rock N Wrestling. In1986, my grandparents came to Ohio to visit. My pappy had never been to a pro wrestling event before, so my dad took him and I to the Richfield Coliseum to see the matches. I can remember 2 matches in particular, Roddy Piper’s match because there were guys in the ringside seats that were holding up signs with the letters that spelled out, “Piper Puffs Peters” LOL and Hulk Hogan defeated Jesse “The Body” Ventura in the main event. At that point in my life, I had only experienced a live crowd at Cleveland Indians games so at the time I didn’t know what a crowd pop was until Hulk Hogan came out to the ring and got the pin on Jesse. We were near the top rows in a corner section, but wow did I leave there wanting more!
From watching WrestleMania 2 live on pay per view at a friend’s house to wanting to see the biggest build up match ever, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III, I was all in as a fan. My friend Bobby and his mom decided to go up to the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan to attend WrestleMania III and I got invited to go after going with them to a live event in Erie, Pa for an earlier event. Unfortunately for this little Hulkster, I wasn’t allowed to go because I would’ve had to stay the night up there. If I had known what this event and the matches on the card would mean for the history of pro wrestling plus setting the largest indoor attendance record, well I would’ve put up a bigger fight to go by mowing more yards or anything! I’m thankful that they gave me the doubles from the pictures they took from their ringside seats area. Amazing seats!
As our LJN figure collections grew, we used the wrestling album I had on cassette to now record on his boom box and play entrance music for our own audio recordings of the matches we’d have on the floor of his bedroom with our figures. We’d be the commentators and man did we have a blast! One time he put 4 stakes in his backyard, and we put 3 rows of string around them so we could have our own matches outside. He once took a blanket that looked like Piper’s kilt and pinned it around his waist to go with his Hot Rod shirt to be in character. We walked all the way into the downtown area about 20 mins away to get pizza money from his mom. We like many other kids our age practiced the Hogan poses and flexed in the mirror. We all wanted to be Hulk. At last conversation with my friend Bobby probably 10 years ago now, he also had his original LJN collection still.
As I later hit high school, I became busier with school, sports, and friends that pro wrestling wasn’t as high on my radar. In 1992 I graduated High School and soon after my parents got divorced. I was working my 1st few jobs and partying at the time just trying to figure life out as an adult and now a fractured family. We eventually had to move from our family home that I thought would be our home forever. In 1993 Hulk Hogan left WWF but I really wasn’t paying any attention to wrestling anymore. My mom had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer plus she was still raising my teenage sister. I felt like I was in an alternate universe from what I had in my mind of how my adult life was going to start to what reality really was. I had lived with my dad at an apartment in Massillon. I was making bad choices in life that could’ve cost me my life or the lives of someone else. This sounds odd but the best thing that happened to me then was I was arrested and charged with a DUI at age 19. At the time I was pissed at the officer, but I was actual blessed by having him hold me accountable to stop me down a self-destructive path. Shortly after, my dad moved out of state, so I moved in with my mom to help take care of her. Little did I know there would be more challenges to come. By the way, my mom became a Junkyard Dog fan in the 80’s. In 1996 I worked at the Winking Lizard in Canton for almost 2 years. I met some great coworkers who quickly became my newfound friends. The guys in the kitchen were big wrestling fans so that bond was unbreakable. By that time Hulk Hogan had been in WCW, and we all attended our first live event together when WCW came to the Canton Memorial Civic Center. My coworker Scottie was a big Ric Flair fan, and I of course was still a Hogan fan. Being there with my coworkers was a spirit lift I didn’t really know I needed. Flair beat Hogan in the main event but that was okay because the energy of the crowd and just having fun again outside of work was a release to my mom’s health always being on my mind. This group of coworkers are so special to me. We’d all get together at different people’s houses, and we’d chip in money to watch wrestling pay per views together. I felt like I was developing a new normal in my life through pro wrestling once again.
In 1997 life changed again when while my mom was battling cancer, my 16-year-old sister had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer of her own, Ewing’s sarcoma. With both being sick, my challenge was now greater. I spent more time at the one floor apartment we were at during that time because my mom couldn’t have a place with steps. During that time, I remember one day going into the closet and taking out a box of my stuff that I hadn’t opened in a while. It had my old toys in it including my LJN wrestling figures. I started to wonder what they were worth, so I looked up a phone number in the phone book of a place called Toys Time Forgot in Canal Fulton. I drove over there and found out there was a price guide like Beckett did for sports cards but for toys. So, I bought one and looked up my collection. I learned that I might want to hold on to these in fact if I see any at flea markets or garage sales that I might want to pick them up and try to finish the collection that stopped in junior high. I needed to reconnect to another thing that made me happy without partying involved. That was a great distraction to what was going on health-wise with my closest family’s health. Nonetheless, I’m grateful for every second I spent running them for treatments and appointments to fight to get better! When they lost their hair, I shaved my head for team and family unity. My own personal strength through prayer was to have no self-pity because someone else has it harder than me. I wasn’t going through these treatments so be unwaveringly strong for them. That little kid inside of me that was taught to say his prayers and take his vitamins was praying harder than ever.
In September of 1997 my mother lost her battle with cancer. My sister continued to fight her battle as my father had moved back to Ohio before the loss of my mom to help me and others support her. My sister and I had a close bond even though we were 6 years apart. When she was little, she used to copy me and what I did, and it would honestly drive me nuts sometimes. She liked what I liked a lot and as she got into her older teen years with the loss of our mother that common interest only strengthened our bond. One common interest was pro wrestling. She’d watch the Monday Night Wars of Raw and Nitro with me and later went to a Smackdown event with my cousins and I at Gund Arena in Cleveland. Our last live event together was at the No Mercy PPV in October of 1999 in Cleveland. We had pretty good seats row L behind the commentators and witnessed one of the greatest ladder matches between the Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian where we in the crowd gave them a standing ovation. We each had our best friends by our sides that night. In April of 2000 was sister lost her battle with cancer. She was 20 years old.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably wondering how does all of this pertain to Hulkamania and being a Hulkamanic? I can honestly tell you that I’ve had a lot of great people in my life to this point. I’m so blessed and thankful for who God has surrounded me with. These fine friends, family, especially my wife, daughters, parents and sister, teachers, coaches, coworkers, and fellow leaders have had direct influence in my life by being around me directly in person. Like most, we all have others that we look up to. For me Hulk Hogan was probably my 1st bigger than life superstar that I would draw inspiration and energy from as a kid. Sure, as kids like me we’d try to swing or throw like certain MLB stars or run and catch like NFL stars but the way Hulk Hogan could work a crowd was 2nd only to Michael Jackson in my opinion during the 1980’s. Since I was white, porky, and I couldn’t sing or dance, the choice was obvious. I tried and failed at the moonwalk, single glove, and a solid crotch grab on myself. LOL! I knew my lane to stay in.
If I look at more recent times, like my family’s visit to Clearwater, Florida to Hogan’s Beach Shop where even though Hulk wasn’t there, it was a memorable experience for me. I was in the best shape of my life, and I can tell you that many of my workouts were tied to me playing Real American and Hulk Hogan’s theme songs to get me through workouts. Real American has also been my song of choice time and time again as my wake-up music to get me out of bed. My step brother Ed and I since forever have been greeting each other in person and especially through texts with BROTHER and Hulk Gifs. It’s our vibe and our bond of brotherhood, BROTHER! This will never change.
I know many people wrote him off because of his life choices that he made in more recent years or decades, and those decisions were made by Terry Bollea where the red and yellow Hulk Hogan character paid the price. I think there were both the Hulk Hogan we knew and loved from the 80’s and early 90’s but also some Hollywood Hogan inside the person that was Terry Bollea. I can only image being in the public eye so much and how every mistake you make can be blown up through the media whether it’s factual or not. From what I’ve read and heard he’s taken accountability for things that he’s said and done. Some have forgiven him, and some haven’t and that’s their choice and I respect it. I hope for someone who lived a life where you feel he maximized everything he could out of his God given gifts to the world that Hulk Hogan, Terry Bollea can rest in peace from a life well lived. I choose to see the spirit that brought a lot of positive energy, kindness and inspiration for others across planet earth as how I want to remember him. It’s because of those teachings whether it be from a pro wrestling character or not, I’ve had better days drawing from the visual memories of the past, overcoming Giant obstacles in life and slamming that challenge or negativity to the mat! His journey through time helped me in so many ways that many won’t understand until now maybe. Rest in peace Terry Bollea because Hulk Hogan and Hulkamania will forever remain Immortal BROTHER.
James Ellifritz
Please comment on the story. Whether you give me a positive Hogan pose down or a big legdrop across my face, I appreciate your feedback!
