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This is a new addition to the Metro in honor of Jerry's famous line "When I was a kid..."
It will be a page devoted to different things from our childhood back in the day.
Feel free to submit your memory or article from the 50's to the 90's to mccartymetro@gmail.com.

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Known as Dick the Bruiser, William Richard Afflis was born in Delphi, Indiana on June 27, 1929. He grew up in Indianapolis and attended Purdue University, where he played varsity football. He was later recruited by the Green Bay Packers in the early 1950's, where he was a lineman.

It was during his football days that he became a professional wrestler and soon dominated the entire Midwest. His antics in and out of the ring were sometimes disastrous and even ended up with a suspension in New York following a riot in the earlier part of his time in the ring.

On November 19, 1958, Dick was teaming up with Dr. Jerry Graham to take on Antonino Rocca and Edouard Carpentier in front of a sold out crowd at New York's Madison Square Garden. Some 300 were injured during the match following the riot that was said to be started by Dick’ taunting of the crowd.

Two police officers were among those injured. The commission for the state of New York took a dim view of Dick's tactics and treated it with the harshest penalty it could by not letting him wrestle there for the rest of his life.

In 1963, Dick was starting to feud with former Detroit Lions football star Alex Karras. He went to the bar that Karras owned and got into a fight with him that eventually ended with many people being thrown through a window that was six feet off the floor. It just so happened that a couple of those people were Detroit policemen.

Dick was given a huge fine for the damages to the bar and the policemen and fans that were hurt in the fight. He left Detroit and did not return until the late 1960's, when that fine was finally paid by a conglomerate that wanted Dick back in Detroit to go in opposition to The Sheik, who was making quite a name for himself at the Cobo Arena.

During his career, he would headline many cards all over the world. He formed the American Wrestling Association with several partners and ran it successfully from 1964 and well into the 1980's.

At first, he was billed as "The World's Most Dangerous Wrestler," giving no quarter to any of the people he wrestled. It didn't matter to Dick, as he treated his opponents all the same.

Later in his career, Dick would become a fan favorite when he came to the aid of Wilbur Snyder, a former foe of his. He had many bloody battles with Wilbur in most of the huge arenas that dotted the Midwest. They both ended up in hospitals following some of those battles.

Dick retired to Florida in the mid-1980's and worked as a talent agent for World Wrestling Federation. Dick died of internal bleeding on November 10, 1991 in Largo, Florida, near his winter home. His widow, Louise, said her husband had been weightlifting at home with his adopted son, Jon Carney, and ruptured a blood vessel in his esophagus. He is entombed at Washington Park North Cemetery in Indianapolis.

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