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| I WAS RAY GUNKEL’S HALF-BROTHER
December 1, 2002 – Dick Steinborn It wasn’t the truth that Ray Gunkel and I were half brothers, but it was enough to spark the Georgia territory. Promoter Paul Jones had called my Dad trying to get some new names into the Atlanta Auditorium. I was wrestling in Florida at the time. I was booked in Atlanta on a Friday night, and while I was in the dressing room, I met Ray Gunkel for the first time. I noticed how we resembled each other in a small way. After my match I got Ray aside, and suggested that we could go as brothers, and I would come into his territory as Dickie Gunkel. Remember, that night they announced me as Dickie Steinborn. Ray and Paul agreed, along with their other partner Don McIntyre. After I had stepped out of the ring, I had showered and went into the ring with my street clothes on as the main event, that being Don and Ray against the Might Yankee and Skull Murphy. Ring announcer Ed Capral gave a great speech as to how a young Steinborn came on the scene, learning the trade, and now wanted to reveal that he was in fact the half brother of Ray Gunkel. And so, Ed blurted over the microphone, “Ladies and gentlemen, the ABC Wrestling Office brings to you, the Gunkel Brothers!” The funny thing about this whole situation was, when Ray asked me to sit at ringside to second the tag match, a few fans came up for autographs, and as I wrote down Dickie, I didn’t know how to spell Gunkel. I tapped Ray on the foot. Ray leaned through the second rope, and I whispered in his ear, “How do you spell Gunkel?” I returned the following week, and it allowed Ray to step aside, while his younger brother started the angles with the Mighty Yankee, Skull Murphy, Lenny Montana, and eventually tag teaming with Ray that truly sparked the territory. I won my first title from Freddie Blassie, taking the Southern Heavyweight Title. Georgia was good to me, and I always considered Atlanta to be my best town. |