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| BLASSIE LOSES HIS TEETH
October 5, 2007 Len Rossi tells a funny story about Freddie Blassie when he came to the Nashville territory from California. Len says that after the matches at the Hippodrome on Tuesday night, Freddie, Len, and two other boys started making the rounds of the night spots in Nashville, enjoying the publicity of the new found TV wrestling show promoted by Nick Gulas. On their night out they were besieged by fans seeking autographs. The new stars of TV were living in the moment. At that time there was a convention going on in town and thousands of out-of-state fans crowded the Music City’s night spots. A fan came up to the four wrestlers sitting at a table and asked for autographs. Most of the conventioneers were all wearing 1920s straw hats. One of the patrons, after receiving his autographs, asked the wrong question: “Is wrestling fake?” With that, one of the boys snatched the straw hat off of the fellow, took a tremendous bite into the brim, and ripped a half moon, four-inch divot out of it. Everybody laughed. The boys left the saloon and headed for another night spot. That night Nashville was swarming with legionnaires and convention fans. At the next watering hole, autograph seekers once again surrounded their table with requests and looking for answers to personal questions. Once again, one of the drunken legionnaires popped the no-no question. The boys didn’t know that only a few weeks before Freddie showed up in Nashville that he had a full set of false teeth bought in California by a leading dentist who treated the stars of Hollywood. After a few more drinks, the physical body was getting numb. Young Freddie Blassie wanted to belong to “The Clique”; one of the boys, so to speak. Sure enough, the alcoholic patron came up with the forbidden question of a wrestler. “Is wrestling fake?” With that, Blassie snatches the straw hat from the guy’s head and bites into the brim while jerking the hat away from his mouth. Well you guessed it! Out came the pearly whites; uppers and lowers. They flew across the table and onto the floor. Rossi told me the boys nicknamed Blassie, “Gummy”. |