One of the most difficult and complex people to grace the world at large and not just wrestling would be Dr. Jerry Graham. Born in Phoenix, Arizona and getting his start at the old Phoenix Madison Square Garden, he would later become an international star along with "brothers" Eddie, Luke and Billy. He was unquestionably one of the greatest villains ever, but art imitates life and rather than playing a role like many "sports entertainers" today, he was, in his day, simply being himself.
Graham's bouts with alcohol and mental illness plagued him throughout his career, yet we are not airing any posthumous dirty laundry, for he owned up to his exploits. In fact he bragged about some of them. As I believe Red Bastein put it, "If you hear a story about Dr. Jerry Graham...it's true." In fact he was arrested so often he even developed a joke name for the police, the alias of Richard "Big Dick" Hertz (sound it out a few times and you'll get it) just to watch their confusion down at the station before they figured they'd been had.
During his Phoenix days, Graham had a lengthy feud with Phil Melby, a regional star who was loved by the fans. For all the followers of present day "sports entertainment" and openly scripted matches, such wasn't always the case in wrestling history as these two ended up in real slugouts when one became angered at the other. There's a story of how Graham literally tried to kill Melby with a chair one night in a mid-bout rage and another time, caused Melby to go sailing through the ropes when he sidestepped him and plow into the Phoenix Madison Square Garden's hard wooden floor. So much for set endings and scripted entertainment.
While known for his exploits in the arena in Phoenix, it was away from the crowds that his most infamous Arizona episode took place. Following the death of his mother at Phoenix General Hospital, he lost what few marbles remained in his head. getting a shotgun from his car, he marched back into the hospital, picked up his mother's corpse and started to carry the body off to God knows where. With the dead woman under one arm and the gun in the other, he batted security guards right and left until he reached the outside where several squad cars were waiting for him. Temporarily gaining his senses back, he surrendered and was placed in a paddy wagon. At that time he decided he did not want to be arrested after all and literally kicked the doors off of said paddy wagon before being subdued.
He spent time in the mental institution at 24th & Van Buren after that, but was "treated" released and back in Michigan a few years later, feuding with Tony Marino
In the mid 1980s a WWF stint which was to see him a manager for his varied "sons" and "nephews" never got off the ground as in one of his rages, he caused a disruption at the central office and was given his walking papers. He returned briefly to Arizona, but not even the indies were interested, as he was regarded as a major liabilty by this time. He packed up, headed for California and there he stayed until he died.
Though ancient by wrestling standards and a physical wreck, he made some appearances for the AIWA run by Ed Ahrens in the Los Angeles suburbs. Used for name value only, there was little he could do in his matches, but still managed to provoke the wrath of the crowd, using simple chokes, eye jabs and punches, proving his ring psychology wasn't dead. In North Hollywood he did have one relatively hot match with Alex Knight in 1991 , his last singles action. He appeared in some tag team bouts during the next few years, then became too sick to wrestle. He suffered a stroke and was placed in a hospice, where he spent his final days.
Sadly, he was out of his head in these final months, rambling on how many wrestlers had visited him, when there had only been three, former managers Johnny Legend and The Time Traveler, who worked with him in his last years of activity, area wrestler Vandal Drummond, and promoter Ed Ahrens. These were also pretty much courtesy calls, for one of these individuals, and I won't say which one, made the remark after his final visit, "Well that was unpleasant." He then pointed to a funeral home across the street from the hospice and noted, "At least they won't have far to carry Graham when he does go down for the count."
It wasn;t long afterward, in 1997, that Graham did in fact "go down for the count." In his last days the old mental illnesses had returned in all their fury, as he attacked aids and nurses, evidently reliving ring wars as well as his career in the military.
Thus ended the life and career of one of wrestling's true villains, a bad boy both in and out of the ring. And what about these stories? Are they true? Most likely, yes.
The late Eddie Sullivan used to tell of how a watch was kept on graham at his hotel room, to keep him from going out and drinking before the show he was booked on. The promoter had billed him as on the comeback trail and had even bought him a new grey business suit and tie to wear to the arena that evening. Anyway Graham managed to get the attention of a maid by whistling at her through the back bathroom window and bribed her to go get two bottles of liquor. once drunk, he was able to flag her down again and having decided he didn't like the color of the suit, gave her more money to get blue dye, which he poured into the bathtub. When the crew came to get Graham for the show, he answered the door totally plastered, wearing this dripping wet, half-grey and half blue suit. He was fired.
Another Sullivan tale tells of how they had hyped Graham up as a wildman, a dangerous maniac who was brought to the arena in a trailer which was backed toward the dresing room. Inside this deadly madman was imprisoned until time for his bout, due to the high security risks he supposedly posed. So finally the moment came. The trailer was backed toward the ring with much difficulty and the doors were opened. Did the madman leap out and wreck chaos on the world? Not exactly.
Graham was inside alright, drunk and passed out.
Again, he was fired.
It is not that this article aims only at the bad, for as Graham himself noted, he had heavy issues and was never looking to hide his past. In fairness to the man, however, when sober and at least halfway sane, he was one of the greatest villains the sport had ever known. Fans who remember the famous New York riot where he and Bruiser faced Eduard Carpontier and Argentina Rocca, causing the granddaddy of all riots, still crops up in histoiry books now and again. Likewise, the times he faced Melby and crew in Phoenix , provoking the crowds to unrelenting fury krpt the police from the nearby station on their toes Friday upon Friday. During one incident where Graham was told to stay in the Garden locker room until the arena was cleared as he had received death threats, he simply opened his suitcase, extracted a gun and was heading out to confront his supposed assailants, when others on the card restrained him.
A complex man who had great intelligence, was supposedly a real life PHD, and was a master of hypnosis as well (he often entertained wrestlers in the locker room with demonstrations of this talent), his mind may have been too big or certainly too complex for his own body. The bizarre behavior which earmarked his career and his life often overshadows his capability as a wrestler and in spite of everything, some of the good qualities he had as a person. Often you had to look real deep to try to find them.
"He was just a mean guy," Jody Arnold, no stranger to ring villainry, once remarked, when asked about the Doctor. "He was just nuts."
"He was a complex person," emphasized current gimmick wrestler, Mr Cockadoodledoo (a grappler in a chicken mask whom like Graham started in Arizona and has since traveled elsewhere, to the indy circuits of the east and midwest). "I have heard all the stories and seen some of the tapes. Who knows how far he might have gone if he could have kept his behavior in check? I think outside the ring he was out of his element as he was constantly in trouble. The ring was his home and the only place he fit in. When you see him in action, he is villainy in motion. You just deplore the guy. he makes even me, a wrestler, want to hate him, with his mannerisms and his smart allecky interviews. That says a lot. it really does. It is a pity he couldn't find a way to fit in and live life as a normal person, so to speak as who knows how far he would have gone. I mean with a halfbaked brain, look how far he still managed to go. If he'd had his act together he could have been the greatest of the great."
In death we can only hope Dr. Jerry Graham has found the peace he never had in life. And if there is a heaven,...and somehow he is up there...by a book keeping error...there is no doubt they are keeping an eye on him, even now.
