I like to think my family has quite a few notable members. I have a great-aunt who was a long-time college history professor. My dad's aunts and uncle wrote a Louisiana history text which we used in 7th grade. Some distant cousin somewhere was head basketball coach at Southeastern Louisiana, while I've got some other relative who teaches mathematics at the University of Kentucky.
My mom's dad was a surveyor and engineer, and designed a pretty sizeable bridge in central Louisiana. His son (my uncle) later worked on the design of the replacement bridge, which means my family OWNS that freaking river!! My great-grandparents had 9 children in poor, post-Depression Louisiana, and yet they managed to make sure every one of their kids attended college. I've got one sister who's a nurse, the other's in school right now, and my brother has played music for the Pope. That's right ... the Pope! The freaking Pope!!So, all that to say that we've managed to carve out a couple of minor accomplishments here and there. Nothing, however, compares to Billy!
Both of my mom's grandmothers lived well into their 80's (actually, I think one made it to her 90's). Well, when my mom's maternal grandmother, Big Mama, eventually passed away, I went back down south for the funeral.
(That's right ... we called her Big Mama! We called my other great-grandmother Murtool (instead of Myrtle), and I've got an uncle EVERYONE calls Nootsie (instead of Ralph, Jr.)! Cajuns are weird - what's new there?)
During the visitation, distant family and friends poured in from all over. Of particular interest to me, however, was an affable gentleman appearing to be in his 70's or so. He had white hair but certainly appeared to be in pretty good shape. I saw him talk to everyone, including my mother, pay his respects, and so on. I had never met this guy before, so I eventually asked my mom about him. It turns out that his name was Billy, and he was my great-grandmother's younger brother. He still lived in Marksville, had a slew of kids, etc., etc. Apparently in his younger days, though, Billy had been a professional wrestler, touring around the South during that great period when crappy, regional wrestling events were still shown on regular TV.Oh, did I mention Billy is a MIDGET!
That's right, boys and girls, I'm related to Billy the Kid, and not the cheesy gun-toting punk. No, this Billy the Kid tore it up during the '70s, as he appeared at the same events as Ric Flair and Jimmy Hart. Just check out this awesome picture from back in the day. Cajun Power, indeed! Now, unless your father invented Bat Shark Repellant or something, you're going to be hard-pressed to convince me you've got something better than that in the family tree!
Apparently, there's also a couple of DVD's out there featuring Billy. This first one looks like it's a pretty homemade operation, but it's got a clip of a tag team match of Billy with some guy named Little Jamaica as they battled Sky Low Low & Little Brutus. According to the seller, "Billy finally pinned Sky after whipping him into Brutus. The offbeat shenanigans continued after the bell." So not only did Billy get the pin, but there were freaking SHENANIGANS going on!The second video is even more off the chain, as Billy was in a tag-team match with a regular size dude. Not only that, his partner was freakin' Jimmy Hart! Jimmy Hart used to wrestle with Andy Kaufman, for goodness sake! One of these days, I need to splurge and get one of these for my own viewing pleasure.
Check out this roster for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Not only is Ric Flair on that roster, but they had guys named Mighty Igor, "Professor" Boris Malenko, and even the infamous Masked Superstar. I won't lie and say I'm a huge wrestling fan or anything, but that just seems SO COOL!!
Well, that's it ... there's my tie to greatness. Not only did I rub elbows with a wrestling bad-ass, but I actually have some kick-ass in my bloodline. Really, I don't know why I didn't come out of the womb doing a reverse pile-driver on the doctor ... maybe it's a recessive gene or something.Until next time,
The Jim
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