Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ted DiBiase about the time that he spent wrestling in the Central States and St. Louis territories and about his personal relationships with Harley Race (which dates back to his teenage years) and Bob Geigel (which dates back to his early childhood).

     DiBiase is quick to express his feelings about Race. "There are a lot of people who influenced and helped me……Harley Race is right there at the top of that list. I’ve got a very special place in my heart for Harley Race." Their tight relationship initially dates back to an in ring tragedy – the death of DiBiase’s stepfather Iron Mike DiBiase.

The late "Iron Mike" DiBiase

     "In July of 1969, down in the Amarillo territory, my father had what proved to be a fatal heart attack in the ring.  Harley Race tried to save my father’s life.  He performed CPR on Dad at ringside, then rode in the ambulance to the hospital with him.  Early the next morning, Harley came to our house and told my family what had happened."

DiBiase works on Col. Buck Robley's wrist

     While Ted DiBiase had a long relationship with Race, he had an even longer one with Bob Geigel. Geigel was a friend of the elder DiBiase while Ted was a very young boy. "That story Bob Geigel tells about teaching me to swim is true. It was in Tuscon AZ in a motel swimming pool when I was three years old." DiBiase also holds a great deal of respect for the talent Geigel had in the ring. "Bob Geigel, Pat O’Connor and my dad were all great shooters."

     In Kansas City, DiBiase began to hone his physical talents and learned how to work the crowd while traveling around the territory which spread over Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and parts of several other states. "It was during the time I spent there that I seriously started ‘cutting my teeth’ in the wrestling business – finding out who I was."

     DiBiase also made a few friends along the way. "Bulldog Bob Brown became a good friend of mine. I traveled a lot with him, and very early on in my career he  took me in and let me live with him.  I’ve got fond memories of Bob Brown, and I saw him not too long before he died." But it turned out to be his old friend Harley Race who stepped in and helped take DiBiase’s career to the next level.

DiBiase wants to mix it up with Bruiser Bob Sweetan, but referee Bobby Whitlock separates them.

     "That first one-hour match with Race in St. Louis established my credibility and really put me on the map. St. Louis was really a one-city territory, and talent came in from all over the country to be in their show.  When you got to be the main event in St. Louis, you got exposure to all of the promoters and wrestling magazines around the world."  In the wake of that first main event with Race and the rematches that followed in other cities, DiBiase quickly became the rising star of the wrestling world.

     Though DiBiase had a lengthy run as a face in the midwest, his work as a heel in the Mid-South territory caught the eye and imagination of Vince McMahon. McMahon had an idea for a new character in his World Wrestling Federation and felt that DiBiase would be the ideal performer to fill that role. Soon afterward, after a stellar career in the NWA, Ted DiBiase joined the WWF as the Million Dollar Man.

     Ted DiBiase spent nearly ten years in the WWF as a wrestler, manager and announcer. Though his accomplishments in the ring were many, Ted DiBiase never gained that World Championship that Harley Race had proclaimed him worthy of so many years before. When discussions turn to the greater wrestler never to have held a World Title, DiBiase’s name is usually one of the first mentioned.

Ted DiBiase invested a lot of his own blood, sweat and tears in the wrestling business.

     Today, Ted DiBiase distances himself from the professional wrestling coming out of the WWF and WCW. In addition to finding many of the storylines to be crude and tasteless, he feels that the in-ring product is lacking as well. "Nobody can go out in the ring and make a story anymore. There are only a handful of guys who know the psychology of wrestling. Wrestling isn’t all about moves…it’s about working…the guys like Terry and Dory Funk and Harley Race knew all about that. I still admire those guys for their camaraderie and their ability….it’s like a brotherhood, a family."

     And what about Harley Race? "It’s unfortunate that his body is paying the price now for all the punishment he’s taken through the years. The thing with Harley Race is that there’s no flim flam about him. If you ask him what he thinks about something, he's going to say what he means….he’s not going to sugar coat it for you. His word is good. Like I said earlier, there’s just a very special place in my heart for Harley Race."