Wrestling Superstar And Hall Of Famer Visits Oskaloosa

Harley Race talks to the crowd gathered at the PAC on the campus of William Penn University Friday night

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The week of homecoming at William Penn University had many events for students and alumni alike to enjoy, ending in the traditional football game on Saturday.

Friday night seen the William Penn Lady Statesmen in action, along with wrestling and the jazz and marching bands that had current and former students mixing and sharing memories and talents.

Sharing the court with an alumni game, behind the blue curtains and tucked away in a corner, was one of the all-time great wrestlers, that ever graced the TV screen for fans during the 70’s and 80’s until his retirement in 1991, Harley Race.

An 8 time Heavyweight Champion, his career speaks for itself. His career started out in the 1960’s and along with his tag team partner Larry “The Axe” Henning, wrestled their way to an American Wrestling Alliance (AWA) tag team championship.

Deciding to strike out for himself after his tag team success, Harley left the AWA in favor of the National Wrestling Alliance where he feuded with such greats as Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes and many of the other greats.

Harley made his mark by wrestling at the very first Starrcade in 1983 where he wrestled Ric Flair in a steel cage match in Greensboro, NC.

Race, now an 8 time heavyweight champ took on the World Wrestling Federatioon (WWF). While there, Harley won the King of the Ring tournament, earning the moniker “The King”. Hulk Hogan, Jim Duggan and Junkyard Dog were just a few of the many other wrestlers to face off with “The King”.

Brian Gott (left) and Superfli (right) battle it out Friday night

I asked Harley Race about his life since retiring from the ring. “I run a school 3 nights a week”, Race said. His school is called Harley Race Wrestling Academy, and he founded World League Wrestling.

Race, who makes guest appearances says that he don’t make as many of these as use to. “Those 3 days there at the school is getting to be a plenty”.

“Probably the 8 greatest memories are right there”, Race says as he points towards photos of him with his championship belt. “Any time your considered the absolute best of your profession, it don’t get any better than that”.

Earlier in the evening Race watched a new and upcoming wrestler and local, Brian Gott claim his own “CEW King of the Ring” accomplishment. “I am now the King of CEW, who better than Oskaloosa’s own Brian Gott”.

Gott, who recently suffered injury and made his return to the ring was unashamed of his bad boy attitude. “I came back ahead of schedule”, Gott says about his quick return, stating that taking care of himself, “No doctors going to tell me what I can or can’t do”.

Keep up with Gott and all the local wrestling talent, upcoming shows and events at the CEW Wrestling website.

Posted by on Oct 31 2011. Filed under Local News, Local Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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