Luke "Big Boy" Brown
aka "The Kentuckian"
I joke about being raised around men with one name like, Crusher, Bruiser, Mauler and the Assassin. The truth is, it’s not a joke. I really did grow up around these guys! I didn’t know them personally of course, I was just a kid. But I saw them at the matches when I traveled with my father.
My father passed away on November 12, 1997. He didn’t have very much in the way of personal possessions. He was actually living in a $3,000 trailer that he’d borrowed the money from his life-long friend, Dutch Savage, to purchase, (he wasn’t able to pay him back). (See picture below.)
My father passed away on November 12, 1997. He didn’t have very much in the way of personal possessions. He was actually living in a $3,000 trailer that he’d borrowed the money from his life-long friend, Dutch Savage, to purchase, (he wasn’t able to pay him back). (See picture below.)
His job was taking tolls at the Delaware toll booth and selling the occasional used car on the side. I mean no disrespect to my father or any job profession. This was just quite a bit different than the father that I grew up with for the first 13 years of my life.
At his funeral I received a windbreaker that he wore while working at the tollbooth. That’s it, that was my inheritance! This was a from a man who wrestled in front of thousands of people. Uncle Dutch told me that my father had made over $250,000 a year during his run in the 60’s as the Kentuckians with Grizzly Smith. He’d been on TV many times and even appeared in at least one movie. (Requiem of a Heavyweight starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney.)
At his funeral I received a windbreaker that he wore while working at the tollbooth. That’s it, that was my inheritance! This was a from a man who wrestled in front of thousands of people. Uncle Dutch told me that my father had made over $250,000 a year during his run in the 60’s as the Kentuckians with Grizzly Smith. He’d been on TV many times and even appeared in at least one movie. (Requiem of a Heavyweight starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney.)
