Jim Hardwick The Hangman Remembers Well you know we were pretty young and it was a long time ago.He lived in Lima and I believe he did some work for Buddy Donovon. I did alot of work for Flying fred Curry and his daddy Bull. We where on quite a few cards together but I never really got to travel with him. There was a good one though. We all were booked on a show in St Marys Ohio. We all had a $75.00 gaurentee. There were appx. 20 wrestlers there that night and the show was put on by,even today I don't know their names. Well to put a long story short there were appx. 5,0000 fans at the match which in the 80s was a great show for an independent show. We put on one hell of a show that night and I don't even remember who Al wrestled that night. We thought damn we might get aroud $500.00 each that night. But you know what they paid us? Our 75 dollar gaurentee and 25 for gas. We all just wanted to tear the place up cause at $10.00 a ticket and more for ringside someone made some money that night. Those Indy promoters rips wrestlers off thats why when you found a good one you stuck with them. Fred Curry was one of those that took care of the Boys.,p> I wish I had stuck it out a little longer cause the tag team of the Hangman was starting to make alot of noise then. Fred had started getting us some bookings with Bruno Samartino who I believe at the time was booking for the Mcmahons about 6 years before they broke big. The last match I wrestled was with Al in Cincinatti. I was coming back from a broken arm and he knew I was in pain that night. He tried to make me feel better by getting me to laugh. But it was the last time I ever wrestled for any of the moderatly big promoters. I am really proud of Al he has worked hard to get what he has. He has turned the corner and I only wished I had stayed with it. But I got tired of the buisness, not making big money got a job(damn)., But I do have a retirement now to look forward to. I only wish I had kept with Al more, he's one hell of a good kid......... You know it never goes out of your blood, thought many times about starting a school but it's so hard to teach it and not do it.......... --- Big Jim Hardwick(Hangman)..