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REMEMBERING PAT PATTERSON

As I was out walking yesterday, I was notified by Joe "What a Day" Lowry that the former WWF North American Champion and First Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson had passed away at age 79 from Cancer.

I became a wrestling fan sometime in the late 1970’s, the first big TV match that I remember seeing was Pat Patterson managed by The Grand Wizard facing a young Ted DiBiase, the North American Champion. At the time, I didn’t know much better and believed in wrestling. The young lion was throwing the veteran all around and looked to be on his way to an easy victory. At some point referee Mario Savoldi was knocked down. 

At that point Pat Patterson went into his tights to pull out a pair of brass knuckles. He knocked out DiBiase and as the referee “recovered” we had a three count and a new North American Champion. I often wondered later why they didn’t have The Grand Wizard throw the brass knuckles to Patterson, but that’s just me. Why have a manager out there if he isn’t going to make an impact?

As most wrestling fans know, Pat Patterson sometime later “won” a mythical tournament in Rio de Janeiro to become the Intercontinental Champion. The North American belt was unofficially retired into mothballs. 

I had no idea that one day I would meet Pat Patterson and have several conversations with him. He at some point helped me get some work with WWF as a referee. He was highly intelligent and hard to get to know if you weren’t in the business. He protected the business closely in those days. He only broke one guy in the business, as far as I know, and that was Steve Lombardi. I asked him about why he chose Lombardi. He told me, “Well, everyone was breaking in someone and this guy had kept coming around so he finally decided that he would be the one that he would break in.”

It was just a few years later that I ran my first WWF event. The agent for the office was Pat Patterson. He brought Steve Lombardi along for the ride which turned out to be a good thing because Israel Matia was a no show due to car trouble, so Steve Lombardi filled in for him.

When I moved to Denver, CO in 1987 there was word out that Pat Patterson had been named booker for the WWF. I called him at the office to congratulate him and he said “Sal, this company has only ever had one booker and will only ever have one booker that’s Vince McMahon.”

I told him that I was in Denver and wanted to work at the upcoming show. He told me to go by and if they could use me, they would. I hung up and planned to go to the show but soon after Pat called back and told me that they would be expecting me. The agent was Jay Strongbow. He wasn't the easiest guy for me to deal with, but he did let me work.

When I moved back to New York, I did some work with the Athletic Commission and ran into Pat here and there at events. Except for one night at the George Washington Lodge, we never really talked much but always had interesting encounters. 

I do remember telling him that I thought that the business was very tough. He said it wasn’t that tough.  II said, “Sure it is.”  

He said, “What time is it?”    

“About 3 AM.”

Pat said,“Where am I?

“Here in the bar.” 

Pat said, “Right, I could be in bed resting but I’m not.  I am here making the business tough.”

I understood and never forgot it. I also asked him that night about the cage match with Backlund and the Alley fight with Sgt. Slaughter.  I remember him telling me that when he watches those matches, he doesn’t understand how he did it.

When I ran my first WrestleReunion event in 2005, I called Pat and asked him to appear. At the time, he was scheduled for a cruise, so he didn’t want to commit. He did say if he got back, he would come by and say hello. At one point, I walked in the restaurant and saw Pat sitting with Afa The Wild Samoan.

What I will say that I haven’t seen anyone else say so far is that once Pat was no longer just an in-ring performer and became part of the office, his personality changed. I discussed it with him one day, that he took his office responsibilities seriously. He was no longer just an in-ring performer at the time.

I wasn’t old enough or experienced enough in business to really wrap my hands around that. I long reconciled that change in his personality especially when dealing with the kind of guys we know that wrestlers can be. You can imagine in the early days some of the wrestlers had a short-term problem reconciling the two Pats - the wrestler and the office employee.

In closing, there used to be a local NY Promoter named Tommy Dee.   I was at one event he promoted at Tottenville High School in Staten Island, NY where the Fire Marshal insisted that he ask fans to leave or they would shut the show down. I believe the headliners were The Strongbows vs. The Wild Samoans and Jimmy Snuka vs. Playboy Buddy Rose. 

At one point, Tommy started throwing me out of shows but wrestlers like Quick Draw Rick McGraw and Pete Sanchez would keep bringing me back in. He eventually made me buy a ticket.  When I told Roddy Piper what happened, he gave me my money back and told me he would get it back from the office.

I eventually told Pat Patterson and well, he lost his mind. He said, you don’t ever let a promoter throw you out of any building. If that ever happens again you come and get me, and I will handle it. You are here helping the boys out all the time, you can’t come in the dressing room BUT you will never be removed from a building and you don’t have to pay to come in either.   He stood up for those who helped the business.

That’s some of the things that I remember about Pat Patterson. There are others I could tell and likely will someday but not today. 

Rest in peace Pat Patterson, an incredible performer and an incredibly unique individual. 

Thanks for the advice and the bookings. 

Sal Corrente has promoted and refereed all over the world and promoted the forerunner to Wrestlecon, WrestleReunion.  He is the co-author of Bruno Sammartino’s autobiography.

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