Many Faces of Paul Christy

The Beginning

            I, Paul Christerson was born March 20, 1939. Watch out world, here I come. At seven years old I lived at 47 and Drexel in Chicago Ill. One Saturday morning the local movie theater was showing fifty cartoons. This was very exciting to me at the time. I went to a friend’s house that was ten years old. He told me to wait on the back porch for him. I waited 15 minutes and knocked on the door. ‘Don’t be in such a hurry I’m eating breakfast, just wait.’ He said this to me as if he was getting mad at me. I waited two and a half hours before I knocked on the door again. His Mother said that he left about two hours ago. He had ditched me. What a horrible feeling I experienced. It was a feeling that I have not forgotten to this day. This turned out to be one of the first big lessons of my life. ‘DO THINGS THAT YOU WANT TO DO, DON’T WAIT OR RELY ON OTHER PEOPLE TO MAKE YOU HAPPY.’

Wrestling’s Impact

            When I was eight years old television was becoming popular and so was professional wrestling. We didn’t have a TV set so we had to go to our neighbors to watch it. Wrestling was hot and it had a tremendous impact on me. I remember Gorgeous George being sprayed with perfume by his valet and throwing his Georgie pins. I remember Benedicto Gardene, the bouncing ball, Gypsy Joe who could trust a gypsy, Farmer Don Marlin with his mule kick, and Chief Don Eagle doing his war dance when he got mad. It was great!

            When I was nine years old two kids were bullying a smaller kid. I stepped in and punched one of them, and they both ran away. I felt like Superman helping the weak. I felt like a pro wrestler.

Not My Type of Job

            My Dad worked for the railroad when I was ten years old, and it seemed like a great job to me at the time. Working and being around trains, boy that sounded great. I was interested and excited when he said I could go to work with him one night. We sat in a small hut called a ‘shanty house,’ actually I sat there while my Dad slept. He would get up every hour to go outside and wave a lantern. This was not interesting or exciting to me. I didn’t have any fun. This is not what I wanted to do when I grow up.

Getting Tough

            About this same time I was going to Shakespeare School on the East Side of Chicago. There were people of every race. There were a lot of fights. Some of the kids would sharpen their belt buckles and use them for weapons. During a fight a swinging belt buckle could really get you hurt. This was one of those places that if you didn’t stand up for yourself you would be bullied or abused. I learned to stand up for myself. I also learned another lesson there. If you’re going to fight, hit first, hit second, third, fourth, fifth, hit, hit, hit, win, win, and win. I was left alone.

            While I was going to Shakespeare I had two friends a Black guy and a Mexican guy, we were some threesome. Occasionally, the Mexican