Eldridge Wayne Coleman Jr.

Early life

Coleman was born into a working-class family in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 7, 1943. His father Eldridge was from Mississippi and drove phone poles into the ground for a power company but developed multiple sclerosis and was reassigned to light office work. Coleman was attracted to weight lifting in the fifth grade. As a teenager, he was an avid reader of bodybuilding magazines, his idols being Steve Reeves and John Grimek. As a teenager, he became a devout Christian and traveled to religious revivals where he incorporated feats of strength into his sermons. He also dabbled in amateur and professional boxing, participating in the 1959 Golden Gloves.

Coleman played for the Waterbury Orbits of the Atlantic Coast Football League in 1966. He was a member of the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League in 1967 but did not play in a game. In 1968, Coleman tried out for the Canadian Football League's Calgary Stampeders, but he was traded to the Montreal Alouettes and played in only five games while there.

Bodybuilding career

In 1961, Coleman was the winner of the West Coast division of the Mr. Teenage America bodybuilding contest (Frank Zane won the East Coast division), One of Coleman's photo shoots with Schwarzenegger was featured that year in Joe Weider's Muscle Fitness magazine. At the peak of his wrestling career in 1977, Coleman weighed 275 lbs. From 1978, he gained more weight and in 1980, at 325 lbs, he took part in the World's Strongest Man competition in Great Gorge, New Jersey. He finished seventh in this contest despite injuring himself in one of the events.

Professional wrestling career

Early years (1969–1972)

In 1969, Coleman was encouraged by football player and occasional professional wrestler Bob Lueck to train with Stu Hart for the latter's Stampede Wrestling promotion. He trained under Hart in Calgary After wrestling briefly under his real name, Coleman traveled back to the United States in May, wrestling for a few months with Dr. Jerry Graham, Brick Darrow, Rick Cahill and Ron Pritchard in Arizona before he and Jerry joined the National Wrestling Alliance's Los Angeles promotion (run by Mike LeBell) as a tag team the following August. He changed his ring name to Billy Graham, as a tribute to the famous evangelist of the same name. Jerry also told him to dye his hair blonde with a bottle of Clairol.

In late December, Graham went north to join Roy Shire's NWA San Francisco promotion, working with Pat Patterson (his tag-team partner), Ray Stevens, Cyclone Negro, and Peter Maivia.

American Wrestling Association (1972–1975)

During his time with the AWA, Graham feuded with Gagne, The Crusher, The Bruiser, Wahoo McDaniel, Billy Robinson, Ken Patera and Ivan Koloff, the latter becoming his tag-team partner. One of his most memorable and violent feuds was against McDaniel, with whom he wrestled numerous bouts between 1973 and 1974. In the AWA, he also began his career feud with "Polish Power" Ivan Putski; the feud would also occur when anti-Polish phrases were being frequently spouted by Archie Bunker against his irreligious Polish-American son-in-law Michael Stivic on lead American television series All In The Family.

In September and October 1974, Graham took leave from the AWA to join the International Wrestling Enterprise's "Super Wide Series" tour of Japan, where he fought such local stars as Mighty Inoue, Animal Hamaguchi and Rusher Kimura. Following his return from Japan, Graham formed a tag team with Dusty Rhodes. He left the AWA and returned to the NWA in May 1975, signing up with Red Bastien's Dallas-based promotion for five months and taking the local "Brass Knucks" title from Mad Dog Vachon on August 8. For most of October, Graham worked for the Mid Atlantic promotion in North Carolina, standing in for Ric Flair, who had just been injured in a plane crash.

World Wide Wrestling Federation and return to NWA (1975–1976)

Graham made his in–ring debut in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) on October 25, 1975, in a tag team match at the Boston Garden, in which he and Spiros Arion defeated WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino and Dominic De Nucci. During this time, The Grand Wizard became Graham's manager. In November, on the invitation of Dusty Rhodes, Graham joined the NWA promotion in Florida, beating Rhodes for the Florida heavyweight title on November 22 at the West Palm Beach Auditorium. His work in this period included occasional visits to St Louis, Missouri, where he took on NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race.

Return to WWWF (1977–1978)

thumb|200px|A bloody battle between Graham (left) and [[Bruno Sammartino (right), circa 1978]]

Graham defeated Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship on April 30, 1977, in Baltimore, Maryland, after putting his feet on the ropes.

Return to NWA and hiatus (1978–1982)

Disillusioned by the loss of his belt, and focused more on strongman competitions. During this time he shaved his head bald and grew a beard and moustache.

Graham wrestled only three matches (one in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and two in Los Angeles) in 1981, and was reported to have died on November 8. However, that report was false and started by Dusty Rhodes as a joke. After his return, he attacked Backlund, destroying his championship belt. After a few appearances, it was diagnosed in August that he required a hip replacement. The footage of Graham's hip replacement surgery was shown on WWF TV on September 27 as a means of promoting his comeback. In this incident, aired on the November 14, 1987, episode of Superstars, Don Muraco came to Graham's aid, and Graham subsequently became Muraco's manager. On November 4, 1987, Graham defeated Butch Reed in a steel cage match in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Graham's last wrestling match, also against Butch Reed and at 44 years of age, actually took place on November 7, in St Louis, Missouri. Over the next year, in between bouts of surgery, Graham worked for the WWF as a commentator until 1989.

Several months later, Graham joined WWE on a swing of nine televised events where he was interviewed by Jonathan Coachman (on December 28) before performing a skit which ended with Coachman getting knocked out. On October 3 at WWE Homecoming, Graham participated in a Legends Ceremony with 24 other WWE legends. On the January 23, 2006, episode of Raw, he promoted his book and DVD. Graham parted ways with WWE in 2009. He signed a renewed five-year contract in 2021.

Personal life and death

Family

Graham was first married to Shirley Potts. and was named after a star Graham read about in the Atlas of the Universe. Joey was born with double pneumonia and an enlarged heart, which was later surgically corrected. He had cirrhosis at the time of his transplant. Graham was again hospitalized on May 24, 2006, due to a bowel obstruction from an earlier surgery. By 2012, Graham was diagnosed with third-stage liver disease and cirrhosis. He was re-hospitalized for a liver complication in October 2014.

In June 2022, it was announced that he needed to have his toes amputated due to an infection.

Death

Graham was hospitalized in January 2023 as a result of an ear and skull infection that had left him deaf. By April, his condition had worsened; he had lost 80 pounds and was being treated for kidney, heart and lung problems. He died of sepsis and multiple organ failure on May 17, 2023, after having been placed on life support earlier that week.

Legacy

thumb|Graham's look influenced generations of other professional wrestlers (1975)

"Superstar" Billy Graham is widely regarded as a pioneering figure in professional wrestling, whose flamboyant persona and promotional style had a lasting influence on the industry. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter characterized his impact as foundational, stating, "If it wasn't for Billy Graham, this industry would be so much different than it is." Roberta Morgan, in her 1979 kayfabe book Main Event, observed that Graham's popularity endured despite his status as a villainous character, attributing it to his "skill, strength, and colorful personality". During his tenure with the WWWF, Graham headlined 19 sold-out events at Madison Square Garden, the promotion's primary venue at the time.

Graham's distinctive approach to professional wrestling served as a blueprint for future performers. His heavily muscled physique, charismatic promos, and fashion-forward presentation were emulated by several prominent wrestlers, including Ric Flair, Austin Idol, Steve Austin, Scott Steiner, Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura and Randy Savage.

Criticism of WWE

In the early 1990s, U.S. federal agents were investigating Dr. George Zahorian, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, physician who had been dispensing anabolic steroids and other drugs to wrestlers at WWF events. In 1991, Dr. Zahorian was convicted under the U.S. federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 which prohibited the prescription of steroids for non-therapeutic purposes. This led to WWF owner Vince McMahon Jr., who admitted to being a steroid user himself, being put on trial on charges of steroid distribution in 1994. The trial concluded with McMahon's acquittal. During this time, Graham personally sued Zahorian and the WWF, claiming that they had forced him to take steroids to maintain his position in the company. His lawsuit was unsuccessful, partly because he had been using steroids for a decade preceding his WWF debut.

Graham went on a public awareness campaign regarding the dangers of steroids during this time, including an appearance with McMahon on The Phil Donahue Show in 1992. During the Donahue taping, Graham claimed to have witnessed WWF officials sexually abuse children. McMahon claimed the abuse had never taken place, and Graham later admitted that he made up the allegations, hoping to extort "hush money" out of the WWF. Upon learning that his liver condition had worsened, Graham reached out to apologize to the McMahons, even offering to be a spokesman for Linda McMahon's campaign.

Championships and accomplishments

  • 50th State Big Time Wrestling
  • NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Championship Wrestling from Florida
  • NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ox Baker
  • NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (1 time)
  • Continental Wrestling Association
  • CWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • International Pro Wrestling
  • IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • NWA Big Time Wrestling
  • NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Texas version) (4 times)
  • NWA San Francisco
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time) – with Pat Patterson
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1973)
  • Match of the Year (1977)
  • Match of the Year (1978)
  • Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Class of 2009
  • World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment
  • WWWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2004)
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Most Washed Up Wrestler (1982)
  • Best Pro Wrestling Book (2006) <small>with Keith Greenberg</small>
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

References

  • Stats Crew profile