SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Ronnie Garvin
REAL NAME: Roger Barnes
BORN: March 30, 1945 in Montreal, Quebec
AKA: Rugged Ronnie, Hands of Stone, The One Man Gang
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Ronnie Garvin with the NWA World title in 1987.
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Ronnie Garvin's career is flying these days. Just not in the ring.
Garvin, who gave up pro wrestling on a regular basis in 1990, is a pilot, flying cargo across the U.S. He insists that if he had
gotten a chance to fly as a youngster growing up in Montreal and Gaspe,
that he likely would have never gotten into pro wrestling.
"If I had been flying when I was 17, I would have never wrestled," he
told SLAM! Wrestling backstage at the International Wrestling 2000 gala
on December 29, 1999 in Montreal. Of course, it takes money to learn how
to fly, something that was in short supply during his upbringing.
Garvin, whose real name is Roger Barnes, was born in Montreal in 1945.
At the age of two, he moved with his family to Gaspe where he learned to
hunt and fish. Ten years later, the family was back in east Montreal,
and Garvin began making friends with some future wrestling stars --
Pat Patterson (Pierre Clermont) and
Terry
Garvin (Terry Joyal).
"I used to go with Pat Patterson's sister, I used to go out with
Annette. Oh yeah, we went to the same schools, lived blocks away,"
recalled Garvin. All three trained to be pro wrestlers at Loisiers St.
Jean de Baptiste on Rachel St. in Montreal, which was run by a priest.
"They had everything at this place. They had boxing, judo, wrestling,
professional wrestling, amateur wrestling," said Garvin. He started
learning amateur wrestling, then boxing ("I didn't like boxing" said
Garvin, the future 'Hands of Stone'), and played hockey. It was Pat
Girard that turned him into a pro wrestler, and helped him get started
on small shows around Montreal.
Garvin left Montreal in 1962 at 17 years of age for Boston, a common
destination for Montreal wrestlers. Chin Lee got him booked there. "I
left home, I quit school. I never got along with my parents until later
on," he said, adding that three years later when he returned, it was a
different story. Now he had made it, and was a pro wrestler on the way
up.
Wrestling took him many places, but the initial success came for him as
a partner to his 'brother' Terry Garvin. They were tag champions in
Florida in 1967, and Georgia tag team champions in 1974. Despite the
common east Montreal heritage, Ronnie insists that he wasn't the best of friends with
Terry. "We weren't even close," he said, explaining that he has never
been a night person, never one to frequent the bars. Wahoo McDaniel was
one of the few wrestlers that he said he was close with, partly because
they would go hunting and fishing together. "All my other friends are
out of wrestling."
The other well-know Garvin 'brother' is Jimmy Garvin (James Williams). But unlike
Terry, he actually does have a tie to the name -- his mother married
Ronnie Garvin.
Over the years, Garvin wrestled just about every big name out there. But
a few stand out: "Flair was one of the best"; Ole, Gene Anderson: "I
thought they were great"; The Missouri Mauler.
But it's Johnny Valentine that gets him going, even to this day. "Lord
have mercy, he was sweet," he said. "If you hear him hit somebody, and
you're outside the building, you knew it was him in the ring, because
you could hear it! [laughing] He was unbelievable."
"You could hit him as hard as you could, and he'd look at you and laugh
'Ha, Ha, Ha!' He had that laugh. He'd get goosebumps. No kidding,"
Garvin continued. Valentine's 'Hammer' was a punch, not a slap, and
after he hit you, you couldn't breathe for 30 seconds.
The pinnacle of Garvin's career was, without a doubt, his reign as NWA
World champion in 1987. It was also the turning point of his career.
"When I became World champion, after that, I just started, I lost all my
... sometimes you set a goal. I had actually told a lot of people when I
was a kid that that was my goal. I'm going to be the World's champion,
because I remember
Yvon Robert, guys like that, Buddy Rogers," he said.
Talk of working in the Georgia-based NWA leads to the promoter Jim
Crockett. In 1976 "me and [Jim] Crockett got into a BIG argument. ... I
forget what it was all about ... he told me not to burn my bridges. I
said I'm not burning my bridges, I'm blowing the f***** up. That was the
last time I talked to him. ... slammed the door and was gone," recalled
Garvin. Yet nine years later, he was back wrestling for Crockett, and
was made world champion.
"I don't think I would have wanted [the world title] two, three years,"
said Garvin, who held the title from Sep. 25, 1987 to Nov. 26, 1987. "It's hard. You're
never home. It's demanding. You've got to do extra, extra, extra all the
time. Usually if you just wrestle, you just wrestle. But you have to go
special, an interview for this. Because you're the world champion,
you've got to make an appearance."
Besides the NWA World title, Garvin was also the National TV champion on
numerous occasions, a Florida tag champ with Ole Anderson in 1971, held
both the National singles and tag titles in Georgia, was the
Mid-Atlantic champion in 1986, U.S. tag champ with Barry Windham, a
two-time WWC Universal champion in Puerto Rico, and AWA TV champion in
1988.
The champ also had the ability to attract monickers. "Hands of Stone? I
got that from
Gordon Solie," he said. "The One Man Gang? Les Thatcher
started that." And the Rugged Ronnie name was the WWF's idea.
Garvin quit pro wrestling in 1990 at age 45. "I came home, threw my bag
in my closet and left it there for eight months. It was mildewed so bad
because it was wet! I didn't open my stuff to let it dry, just tossed it
in my closet. I went hunting, I went fishing." Eight months, he was
bored at home, working occasionally going to pick up airplanes and
flying them back.
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Ronnie and Jimmy Garvin in Montreal in December 1999. -- Greg Oliver, CANOE
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He had been flying since the early 1970s, and would fly his own plane
from show to show.
Through his airplane pick-up work, he met his future employer, who
encouraged him to apply to the fledgling freight company. "I didn't have
much of a resume. I had wrestled for 30 years," Garvin said. "I'd never
made a job application in my life. Never." In the expected salary slot,
Garvin said that he put $200,000. That first year, he said that he maybe
made $12,000 flying, a far cry from his wrestling salary.
Garvin had been "pretty tight" with his money over the years, and said
that he is pretty comfortable today. "I don't have to work -- I work by
choice. I take three months off a year, and in other two, three years,
I've decided to only work six months," he said. "I had a fantastic
life, and now I'm on my second career."
-- By GREG OLIVER, SLAM! Wrestling
Memories
My favorite memory about Ronnie, is when he won the NWA title. Me and my
brother were watching NWA "Saturday night", the show was just about over
when "Good Old" Jim Ross, told us that Ron Garvin was wrestling Ric Flair in
a steel cage for the title, and that they were going to take us there live.
Sure enough they brought it to us just in time to see Ron jumping off the
ropes and rolling up Ric for the 1, 2, 3!! What a great memory.
Jason Rivera, Lorain, Ohio
I used to love watching Ronnie Garvin wrestle. he would tie people up and make them look like human pretzels. I remember one match he was in. He had stepped in front of his opponent's arm with his left leg, held on to his left leg held on to his right wrist and had a foot on his back to hold him down. his opponet looked in severe pain.
When he spoke it was straight forward and confidant he has always been my favorite wrestler and I would love to watch him wrestle again when he does for hall of fame shows.
George Pulsifer
I'll never forget my first wrestling match. My pop
took my brother and I to the Wheeling Civic Center in
Wheeling WV in August of '85. We had been watching
wrestling on TBS (cable just came to our area) and we
heard a show was coming to town. They always
advertised by having the wrestlers talk about who they
were fighting in your local city so it was exciting
when they mentioned your area. Upon arriving at the
civic center the NWA stars were having an autograph
and photo session for the fans. The biggest star there
was Ronnie Garvin and he signed our program and some
papers and made special attention for some crippled
kids who came to the show. He won that night, and as
far as I remember he came to Wheeling for every show.
He was our favorite just for being there.
Andy Smith, Yuma, AZ
The first time I saw Ronnie Garvin was in the old All star wrestling that Angelo Poffo ran. Some of the stars that wrestled there were champion Randy "the Macho Man " Savage, Bob Roop, Bob Orton jr., the Miser (Angelo Poffo), Terry Gibbs, and others. One of the great stand outs was "the One Man Gang" Ronnie Garvin. Savage was "the Man" but the one guy who came across with his genuine toughness and skill as a worker was Ronnie Garvin. I remember Garvin teaming
with a very young Terry Gibbs to win the world tag team championships. It was a great blend of the old tough veteran and the young green rookie. Right before we lost the feed to the All Star show Garvin was turning on Gibbs after losing the titles asking him, " Wasn't the money enough for you! Wasn't the fame enough for you." slapping Gibbs. I then remember Garvin resurfacing in WCW. He had a great feud with then WCW booker Jake "the Snake" Roberts. Garvin came off as a genuine tough guy whose chops were very stiff and whose Garvin stomp took him to the WCW world title
beating Ric Flair. Garvin then was given the entire month off to train for the rematch with Flair. This was what was attributed to him losing the belt. He was rusty while Flair had continued to wrestle and stay in top ring shape. Garvin then briefly turned heel using his lethal Hands of Stone in a short feud with the EGG SUCKING DOG Dusty Rhodes. Ronnie then went to the WWF and wrestled a feud with Greg Valentine. Then he was off to the Caribbean to fight Carlos Colon.
After that I lost track of The Hands of Stone. Thanks for the memories Ronnie Garvin, the man who made famous the (in a Canadian accent) the " I don't care hair cut!!!"
John Mozuke, Fairmont, West Virginia
I remember seeing Ronnie Garvin vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine in 1989(?) in Tallahassee, FL during a WWF live event. Both men were getting older, but were in great shape, especially Ronnie. The event was headlined by The Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant match, but when Valentine and Garvin came out, they were fantastic. As good wrestlers who are good friends often do, then put on a GREAT match, beating, punching and slapping the hell out of each other...you could hear Valentine's chops on Garvin all over the arena, and he would be beet-red afterwards. I grew up watching his matches in Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he stomped opponents more often than not and was always of course, in amazing physical shape...great memories from a great wrestler!
John Powell, Gainesville FL
I was Ronnie's brother-in-law years ago and lived two houses from him. I went to a match with him once in North
Carolina and it was the experience of my life. Pulling into the gate entrance and people sticking ther hands into the car
and shouting, we love you ronnie and in the bleachers where I sat. They even asked me for my autograph, can you believe
that? We had some good times together and a lot of good memories. He was always a gentleman.
John Durham
I remember Ronnie Garvin's feud with Boris Malenko and at Chilhowee Park when
he tried to drown him in the toilet. I also remember him beaten the hell out of
Bob Orton Jr.
B1942B@aol.com
MY brother and I used to watch NWA wrestling every Saturday. Ronnie Garvin was always my favorite of all time. I
remember watching the match when he won the NWA title from Ric Flair. I was so happy watching him roll Flair up in the
cage and getting the 3 count. I also loved his finishing maneuver when the opponent would be dazed and turn around
while Ronnie nailed him with the Hands Of Stone knocking them silly. thanks for the memories Ronnie, I'll never forget you!!
Take care, hope sometime I can meet you in my lifetime!!!!
Russell Hull, Pendleton, Oregon
When I first started watching wrestling on TBS back in the early to mid-80's I got to watch Ronnie Garvin fight some of the most
NASTY fights I've every seen. Some of the matches he had with Jake Roberts for the Georgia TV title were awesome. I actually got to see
him and King Kong Bundy battle the Road Warriors for the National tag team titles - live! - in Grand Rapids Michigan. I always liked "the
man with the hands of stone" and in my opinion one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time. It's men like Garvin that make men like
DiBiase, Flair and the rest superstars!
ADM, Orillia, Ontario
Ronnie Garvin was one of my favorite wrestlers. In fact, the first match I
ever saw was Garvin vs. Ox Baker for the old NWA National Title. One of my
fondest wrestling memories is going with my Dad to see Garvin defend the NWA
World Title against Tully Blanchard at the old Cleveland Public Hall when I
was 12 years old; they fought to a bloody double-countout and the fans
almost rioted afterwards. Talk about real heat! What I liked the most about
Garvin is that he looked and talked like a regular guy; you could relate to
him. And you also got the impression from his straightforward,
meat-and-potatoes style that he was legitimately tough. If modern-day
wrestling had more guys like that -- instead of no-talent bums bashing each
other with trash cans, unfunny backstage skits and prefabricated pretty boys
spouting scripted, focus gorup-approved catchphrases -- maybe it wouldn't be
so lame.
Mike Manges, Barberton, Ohio
