The other night here in town I ran into James Booker, one of Moondog Spot's sons, we chit chatted, talked a little wrestling, shook hands and said goodbye. As he was walking away I began thinking how much his Dad helped me. I thought about how much his Dad helped a lot of us in this area. Everyone here has a "Moondog Story" and that's why I and I'm sure alot of you out there are missing Moondog.
Larry was truly a class act, he was business but not a prick about it. When I had the opportunity to work with him he was at a time trying to teach young guys the importance of the old school way. He was trying the best he knew how to teach guys respect for the business he had given his life to. Some took his words to heart, others were just hard headed or at least they thought they were until Moondog Spot swung something at them.
Nobody cared more, knew more or made more out of their gimmick than Moondog Spot. He knew without any doubt how a "moondog" should be presented to the crowd. And he wasn't afraid to tell people when they had it wrong. I first hand saw the difference between doing it right and doing it wrong. I saw Larry let a promoter book him one way, then I saw the difference when Larry booked it the way he felt it should be. The difference was undeniable.
Larry and I worked a program with each other for 4 months. Larry had little ways of testing you, to see if you had what it took. We did a pull apart during this time and he had two handfuls of my hair as wrestlers were trying to pull him away, it was yanking on my every so tender head. For ,I swear, a straight 5 minutes he had me by the hair as tears welled up in my eyes. When the actually "pull apart" actually happened I headed to the back. My scalp was throbbing, it hurt like crazy. Larry came to the back and said "They were really trying to pull me away, so I had to grab your hair.. that was a shoot, are you ok?". I shook his hand and said "I'm fine, felt fine.. thank you."
That's the way he tested a lot of us. Some guys would get hit with chairs, boards, exc... and just cower away and that's when he'd really hit them. When Larry hit me, I hit him just as hard. Larry didn't want anyone to cower away, he wanted you to stand up and work with him. That's how you earned his respect. Some thought just by taking his hits, that was his respect, that wasn't the case. He joked about those that would just go out there and let him eat their lunch.
I remember the night he passed away. Chris Rocker got the call from Will Gibson that Larry had a heart attack working a match in Memphis. We didn't know the extent of it all yet, we just kind of were in shock. When news came that he had actually passed away it was a tough thing for all of us. I went to the funeral, as we all did, to pay our respects. Larry was well respected and it showed on that day. There were legends there and they openly wept for their friend as did I and knowing Larry like I did, I know that he wouldn't have wanted to leave his family that early but I know in my heart that he found solace that he died doing what he loved. We all could only be that lucky, I promise.
