Through the magic of Facebook I was able to catch up with Chief Jules Strongbow. I did a search and came up with his daughter Melynda. She gave me his number so I gave him a call. He sounded very happy in life. It is sad but so many of the wrestlers you talk to have had troubles once they left the business. So it’s great to speak to someone who has embraced his new life. I met Jules through Afa the Wild Samoan and had the chance to referee his matches many, many times. His matches were very good and very solid. As a referee if you were ever getting tired just get assigned to a match with Jules Strongbow facing Charley Fulton. You could leave the ring rested and revived again. The only problem would be keeping a straight face Jules always like to see if he could make me laugh during a match. If you know me well there then you may not believe this but there was a time I had the same problem with Jerry Lawler. It was practically impossible to keep a straight face with his constant bantering.
I remember watching wrestling from California and seeing Frank Hill wrestle on many occasions. I didn’t know anything about him but that he was a “good†guy and in those days. I loved the good guys. I can remember watching wrestling on WWOR TV CH9 out of NY Chief Jay Strongbow was having a match with someone. I truly don’t remember the details but that match brought out the appearance of his brother Jules. His brother Jules was Frank Hill from California but through the magic of television and in Allentown, PA. Jules Strongbow was born. The Strongbow Bros would become a team and defeat Fuji and Saito for the titles.
I don’t believe that Jules ever got the recognition that he deserved. I truly believe most of that came from jealousy. Over the years Chief Jay Strongbow was a regular in the territory for the most part. His old partner Billy White Wolff (Sheik Adnan AlKaisse) had long ago left the territory. I can tell you that Jay was in very tight with the McMahons and was basically going to be there as long as he wanted to be. He not only wrestled but was an agent as well. The agent position was the equivalent of the current producer position. The one difference was that the agents gave input into matches not lay them out step by step as they do today. The wrestlers didn’t need that type of assistance in those days.
When Jules was brought into the territory it was to give one of the companies more favored employees a reason to be more in the spotlight. In fairness Jay was very popular with the fans. He was not main event star in "A" clubs. The Chief was a very unique individual in many ways. If he liked you, you had it made and if he didn’t you had an uphill battle in front of you. Over the years he had been featured and pushed he was a sometime tag team partner of Bruno Sammartino. He had feuds over the years one with Greg Valentine that I remember culminated in an Indian Strap Match at Madison Square Garden. He was a trusted employee that the company was going to push and went out of the way to do it. I am sure that when Jules was given his notice it was a political move. In Jay’s mind there was only going to be one Indian in the WWF.
My
first trip overseas was to Doha in Qatar. The trip was run by Afa “The Wild
Samoan†and Jules was also on it. I was very surprised to hear from Jules that
one of his daughters was now living in Doha. It was a nice experience being
there plus it was also my first plane flight. I have no idea how many of Jules
matches that I worked but it was a lot and I can honestly say that he NEVER
had a bad match that I was in. We traveled to other places like Bermuda and
Egypt and Sydney, Australia which was a huge highlight for many of us.
I was booking a show in nineteen ninety two in Vermont. I was using Jules that
night in the main event. I also used him to assist me in winning what was one
of my very first matches. I was very limited at the time but I was working
with a guy named Scott Taylor who came highly recommended by a referee friend
of mine Billy Silverman. We used him on shows many times and he eventually
made it to WCW and WWF. He sure recommended the right guy for me to work with.
I was a heel in those days so I had Jules hit the wrong as the referee was
distracted and put the sleeper hold on him. How about a heel Indian for a
change? It was Jules idea to turn heel so we eventually let him do it. On this
night we were coming back in an eight man tag team match at the end of the
night so we needed some heat. The place was standing room only. It was funny
when we got there we found out the last time that this place had wrestling Jay
Strongbow was in the main event. In those types of building Strongbow could
carry the load the “B†clubs. So with Jules and Demolition Ax as our top guys,
we did real well that night.
The interesting thing about my opponent that night is that I knew he had it.
He eventually went on to become a WWE star you may know him as Scotty Too
Hotty. It has been about seventeen years since that match and ironically I
will be teaming up with Jimmy “Superfly†Snuka and Scotty Too Hotty in
Leesburg, Fl on June 13th at the Armory. It all comes full circle the longer
that we are here.
I have barely touched on my experiences with Jules Strongbow. I could have
written much more and smiled through a great deal of it. It really boils down
to this great worker, good person, just wanted to feed his family, got out of
the business healthy and moved on to the second phase of his life. We had a
lot of good times together. I hope I can convince him to get out and do some
conventions we will have to see what the future holds.
It is great when in a business that has lately had some negative attention
brought to it via premature deaths and personal financial crisis can share
stories of happiness. It is true that due to poor financial decisions or
personal demons that the wrestling business has had some fallen stars. I don’t
know that our industry has any higher percentage than any other given industry
but sadly perception is reality. The good news is that there is also another
side of the fence. There are the Wendi Richter’s and the Stan Lane’s who
walked away on their own terms when they wanted to. The business decisions
made by promoters many times can force a performer to compromise their
principles. In the case of Richter and Lane they didn’t have the burden of
poor life choices to play the deciding factor about their careers. They still
make occasional appearances when the circumstances are right. When you speak
to both of them they are physically sound and mentally in great places in
their lives. It’s legends like Strongbow, Richter and Lane that can show our
whole industry that success is possible and a happy future is within reach.
Some bad news that I got tonight was that Princess Jasmine the lady wrestler
passed away. She had come to Egypt on another tour run by Afa. Of course Jules
was on that trip too it was a good tour. I can say that Jasmine who was from
the Chicago area and I didn’t get along that well. I wasn’t close to her but
she was also a great talent who never got the breaks she should have gotten. I
worked with her on some Indy’s and in Egypt. It’s sad that she went so soon.
She was a worker like Leilani Kai and Judy Martin were workers. It’s just
another sad loss for our business.
This photo was taken somewhere in Massachusetts after a match Jules had with
Pretty Boy Doug Somers. The was run by Afa the Wild Samoan I was the booker at
the time and head referee. What a pleasure it was and so easy to work with two
masters of the wrestling ring. If you think Jules looks bad Doug was bleeding
just as bad it was a real war that night.
