SUPER TRAMP BIOGRAPHY

Written by Eric Nauerth

Who is Super Tramp? Super Tramp lived in a small city and came from a very good home. Like other kids, he grew up watching professional wrestling on television. He has a younger brother, younger sister, and an older sister. His dad was a working man, while his mother stayed at home. Super Tramp was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. When he was 16, his family moved to the United States.

Super Tramp grew up watching wrestling from California on his television. He watched such wrestlers as The Destroyer, Bo-Bo Brazil, El Mongol, Ray Stevens, and the Baby Destroyer. However, his favorite wrestler was The “Masked” Destroyer.

When he turned 19, Super Tramp attended his first professional wrestling event at the Portland Sports Arena, located in Northeast Portland. He began visiting, and making friends with various wrestlers. As a result, he learned about the different aspects of the profession. Wrestling at that time was under the promotion of Don Owen, and his brother Elton.

Super tramp has many close friends in the wrestling industry. Some of these friends include Lonnie Mayne, Mickey Doyle, Prince Tapu, Tricky Ricky Renaldo, Apache-Gringo, Lord Johnathon Boyd (of the Royal Kangaroos), Big Bill Francis, Blackjack Randy Morse, The Haiti Kid, and Cowboy Bob Lang. Additionally, Apache Bull Ramos was also his second cousin on his mother’s side. Most of his Friends from when he Wrestled are all gone now.. His best friend today is Cowboy Tex Thompson, who Wrestles ( Old School ) out of Portland, Oregon. He also considers Sabastain Ice one of the Best and Toughest Wrestlers in the Indy scene today.

One night, while at the Long Branch Water Hole, which is located in Northwest Portland, Super Tramp began talking with one of the Bartenders. He told her how it was a dream to become a Professional Wrestler. She laughed and said, “My ex-husband is a retired wrestler due to a car accident .” When she told Super Tramp who her husband was, only known as L.M., he immediately recognized the name.

One day, Super Tramp arranged to meet with L.M. at his home in Hazel Dell, Washington. He remembered how they laughed when they first met because Super Tramp had been described as a " average size guy.” At that time, Super Tramp measured up at six-foot-three, and two-hundred and eighty-five pounds. L.M. said, You’re a lot bigger than I thought!” They talked for several hours about wrestling, things he already knew about the profession, and certain things that other wrestlers had told him.

Although Super Tramp wanted L.M. to train him, it was not even considered until Super Tramp took a special oath amongst wrestlers, known as “Kayfabe.” Kayfabe is a vow to never divulge any of the wrestling secrets to anyone. To this day, Super Tramp still holds to his vow of secrecy.

A week later, Super Tramp began his training with L.M. which consisted of having him run a mile, three times a week, on the track at Benson Technical High School. Super Tramp would spend five hours each day on his training. He would learn the basic holds, and how to get out of them. On Friday nights, they would go out to the Nighthawk and Jockey Club to drink and play pool. About two months later, L.M. took Super Tramp to a retired wrestlers home in Orchards, Washington. There, the retired wrestler had a ring set up in his garage, and Super Tramp would learn how to run and work off of the ropes.

When Super Tramp began his training, he had paid L.M. $1000.00 in advance. About seven months later, L.M. told Super Tramp that he wanted his car (a 1966 Dodge Cornet 440) for part of the payment. Because they had only agreed on the $1000.00, Super Tramp ended his training. He later met and became friends with Benny Ramirez, also known as “The Mummy.” He would train and workout with Benny two, to three times a week. Super Tramp and Benny became very good friends. Benny had wrestled throughout Canada for several years, and began sending recommendation letters of Super Tramp to several promoters in Canada. Super Tramp received answers from Edmonton, Calgary, and Ontario. In Januaary of 1975, Super Tramp had his first match.. This match was against “The Lumberjack”, in Edmonton, which he lost.

For the next four years, Super Tramp wrestled for several promotions throughout Canada. He wrestled against such stars as The Mongolian Stomper, The Kelley Twins – Mike and Pat, Cowboy Frankie Lane, Karl Krupp, Curt Von Hess, Billy Powers, Bobby Shields, and The Canadian Wild Man. During This time, Super Tramp only teamed up with Billy Powers and Bobby Shields, who were regular Tag Partners.

Over time, Super Tramp has also teamed up with Andre the Giant on two different occasions. He remembers the first time he met Andre. His hand was like a baseball catcher’s glove. The second time, he was talking with a fan when Andre came up from behind and slapped him on the shoulder. The impact knocked him about 10 feet forward. When he turned around to see who it was, Andre was standing behind him laughing.

For the first year of his career, Super Tramp had very long brown hair and a beard. However, for the next 8 years, he wore a mask. He also was considered to be a “heel”, a term used to describe a “bad guy” in wrestling. During his career, Super Tramp began experiencing problems with his left knee locking up during his matches and doctors had no idea what was causing this. So, at the end of December in 1978, Super Tramp hung up his tights and called it quits for a few years. During his time off, Super Tramp’s knee began to feel better, so he returned to the ring in 1983 and wrestled until the end of 1987. Super Tramp wrestled in over 2000 matches, winning approximately about one-third of them. Today, he still considers it to be “The best Profession ever!”

Super Tramp was married for almost eight years, and raised two step-daughters. When I asked him about his private life, he simply smiled and said, “That’s it… My private life is my private life!” He still continues to show his support by going to the local matches. He said, “I respect everyone who steps into the ring. It’s a tough profession, even if you’re not that damn good!” I asked him who his favorite wrestler is, and he said, “My dear friend Lonnie Mayne, who was taken from us in a horrible car accident in August of 1978. I love and miss him to this day, and he will always live within my heart!” His favorite wrestler was Wage Reichten, who was wrestling in the Pacific Northwest. He said, “The first time I ever saw him wrestle was at BAW Wrestling in Mc Minnville, Oregon in 2006. He told Wage that he brought back a lot of memories of when he wrestled good “old-school, ass-kicking” matches.

On May 4th of 2008, in Springfield, Oregon, the Canadian Assassin asked Super Tramp if he would walk him out to the ring. The Canadian Assassin was in a match against “The Joe Show”, Joe Wylde. Super tramp stood by at ringside, waiting for the opportunity to get involved. When the referee was distracted, the Assassin hooked-up Joe from behind and brought him to the corner, where Super Tramp knocked him halfway across the ring with his brass knuckles. A few weeks later, the Assassin talked to Super Tramp about having him as his Manager. Super Tramp is now the Manager of who he calls “One of the greatest wrestlers to come out of Canada since Brett “The Hitman” Heart.” I asked Super Tramp who the toughest man he ever came up against was, and he said “Archie Gouldie, The Mongolian Stomper.” He was 71 years old as of 2009 and was still wrestling in the Kentucky area. Super Tramp pointed out, “I admire and have total respect for him!” When

it comes to the Canadian Assassin and Super Tramp – Keep your ears open, you’ll be hearing more about them. They are known as “The Canadians”, under the promotion of Portland Extreme Wrestling. One last thing that Super Tramp added was that most of his friends that he knew are up in that “Big Arena in the Sky”, and one day he will join them. There he will defeat the ones he couldn't beat here in this life in The Squared Circle !!!

Super Tramp has never had a manager, and has always been a “Free Agent”. He has been in every kind of match you can think of. Some of these matches include Mask, Hair, Loser Leaves Town, Chain, Strap, Death (several versions), and Valet for a Week. Of all the matches he has been in, his least favorite is Brass Knuckle matches. He was once hit across the forehead with a two-by-four in a match against “The Lumberjack”.

On December 20th, 1993, Super Tramp lost one of his trainers in a fatal accident. Benny Ramirez was flying over his home country of Columbia, South America, when his airplane crashed.

When thinking of the many opponents he has had, Super Tramp considers the toughest to be The Mongolian Stomper, Kurt Von Hess, and Butcher Brannigan. The one man he always wanted to wrestle, but never had the honor to, was Gil Hanes (one of the Greats of the 70’s). He was the only man during that time to hold both the North American Heavyweight Belt, and the North American Tag-Team titles at the same time. Super Tramp is a memberof the Cauliflower Alley Club and attends their yearly reunion in Las Vegas, Nevada.