Harley Race

Photo credit: tnawrestling.com

Real name: Harley Leland Race
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 245 lbs.
Date of birth: April 11, 1943
Date of death: August 1, 2019
From: Quitman, MO
Pro debut: 1960
Trained by: Buddy Austin, Ray Gordon and Gus Karras
Finishing move: The Piledriver

Biography

– Early in his career, tragedy struck and he was involved in a major car accident. Harley’s injuries were so bad that doctors told him he may never walk and would definitely never wrestle again.
– Race teamed with Larry “the Ax” Hennig in the American Wrestling Association.
– January 30, 1965: Race & Larry Hennig beat Crusher Lisowski & Dick the Bruiser to win the AWA World Tag Team titles.
– August 7, 1965: Race & Hennig beat Crusher Lisowski & Verne Gagne to win the AWA World Tag Team titles again.
– March 24, 1973: Race defeated Dory Funk, Jr. in Kansas City, Missouri to win the NWA World Heavyweight title for the first time.
– February 6, 1977: Race defeated Terry Funk in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to win the NWA World Heavyweight title for the second time.
– August 26, 1979: Race defeated Dusty Rhodes in Orlando, Florida to win the NWA World Heavyweight title for the 3rd time.
– November 7, 1979: Race defeated Giant Baba in Amagasaki, Japan to win the NWA World Heavyweight title for the 4th time.
– September 9, 1980: Race defeated Giant Baba in Ohtsu, Japan to win the NWA World Heavyweight title for the 5th time.
– May 1, 1981: Race defeated Tommy Rich in Gainsville, Georgia to win the NWA World Heavyweight title for the 6th time.
– February 10, 1983: Race defeated Ric Flair in Saint Louis, Missouri to win the NWA World Heavyweight title for the 7th time.
– March 21, 1984: Race defeated Ric Flair in Wellington, New Zealand to win the NWA World Heavyweight title for the 8th time.
– Summer 1986: Race was forced to turn over his NWA Missouri Title because he was leaving for the WWF.
– Race signed with the WWF where he was originally known as “Handsome” Harley Race and managed by Bobby Heenan.
– Race won the 1986 King of the Ring tournament and was known as “The King of Wrestling”.
– Race became a manager in WCW, managing men like Paul Orndorff, Big Van Vader and the Collosal Kongs.
– Race managed Super Invader (Hercules Hernandez), Yoshi Kwan (Chris Champion), Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash), Mr. Hughes.
– Race managed Vader to three WCW World Heavyweight championships.
– May 22, 1994: Race was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame.
– 1994: Race was inducted into the Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame.
– 1999: Race was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.
– Race created his own wrestling promotion known as World League Wrestling (WLW).
– Race was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 13, 2004.
– In 2006, Race was given the Mike Mazurki award at the Cauliflower Alley Banquet in Las Vegas, NV.
– On March 1, 2009, Race was inducted into the GERWECK.NET Hall of Fame.