Once I Was a Champion Page #2

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He got into wrestling and within a

year was already a state champion.

A lot of people called

him the king of Caprock

'cause Caprock

was his high school.

And a lot of people called him

the king of Caprock

because he was such a nice,

smart, and tough individual

when he left the place.

He was well-respected

and well-known.

I had a computer science class

the beginning

of the semester, and I go,

and everybody sits down,

and, you know, this big guy...

I was the kid

that always liked to sit

in the back of the class.

I was the littlest kid.

I had braces.

I had glasses.

You know.

So I sat

in the back of the class,

and this big guy sits

in front of me with a buzz cut

and a denim jacket, and I kept

hearing the teacher say,

"Evan, Evan,"

and I kept looking up, going,

"is she talking

about Evan Tanner?"

And, all of a sudden,

in the middle of nowhere,

he turns around and says,

"hi, I'm Evan.

Who are you?"

And just starts talking

to me out of the blue,

and the first couple of days,

I was scared to death.

I was, like, just waiting

for the shoe to drop.

Just like, "okay, this guy's

gonna start giving me grief. "

And it never happened.

I mean, from that point on...

then I ended up joining up

with wrestling that year,

and he insisted

I walk to practice with him.

Our high school wrestling coach

was a guy named Jerome Stewart.

Coach Stewart

was this bowtie-wearing,

Clark Kent-glasses guy,

but, you know, he'd get you

out on the mat,

and he could just tear you up.

I mean,

the guy was a great wrestler.

And, you know, it became a drive

of Evan's to...

he wanted to beat

coach Stewart, you know.

And to us, you know, as kids, that

was just like, "okay, whatever.

You know,

good luck with that. "

High school-level wrestler,

and you're talking

about a guy

who's an all-American.

I remember one time

where coach got the best of him,

which you would think

that's a natural thing,

you know,

the guy's experience level,

and I just remember

Evan being in tears.

You know, his goal was to

be an Olympic gold medalist.

When things didn't work out

that way through college,

and when he got a chance to

compete, you know, in the show here

that he went on to own, you know,

he was kind of a natural at it.

He had that wrestling background,

and, once he saw something,

he picked it up.

I met him here

in Amarillo, Texas.

He was running the show that he was

a champion of, called the USWF.

And it was

an open-handed striking company

with... which you can allow kicks

and knees,

and I ran into Evan Tanner

in 1996

after we had a couple of shows,

and I tried to talk him

into fighting for me,

and he was shy, he was even

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