.

In the early-to-mid 1970s Pat Patterson was consistently Roy's top drawing wrestler. Pat had also become Roy's right-hand man, and when Roy could not attend the TV tapings or a spot show somewhere, Pat ran the show. Pat did the booking for the territory, too. Pat left the promotion in 1975 and Roy found him impossible to replace. Pat later became one of the principle architects of the WWF, now WWE and is their Vice President. He spends most of his time there today training their inexperienced wrestlers how to wrestle and spends a lot of time with wrestlers who cannot work in front of a microphone. That was always Pat's specialty.

I took this photo in 1972 at the TV station when Chuck Coyle, a detective with the Sacramento Police Department came to present an award to Pat to thank him for his assistance with the Police Athletic League. Chuck was in charge of the police protection at the house shows at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium for many years.

Pat began his career as "Pretty Boy Pat Patterson" in the early 1960s and was described as "the pink trunk, lipstick wearing" wrestler by THE RING WRESTLING magazine.

.

	"As Pat's partner, I studied his every move, and tried to emulate him. But, the best I could do was to make an attempt at imitating his wrestling style. It was impossible to duplicate it, the man was light-years ahead of me, and I never became the worker that he was. In the ring, Patterson was a flawless heel -- vicious and aggressive. Everything he did was believable, and was done with perfect timing.  Even to this day, I still think he throws the best mounted punch in the business. Pat would build the heat to a fever pitch.  Then, when the babyface started his comeback, this 'vicious' heel would cower and start begging off, feeding the babyface with precision -- thus avoiding the impending riot."  Billy Graham

.

.Pat was a great bleeder. He always cut himself twice over one eye -- you can see the two vertical cuts above his eye if you look close. I always tried to crop his fingers out of his bloody pictures because that is where he hid his blade -- under some white adhesive tape. He had a little tab he could pull on to expose a small corner of a razor blade at the tip of his finger. I have some photos where you can see him staring at his finger, right in front of his face, trying to check that the tape was covering the blade after his blade job. Most wrestlers cut themselves once in the center of their foreheads and they rarely bled like Pat did.

.

.

		"Without a doubt, Patterson took the best headshot to the ring post that I've ever seen. Everyone, including me, was convinced that he'd just torn his head off, as there was no question that his forehead had made contact with that post -- again, with perfect timing. In 1971, a headshot to the steel ring post meant only one thing --  you had to be hurt, you had to be cut -- it's only logical. When flesh meets steel, that equals blood." "And when Patterson got color, it always came from the right side of his forehead over his right eye. The blood flowing down just one side of his face was very impressive to me, it seemed to give the injury a more credible look. And that's what the San Francisco territory was built on, logic and credibility.  No helter skelter, impromptu, last-minute finishes or decisions.  Every angle, every finish, in every town, was thoroughly thought out and plotted by a brilliant promoter." Billy Graham

This is another photo I took the same night. This is another one of the photos where you can see him checking the blade on his finger which I cropped out of the right side. I will dig out this negative and re-scan it so you can see what I never showed in the programs in the days of kayfabe. (I still feel a little weird writing about this stuff!) These photos were taken in Richmond, California. When I dig out the negatives I will show you who his opponent was that night, too.

.

.

.

.

Pat was very friendly and a real joker. He was one of my favorite wrestlers. When I knew I was going to stop producing the programs to go to West Virginia with Frankie Cain (The Great Mephisto) he was the only wrestler I gave a complete set of my programs to. I had several complete sets of my programs bound into hardcover books -- I gave one to Roy and one to Pat and one to my mom. I kept one for me, too. I wish I had 100 of them made -- who would have known people would want copies of those programs in 2003?

You could always tell when Pat was running a show instead of Roy because he was a lot more serious and the rest of the boys seemed a lot more comfortable.

.

.

.

.

After I joined the Navy I was stationed at the U.S. Submarine Base across the river from New London, Connecticut. Most of the guys on my submarine knew I had been involved with Pro Wrestling in an earlier life. A bunch of us went out to the matches when they came to Connecticut in 1979 and I couldn't believe it when Pat came out for the main event! He noticed me during his match and talked to my friends after the show even though he was a heel again. Everyone was disappointed we didn't have a camera! (That was a first for me.)

For more photos of Pat, go the page about Pat Patterson and Billy Graham when they were NWA World Tag Team Champions.

.

.

Pat Patterson went through a period in 1970 and 1971 where he often wore a mask. If he ran into trouble during a match, he took a "foreign object" out of his tights and slipped it into the forehead, and headbutted his opponent into unconsciousness. In this photo he has a hold on Gerry Monti during a tag team match on Big Time Wrestling. That is Antonio Parisi in the background.

.

.

.

Before that match with Gerry Monte (above) Pat Patterson got into an argument with Promoter Roy Shire (in front) about wearing a mask, while Mr. Paul DeMarco and Dr. Ken Ramey listen in with Hank Renner. Gerry Monte is in the ring waiting and Dr. Richard Russell from the California State Athletic Commission sits at the timekeepers table.

[ Sign my Guestbook]Ê-Ê[Read my Guestbook ]

Copyright 2004 Viktor Berry •

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Pro Wrestling Roy Shire Pro Wrestling History pictures photos Ray Stevens NWA WWE WWF Canadian wrestlers.

.