GEORGE " The Animal " STEELE
George "The Animal" Steele says some fans remember him as a monster heel in the 1960s, evil and despised. Most remember him as a cartoonish creature, who uttered few words and clutched a stuffed animal named "Mine." He realizes some only know of him as a character on the Legends of Wrestling videogame series. Steele figures he will see fans of all eras Saturday, May 10, when he signs autographs at Al n' Ann's Collectibles in McHenry. The signing runs from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the shop, which is on Route 31, just south of Route 120. He said he enjoys seeing what fans will bring in. He saved barely any mementos from his career. "People will bring in old, torn-up turnbuckles," he said. "Where in the world did you get that? They'd pick it up after the match and put it in a plastic bag." Steele talked about his career. Among the highlights: His start
Steele began wrestling as a part-time job to supplement his income as a teacher. He said pro wrestling paid better than teaching drivers' education in summer school.
"It was strictly for the money," he said.
Not exactly lovable
He says his early career run as a vicious heel was nothing like his 1980s character.
"I was in the top three wild, brawling-type heels," he said. "When Wrestlemania came in and the business changed drastically, my character became a cartoon."
He began his career in 1960.
"A bodyslam could be a finish," he said. "I would go to the northeast, which was a stronghold of the WWWF, as it was then. I'd go back to school, and when I'd return I'd change my character so it wouldn't be redundant. I've just always been able to adjust."
Green tongue
"Even as a wild, serious wrestler, I had a green tongue," he said. "We were doing TV way back when. I'd had a drink, and I didn't want the promoter to know it, so I put some Chlorets in my mouth. I didn't know the tongue was green. I went to Pittsburgh and fans had green tongues, so I started doing it all the time."
Eating turnbuckles
Another characteristic that predates his cartoonish heyday is the practice of eating turnbuckles.
"I was in Pittsburgh," he said. "It was about 1965 or 66, and they used to do a studio show. There'd be about 300 in the studio, and they'd put plywood behind the people, and paint faces so it looked like there were more. They had a lot of giveaways, and at one particular show, they gave away satin pillows, the kind you'd put on couches."
"I was beating up on somebody," he added. "A lady got mad at me, and she threw a pillow. So I wondered what to do. If I sit on it, it's going to be boring. So I bit it."
That got a good reaction.
"I couldn't believe all the stuffing it had, and it kept sticking to my hairy body," he said. "It made me look like an abominable snowman. I put the pillow on my opponent, and started choking him. It almost killed him. The fans were going nuts. I get back to the locker room and the guys were laughing. They said, 'If you could get somebody to throw a pillow at you all the time, you've got something.' Then later, I had a match against Chief Jay Strongbow. It just wasn't working. I looked at the turnbuckle and thought, 'Why not?' "
"Later on," he said. "When I became a cartoon character, it became a fetish."
He said wrestlers sometimes would put hot sauce inside the stuffing as a joke.
"Mine" doll
He said calling his doll "Mine" was a natural fit for his childlike character.
"When kids fight over a doll, what do they say? Mine!" he said. "It had Velcro on its hands, so we could slap it on the ropes. I just kind of rolled with it."
On the importance of Wrestlemania
"When I first got into wrestling, TV was black and white and it was in smaller arenas," he said. "The first time my wife came to see me wrestle, she went to get her hair done. The girl asked where she was going and she said, 'pro wrestling.' The girl says, 'I'm sorry.'
"Twenty years later, she's getting her hair done for Wrestlemania in Detroit. The girl asked where she was going and she said, 'Wrestlemania.' The girl asked if she could get some tickets. It really became different."
A different Animal
He still was a brawling bad guy, but needed an idea to turn babyface. His career-changing turn just sort of happened.
"Freddie Blassie was managing the Iron Sheik and Nickolai Volkov," he said. "That summer, he was my manager also. They did a double cross on me and Captain Lou came out. He'd been my manager prior to Fred Blassie. The place was going nuts, I got beat because two bad guys turned their back on the horrible George. Captain Lou patted my head like an animal, like a pet. All of the sudden, people felt sorry for me."
"We were planning on me becoming a babyface, but we didn't know how to do it," he said. "I never sat around thinking about what I was going to do. I just reacted to what the crowd wanted."
Meeting the fans
Steele doesn't like simply sitting and signing, so expect a little show at the event.
"If it's not fun, I ain't going to do it," he said.
He said he cherishes the time spent chatting with fans, as he never had the opportunity before. He said fans were convinced he was as childlike as his character.
"When they'd come to a signing, they didn't know what to expect," he said. "They'd think I can't talk. People say, 'I wonder how you went shopping.' They pictured me throwing cans all over the place."
"When you're in the status of the WWF you were flown in, put in a limousine and wrestled. Rarely did you have the chance to talk to anybody. With my character, that was probably good, but I do enjoy talking to the fans."
He also maintains a website: georgesteele.com
