The passing of New Zealand professional wrestling legend Steve Rickard may well stir a few memories among Wanganui fans of the grappling game.
He was a regular performer in the city and organised wrestling programmes at the Royal Opera House and the War Memorial Hall in the 1960s and 1970s.
Rickard was a visionary, establishing a popular and long-running television series, On The Mat, as well as promoting pro wrestling around the country.
He wrestled around the world and built contacts which enabled him to bring noted grapplers to New Zealand.
He formed a close friendship with Wanganui's world heavyweight champion, Pat O'Connor, and late in his career Pat returned from the United States to wrestle Al Hobman under the Rickard banner before a packed Wellington Town Hall.
Rickard's agent in Wanganui was former Chronicle sports editor John Phillips, who did the backroom work for the promotions here.
Like others who met the affable Rickard, Mr Phillips found the wrestler/promoter easy to deal with.
Rickard, who had an extensive amateur wrestling background and who trained and mentored amateurs and professionals, decided to wrestle full-time after a career in the police, in which he became a detective with the Wellington vice squad.
Celebrated Wellington journalist Alex Veysey noted at the time of Rickard's life-changing decision that the wrestler was swapping handcuffs for wristlocks.
Rickard's success in pro wrestling led to him being a hotelier before, in his early retirement years, he occupied the top floor of a high-rise apartment building overlooking much of Wellington Harbour.
Subsequently he moved to Hawke's Bay and then to Australia, where he died on Sunday, aged 85.
