![]() Excited at the possibilities, the nine-year-old Clark bought himself an autograph book at a dime store. ![]() Around 1958, he started going to the Marigold Arena in Chicago with his family, where it was usually young wrestlers, including some trainees, going at it.Īlready in love with pro wrestling, it was even more magical when, in 1959, his grandfather took him to the Intentional Amphitheatre where the main eventers fought. Later, when their black and white television was more portable, they’d set up the TV outside for others to come and watch too. “He was that open, and he was so willing to give advice, and to talk to and to help out the younger the guys that were in the locker room.”Ĭlark grew up on Chicago’s west side, and saw pro wrestling late on Saturday nights. “Anybody who sat in the back with him, immediately felt like they knew him forever,” he said. It was a way to pay back someone who was a mentor, said Moretti, a manager. He gave such a nice speech.” The kicker was they’d set aside Clark’s ticket money in a white envelope, and presented him with his “payday” at the end. Instead, Moretti said they pulled the “swerve” and “presented the award to Kev, who was dumb-founded. Moretti recounted that they made Clark pay his $25 for entry, and asked him to present an award to another honouree. Organizers Carmine DeSpirito, Joe Mauriello and Chazz Moretti announced that Nacho Guerrero was to receive a Lifetime Achievement award, but then they hatched a plan for a second one for Clark. Knowing that their friend’s life was near an end, as Clark had decided against further treatment, that wrestling family conspired last fall at the Midwest Wrestling Reunion to celebrate his life. It makes me want to tear up,” he said, set up facing a camera, some of his memorabilia and awards behind him. ![]() “What this business means to me - the sense of family, the sense of camaraderie, it means so much. The videos provide a wonderful recap, with some funny stories, such as his mother storming the ring to save him not long after her husband and his father passed away, as well as poignant thoughts on his time in professional wrestling. “It’s almost time to take it home,” he said in the first, under his hood. Knowing that his battle with esophageal cancer was coming to an end, “Zebra Kid” Kevin Clark, a worker in the Midwest since the late 1970s, created a series of videos on Facebook that detailed his career. Zebra Kid Kevin Clark shows off a tattoo.
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