We are proud to host and archive this special text version of the 5 1/2 hour audio podcast of the Kernodle tribute that was originally published in two parts over the summer of 2021. The complete unabridged version of the podcast tribute (including a wealth of audio clips) can be found here at MidAtlanticPod.com. Follow Mike on Twitter at @MidAtlanticPod.
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By Mike Sempervive
Mid-Atlantic Championship Podcast (@midatlanticpod)
Special to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Born on May 2, 1950 and hailing from Burlington, North Carolina, at the age of 7, young Don Kernodle knew what his life goal was as soon as he saw professional wrestling on television.
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| Photograph by Ginger Layman Lynch |
Attending high school at Eastern Alamance before moving on to Elon College, located ten minutes west of his hometown, Kernodle was a very good athlete. Not only would he serve the school as a four-year member of the wrestling team, Kernodle also got into powerlifting, as well as becoming a national championship-level arm wrestler, as well a practitioner of judo - which was a rarity, at the time, especially for those not in the military. That variety of physical talents in his toolbox would become Kernodle’s saving grace during his first experience with the pro wrestling business, which he was so smitten by.
At a Tuesday night house show at Dorton Arena, Kernodle mustered up the nerve to approach then-president of Jim Crockett Promotions John Ringley about getting into the sport. To his surprise, Ringley told Kernodle to come to the studios at WRAL-TV, the next day.
When he arrived, he found out he’d be facing off against Bob Roop, who represented America as a heavyweight wrestler during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. A newcomer to the area, Roop was doing an open challenge where he’d offer $2000 to any layperson who could defeat him in less than ten minutes.
After signing a battery of hold-harmless release forms presented to him by the company’s jack-of-all-trades, Les Thatcher, Kernodle was then placed into a dressing room. The only other person in said room? Bob Roop.
According to the interview he did with the Mid-Atlantic Gateway website, Kernodle said: “I’m nervous; I’m scared. I didn’t know what to expect. So, when I sit down, I’m only about ten feet away from Roop as he’s lacing up his boots. He’s bent over, and he hasn’t even raised his head yet… finally he raised up his head, looked at me and said, ‘You must be the guy that I’m wrestling tonight.’”
Kerndole continued, “‘Yes sir, Mr. Roop, I am.’ I walked over to him and shook his hand and said, ‘My name is Don Kernodle. This is nothing personal with you…this is the only chance I’ve got to get into professional wrestling, so I want to try it… they were trying to intimidate me. Yeah, they were really trying to psyche me out…which they did!”