Amherst-born wrestling star Rocky Johnson died Wednesday at the age of 75, according to World Wrestling Entertainment.
Johnson, a famed fighter in his own right, was also the father of Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson.
He retired from wrestling in 1991 and had been living in Florida with his third wife.
Interviewed ahead of the publication of his book Soulman: The Rocky Johnson Story, Johnson, told Chronicle Herald writer Bill Spurr that he still has friends and relatives in Amherst but hadn't been back to visit in the past five years.
WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson has passed away. https://t.co/9uxrICJKxb
— WWE (@WWE) January 15, 2020
Johnson had been born as Wayde Douglas Bowles.
"His ring name came from combining those of his two boyhood boxing idols, Rocky Marciano and Jack Johnson," Spurr wrote in October, "and when he came to the phone he had been watching a tape of an old boxing match. His original plan was to be a boxer, in fact he was a sparring partner for George Foreman as Foreman prepared to fight Joe Frazier."
Back in the heyday of his career, things were different, Johnson said in October.
“When you look at these wrestlers today, and they’re making four or five million dollars a year, and all the glamour and glory, they don’t realize what we went through. The best thing that ever happened was when they brought it out as wrestling entertainment.”
GOODBYE BROTHER ROCKY JOHNSON. I LOVE YOU FOREVER YOU ARE MY FAMILY. GOD BLESS YOU pic.twitter.com/43yc60Yh2u
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) January 15, 2020
"Johnson’s sports-entertainment career began in the mid-1960s when he made a memorable impression in the National Wrestling Alliance," the WWE wrote in announcing his death. "However, Johnson found his highest levels of success when he began his WWE tenure in 1983.
"The physically imposing and wildly charismatic Johnson had several memorable rivalries with the likes of Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Don Muraco and Adrian Adonis. He found his greatest success when he teamed up with Tony Atlas as The Soul Patrol. The two men became the first African-American World Tag Team Champions in WWE history when they defeated The Wild Samoans on Dec. 10, 1983."
Johnson was inducted by his son, who has not yet publicly spoken about his father's death, into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.
RELATED:
The Rocky road to success: The Rock's father talks about growing up in Nova Scotia in his new book
