Another former WWF wrestler passes away...

[owenbrown]

Credit: PWInsider

ERNIE LADD PASSES AWAY
by Dave Scherer (dschererpwi@aol.com) @ 2:16:00 PM on 3/11/2007

The NewsStar.com is reporting (http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070311/UPDATES02/70311008/1006/SPORTS) that legend Big Cat Ernie Ladd has passed away at age 68 after a long battle with cancer. We send out deepest sympathies out to his family.
:'(

Dammit, Shisen stop bumping old threads :foc:

[Loose Cannon]

wow dam. another one. RIP

[Tornado]

Wow, been a rough month or so for these....:(

[FourFifty]

Courtesy of Monroe, LA News-Star]

Ernie Ladd, NFL Hall of Fame football player and wrestler, has died
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com

Ernie Ladd, who rose to fame as a football player but made his name nationally as a wrestler, died overnight, according to family members.

Ladd, 68, had battled cancer — first in his colon, then later in his stomach and bones — since 2004. Born Nov. 28, 1938, in Rayville, but raised in Orange, Texas, he worked through his final years as a pastor in the Louisiana town of Franklin.

Funeral arrangements were still pending today, according to Roslyn Ladd, his wife of more than 45 years.

Selected 15th in the American Football League draft by San Diego out of Grambling College, Ladd appeared in three of that now-defunct league's championship games, winning the 1963 title.

"We were like a family," Ladd told The News-Star in May 2005. "We were one of the first integrated teams, with black players and white players as roommates."

He had entered professional football as a heralded 1960 first-team all-league defensive college lineman under former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson. There, Ladd helped GSU to its first-ever Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

At 6-9 and 315 pounds, he was arguably the biggest GSU star to ever play for Robinson, who remains the all-time winningest football coach in Division I history.

"The first year he was here, he taught me a lesson," Robinson once said. "He told me how good he was. Sure, I'd say. Then he hurt somebody. I'd feel sorry for the people he was tackling."
Elected to four straight AFL All-Star Games from 1962-1965, he later played with the Houston Oilers and the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. While with the Chiefs, he reunited with future Pro Football Hall of Famer Junious "Buck" Buchanan, another Grambling product, and was on the roster for both of Kansas City's Super Bowl appearances.

Ladd began wrestling as a sideline during his rookie AFL season, and found the payday and fame so alluring that eventually he gave up pro football. It was there that he picked up a nickname that would remain with him for life: "Big Cat."

Ladd's storylines resonated during wrestling's earliest flowering as a national attraction, not to mention signature moves that included the "guillotine drop" and a boot to the face. Rivalries with Andre the Giant and Dusty Rhodes helped shape wrestling's 1970s persona.

Today, he's the only person in both the American Football League and World Wrestling Federation halls of fame. Ladd is also a 1994 inductee into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and joined the San Diego Hall of Champions in 2004.

Ladd's knees were so damaged — his first surgery came while still in college — that in his final years, he walked down long staircases backward. But Ladd's boundless spirit was unbowed by his body's failures, as he displayed a touch of humor even after that cancer diagnosis.

"The doctor told me I had three-to-six months to live," Ladd said in 2005, then at the mid-way point in his nearly four year battle with the disease. "I told him Dr. Jesus has the verdict on me."

Ladd was a father of four and grandfather to over a dozen more.

Rest in peace, Big Cat.
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[Xero]

That's a shame.

RIP :(

[SammyG]

Holy fucking shit, that's like 4 in like, what, 3 weeks? RIP

[Rammsteinmad]

Never heard of the guy, but R.I.P.

[Destor]

Wow. You lived more life than most of us will.

[KingofOldSchool]

Jesus Christ.

[KayfabeMan]

Wow, this one hit me pretty hard.

I have the upmost respect for Ernie Ladd and his accomplishments in his life, both in and out of the ring. I remember back in school, in 8th grade, we had Black History Month reports. Everyone did the usual. MLK Jr., Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, etc. - I did my report on Ernie Ladd.

I did hours and hours of re-search, which at the time wasn't as easy as the internet, and scoured magazines, spoke with people and looked through a lot of wrestling books and such. I learned a great deal about his life, his careers, and his family. I gained a great deal of respect for Ernie Ladd, and an A+ in history because of him.

Ever since then I've learned more and more about his career, added a number of items of his to my collection and always spoke well of him. This is truly a great loss to the business and the world, and I will definitely pray for him and his family. I am sure he's up there battling it out with Andre the Dummy, JYD and Gorilla Monsoon all over again.

R.I.P.

[Disturbed316]

Wow :(

[Nervous Ferret]

Somebody call his momma? :(

[Nervous Ferret]

Is that the same guy or no

[KayfabeMan]

No, that's Ernest "The Cat" Miller.

[Nervous Ferret]

my mistake. I love The Cat, this guy I never heard of, but RIP

[The Ravishing One]

RIP

Its a shame.

[NeanderCarl]

I never saw much of his stuff, but he seemed super charismatic in the interviews I've seen. From reading about him (and JR has a new blog remembering him on his website) he seemed like a genuinely nice guy too. R.I.P.

So that's Bam Bam Bigelow, Doug Gentry, Cowboy Lang, Mike Awesome, Bad News Brown, Ray "Thunder" Stern, Jim Melby and now Big Cat Ernie Ladd... it's been a rough year for members of the wrestling community passing so far in 2007. :(

[The One]

May he rest in peace.

For the record, this has been the hardest death for me thus far this year.

[Shaggy]

All I can say is Wow....

R.I.P

[Blitz]

Goddamn, they're coming quick this year.

RIP.

[KingofOldSchool]

Ernie Ladd along with Bobo Brazil broke down barriers for African American professional wrestlers.

Ladd is a TRUE Legend in the business.

[ClockShot]

Goodness. What the hell is going on?

R.I.P. :(

[Xerzes]

RIP

[Innovator]

RIP, sounds like he lived a great life though

[BigDaddyCool]

I'm not saying 68 is old, but it is old for a wrestler.

[94 SVT Cobra]

At least he went of natrual cause's it seems, nothing drug related

[NeanderCarl]

68 is not a BAD innings. Hell, if I get to 68 I'll be happy. But it's still sad, because he could have had another 10-20 years if it wasn't for cancer. Cancer is a bitch. When are we finally going to find a cure for this piece-of-shit disease?

[Nervous Ferret]

Cancer?? AINT THAT A BITCH

[Indifferent Clox]

death comes in 3s and 7s. if you believe in that bullshit.

[M-A-G]

RIP

[NeanderCarl]

death comes in 3s and 7s. if you believe in that bullshit.

Well Ladd makes 8 so far this year... and it's only early March!