Jody Hamilton, pro wrestling’s masked ‘Assassin,’ leaves lasting legacy

As years go by and memories fade, there are moments in our lives that we will never forget.

One of those special moments for me was on a hot summer evening in 1964 when I attended my first live wrestling show at the old County Hall in Charleston.

It was a three-match card, with the main event featuring two local favorites, 601-pound Haystacks Calhoun and his partner Johnny Weaver, going up against a hated masked team known as The Bolos.

That show, and particularly that match, would help ignite a lifelong fascination with a world of larger-than-life characters that would eventually spark an even broader interest in a career in journalism. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Joseph Nicholas “Jody” Hamilton was one of those men behind the masks that night, along with his hooded partner Tom Renesto. As a young novice attending his first show, I sensed something special about this colorful and mysterious pair. My hunch would prove to be spot-on, as they would go on to make wrestling history as The Assassins, arguably the greatest masked team of all time.

As a follower of pro wrestling for more than five decades, I have enjoyed a ringside seat to the best in the business. Some of those childhood memories would evolve into lifelong friendships with those who made me a fan in the first place. Jody Hamilton was one of those.

Jody’s journey here ended on Aug. 3. He was 82, lived a full and rewarding life, and left behind a legacy that will live forever. Tom Renesto died in 2000 at the age of 72.

Everyone on the card that special night of July 2, 1964, are now gone. But for me, it’s still like yesterday. Over the years, whenever I heard Jody Hamilton’s voice, I would find myself drifting back to those days when he and his partner in crime were among the most feared heels in the business.

I thank them both for that.

Legalized mayhem

Pure evil.

Those two words perhaps best described what The Assassins personified in a pro wrestling ring.

Hailed by many as the greatest masked team in the history of the business, Jody Hamilton and Tom Renesto combined hooded treachery inside the squared circle with a cold, calculating style outside the ring.

And the result was legalized mayhem.

No less than Hall of Fame broadcaster Jim Ross called them “the greatest tag team” that he ever saw, even though their reign was more than five decades ago.

“Most fans today don’t even have a clue as to who the Assassins were, Tom Renesto and Joe Hamilton by the way, or that they took their name in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I can still vividly remember their promos and in-ring work from that period, and that was many years ago.”

Ross recalled the many evenings he would spend at his grandmother’s home in Oklahoma viewing wrestling on TV, and the nightmares he had as a result of watching the masked duo in action and listening to their psychologically mesmerizing promos.

“I learned so much from Joe Hamilton. ... The Assassins vs. The Kentuckians feud made me a lifelong fan,” said Ross, now lead announcer for All Elite Wrestling.

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As The Assassins, Hamilton and Renesto became one of the industry’s top duos from 1961 into the 70’s. They could work any style in any territory, and do it under masks that prevented them from employing facial expressions that are so important in wrestling.

It was an entirely different world in the era of the masked men.

“We worked very hard to create an image of excellence in the ring,” said Hamilton. “We worked very hard to create and maintain an image of professionalism out of the ring. Back in the days when Tom and I were together on the road, when we walked into an arena, we walked in with a coat and tie. We didn’t walk into an arena in Bermuda shorts and flip-flops.”

With their trademark gold and black masks adding an air of mystery to the team, The Assassins spread terror throughout the grappling landscape.

“It may sound like I’m bragging, but in all reality, we were the best all-around tag team, whether it was with a mask or without a mask,” said Hamilton. “When I was in my prime, I did the brunt of the heavy work, as far as the bumps and that sort of thing, but Tom was a psychological genius about setting the tone and setting the pace of a match. He made his contribution in that way. And when the time came to take bumps, he was always there. He never slacked off.”

Their formula for success?

“Respect for one another,” said Hamilton. “Everything in the ring was done for the team — not for individuals. And everything out of the ring was done with the utmost of respect for the other person.”

“We all had our own little quirks and idiosyncrasies,” Hamilton added. “Tom could read mine and I could read his, and if Tom wasn’t in a talkative mood on some of those long trips, then I didn’t initiate a conversation. The same went with me. If I wasn’t in a talkative mood, he could read me and would just let it go until the time was right.”

In many ways, the twosome was like a family, often on the road for seven nights a week, going from town to town and from territory to territory.

“When Tom and I were together for those 15 years, I spent more time with him than I did my family,” said Hamilton. “In the 15 years that Tom and I traveled together, I can honestly say there was never a cross word between us because of the great mutual respect we had for each other.”

The duo’s travels took them across the country and around the world.

And the Carolinas-Virginia territory, where they were known as The Bolos, was the site of many of their biggest matches.

Hamilton attended a number of reunions and fan gatherings over the years, including several Fanfest events in Charlotte and Atlanta.

All grudges were forgotten at those types of get-togethers, said Hamilton.

“When you get to be my age, you kind of let bygones be bygones. So if there were ever any hard feelings with anyone, I just kind of forget about it and go on.”

Hamilton always looked forward to meeting new fans.

“To me, the most exciting thing is meeting and greeting new fans that I haven’t met before. It’s always great to see the older fans that have been around and that I know. But to realize and understand that the younger fans know so much about my career, as long ago as it’s been, it’s actually very gratifying.”

Menacing presence

Dick Bourne, who runs the popular Mid-Atlantic Gateway website with David Chappell, says he was mesmerized the first time he laid eyes on The Assassin (Jody Hamilton).

When WTCG-17 in Atlanta first showed up on our cable system in east Tennessee, I was 16,” Bourne recalled. “The Assassin was the guy that first got my attention when I first saw Georgia Championship Wrestling. More than the menacing black outfit or the evil mask was that voice.”

Although Bourne was primarily a fan of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, several performers on the Georgia cable show caught his attention.

“There was a team I was real familiar with from their time on top here, the ‘Minnesota Wrecking Crew,’ Gene and Ole Anderson. There was that Stardust fellow that made guest shots here occasionally, the ‘American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes. But the guy that had me riveted to the TV set was the masked Assassin. Every word that came out of his mouth I believed, and he scared me to death. I had never seen a heel quite like him, as believable as him.”

While Hamilton had worked for Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1960s with veteran Renesto as The Bolos, it was before his time as a fan, said Bourne.

“He was new to me in Georgia. I was excited years later when he showed back up in the Mid-Atlantic area in 1984, and was managed by another favorite of mine, ‘No. 1’ Paul Jones.

“The Assassin, like Ole Anderson, had a way of delivering his promos and interviews that was totally convincing. He had such a distinctive voice, and manner of speaking that was deadly serious. There was never anyone else like Jody Hamilton, The Assassin. And there won’t be again.”

Headlining The Garden

One of Hamilton’s first big breaks in the wrestling business turned out to be “the greatest single experience” he ever had in the business.

He became the youngest performer at the time to headline at Madison Square Garden. A 19-year-old Hamilton teamed with his older brother, Larry, against Argentina Rocca and Miguel Perez in a match that drew a reported 20,355 fans with 8,000 more turned away from the heralded New York City venue in 1958.

“I was a little pimple-faced, 19-year-old punk from St. Joe, Missouri. The biggest place I had ever seen until I went to New York was Kansas City. There was no comparison. Kansas City could fit into downtown Manhattan.”

Still a teenager, it was a dream come true for young Jody Hamilton.

“I went to New York on May 24, 1958, when my brother and I headlined the main event and the biggest house they had ever had to that date. It was just a phenomenal feeling.”

Hamilton would describe those feelings he experienced more than half a century ago as if it were yesterday.

The fact that he teamed with his older brother made it even more special. Their opponents that night were perhaps the most popular team to ever appear at the Garden.

“I didn’t really realize the magnitude of what was happening at the time because we were in a holding area back behind the curtain. We were surrounded by police officers. They darkened the building and put the spotlights on, so when I come through the curtain, I couldn’t see anything. Those spotlights were blinding. I couldn’t even see people at ringside.

“When we made our way to the ring, they dropped the spotlights and switched them over to the entrance where Rocca and Perez were coming. I still couldn’t see anything. Then when Rocca and Perez made their entrance and they turned the spotlights off and the houselights on, there sat 21,000 people. I had never seen anything like that in my entire life.”

Hamilton had been to two Major League Baseball games featuring the then Kansas City Athletics, and there weren’t that many people at those games.

The match went well, and the payday was even better. “Over three grand apiece.” Big money for that era, he noted.

Growing up in St. Joe

Born Joseph Zwaduk III, Hamilton had grown up in St. Joseph, Mo., where his entire family were wrestling fans.

“My brother was boxing in the Golden Gloves and he won a couple tournaments. He was a big-name football player and track star. (Promoter) Gust Karras got a hold of him and put him out on the carnival for a couple seasons and broke him in.”

It wasn’t long before other promoters heard about Larry Hamilton, and he was called to California.

“That was back when they had the coast-to-coast hookups for the TV,” said Jody Hamilton. “That was back in the early ‘50s. The only tape I’ve got from that area was my brother teamed up with a black-haired, very young, very svelte Freddie Blassie, working as a babyface. Lo and behold, they were working with John Tolos, in his early ‘20s, long, tall and skinny, and some local guy who I had never heard of.”

Home life was an entirely different story.

“My old man used to drink a lot. He was a wife abuser and a child abuser. God rest his soul. He’s gone now and I guess he repented before he died, but he had driven a wedge between he and myself and certainly between he and my mother long before he had even entertained the thought of reforming.”

Larry, who was actually Jody’s stepbrother, was six years older. In 1953 Jody legally changed his last name to Hamilton. He had stretched the truth about his age and enlisted in the Army when he was 16. By the time they found out he had lied about his age, he had already turned 17, which was the legal age back then anyway. He went in under an 18-month enlistment deal.

Jody learned the art of wrestling from a group of shooters at the YMCA in St. Joseph. An athletic youngster who played high school football and also boxed, he soon found himself working shows for Gust Karras Promotions.

“Gust booked me for my first match,” said Hamilton, who also did some work on the carnival circuit.

“I had a boxing background in Golden Gloves. He had me out there boxing and wrestling all comers. I wasn’t but 17. There really weren’t that many heavyweights that were in shape. When I was out boxing, I fought as a middleweight. I was only about 185 or 190 pounds when I was doing the carnival stuff. But that was still close enough to be a heavyweight.”

Hamilton was tough as nails, but he often found himself against much bigger challengers.

“I had to get in there against a lot of big old, strong country boys. They could just hook themselves up to a plow and pull the thing themselves. They didn’t need a mule.”

Hamilton had his first match wrestling for Karras at the age of 16. He was thrown into the ring with Rip Hawk after getting his feet wet through the AT (Athletic shows) circuit.

Rocky Hamilton was already out on the road when Jody had his first matches.

“He was in New York. I wasn’t getting booked much around St. Joe, so he went to the promoter and talked to him. I’ll never forget it. It was Sept. 3, 1957. I actually started as a full-time wrestler in New York.”

During his first few years in the business, said Hamilton, he got a wrestling education from some of the best hands in the business. Among them was longtime St. Joseph favorite Sonny Myers.

“Sonny Myers, in my opinion, was one of the best all-around performers the business has ever had or ever will have. He’s never really got the recognition he deserved for his kind of talent and ability. He helped me tremendously.”

Masked magic

Hamilton and Renesto had never even met before teaming for the first time for a tag match in Atlanta in late 1961. Hamilton initially had been set to take on a Russian character, but that gimmick was dropped in favor of one that would be his ticket to stardom.

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“I had nothing to do with it. It was the office,” Hamilton said of the pairing. “They had brought me into Atlanta as The Assassin, and I had been here a little more than a month when they brought Tom in. He had been in East Texas for Paul Boesch at the time, and he was getting ready to make a move. Ray Gunkel was very close with Paul Boesch, and they found out about it, and that’s when they made the deal to bring Tom in and make us a team.”

Renesto had occasionally partnered with Hamilton’s older brother in the Carolinas just a few years before.

Jody had struck out on his own after headlining New York City, working as a singles competitor in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. But that call from the Georgia office in 1961 would change the course of his career, and of the wrestling business.

As one half of a new team called The Assassins, Hamilton, just 23, knew that they had something special. There was a magical connection between the two.

“It was almost like mental telepathy. From the very first night in Atlanta that we teamed up, I could read what Tom had in mind, and what he wanted me to follow up on when he made the tag. He did the same with me.”

The two made trips to Florida and back to Atlanta before arriving in the Carolinas in 1963. It would be the only territory where Hamilton and Renesto would appear as The Bolos (Renesto as Great Bolo and Hamilton as Mighty Bolo).

“The fact that Tom already was so over in the Carolinas, we didn’t see any reason to change the name. We figured we might as well capitalize on the fact that he was already over.”

It didn’t take long before both men, now a masked unit, would be as “over” as anyone in the business.

Few teams ever created as much heat as did The Bolos during their run in the Carolinas and Virginia.

Renesto, the son of a Los Angeles deputy sheriff and 12 years Hamilton’s senior, had been through some ring wars up to that point. But Hamilton was young and still learning the business.

“We’ve were shot at, had knives thrown at us, rocks thrown at us,” said Hamilton. “I had a brand new 98 Oldsmobile and was coming out of Rock Hill, S.C., and they shot my windows out. I had a new 98 Oldsmobile convertible, and they cut the top off of it in Sarasota, Fla.

“One night in Hogansville, Ga., they were going to lynch us. They had the yardarms out there, and they had two nooses hanging from the yardarms. They were going to hang us, throw gas on us and burn our bodies.”

Talk about serious heat.

“These people were intense. The heels of today have never seen stuff like this. If they had that kind of heat, they’d quit the business.”

Tag-team hotbed

The Carolinas-Virginia territory was the hotbed of tag-team wrestling in the ‘60s.

One of the masked team’s favorite opponents was the popular brother combination of George and Sandy Scott.

“They were about as smooth a tag team as you could find. I looked forward to having matches with those guys, because I knew it would always be a hell of a good wrestling match," said Hamilton. "It was funny ... they worked so well together in the ring, but hardly ever spoke to each other outside the ring. And they were real brothers to boot.”

Hamilton and Renesto, as The Bolos, set a number of attendance records in the Carolinas-Virginia area during their amazing run. Six-man matches with The Missouri Mauler (Hamilton’s brother Larry) against The Kentuckians and Haystacks Calhoun established attendance records in such venues as the Charlotte Coliseum, Dorton Arena in Raleigh and the Greenville Memorial Auditorium.

Hamilton and Renesto also set attendance marks throughout the territory for tag-team bouts against The Kentuckians, and Calhoun and Weaver.

The Assassins held the world tag-team title on numerous occasions in the Georgia, Florida and California territories, as well as the Canadian tag-team belts. They held the Georgia tag-team straps a record 12 times and drew a number of sellouts in Atlanta for a series of matches with Buddy Fuller and Ray Gunkel.

“Just about everywhere we went that had a regional title, we’d end up with it,” said Hamilton, whose team toured the world, including Japan, Australia, England, France, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.

One of the masked duo’s most memorable series of matches was with Weaver and Calhoun. Hamilton recalls that he and Renesto helped save the job of Weaver, the territory’s top babyface during the ’60s, by pleading with promoter Jim Crockett Sr., who thought Weaver had become stale and had worn out his welcome with area fans.

The plea worked and proved to be financially advantageous to all involved. Hamilton cites a sold-out Fourth of July event at the Greensboro Coliseum that paired the two teams. The hooded duo had agreed to unmask if they were pinned or submitted two out of three falls in a one-hour match.

“We kept Weaver in the ring for 57 minutes,” Hamilton recalled. “He made the hot tag to Calhoun at the 57-minute mark and the crowd went wild.”

Haystacks nailed both men with his belly bumps, slammed Renesto on the concrete floor and pinned him to win the first fall with less than three minutes remaining in the match.

“The people went insane,” said Hamilton. “We got a two-minute rest period, and I drug Tom back into the ring and raised his arm while I put my arm across the top rope. He was still prone, but he made the tag. I grabbed Tom, rolled him on to the apron and ran from Calhoun. When I kept asking the timekeeper how much time was left, the crowd was ready to jump me. We stalled until the time ran out. It took 22 cops, locked arm in arm forming a V-wedge, to get us out of the ring and into the dressing room. We were hemmed up in the dressing room until 2 o’clock in the morning. Fortunately the cops were patrolling our cars so nobody could get our car.”

The Kentuckians

If the matches with Weaver and Calhoun weren’t hot enough, the masked tandem’s program with The Kentuckians (Grizzly Smith and Luke Brown) was steaming.

“We actually blew the lid off the Carolina territory with our matches with The Kentuckians,” Hamilton recalled.

The Kentuckians, with their colorful gimmick and simple-folk appeal, would become one of the most sought-after teams in the business. The duo had won regional tag titles throughout the country during their main-event run from 1961-68, but it was in the Carolinas and Virginia where they perhaps enjoyed their greatest popularity.

Much of that success was due to Hamilton and Renesto, who went to bat for the hillbilly duo after recognizing that their unique gimmick could make money not only for promoters, but for all four wrestlers as well.

Sporting long black hair and beards, flannel shirts and dungarees, and a cow horn, and billed from the hills of Kentucky, the giant team was a crowd favorite everywhere they went. But they needed a team like The Assassins to help get them to the next level.

“That style they ended up with actually was of our doing,” said Hamilton. “They were out there trying to wallow around on the mat like wrestlers. We made big giant-killers out of them.”

Hamilton explained that the two had started out as a team trying to wrestle. But that, he added, didn’t play to their real strength.

“They were floundering ... between trying to work their gimmick and trying to be mat wrestlers. They had to make up their mind to do one or the other because it just didn’t jell.”

Hamilton and Renesto, however, saw something in Smith and Brown that had gone unnoticed by promoter Crockett the first time the pair was in the Carolinas.

“Neither Crockett nor his booker ever took advantage of their gimmick. He had them going out there trying to wrestle like everybody else, and they just didn’t get over,” Hamilton said of The Kentuckians’ initial stint in the Carolinas.

Hamilton had known Smith since he had begun wrestling several years earlier in the Oklahoma territory, and had recommended that Florida promoter Eddie Graham give the two a try in the Sunshine State.

“Eddie brought them in, and we worked a couple things down there that drew big money,” recalled Hamilton.

The hillbilly act also made some noise in the neighboring territory of Georgia where they briefly held the Atlanta version of the NWA Southern tag-team title until dropping the belts to Lenny Montana (who would be best known a decade later for his role of feared hit man Luca Brasi in “The Godfather”) and Gypsy Joe (Gilberto Melendez) in November 1962.

“Tom and I left and went to Atlanta for a couple weeks on our way in to the Carolinas," Hamilton said. "After we got there, we talked to Crockett and told him to bring those guys back in. He was a little hesitant, but Tom told him not to treat them like he did before.”

The Kentuckians returned, but this time they were given carte blanche to work their gimmick, and they did it to perfection.

“With both teams getting over on TV, people demanded the match,” said Hamilton. “They became a huge drawing card. It was a natural feud between The Masked Bolos and The Kentuckians.”

It was the start of a great feud. The two teams worked programs from Charlotte to Los Angeles to Australia.

“All over the country, all over the world,” said Hamilton. “The matches were brutal. They were grueling ... very physically demanding.”

But, in a word, they also were something even more significant.

They were “money,” Hamilton said.

Record gates

The fact that they lived their gimmick also helped make The Kentuckians such a successful act.

“The thing that got their gimmick over was what you saw in the ring, if you saw them on the street, you saw the same person in the flannel shirts and the blue jeans. The only difference is instead of the moccasins they wore in the ring, they wore western boots on the street. Basically that was how they dressed and how they lived anyway.”

The program between the two teams spanned a number of years, and all four had a mutual respect for one another, said Hamilton, which would eventually transcend the ring.

“They worked well together. There was no animosity between the two. They both worked very hard in the ring, and each one complemented the other.

“It’s very difficult to form a personal relationship with somebody when you’re in there competing against them every night. But over a period of time, you gain respect for them as a competitor, and I had tremendous respect for Griz while we were competing. And after his ring days were over, we worked together for Bill Watts down in Louisiana, and we actually became pretty good friends.”

The two teams competed with one another from 1963 until the ‘70s, and set a number of attendance records that remain unbroken.

Their first match at the Charlotte Coliseum remains one of Hamilton’s favorite memories of working in the Carolinas.

“Our attendance record still stands at the old Charlotte Coliseum on Independence. ... Conservatively speaking, they probably turned away as many people as they had in the building. That was one of my fondest memories.

“My wife was there that night, and she was sitting in the audience. Her ears were ringing for three days after that. She said the noise was deafening, and that you couldn’t hear what the person sitting right next to you was saying.”

Record crowds also were drawn at the old Greensboro Coliseum.

“They estimate they turned away as many as twice the number of people they had in the building,” said Hamilton, who adds that the return match was just as successful.

Hamilton also recalled the grueling road schedule in the Mid-Atlantic territory.

“Those were some very long trips. We weren’t going seven nights a week when we first started, but some promoter around the country ran a big show somewhere on a Sunday, and it was a big success. So every promoter in the country started running shows on Sunday. That’s when we started running seven nights a week. We had no nights off.”

Hamilton, for the most part, enjoyed working for Jim Crockett Sr.

“I thought he was a hell of a promoter. We had some differences of opinion, as far as business was concerned, but I’ll give the devil his dues. He was a way better-than-average payoff man. He wasn’t shy about jumping in with both feet to promote a big show."

Renesto was mentor

Hamilton said Renesto taught him many things about the business, not the least of which was doing interviews, which The Assassins honed to a fine science.

“He was my mentor in many ways," Hamilton said. "Tom taught me something I didn’t know how to do before we teamed up. He taught me to observe and learn technical things. I could pick up things about wrestling and moves very easily, but the technical things he taught me.

“He taught me how to do an interview, and the reason why we did the interviews the way we did them. That set us apart from everybody else who was yelling and screaming and shouting. He also taught me something that I’ve tried to pass on to other guys I’ve helped train, and that’s the one ingredient you have to have to make an interview seem plausible to the people — sincerity. If you don’t have that air of sincerity about you, the people will pick up that it’s nothing but hype, and once they figure out that you’re trying to hype them, they lose all interest in your interview. It becomes absolutely meaningless.

“Our intentions were to be as professional as we could, not only in our appearance in the ring and out of the ring, but in our interviews. To me, you’re very unprofessional if all you can do is stand there and scream and shout. Tom used to say: ‘Now we have something important and intelligent to say, so shoo your chickens from in front of the TV set.’”

While the hoods meant money, they also presented formidable obstacles.

“It was absolutely grueling,” Hamilton said of wrestling behind the masks. “I’ll never forget the night in Augusta, Ga., when Dick Steinborn and I wrestled. The first week we went 60 minutes with no falls. The second week we went 90 minutes with no falls. The third week we came back, and the match started promptly at 9:15. Steve Manderson, the promoter, got in the ring and rang the bell at 12:01 a.m. We had gone two hours and 46 minutes without a fall.”

“I was in good shape back then too,” added Hamilton. “I was only about 230 or 235. I lost 12 pounds that night.”

Keeping team alive

Regarded by many as among the top three teams in the wrestling business during the ‘60s, The Assassins held a slew of tag-team titles during their run. A record 12-time Georgia tag-team champions, Hamilton and Renesto also laid claim to the Southeastern tag title on four occasions, the Southeastern version of the world tag-team title three times, the U.S. tag title in Oklahoma four times, the Florida version of the U.S. tag title three times, along with title runs in California, Canada and Australia.

The two joined Ann Gunkel’s All South promotion in 1972 following the split with the NWA Georgia promotion, with Renesto removing his mask and taking over as booker.

“It kept Gunkel going,” Hamilton said of the fierce turf war. “I didn't want to do it, but it gave the company a shot in the arm. The NWA had just about choked us out as far as talent. Tom’s decision to retire was predicated on the fact that he and I had always discussed that when it was no longer fun, it was time to get out. And when you get to be a certain age, because I went through it so I knew what Tom had gone through, the stuff that used to be fun to you becomes laborious. When it becomes a labor, it’s no longer fun. It’s not because you don’t want to do it, but your body doesn't react to it like it used to, and it becomes very hard.”

Hamilton kept The Assassins alive following Renesto’s retirement, but no one ever came close to replicating the original team.

Hamilton teamed with grapplers such as Randy Colley, Dirty Rhodes (Roger Smith) and Hercules Hernandez (Ray Fernandez) under the mask. While Hamilton had always been “Assassin No. 2” when teaming with Renesto, Hamilton would assume the mantle of “Assassin No. 1” when teaming with others.

“When I teamed with them, that was a short-term thing. It was known by all people involved that it was never designed to ever try to replace Tom. I would never ever allow anybody to use the phrase ‘Assassins 1 and 2’ because that’s the phrase a lot of people referred to Tom and I as. Any time there was another Assassin, it was always ‘Assassin 3’ or ‘Assassin 4.’”

Renesto, who retired in 1974, died at the age of 72 in 2000.

Hamilton also branched out as a singles act during the latter years of his in-ring, engaging in long, money-making feuds with Mr. Wrestling No. 2, Dusty Rhodes, Bill Watts, Jimmy Valiant and Ron Fuller.

“Maybe the best masked wrestler ever,” said Fuller. “Friend since 1970. Had the honor and pleasure to work, as a rookie, with he and Tom Renesto, The Assassins in Georgia. He worked for me in every wrestling company I ever built. I loved him like a brother. There will never be another Jody Hamilton.”

Hamilton and Renesto, as the original Assassins, were voted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2015.

“Legendary heel tag team, main-eventer for decades and one of the most underrated promos ever,” critiqued Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer.

Training talent

Hamilton founded Deep South Wrestling in the late ‘80s, and continued to wrestle until a serious back injury forced him to retire in 1988.

After Deep South closed, Hamilton worked with Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling, both on the booking team and later as a trainer at the company’s Power Plant training facility where he was instrumental in the development of such future stars as Paul Levesque (Triple H), Paul Wight (Big Show), Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Diamond Dallas Page.

“The man that trained me and got me a look and contract. One of the greatest minds to ever lace up the boots. At over 300 pounds a fantastic worker,” Nash tweeted upon Hamilton’s passing.

“With a heavy heart I have to pay the ultimate respect to one of the truly greats of our business the one and only Jody Hamilton a.k.a. the Assassin,” tweeted DDP. “Jody was the first to believe in me down at the Power Plant. Much love and respect my brother.”

The late Paul Orndorff was one of Hamilton’s trainers at the facility.

“I was one of his killers there, his hitman,” said Orndorff, who passed away last month at the age of 71. “I have the most respect for you than just about anybody I know in wrestling. I thank you for being a part of my life and helping me when I needed your help.”

“I enjoyed all of it. Thank God when I got hired on at WCW, Jim Herd saw to it that I was hired as a TBS employee,” said Hamilton, who was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1994. “I was exempt from the petty BS that was going around. I really enjoyed that aspect of it because it was new avenue for me. I was still doing things in the wrestling business, but I was doing things that I had never done before.”

Hamilton worked as a trainer for WCW until it folded in 2001, and later began promoting shows in Georgia under the Deep South Wrestling banner.

Current Fox News personality Tyrus (George Murdoch), who wrestled in WWE as Brodus Clay, got his start in Deep South.

“The teacher who broke me in and smartened me up to the psychological aspect of the art of wrestling passed today. I owe him so much. Thank you Jody Hamilton ‘The Assassin,’” he tweeted.

Hamilton’s forte, however, had been training young talent. He reopened Deep South Wrestling in 2005 to train wrestlers WWE had signed to developmental contracts. In 2007, WWE abruptly ended its contract with Deep South, and the promotion suspended operations later in the year.

“They did it because they couldn’t control me, and they’re all about control up there,” said Hamilton. “If they can’t control you, they don’t want you. They would come up with some of the most asinine, BS things they wanted me to do. I just absolutely wouldn’t do it.”

At the time, Hamilton said he never planned to leave the business.

“It had been my entire life. I had spent my entire adult life in it. I even spent some of my teenage years in wrestling and before that I was around it. I’ve been around wrestling since I was 11 or 12 years old. I don’t have anything bad to say about wrestling period. The only bad things I can say is that there have been and probably still are some bad people connected with it. Anytime you go that long a period of time in an industry as large as wrestling, then you’re going to have (that type) pop up periodically in different places.

“I’ve taken the good with the bad. Some of the young people now don’t understand what it was like back in the early days. They don’t understand what it was like for me, because I wanted it so bad, that I would be willing to make a 500-mile trip for $25. They don’t understand that because they’ve been spoiled and get paid exorbitant amounts of money. A lot of them don’t have that type of respect that was instilled in me over the years. It’s a shame that nobody anymore is allowed to teach the kids what it’s like. They don’t have to go through the things that we had to go through in the early days. There’s no way they can possibly know and understand what we’re talking about when we say you have to respect the business.”

Paving the way

There’s no doubt that Jody Hamilton took the business seriously. The fact that he was under a mask for most of his career made him take the business even more seriously.

“I always took great pride in my performances in the ring. I took great pride in the fact that I would protect the business at all costs. That meant protecting my identity, protecting the integrity of the business, almost forever.”

Hamilton wanted his legacy to be one of a wrestler who paved the way for others and preserved the integrity of the profession.

“I want to be remembered as someone who shot straight from the shoulder and who didn’t BS anybody, someone who took a reasonably hard line when it came to the integrity of the business. I want to be remembered as a guy who was extremely knowledgeable about the business and who was a hell of a teacher. I want to be remembered by the people I’ve taught, and that everything I told them came true.”

Hamilton never had to think long when asked whether he’d it all over again.

“Absolutely, unequivocally, without hesitation. I’d do it again.”

“If I could go back in time and start over again, and know what I know now, there’s a few things that I would probably do differently, but basically overall, I wouldn’t change a damn thing,” he said.

Hamilton still remembers what his grandfather told him many years ago.

“We were very, very close. He told me something when I was 11 or 12 years old: ‘Jody, as you go through life, the best thing you’re ever going to have is you word. If a man’s word ain’t no good, then he ain’t no good.’ When I give my word to someone, I will go to great, great, great lengths to keep my word. I don’t give it loosely and I don’t give it lightly.”

Small-town living

Hamilton and his wife, Rosemary, were married for more than 60 years. The two dated in high school in Missouri and had been together since he was 15 and she was 16 back in 1955. The two tied the knot in 1960.

The marriage worked, he said, because he is fortunate enough to have “a very honest, dedicated, understanding wife.” As Hamilton eloquently put it: “For (all those) years she’s had the intestinal fortitude to put up with my miserable ass.”

“She has a level of patience and understanding that’s unparalleled,” said Hamilton. “And she was smart enough to know what she was getting into. She knew since back in high school days when we were going together what my ambition was. My brother was already in the business. She knew what we were getting into, and she was willing to put up with all my little idiosyncrasies and stuff … It’s unique in the world itself, much less the wrestling business, to maintain a relationship for that long.”

Hamilton said that with or without the wrestling business, he was financially in good shape for the rest of his life, in large part due to the fact that he “was smart enough to turn all of his money over to my old lady years ago, and she’s a magician with it.”

“Other than marrying her, that’s the smartest thing I ever did,” he laughed.

Hamilton’s son, longtime referee Nick Patrick (Joe Hamilton Jr.), had a promising career until a serious knee injury ended his in-ring days.

“He blew out his knee on one of (Bill) Watts’ rings. He was going to be good. He was going to be very good. He knew what he was doing in the ring because he had been around the ring all his life. He had good basic psychology, and he was getting bigger. He was about 218 when he got hurt. He could have gone up to 235 or 240 easily without steroids. To me that’s the perfect size — 6-2, 235. You’re big enough to work with the big guys and you’re still small enough to work with the smaller guys. He would have been one of the big stars of today had he not blown that knee out.

“It was the ACL, but it was torn so badly and in so many places. Dr. Jim Andrews told him he could repair it, but if he ever blew it out again, we would be talking about plastic joints and plastic sockets.”

Patrick would instead enjoy a successful career as a referee for a number of companies, including Georgia Championship Wrestling, WCW and WWE.

Simpler time

Hamilton had lived in Griffin, Ga., since 1990.

“I love it. It’s a great little city. I hate to see it grow as fast as it’s growing, but it’s still a great little city. We have a great sheriff’s department that keeps a lid on crime so it’s not running amuck. Driving down some of the back streets in Griffin reminds me a lot of St. Joe without the snow. I would never contemplate living anywhere else.”

Hamilton said in 2013 that he would still think about the days when life — and pro wrestling — was a lot simpler.

“Fifty years ago I would have never thought I was going to live this long. But dammit, I have enjoyed things that no other human being on the face of this earth has been able to enjoy. I have been blessed with a great family. I’ve been blessed with what I consider great ability. I think that I have earned the respect of my peers.”

“The Assassins were not only outstanding workers but wonderful teachers as well,” the late Jack Brisco wrote in his autobiography. “I learned more in one night in the ring with Tom and Jody than I could have in a month of workouts. I can’t even begin to imagine how much it advanced my career to be working with these guys night after night.”

Hamilton also would think about the days when wrestling was wrestling and not sports entertainment … even the days when heels like The Assassins had to fend for their lives from overzealous fans.

Did he miss it?

“Of course I miss it.”

For folks like Jim Ross and myself, we’ll certainly miss legends like The Assassins, larger-than-life characters who seemed to be speaking to us on grainy black-and-white television sets, opening up a new and colorful world for which we will be eternally grateful.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at bymikemooneyham@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter at @ByMikeMooneyham and on Facebook at Facebook.com/MikeMooneyham. His latest book — “Final Bell” — is now available at https://evepostbooks.com and on Amazon.com

Did you know …

Nick Busick, who worked in law enforcement and moonlighted as a pro wrestler, had the look (bowler hat, turtleneck sweater, cigar) and a sidekick/manager (Harvey Wippleman aka Bruno Lauer) for the gimmick of an old-time ruffian when he debuted as a heel with the WWF in July 1991. But the plans for Big Bully Busick as a mid-card brute simply didn’t work out. After a series of early victories over Koko B. Ware and Jim Powers, Busick was used in a TV angle designed to make Sid Justice (Eudy) look like a world-beater. Following the punishing loss to Sid, Busick never regained momentum. He left the WWF in November before his scheduled appearance at Survivor Series. The powerfully built Busick died of cancer in 2018 at age 63.

— Kenneth Mihalik, a retired educator living in Charleston, can be reached on Twitter @HoldBackTheNite

Blast from the Past

It is an understatement to label Bret Hart’s excellent wrestling career “eventful,” but it certainly had an abundance of significant developments. The Hitman is still remembered for his catchphrase – “The best there is, the best there was, the best there will ever be.” And, in all, he truly ranks among the best in the industry. He had numerous title reigns as WWF world champion, and even held the WCW version of the same title in the later days of his ring career. Of course, he also earned tag-team gold as the driving force behind the successful “pink and black attack” of The Hart Foundation. And he was a frequent WWF Intercontinental champ. So, as to credentials establishing his dominance, there are many accolades to cite.

Once Hart and tag partner Jim Neidhart split up, the Hitman went on as a solo act to a series of memorable feuds and high-profile matches with title implications. In the early 1990s, he won the IC belt twice, against Curt “Mr. Perfect” Hennig and Roddy Piper. This was followed by a long feud and rich rivalry with Shawn Michaels beginning in 1992, the same year Hart would capture the WWF world title from Ric Flair. A series against top heel Yokozuna was next, and Hart became King of the Ring in 1993. Bret’s brother Owen supplied significant opposition over the next few years. Hart won the promotion’s world title again in late 1995 once more from Diesel (Kevin Nash). Hart stayed in the main event through 1997, thanks to memorable programs against Steve Austin, The Undertaker and Michaels. A controversial defeat to the Heartbreak Kid in what’s been called the “Montreal Screwjob” coincided with the end of Hart’s prolific tenure with the WWF. The story behind the match in Montreal is told in the documentary “Wrestling with Shadows.”

While with WCW from 1998 through early 2000, Hart, the master of the “Sharpshooter” finisher, was quite successful until a series of concussions compelled him to declare his retirement as an active competitor during a live Monday Nitro telecast. During the stint, Hart battled many former foes, including Nash, Hennig, Flair and Lex Luger. And he developed new campaigns against A-listers like Diamond Dallas Page, Sting and Bill Goldberg. The chief career-derailing injury took place in a match versus Goldberg though Hart attempted to carry on longer. Sure enough, in subsequent years, he did stage a return to limited action after reconciling with McMahon and WWE.

He became part of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 with Austin giving the induction speech. Somewhat surprisingly given the acrimony of his original departure, the Hitman had a recurring TV role with the company several years later. Today, the 64-year-old Canadian hero continues writing and commenting about the business.

— Kenneth Mihalik, a retired educator living in Charleston, can be reached on Twitter @HoldBackTheNite

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