MISTY BLUE SIMMES PROVIDED US WITH MEMORIES THAT SHOULD BE SHARED WITH FUTURE GENERATIONS.
There are some memories common in all of our lives that seem to follow us forever brimming with incredible details. My memories of San Francisco when I was young are laser like in vision. One was going to get Tick Tock hamburgers with my father which I loved because the meat was thin and the relish inside was so sweet.
Another was when I was getting my hair cut in a neighborhood barber shop and this Middle Eastern gentleman was selling large throw rugs of famous people, in this case President John F. Kennedy. He and my father must have haggled over the price for easily five minutes before they agreed upon five dollars. I remember how disappointed the merchant was as he dragged his other collection of portrait carpets away.
When it comes to sports, oddly enough so many events are extremely important for the moment yet only a year or two later the details are completely forgotten. Please try this experiment without looking the answers up online. Name the losing quarterback in the Super Bowl in 2010. Who was the winning pitcher in the last game of the 2011 World Series? Who was the losing coach in the NBA championships of 2009?
So often during an insightful show like Real Sports presented by Bryant Gumbel, they will chronicle an athlete like the one who was supposed to be the next Michael Jordan until his career crashed in a tragic motorcycle accident. During the athlete’s time at Duke he was a super star, in the public eye and on the minds of many. Only a short time later, how many remember his name? Do you?
We could go on, but we think you get the point.
What is it about the lady pros that for many of us, we will remember them in great detail forever? Now deep into middle age, when I was eleven I still remember watching the Fabulous Moolah completely dominate a female wrestler who easily out-weighed her by 30 pounds. The Fabulous one finished her with a folding pin at the Philadelphia Spectrum. It is not the residual of VHS tapes or online video since none as far as I know exists of this match.
The 1980s for many was the best decade of lady pro wrestling and one of the stars who clearly made her mark was the talented and beautiful Misty Blue Simmes.
She was flamboyant, colorful and athletic, pushed the envelope, never lost a match and was considered the hero. We could speak about her championships but so many sites that give tribute to Miss Simmes already present that very well in great detail. Here, let’s do something else.
Let’s look at her home town.
Glens Falls is located in the northeastern corner of New York State at the ‘Big Bend’ area of the Hudson River. Known as Hometown USA, it has twice been selected as the nation’s ‘most typical’ small city, first in 1944 by Look Magazine, and again in 1964 by Swedish National Television. It is known for its tree-lined streets, neat residential neighborhoods, and it’s well kept commercial buildings. Glens Falls is the ‘Gateway to the Adirondacks,’ and the Lake George-Lake Champlain Region. It is nearly mid-way between New York and Montreal and 200 miles west of Boston.
The fan shape of the streets radiating from the downtown area is unusual. New streets have provided cross-town access and the city is easy to get around. Centennial Circle, a roundabout in the center of the city, opened in May of 2007, making the convergence of five streets much simpler to navigate. Glens Falls is noted for the beauty of its location, surrounded by the Adirondack Mountains and adjacent to the 40 foot falls in the Hudson River.
The Indians called what is now Glens Falls ‘Chepontuc,’ a Mohawk word meaning ‘hard place to get around,’ because of the falls blocking the Hudson River at that point. A settlement was founded in 1763 by Abraham Wing, who came from Duchess County, New York, to survey the Queensbury patent. Wing headed a Society of Friends (Quakers) who took large grants in the area. He built a saw mill and then later owned a tavern. The community was called Wing’s Falls, but Wing lost the name of the town to Colonel Johannes Glen of Schenectady to settle a debt and it became Glen’s Falls, later changed to Glens Falls.
Forbes describes Glens Falls as one of The Best Small Cities For Jobs. In 2011 it was ranked 59th, in 2012 the overall ranking was 12th. Employment Growth (year-on-year) stands at 5.4%.
Now for some famous Glens Fall’s natives.
• J. Allard, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft; creator of Xbox.
• Kate White, Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan magazine.
• Charles R. Wood, founder of the The Great Escape Fun Park, and with Paul Newman, Double H Ranch. Philanthropist.
• Rachael Ray, TV cooking personality.
• Edward Prescott received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics.
• David Palmer, major league baseball pitcher.
• Philip and Susan Morse, founder of North American Instrument Co., now Navilyst Medical. Part owners of the Boston Red Sox. Philanthropists.
The list goes on and on including wrestling superstar Misty Blue Simmes.
Competing in the American Wrestling Association, Ladies Professional Wrestling Association, World Championship Wrestling and more, Ms. Simmes held the NWA United States Women’s Championship until the belt was retired, and also the LPWA Tag Team Championship.
According to Ringbelles website, along with super stars like the Fabulous Moolah and Joyce Grable, Misty Blue was inducted into the National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2012.
One of the reasons Female Competition International is on a persistent pathway to unite the memories and competition of the lady pros, submission wrestlers and freestyle competitors under one umbrella is the potential for firecracker matches.
Our fantasy match would be a MMA upgraded Misty Blue Simmes vs. Keri, sometimes known as Adriana who resides in the Eastern United States as well, in a fully competitive match before a crowd at a Dojo.
From our point of view, the greater the mystery and intensity of the matches, the less eroticism is a driving force for sales. Life is about finding balance. Some sex appeal is great but as this slow cultural shift is underway where society is becoming more accepting of girls and women competing and wrestling in a dignified environment like they are accepting of women’s gymnastics, volleyball, swimming and other sports, the competition must be the priority.
We feel a key point to understand in our research is that women have not shifted greatly in terms of being interested in purchasing tickets to watch women wrestle more so than they have in times past. However, they have greatly shifted in their view that girls and women should have the right to wrestle the same as males. That is where the major change seems to be taking place. Like pioneers such as Ms. Alice Paul and other women prominent in the suffrage movement, the focus is about giving women more choices to participant in and live the life they truly want with dignity.
Though Misty Blue competed in another time period, given the fact that before she wrestled, she was a skilled boxer confirms she was truly athletic and with modest training could successfully compete in any time period in whatever style of women’s wrestling was being participated in.
We will always appreciate the memories and future stories that speak to the accomplishments of the lady pros like Leilani Kai, Madusa Miceli, Desiree Petersen, Heidi Lee Morgan, Magnificent Mimi, Malia Hosaka, Susan Green, Bambi and so many more.
Mr. Elie Wiesel, a professor and political activist who authored at least 57 books and survived the Nazi concentration camps was quoted as saying, “Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.”
When you are young, you begin to form important memories including being a fan of ladies wrestling. As you evolve you purchase tickets and if fortunate later become a producer yourself. At some point, you realize you evolve into a person or group who has the responsibility to preserve the memories, reputations and accomplishments of those important to you.
In an effort to continue to remind today’s young competitive female wrestlers of their heritage, Female Competition International is honored to once again shine the spotlight on the always entertaining and unique Hall of Famer, Misty Blue Simmes.
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Sources: Brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, Onlineworldofwrestling.com, www.women-wrestling.org/hall_of_fame, FINDBESTBIOGRAPHY.COM, Ringbellesonline.com, www.cityofglensfalls.com. adirondackchamber.org, Forbe.com, Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons and photobucket.com