WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
By Peter Vuono
According to the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes 20% of all college football recruits of the top 25 Division 1 teams have criminal records. We are hearing more and more about pro athletes who beat their girlfriends and fiancees. Most recently, the Dallas Cowboys signed a defensive lineman who had been accused of beating his girlfriend. Very little attention is given to those athletes who conduct themselves differently. Here is a tale of two athletes who chose to put women and children first.
I remember back in the 80's with great anticipation of seeing Scott"Bam Bam" Bigelow. The Asbury Park NJ native was 6' and weighed 390 lbs. and could perform aerial maneuvers that only a few smaller pro wrestlers could handle. He entered Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory(possibly the first wrestling school), with a Black Belt. Bigelow's talent was phenomenal and he would have a very successful career with the WWE, the WCW and the ECW. Bigelow was way ahead of his time with tattoos. His shaven head was adorned with a fire ball tattoo which covered his entire scalp. He also wore a bodysuit covered with flames. This was a very strange and prophetic omen of an act of bravery which would cause Bam Bam's life to suffer many a calamity.
In July of 2000, a fire broke out in a home near Bigelow's house in Pennsylvania. Bigelow knew that there were three children trapped inside and the fire dept had not yet arrived. The instinct of the warrior kicked in and Bigelow smashed the door down. He rescued the three children but at a terrible price. Forty percent of his body was burned! Bigelow spent 10 days in the hospital recuperating. Once released, however, he was never really able to rise from the ashes. His marriage and career waned. He acquired heart disease and became acquainted to anti-depressants . On January 19, 2007, Bigelow succumbed to heart disease. He was only 45 and would become one of the 117 pro wrestlers all under the age of 60 who have died since 1985.
Cleveland native Perry Satullo entered the US Army to become an Army Airborne Ranger. Upon his honorable discharge, young Satullo wanted nothing more than to be a pro wrestler. He traveled to Malden Ma and trained under the auspices and guidance of Walter Killer Kowalski and debuted in 1988. Like Bam Bam, he excelled in this craft and changed his name to Perry Saturn. He wrestled for the WCW, ECW, WWE , TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Few men or women had his type of success.
One evening while driving his girlfriend to work, Saturn observed two men raping a woman. He immediately sprang from the car and fought the two men off so as they allowed the woman to escape. What Perry didn't know, however, was that one of the men was armed. Saturn was shot in the back of the neck and in the back of the shoulder. When he was transported to the hospital, he thought that the pain stemmed from him taking two good punches.
Like Bam Bam Bigelow, however, Saturn's heroism came with a price. To deaden the pain, he was drawn into drug addiction and for two and a half years, was homeless! Many chat lines and websites thought that he was deceased because for years no one could locate him whether they be friend or family.Then, in approximately 2009, like the ancient Lazarus, Perry Saturn emerged, drug free and no longer homeless just as if an Angel of the Lord had ministered to him.
Bam Bam Bigelow and Perry Saturn will always be remembered by wrestling fans for the thrills and bigger than life exploits of the ring. More importantly, however, when they are both before their Maker and are asked, "Who did yo serve?", they can proudly say, "Lord, we put women and children first"!
"No greater love is there than when a man lay down his life for his friend"- Jesus
