Dory Funk Jr.,the toe-hold-spinning, professional wrestling hall of famer who settled in Ocala to teach star-struck recruits, has died at age 85.
The son and brother of late wrestling legends Dory Sr. and Terry Funk, respectively, Funk was a Texan who loomed large in the ring. He was a major star in the 1970s and 1980s, a soft-spoken smack-talker in a golden age that also featured Dusty Rhodes and Jack Briscoe.
Born in Hammond, Indiana on Feb. 3, 1941, Funk was a college football player who joined the family business, Western States Sports, pounding his way — with his signature spinning toe hold — to four-plus years as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1969.
He also held belts as the WWC Universal Heavyweight champion and the CWA World
Heavyweight champion.
Funk even made the pages of a 1972 Marvel comic book, “The Incredible Hulk vs. Everybody,” in which Benjamin “The Thing” Grimm proclaims: “Gotcha! This is the way Dory Funk Jr. always starts 'rasslin' matches, and if it's good enough for the champ, it's good enough for ol' Benjamin Grimm!"
The 1970s also found Funk wrestling for All Japan Pro Wrestling before his World Wrestling Federation (WWF) debut, with brother Terry, in the mid-1980s. He remained a star in Japan for the rest of his life, filing arenas in wild, fireworks-laden matches well into his 70s and early 80s.
In 2009, Rhodes inducted the Funk brothers into the World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly WWF) Hall of Fame.
“They rode out of West Texas on two horses and captivated a whole nation,” Rhodes said at the ceremony. “Captivated a whole continent. Went all the way to Japan, where they erected statues of these two men. They were legendary. You call them icons. They're national treasures.”
But Funk’s true national treasure was his wife, Marti, who helped manage her husband and Ocala’s Funking Conservatory wrestling academy, which they opened in the 1990s.
Married for 40 years, the two were inseparable, with Marti helping Dory navigate business, travel, guest stars, heels, heroes, conservatory matches and out-of-the-box promotions. She was the one who threw fire sheets near him for the fiery cover photo of Funk’s 2022 memoir “The Last of Great Breed.”
In Ocala, the two became active members of the community, hosting matches and events to benefit the Marion County Literacy Council, the Humane Society of Marion County, Helping Hands of Ocala and Champions for Champions.
In 2013, Funk hosted then-Marion County Tax Collector George “The Tax Man” Albright for a match that raised money for Feed the Need, an organization helps the homeless in Marion County.
The Funks also established the Bang-TV Fighting Heart Award, which they presented to people who make positive impacts in Marion County.
In Ocala, the dichotomy of Dory Funk Jr. was that his gentle smile, Southern charm and love for puppies belied a career that included tossing brutes of mass dimensions around like rag dolls, not to mention the in-ring whips and blood-soaked chicken wire. He was as happy in the ring as he was chatting with neighbors at Publix.
Funk is survived by Marti, five children and one grandchild.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Pro wrestling legend Dory Funk Jr. dies at 85.
