EDITOR’ S NOTE: This is the seventh part of a series on the late great Ole Anderson. Ole Anderson, who passed away in February at the age of 81, enjoyed many of his glory days battling “good guys” at the old County Hall in Charleston. He was even among those honored at a legends event held back in 1998 at the storied structure, shortly before it was transformed into an affordable housing complex.
Not all of those memorable Friday nights, though, were confined to the ring. In his 2004 autobiography, “Inside Out,” Anderson recalled an incident that occurred at County Hall in 1976. According to Anderson’s account, a ringside fan who had been heckling him and partner Gene Anderson took a swing at him.
Anderson said he then took one of his huge title belts and smacked the fan in the face with it. As a result, Anderson said he was served with a lawsuit about a month later. When he returned to Charleston, he said, police officers warned him to stay away from the fan.
According to Anderson, the fan spit at him and told him he was going to sue him for every dime he had. Anderson says that’s when the officers took the fan behind the curtain and to the backstage area. “He was just a little bit taller than me, so I grabbed him by his ears and pulled him down in front of me.
I smashed his face into the radiator and really messed him up,” Anderson wrote in his book. “I think the guy believed it was a prearranged deal between the cops and myself.” The victim, Bobby Car.
