I did cartoons and humorous illustrations for magazines, as well as storyboards and print ad mock-ups for ad agencies. That was more than 30 years ago, and Ray and I are still great friends.Īfter college, I freelanced like every other artist I knew. I went back to the dorm and drew up “Old Man Munsk.” My first comic strip appeared a week later. He said to bring one in by the end of the week. I asked him how I could get a comic strip in the paper. I nervously went to the newspaper offices the first day of classes and met with the editor, Ray Lago. They had a school newspaper with a comics page. I enjoyed the class and decided to transfer to Kean University and major in Visual Communications. I took my first drawing class at a community college that I attended after high school. I never had any formal art instruction as a kid. I can still hear the tires screeching as my future in art quickly peeled away into the distance. A representative from the Famous Artists School was here to inform my parents of my potential as an artist. I drew Spunky and mailed it in.Īfter weeks and weeks of waiting, I forgot all about Spunky – until that memorable spring day when the doorbell rang. The Famous Artists School had a simple entrance exam on a matchbook cover: Draw Spunky the Donkey. Parent-teacher conferences would usually conclude with the phrase: “Donald would do much better if he spent more time paying attention and less time drawing silly cartoons.”Īnd that is how my parents became aware of the awful truth: Their son was an aspiring cartoonist.Īt the age of 12, I submitted my first cartoon. My notebooks contained more drawings than class notes. This behavior continued throughout my schooling. That included phone bills, wedding invitations and any important documents within my reach. If I saw a pencil, I picked it up and quickly surveyed the area for paper. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that Valentine is one of the few Superstars who can lay claim to competing on the NWA's first Starrcade (he defeated "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in a Dog Collar Match to win the United States Championship) as well as the first WrestleMania (he successfully defended the Intercontinetal Championship against Junkyard Dog).Īfter leaving WWE, "The Hammer" made frequent appearances on WCW Monday Nitro as late as 1997 and returned to compete on WWE Monday Night Raw in 2005, 35 years after his debut match! Greg "The Hammer" Valentine's hard-hitting style in the ring will never be forgotten by those who saw him, and along with fellow WWE Hall of Famers, "Nature Boys" Flair and Buddy Rogers, Valentine helped make the figure-four leglock a staple of sports-entertainment.I was born into this world an involuntary doodler. As a singles competitor, Valentine won the United States Championship in the NWA and the Intercontinental Championship in WWE. Valentine also held the WWE World Team Title with Brutus Beefcake. "The Hammer" held the NWA Mid-Atlantic (every territory had their own tag team champions) World Tag Team Title with Ric Flair. In the late 70s and early 80s, Valentine bounced between the NWA and WWE. A top-ranked Superstar during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, his career saw him earn a slew of singles and tag team championships in different eras of sports-entertainment history in the NWA, WCW and WWE. One of the toughest, most rugged competitors ever to come down the pike, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine more than carried on the tradition first established by his legendary father, the late Johnny Valentine.
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