Before being a key member of Bobby Heenan's Family stable, Ken Patera was a four-time US National Weightlifting Championships winner in the 110kg weight class between 1969-1972. As well, he won gold medals at the 1971 Pan Am Games, and was regarded by legendary Russian weightlifter Vasily Alexeev as the strongest man in the world. That's the kind of legitimacy that puts asses in seats, judged by his IC Title run in the WWF as well as being Pro Wrestling Ilustrated's "Most Hated Heel" and challenging Bruno Sammartino for the WWF CHampionship, all in 1977. A true groundbreaker, Patera set a standard for legitimacy that few will ever match.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
