Farewell, Dusty Rhodes
World Wrestling Entertainment fans called him “the American Dream,” but Florida embraced him as one of its own. Dusty Rhodes, whose real name is Virgil Runnels, died Thursday after a fall at his Orlando home. He was 69.
The hair, the voice, the swagger, Rhodes was more than just a wrestler; he was an entertainer. In the 1970s he helped popularize the WWE form of wrestling with kooky antics and hyperbolic bravado. Although a native Texan, he found his groove in where else, but Florida. Tampa, to be exact.
Thanks, Dusty Rhodes, for making Florida even more interesting.