Bob Backlund

“Darren Young was looking for someone to train him and finally he came and asked me if I wouldn't mind to be his life coach. I said, 'I sure would, you're a great man and good for the business.'”

“When I go to the signings like at WrestleMania and people have the options of what they want me to do with them, and more often than not they want me to put them in the cross-face chicken wing.”

“Billy Superstar Graham dropped the WWF title to me, and that had the biggest influence because it changed my life.”

“There's a lot of people that watch wrestling that don't give a hoot about voting.”

“The average person that works every day for a living gets kind of tired of the political system. Nothing seems to change much.”

“I had a policy that you had to recite the presidents of the U.S.A. to me before you could get my signature.”

“Guys like Brock Lesnar that come from amateur wrestling love the business just as much as they loved the athletics in amateur wrestling.”

“Do your best, try to do your best at everything you do.”

“I never really wanted to be a bad guy. But I was more happy being a bad guy if I had to do what other people were doing to be good and be liked.”

“I flunked third grade in Princeton, Minn. It was embarrassing. It was downing.”

“I got the title because I learned about the value of hard work.”

“I respect everybody. We're all equal, we're all human beings and we're all here to do good things.”

“I was the last person anyone expected to become WWF champion. I didn't get involved with characters. I didn't have big muscles. But I had intuitiveness and stick-to- it-iveness, and the desire to rise to the top.”

“Exercise is the only real fountain of youth.”

“That's how I got started in the wrestling business. I was broke, I was homeless, and I was sleeping in the trunk of my car. It made me very conscious to never try to live beyond my means or try to keep up with the Joneses.”

“I met Mr. Piper when he was a young person getting in the business in the Olympic theater in Los Angeles. He was just starting and I had the championship for a while. I was over in Japan and they had asked me to go over and have a match with Roddy for 59 minutes and 30 seconds.”

“One of my biggest things is I don't want to have to lie around all day and take pills to stay alive. And I think working out is a better alternative to some doctor giving me pills all day. I don't want that to happen. It's a big reason I work out.”

“When they have you in the short-arm scissor, they keep you in it for quite a while, and you're fighting to get out. And the more enthusiasm you can do when you're fighting to get out, the better. But if you're not in shape, you're not going to keep up with that rate.”

“My dad was a drinker. My mom was busy trying to keep the family together. My ability in school was poor. I started, wanted to do sports. I wanted to work hard and get stronger.”

“In '85, I read a book that helped me forget about the past and work on the future as far as success goes, and it was Napoleon Hill.”