Welcome to Dave Marx Photos.com
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Professional Wrestling
This page highlights photos taken during the 1970's when I was growing up in Rock Island, IL, which is part of the Quad-Cities. This also includes Moline, IL as well as Davenport & Bettendorf, IA.
I first got attracted to Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a youth watching pro wrestling on TV. After a short while, I starting going to the live matches in either Moline's Wharton Field House & summers at Davenport's John O'Donnell Stadium - a minor league baseball ballpark next to the Mississippi River. Soon I had front-row ringside seats, which allowed easy access for all of my photos. During the mid-1970's both venues were changed to air conditioned Davenport's Palmer Auditorium, which is part of Palmer College, a world-renowned chiropractic school. The wrestlers came to the Quad-Cities at least once a month and many times, twice a month.
Once I was old enough to drive, I took many of the wrestlers to and from the airport to the arena as well as to WQAD-TV, Channel 8 (ABC affiliate) after the matches for their TV interviews. This is how I got to know many of the wrestlers, especially the "bad guys" which included Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel, Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, Lord Alfred Hayes, The Super Destroyer, The Super Destroyer Mark II, and others. To this day, I still cannot imagine how I got 7'4" 460 lbs. Andre The Giant, 285 lbs. Dusty Rhodes, and 265 lbs. Ivan Putski at one time in the backseat of my 1974 Chevy Monte Carlo!
All photos are film, which I had to scan to digital for this website. Many of the pictures were developed on matte paper. When scanned, the images do not have the sharpness of glossy prints. All color pictures were taken with a Kodak Instantmatic camera. Every black & white picture was taken with my Rock Island High School graphic arts class 35mm camera-my first foray into a SLR camera. The B&W pictures were developed either at school or at home in my dark room, which is where the autographed B&W photos were enlarged into 8x10 prints.
The AWA was the starting point for many of the most recognizable pro wrestlers of all-time., including Andre The Giant , Ric Flair, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Hulk Hogan. This site has photos of Andre the Giant and Jesse Ventura for viewing.
I hope you enjoy this time capsule of professional wrestling from the 1970's.
I first got attracted to Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a youth watching pro wrestling on TV. After a short while, I starting going to the live matches in either Moline's Wharton Field House & summers at Davenport's John O'Donnell Stadium - a minor league baseball ballpark next to the Mississippi River. Soon I had front-row ringside seats, which allowed easy access for all of my photos. During the mid-1970's both venues were changed to air conditioned Davenport's Palmer Auditorium, which is part of Palmer College, a world-renowned chiropractic school. The wrestlers came to the Quad-Cities at least once a month and many times, twice a month.
Once I was old enough to drive, I took many of the wrestlers to and from the airport to the arena as well as to WQAD-TV, Channel 8 (ABC affiliate) after the matches for their TV interviews. This is how I got to know many of the wrestlers, especially the "bad guys" which included Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel, Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, Lord Alfred Hayes, The Super Destroyer, The Super Destroyer Mark II, and others. To this day, I still cannot imagine how I got 7'4" 460 lbs. Andre The Giant, 285 lbs. Dusty Rhodes, and 265 lbs. Ivan Putski at one time in the backseat of my 1974 Chevy Monte Carlo!
All photos are film, which I had to scan to digital for this website. Many of the pictures were developed on matte paper. When scanned, the images do not have the sharpness of glossy prints. All color pictures were taken with a Kodak Instantmatic camera. Every black & white picture was taken with my Rock Island High School graphic arts class 35mm camera-my first foray into a SLR camera. The B&W pictures were developed either at school or at home in my dark room, which is where the autographed B&W photos were enlarged into 8x10 prints.
The AWA was the starting point for many of the most recognizable pro wrestlers of all-time., including Andre The Giant , Ric Flair, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Hulk Hogan. This site has photos of Andre the Giant and Jesse Ventura for viewing.
I hope you enjoy this time capsule of professional wrestling from the 1970's.
