"Crazy" Luke Graham and "Superstar" Billy Graham (kneeling). - Photo courtesy Chris Swisher, www.csclassicwrphotos.com

Luke Graham's system for audience involvement was simple and enormously effective. When a ring announcer, interviewer, or fan described him as "Crazy Luke," Graham loudly retorted that he was perfectly sane, that there was not a touch of insanity in him. Immediately, crowds shouted "Crazy Luke, Crazy Luke," prompting Graham to recoil in horror, and cup his ears to block the noise.

For nearly 25 years, Graham used his craziness to incense fans, batter opponents, and win titles around the world. And while friends and colleagues said his 'crazy' persona fit him perfectly, they also remembered Graham, who died Friday at 66, as a fun-loving, soft-drawled, gentle man.

"He was the original 'crazy' guy. It wasn't really a gimmick," said Luke Graham Jr., his wrestling son, who, for all intents and purposes, was his son in real life, as well. "The best gimmicks are those that are pretty close to the real thing. If you really knew him, you know he jumped out of his skin if the phone rang and he was near it. He was the world's biggest ribber. What you saw in the ring was Luke Graham."

Graham was born James Grady Johnson, February 5, 1940, in Union Point, Georgia, near Macon. A wrestling fan growing up in Georgia, he was captivated by Dr. Jerry Graham during matches in Macon, especially the controversial doctor's long and bloody feud with Chief Big Heart. "Dr. Jerry was always one of my idols," Luke said in an interview for The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. He started wrestling in the early 1960s, and was working as Pretty Boy Calhoun and under a mask in Tennessee when wrestler Frankie Cain suggested he hook up with Jerry because the two looked so much alike. Cain recounted his conversation with Johnson to wrestling writer Scott Teal: "If you want, I can call him and see if he'd want you to work with him as your brother. You could make a ton of money."

If anyone would like to send a card to his family, drop me an email and I will send you his daughters address...