Q&A with Koloff - #23

Hello, this is Matt Slick from the Matt Slick Live Podcast, where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's Word. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Enough key to Koloff here.

Questions and answers. Q&A with Koloff, the devil's nightmare. Homer Lee Gibbons Jr., you probably heard him on the podcast part one, part two.

If you didn't, go back and make sure you listen to his phenomenal store, world boxing champion, and a man of many talents. Homer, welcome to Q&A with Koloff. Thank you, sir.

I'm glad to be back. Well, you know, on the two shows we did together, man, I threw a lot of questions at you and asked you a lot of questions, but our listeners also realized what a big fan you were growing up. In fact, head-butting your dad and doing all these wrestling moves. Here's your opportunity to ask me a few questions, and it can be wrestling related, it can be personal, ministry.

Go for it. What's your first question, Homer? Okay, most memorable match for you. What was the most memorable match?

My most memorable match, man. Well, you know, you mentioned Sting on the show. Of course, some of the chain matches I had against Sting were pretty memorable. People don't realize it was a real chain, and you're strapped wrist to wrist with that chain. And no matter how much you try to control the links of the chain, like you'd wrap it around your fist to punch the guy with it, invariably there would be some loose links that would end up chipping off some enamel or chipping the teeth.

And in fact, after retirement, I had to go to a dentist and get some cosmetic work done from some of those chips and the chain being wrapped around my mouth and everything else. And so the matches with Sting were certainly memorable. Dusty Rhodes. Remember Dusty? Oh, Dusty. American Dream. American Dream.

Dusty Rhodes. Tower of power. Too sweet to be foul if you will. Does that bring back memories?

Oh, man. So when he and I did the switch from the baddest to the bad, and then he and I became the Thupa Poweth, that was incredibly memorable. Two other things real quick I'll tell you, too, that were memorable. The first ever Great American Bash, 1985.

Nature Boy, Ric Flair for the World Heavyweight title. And then last but not least, the best of seven series against Magnum TA. Do you remember Magnum TA? Oh, yeah.

And he had the car wreck, his career was cut short. But probably the most from the fans, the most often series or matches probably is the best of seven against Magnum. So there's a few memories there for you. Cool.

Very cool. I remember all those times, too. It was just amazing for me to grow up in that time frame and to watch you get out there and to wrestle and just the way the performance went. It was just amazing. I think that much, I tell people all the time, I had a great childhood. It was everything that was going on, just wrestling, being a part of my childhood, boxing, being a part of my childhood.

It was just awesome. Yeah. And while you grew up in the right place, Atlanta, Georgia. Another question? You have another question you'd like to ask? Oh, yes, sir. Seeing that you have girls, when you meet the young man that's interested, how do you handle that?

That's a great question. I remember that. Well, I tell you, looking back, it's certainly in the older girls, Taryn and Tawny, I remember the whole high school proms. I remember one time in particular, this young man came to pick up... It was Taryn.

I think it was my oldest Taryn for the prom. I took him out onto the front porch, just a one-on-one with dad. And he drove up in a pretty classic car. And so I'm like, man, I admire your car you have out there. And he's like, oh, yes, sir. He was so proud of it.

My dad helped me get it and restore it. It was beautiful. It really was. And I'm like, wow.

That's pretty amazing. I go, hey, if I were to come over to your house next week and just ask you for the keys and just let me take it out for a spin, you up for that? He goes... And his whole attitude kind of counted. He's like, I don't really know you. I'm not just gonna give you my car.

I mean, this is like the actual conversation. He goes, I don't know you well enough to give you the keys to my car. And I'm like, wow. I go, that's interesting.

I don't remember the young man's name. I go, that's pretty interesting. I go, you know, because here's the deal, buddy, you're coming over here and you're taking something out that...

I don't really know you that well, but you're taking something out. I can just tell you right now is much more valuable to me than that car is to you. And that's my daughter. And I go, so if I were to take your car, I would bring it back.

My goal would be to bring it back in the same condition in which I drove it out of the driveway. Well, when you bring my daughter home, buddy, you better bring her back the same way you're taking her out of this home tonight. And he was like, yes, sir.

Okay. So that was one. My other daughter, Tawny, I remember she was getting ready at a friend's house. And so the other father and I were both sitting on this couch across from the two young men, taking out our girls. And man, I don't even remember exactly the conversation I had with them, other than it was probably a very similar conversation.

The girls were off getting ready. I only know what my daughter told me later. Because they were in the car driving and they're like, the one dude says, hey, you better slow down. You remember what Mr. Koloff said?

Now, I did remind him what I did as a profession, Homer, that I was a wrestler and I still had my chains. So just FYI. Can't get away with that probably in today's world.

So check this out. So he's driving like 56 in a 55. And the guy says, you better slow down. He's like, I'm only doing 56. He goes, yeah, you remember what Mr. Koloff said? So my daughter's like, yeah, what did my dad say to you guys anyway? The one guy goes, I don't really remember. I was so nervous, I don't really remember what he said.

So the wrestler intimidation factor played a role. And then real quick with my younger daughters, Kendra and Colby, little different scenario. In fact, my youngest daughter, Colby, is getting married and she's the last one to get married. So she's getting married and the young man that... My approach has changed because some of that was BC, right?

Before Christ. So my approach has changed with the young men that came calling on Kendra and Colby. And that was with the current young man was when he asked for my daughter's hand in marriage, I said, okay. I said, well, I said before I can bless that and honor that marriage. Two things I'm requesting of you.

One, that the two of you go through a bonafide, a bonafide premarital counseling course with a certified counselor, not just the two of you reading some book and discussing it. And so they did that. They did that. And then of course, there's camps that like Lex and I facilitate a camp called Man Camp. And then there's another ministry called Quest that I was facilitating a part of for 12 years.

So I said, and the other thing is I'd like you to go to a Quest, go to a camp, a man camp type event. And because I know having been a part of those ministries now for 15 years and that it just lays the heart of a man open and allows them to be ministered to and equips them. Like when guys come to man camp, I say, here's our goal to send you home to be a godly man, a godly father and a godly husband. And so my approach has changed a little bit with the younger girls, but those are a couple of funners. I'm trying to learn to be, because I know that my girls look at the way I treat my wife and that's what they're going to expect. I'm trying to make sure that I walk that life.

And even with my son, trying to get him, my son is home, trying to get him to treat them with respect and honor them so that it sets a precedent even for him the way he's going to date. We'll see. It does.

No, it does. And you just kind of hit on a real key, Homer, and for all those listening is what you model, what you model and how you treat their mother. And that's what they're going to remember. More than anything, that's what they're going to remember. And I know on that note, on that vein, my daughters, some of my daughters have come back and said to me, they watched what I modeled growing, when they were growing up and how I treated their mother, how I treated other people.

And that's what they remember. And so even when it came to choosing a husband, so you hit on it, even when they came for the girl, because I had girls, you got girls, you got five girls, right? So even when it came to choosing a husband, I mean, they've told me, they said, dad, we looked for a man like you.

And let me say this too, Homer, because this might be helpful too. One of the things I did with all of them growing up is I always had daddy daughter time, always. Like one-on-one dad, now we did things as a family, but I always did daddy daughter time. And so I would take them out on special dad, daddy daughter dates. And one of the things they remember more than anything is me opening the car door for them, like the old fashion deal.

Always opened the car door for them to get in, still do that to this day. And that's just part of my makeup, part of who I am. And they even remember how I treated them on those daddy daughter dates.

And in their mind, I want to find a husband that treats me like my dad treats me. And so that's a couple of the keys. That was a great question.

Great question. It's good stuff and good answers. Well, I appreciate it. I've been doing daddy daughter breakfast.

Good, yes. And I'll take each daughter on a breakfast. Chick-fil-A has daddy, I used to have until COVID, daddy daughter date night. I take my girls to daddy daughter date night. And so, I mean, it's very humbling to watch that they respond to how I treat them and knowing that they expect me to treat them the way that I treat their mother. At the same time, they expect me to treat their mother the way I treat them.

Well, and for our listeners out there, those who have daughters, and even if you have sons, some of these things still apply. Listen, we have a tendency to think, well, we just throw money at our kids or set them off and set them down to be entertained or something that we're being a good parent. I would venture to say this, what children want more than anything, two words, quality time. Quality time.

That's what Homer's referring to. That's what I found to be effective in the building of relationships with my daughters and now my grandchildren is quality time more than anything. They want your time and your attention.

I mean, when they walk in a room, listen, they walk in a room, you would be wise to not just mute the television, but shut it off for a moment and give them your undivided attention. That will speak volumes. Homer, we've got time for one more question.

You have one more that you would like to put out there. One more question real quick, because you just talked about quality time and I agree, but at the same time, I always, because I was talking to a friend of mine, I said, if you only had quality time, but not quantity, which one would you think is more important, quality time or quantity of time? Oh, another great question, man. You are firing them at me today, Homer.

Come on. Personally, I would opt for quality over quantity. Personally, I think if, again, if I'm more, if I'm more, if they have my undivided attention, right, that means I set the cell phone down. I'm not checking, you know, social media. I'm not, even when I go to a restaurant, even when I go to a restaurant with them, many times I leave my phone in the car. I don't even bring it in because I want to give them quality time. And certainly the more time I get to spend with them is great. I just sent my daughter, one of my daughters, a reminder for a Father's Day weekend, her and I went away to Miami, Florida. She'd always wanted to go to Florida. We went to Miami, spent the entire Father's Day weekend together, just her and I. So she got both quantity and quality over that weekend.

And one of my other daughters, Kendra, when she turned 13, and this is something you might consider too, you and or our listeners out there, when they were transitioning from childhood into, you know, moving into adolescence, their teenage years, you know, 13th birthday is pretty important, right? And typically, and so I always planned a special trip. Like I took one daughter to San Diego for, I mean, just surprised her. I said, hey, pack a bag, got on a plane, we flew to San Diego. I mean, we rode bicycles up and down the coastline. We went to the amusement park. We went to old San Diego and just, you know, we just, we just had fun.

And so in some cases I might say quality and quantity, but if I had to select one over the other, I would say quality time, personally. So. Awesome.

Yeah. Well, my daughter, when the girls turn 13, I take them out to dinner at a place called the sundial, Atlanta, and it rotates. It's the restaurant that rotates around. And you know, it's, you're, you're, you're dropping a hundred bucks easy for dinner, but they're worth it. But I think, oh yeah, I think, you know, I took my 15 year old, when she turned 13 and she dressed up, you know, could we dress up in suits and, and she would dress on and she looked beautiful. And we went there and had dinner and just, I mean, just enjoyed our time afterwards. We went and had coffee at Starbucks and just that time together, man, it was awesome. And I let them ask questions and it's just, it's amazing. Yep. Well, I'm going to summarize our conversation today by saying this for all of our listeners out there, if you're not picking up on, on these pointers, create quality memories and moments with your children.

Things that they'll remember for a lifetime. Homer Lee Gibbons Jr. World Boxing Champion. Thank you for being on Q&A today. Questions and answers to Kolov. Thank you, Homer. Thank you, sir. This is the Truth Network.