"Hillbilly Jim- The Incredible Story of a Wrestling Superstar" by Gary P. West

I mentioned earlier that I got to meet Hillbilly Jim at the Kentucky Book Fair this year.  He was great!

 Well, I was pretty excited about reading his biography- "Hillbilly Jim:  The Incredible Story of a Wrestling Superstar" by Gary P. West. 

I enjoyed reading about Hillbilly Jim Morris and his life before wrestling.  The first part of the book covers Jim's high school sports career which transitions into a very shaky college basketball career. 

As a big athlete, Jim eventually gets involved in pro-wrestling.  He spends some time hanging out in Tennessee with the Lawler promotion, and he gets his first gimmick as a biker type named Harley Davidson.  He also works briefly with Stu Hart's promotion in the Canada.

Hillbilly Jim, with Gary West, covers a lot of ground in this book, including Jim's basketball career, Jim's thoughts on his pre-wrestling career gigs, and his musical talents. 

A brief history of wrestling is covered here and there too, making this a fun read for someone with little knowledge of wrestling and it's classic stars.  Morris does tell some behind the scenes stories, and he lets ya know what he thinks of many of his former colleagues.  For the most part, Jim seems careful about not talking bad about people... but he does open up about a few questionable characters (Adrian Adonis comes to mind).

Anyway, I don't want to give away any of Hillbilly's stories, but this is a fun read, especially if you grew up admiring this big hearted Kentucky giant like I did.  The book had a great, casual feel (you feel like Jim is simply telling his stories to the reader for fun with West's help).