Breaking news: “Fabulous One” Stan Lane not dead
Samuel P. Ticer (not pictured), 65, died Monday in Memphis after a short illness.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal printed the following obituary for “former professional wrestler Stan Lane” yesterday :
SAMUEL P. TICER, 65, died Monday, March 7, 2011 after a short illness. He was married for 24 years to Anna Marie Lehr Ticer and was a Captain in USMC serving two tours in Vietnam. He was a professional wrestler for 13 years under the name of Stan Lane of the Best Tag Team ever to hit Memphis and Mid South Coliseum as the The Fabulous Ones with partner Steve Keirn.
In a touching display, the funeral home featured several pictures of Ticer from throughout his military service as well as publicity shots of Lane and Keirn as the Fabs. As the ceremony closed, Billy Squire’s “Everybody Wants You”-the Fabs’ theme-was played over the funeral home’s modest PA system, while guests could literally pay their respects by purchasing 5″ x 7″ and 8″ x 10″ color photos of the former Southern tag champions at a tastefully decorated gimmick table in the lobby.
Just one problem: The real Stan Lane, who achieved rasslin’ fame not only with Keirn but also as the partner of Bobby Eaton as the Midnight Express, is alive and well in North Carolina.
Apparently, Ticer had deceived his family for years-perhaps as a joke-that he was the former bearded heartthrob who, along with Keirn, helped set the Memphis territory on fire in fall 1982 by recreating the “Fabulous Fargos” gimmick with the blessing of the legendary Jackie Fargo. Gotta admire the guy in a sense for taking the deception all the way to the grave.
Deep down, I can’t help but think Jimmy Hart had something to do with this. After all, the Mouth of the South has deceived us before with funeral arrangements:
Digg
Wow, that’s some crazy mixed up stuff. Only in Memphis. Thanks for posting this clip. When the commercial best of Memphis DVDs came out they omitted the Bruise Bros-doing-the-Fabs video, which is the best part of the whole thing!
Lord. I had forgotten about that segment. Classic stuff. Nice cameo by Harley (Hillbilly Jim) Davidson & “Dirty” Rhodes there at the end as well.
Some people are insane.
Sigh… it’s not like this story couldn’t be researched and checked on, I mean Lawler and Dave Brown are both still living in Memphis… or the reporter could have, you know, went on the internet and checked around… Memphis is such a one-horse town…
Ok, let’s see if this can put this to bed…
Commercial Appeal 03.13.11 Page B8:
Husband was “living a lie’, widow says. A confused and contrite Bartlett window acknowleged that her husband was not the well known wrestler Stan Lane of the popular tag team The Fabulous Ones. “It’s obviolosly been a gross error and my husband is at fault and there is nothing I can do about it,” Anna Marie Ticer said in a telephone message.
Seems her husband of 24 years had always told her and everyone else that the departed 65 year old was indeed the famous wrestler. She had met him in 1983, he retired from working in maintenance in 1996 when he became disabled. She said, ‘ I applogize for any inconveniencethat this has caused Mr Lane , his mother (she is still alive at 90) the funeral home and our family and friends.’ “Please now, let him rest in piece and let me mourn in grief because I live him dearly and miss him terribly.”
So I say just remember – One person’s love is just another persons work.