Ray "Thunder" Stern, born Walter Bookbinder, (January 12, 1933 – March 6, 2007) was an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

bodybuilder Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses o ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

Biography

At age 13 he joined the Merchant Marines using the name Paul Davis and discovered bodybuilding, a sport he loved so much he would carry a pair of 50 pound

dumbbells The dumbbell, a type of free weight, is a piece of equipment used in weight training. It can be used individually or in pairs, with one in each hand. History The forerunner of the dumbbell, halteres, were used in ancient Greece as lifting w ...

in his duffel bag for workouts. In 1950 Stern began wrestling at age 17 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

working for

Rudy Dusek The Dusek family is a professional wrestling family. The Dusek Family real surname is Hason. The Dusek family started with four brothers Ernie, Emil, Joe, and Rudy Dusek. The other two members are Wally and Frank Dusek. Both men are not Dusek by b ...

. Due to his penchant for aerial moves promoters nicknamed him "Thunder". Stern opened the first co-ed

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...

in the United States in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, as well as the first with a nursery. He also worked with real estate and rental properties. Stern was also an avid flier, and during his wrestling career this allowed him to travel great distances in short periods to conduct more business and matches in a quicker span. He founded Stern Air in

Addison, Texas Addison is an incorporated town in Dallas County, Texas, in the United States. Addison is situated to the immediate north of the city of Dallas, with a 2020 census population of 16,661. Addison and Flower Mound were the only two Texas municipaliti ...

with a fleet of Lear Jets and Falcon's. He even flew to Czechoslovakia to train with their national aerobatic champions, and was so successful that the team named him as an official backup member at the world level. In 1994 Stern published his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''Power and Thunder: The Rags to Riches Story of One Man's Adventure of Fame, Fortune, Romance & Fitness''. He was also awarded the Iron Mike Mazurki Award in 2000 at that year's

Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Abram ...

reunion, an award that recognizes wrestlers for success outside the industry. In 2005 he received the New York State Award (since renamed the Senator

Hugh Farley Hugh T. Farley (born November 26, 1932) is an American attorney, professor and Republican politician from Schenectady County, New York. He served as a member of the New York Senate from 1977 until his 2016 retirement. Early life and family Fa ...

Award) from the

Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF) and Museum is an American professional wrestling hall of fame and museum located in Wichita Falls, Texas currently closed to water leaks. The museum was founded by Tony Vellano in 1999, and was previo ...

Amsterdam, New York Amsterdam is a city in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,219. The city is named after Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The City of Amsterdam is surrounded on the northern, eastern ...

. On March 6, 2007, Stern died after complications from

heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

at the age of 74.slam.canoe.ca
- Ray "Thunder" Stern dead at 74 By Greg Oliver. March 6th, 2007

Championships and accomplishments

**Iron Mike Mazurki Award (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) *Midwest Wrestling Association (Ohio) **MWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

Don Leo Jonathan Don Heaton (April 29, 1931 – October 13, 2018), also known as Don Leo Jonathan, was an American-Canadian professional wrestler. Professional wrestling career Jonathan, nicknamed "The Mormon Giant" was a second generation star (his father was f ...

NWA San Francisco NWA San Francisco was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in San Francisco, California in the United States. Founded in 1935 by "The Utica Panther" Joe Malcewicz (1897–1962), the promotion joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1 ...

** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(San Francisco version)'' ( 1 time) – with Ron Etchison *

**Class of 2005 ( New York State Award) *

Worldwide Wrestling Associates NWA Hollywood Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Los Angeles) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Los Angeles, California in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Southern California. It ...

WWA International Television Tag Team Championship The WWA International Television Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in the Los Angeles-based Worldwide Wrestling Associates from the title's formation in 1954 (as the NWA International Television Tag Team Championship, renamed as a Nort ...

( 1 time) - with

Rito Romero Rito Romero Loza (May 19, 1927 - January 18, 2001) was a successful luchador who wrestled in Mexico and in the NWA territories of Texas and Los Angeles. He appeared in several films in his native country along with a number of other luchadors. H ...

References

External links

*
Ray "Thunder" Stern
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Ray 1933 births 2007 deaths American sports businesspeople American male professional wrestlers Jewish American sportspeople Jewish professional wrestlers People from Brooklyn Sportspeople from San Francisco Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Professional wrestlers from New York (state) 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews 20th-century professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from New York City

Biography

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

External links