How tough is the great Danny Hodge?

Danny Hodge is the only wrestler - other than Hulk Hogan - to ever appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Danny Hodge's Legendary Grip!

The grip of former NWA World Junior-Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Danny Hodge is legendary among wrestlers and fans alike.

A star athlete in football, boxing and wrestling, Danny Hodge is the only wrestler, other than Hulk Hogan, to ever appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. 

Danny is one of the few men (among an elite group) that other wrestlers were legitimately afraid of in the ring. Danny was also famous for instantly crushing ripe apples into applesauce, and snapping the handles off steel pliers with his amazing strength.

Danny Hodge's Favorite Ribs

One of Danny's favorite ribs on his fellow wrestlers was to go into the shower room and use his hand strength to tighten the hot water handles so much that no one could turn on any hot water! The rest of the wrestlers (who had the bad luck of taking their showers after Danny) all had to take cold showers!

Reggie Parks tells the story of working with Danny in the Midwest, and when he would run across some smart aleck in a bar he’d just use the code phrase, "Hey Danny! I've got someone here I want you to meet!" 

Those specific words were Danny's cue to come over and stick out his hand for a handshake, and as he started to squeeze, the smart aleck would start sinking to his knees as Danny slowly applied the pressure. 

"What's the matter, big fellow?" Danny would ask innocently with that little smile on his face. 

"You're not crying, are you?" Danny would ask as the smart aleck suffered his punishment.

Danny Always Won!

A former Olympic wrestling champion before becoming pro, Danny later learned the art of hooking from Leroy McGuirk, Ed "Strangler" Lewis and Lou Thesz when he was breaking into the business in Oklahoma. 

His legendary strength was what complimented his amateur wrestling ability. At age seventy-two, Danny still stays in tremendous shape and remarkable physical condition.

Another story about Danny Hodge is that he was famous for coming up with games in the car to pass the time while the boys were on long road trips. 

One of Danny's favorite ribs was, as they were traveling along at 70 or 80 miles an hour, to bet one of the boys a dollar that they couldn't guess how long the stripe in the center of the highway was: At that speed, the stripe looks quite short. 

Well, after suckering his passenger into a bet, Danny would stop the car by the side of the road and measure the stripe. 

This was a bet that Danny always won because he had measured the stripes himself previously and knew exactly how long they were before he suckered his passenger into a bet.

How Tough Is the Great Danny Hodge?

Bill Watts tells the story of a young Frank Goodish (who became Bruiser Brody) who was breaking into the wrestling business in the Oklahoma territory and found himself wrestling against Danny Hodge in a tag-team match. 

It seems that Bruiser Brody (who was close to 300 pounds at that time) didn't like the idea of having to wrestle against Danny Hodge who, at approximately 215 pounds, was much smaller in appearance. 

Brody didn't think he would look good wrestling against Danny Hodge or "selling" for him. So Danny didn't ask Brody to sell for him; he forced him to. 

Danny Hodge took Brody down to the mat, tied him up into a pretzel and had Brody screaming at the top of his lungs! 

That's how tough the great Danny Hodge is.