Pat Patterson and I teamed together in San Francisco (off and on) for a year, and I learned a great deal from him during my twelve months wrestling in the City by the Bay.  Of course, I also learned from the region's longtime booker, Roy Shire, who was a truly brilliant man and expert promoter.  And if that wasn't enough, I was in the ring wrestling the man who was, in my opinon, the best worker of the day - Ray Stevens - on an almost nightly basis.

Although I never went to college in "real life," my year in the `Frisco territory was the wrestling equivalent of four years at Harvard, brother!  I learned so much about professional wrestling during that brief period in my career, and was taught by such gifted people, I really believe that there's no way I could've gone on to become the World champion had I not spent that year in San Francisco back when I was first starting out.