Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Remembering My Friend Tom Puckett

 After my meditation walk today, a new facebook friend wanted to know a few things about Tom Puckett (the student who did the exercises in Karl Gotch's Conditioning For Combat Sports DVD) and memories came flooding back to those times me and him met up at the gym and would do conditioning exercises before we hit the weights. 

This guy was about as hard-nosed as you can get and was a tough son of a bitch, even when he started getting sicker. The things he showed me when it came to submissions was about no more than 3 holds but they were real and I felt them. Tom would tell me things about Gotch if I asked him and about other guys and it was an honor to learn about Gotch from someone who actually trained around him. 

The hard-nosed style of his was his military style background along with being pushed by Gotch and his conditioning methods. He didn't let up on me for the most part and when I struggled, he gave me tips to make things feel "easier" like the Hindu Push-ups. I felt defeated at times trying to keep up with him but it was a humble experience and he was legit. The one thing that always makes me laugh about him was when we went to a park one day to do some conditioning, we got to the bridging portion and I struggled at times to keep my hands off the ground in the Front Bridge and he just blurted out "Keep those hands up grandpa", I still hear that to this day when I bridge. 

Tom was humble when he answered certain questions I had but he was blunt as hell too on certain things especially when I asked him about guys like Shamrock who he thought was a complete asshole and didn't feel he was a legit fighter. Shamrock can go but his knowledge wasn't as great as he talks about. I think there was some bitterness too but that's because Tom was sick and he wasn't getting any better. He didn't have many friends, at least around here and when we hung out together, I think I made him feel a little at ease because he was around someone who wanted to learn and could attempt to keep up with him. He was kind to me and if he didn't want me around, he would've kicked me to the curb long before we had a chance to meet. 

It was an honor to have met someone like him and was a student to one of the most legit wrestlers in the world. I do miss him and I hope he and Gotch are having a blast wherever they are. 

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