Hulk Hogan, Shirt-Shredding Superstar of Pro Wrestling, Dies at 71
Hulk Hogan, Shirt-Shredding Superstar of Pro Wrestling, Dies at 71
nytimes.com
Hulk Hogan, whose flamboyance and star power helped transform professional wrestling from a low-budget regional attraction into a multibillion-dollar industry, died on Thursday in Clearwater, Fla. He was 71.
Police and fire department personnel in Clearwater were called to Hogan’s home on Clearwater Beach, where Hogan was treated for cardiac arrest, the police said in a “news alert” post on Facebook. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, they said.
Hogan was born Terry Gene Bollea, on Aug. 11, 1953, in Augusta, Ga. His father, Peter, was a construction foreman; his mother, Ruth (Moody) Bollea, was a dance teacher. He attended the University of South Florida but dropped out, choosing the wrestling mat over the classroom.
He started wrestling in 1977. Like many in the sport, he was a big man, weighing 300 pounds in his prime. He was also exceptionally tall, 6-foot-8, helping to further a trend toward very big men in wrestling.
Hogan was the face of pro wrestling for decades, with his blond hair and horseshoe mustache, colorful bandannas and massive biceps, which he referred to as “24-inch pythons.”
Hogan had hit peak stardom, and crossed over into starring in movies. He played a wrestler in “No Holds Barred” (1989) and an ex-wrestler-turned-caregiver in “Mr. Nanny” (1993). He also starred as a mercenary in the television series “Thunder in Paradise.”
In 2005, he appeared in the reality series “Hogan Knows Best,” along with his wife at the time, Linda (Claridge) Hogan, and his children, Brooke (Hogan) Oleksy, a singer, and Nick Hogan, a racecar driver. They survive him, along with his third wife, Sky Daily, and two grandchildren.
Even after his wrestling days were over, he remained in the spotlight, most recently when he spoke last year at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, tearing off his shirt to reveal a Trump/Vance shirt underneath. He was earlier involved in a high-profile lawsuit in 2012, bankrolled by the billionaire Peter Thiel, against Gawker, the irreverent media company, after Gawker posted a video of Hogan having sex with a friend’s wife. He won the case on invasion of privacy grounds, reaping millions in damages.
In 2015, a tape of Hogan using racial slurs during the same encounter emerged. He apologized, but was dismissed from the W.W.E. He returned to W.W.E. shows in 2018.
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