Cross & Crescent

He was given the name Merced Solis (West Texas A&M 1973) at birth but few know him as anything but his stage name, Tito Santana. Tito is a Hall of Fame professional wrestler and former professional football player. Following his successful career, Tito wanted to give back to the community and today is a Spanish teacher.

He recently published a book, Tito Santana: Tales From the Ring, depicting his life in the spotlight. The book takes a look at how Tito came up in a poor Hispanic migrant worker family in south Texas and became a star.

“I started writing the book because there are black minorities, Hispanic minorities, and whites that are very, very poor that might think that there’s no way out,” says Santana. “I just figured if I made it, anybody can make it if they really believe in something.”

Football

“I feel like I owe everything to a football coach,” says Tito. “When I was in the 8th grade a football coach convinced me to play football. I was afraid because I had never played but I felt the coach made a difference to me.”

Santana went on to play throughout high school and in college at West Texas A&M University. While at West Texas, Santana played tight end. Also on the team were future professional wrestlers, “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase, Dusty Rhodes, Blackjack Mulligan, Tully Blanchard, Manny Fernandez, and Bob Dunkham.

“I think the core of the guys became interested in wrestling because of Terri Funk (son of wrestling promoter Dory Funk, Sr.) who was friends with all of these guys and he knew that they had potential to become wrestling stars.”

Following college, Santana signed to play pro football with the Kansas City Chiefs. Two weeks before training camp he injured his Achilles tendon. When he got off crutches he was given a shot with the team.

“We had to time run the 40 (yard dash) and my time wasn’t very good, and because I was a rookie free agent, I didn’t want anyone to know that I was hurt.”

He started every preseason game but was one of the last guys cut. He was told it was because of his speed. He then went to Canada to play two seasons in the Canadian Football League for the BC Lions. During the offseason Santana wrestled.

“My initial intent was to wrestle in the off season and playing football; but once I started wrestling I really enjoyed it, so it was a no-brainer for me.”

Breaking into Wrestling

When Santana began his professional wrestling career in 1977 it was more territorial than it is today. He started in Tampa, Florida, moved to Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina, and finally Amarillo, Texas. It wasn’t on national TV but was local.

“I was a young guy getting started, it’s what they would do; move you around and let you get more experience in other places,” says Santana. “The next place you would go, they would start you a little higher.”

He decided he wasn’t moving up fast enough in the smaller leagues so he and Andre the Giant decided to take a shot in New York with the World Wide Wrestling Federation owned by Vince McMahon Sr.

“The WWF drew big crowds, selling out Madison Square Garden, in Philadelphia, and Boston Garden,” says Santana. “The south would never draw like the east coast did. Vince McMahon Sr. knew how to promote better than the guys in the south.”

Santana left the WWF for a short period and went to the AWA for two years. He was preparing to switch leagues again and go to New Orleans when McMahon called offering Santana a job again.

“It was a no-brainer, I was waiting for him to do that,” says Santana. “I came back in 1983 and I will never forget that because it was my birthday on May 10.”

Life in Wrestling

Santana tells of the long hours he and other wrestlers faced as they wrestled in 87 different cities.

“It was pretty brutal both mentally and physically,” says Santana. Promoters would tell the athletes who was suppose to win and how but the process of the matches were not staged.

“People think we practiced our matches, but wrestling matches were never staged,” says Santana. “We were story writers with our actions and the guys who included the fans the best were the guys that became successful.”

Matches needed to be real to convince the people. Wrestlers would abuse their bodies to entertain the fans and to make them think that what they were seeing was real.

“To put a percentage, about 90 percent of what we did in the ring was pretty close to real.”

Santana wrestled full time for 17 years. He remembers many great experiences of wrestling, most of which came while in the WWF. There was Wrestle Mania III when he wrestled in front of 93,000 people — the first time he won the Intercontinental championship — and the first time he was the main event at Madison Square Garden. He also got to travel the world to wrestle.

“To see all of those different places, there was really no way if I hadn’t gotten into the wrestling business,” says Santana. “Meeting people like Muhammad Ali, Jerry West, Andy Warhol — who said he was a fan of mine — Liberace, and Arsenio Hall. All of the sudden there are a bunch of movie stars that were big time wrestling fans and wanted to take pictures with you, that was unbelievable to me.”

Feud & Gimmicks

The feuds were created by the promoters but a lot of times the wrestlers themselves had a lot of input. Santana’s most notable feud stemmed from a knee injury.

“People thought that it was Greg Valentine, well I had my knee hurt by Mr. Wonderful,” says Santana. “We did a situation where (Valentine) put me in a finger-four leg lock and people thought that had done the damage, but the damage was already done.”

Santana had taped up his knee really good that night and went into the ring trying to not show a limp. Vince McMahon Jr., then owner of the WWF, had videotaped the surgery. Santana did an interview right afterwards when he was still groggy, so people knew that it was legit.

“We protected the business; you didn’t see good guys hanging out with bad guys very often,” says Santana. “Our business is kind of funny. While I was there my friends were not the good guys, they were the bad guys. I was competing against the good guys because they were trying to take my spot, and people never really understood that.”

The last thing Santana did while in the WWF was a gimmick as El Matador. Tito stayed in Tijuana and was trained as a bullfighter. The WWF broadcasted vignettes of Santana’s training.

“I actually did do some passes on small bulls, and even the little ones that I practiced with were mean,” says Santana. “Those big bulls, man they were scary! I don’t think Vince wanted to take the chance of me getting gored by a bull.”

When Santana came back from training he was suppose to get a big push, but it never materialized. He decided it was time to retire from wrestling and spend time with his wife and three children

Hall of Fame

In 2004 Vince McMahon once again called on Santana. This time it was to induct the two-time Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion into the WWF Hall of Fame. Santana admits that he didn’t take it very seriously, and if it hadn’t been for a large payday he wouldn’t have even attended.

“Not attending would have been a big mistake,” says Tito. “The experience I had as I was being inducted was great, and now it has made a difference on how people look at you now that you are a Hall of Fame wrestler from the WWF.”

The event was held at Wrestle Mania in New York. Tito was inducted by Shawn Michaels. Others inducted that year included Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Sgt. Slaughter, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and the Junkyard Dog.

Giving Back

When Santana left wrestling he didn’t do much other than take up golf for a few years. He soon decided he needed something to do. He and Sgt. Slaughter began a wrestling league called AWF. The league’s matches consisted of three-minute rounds. AWF was on TV for a year, but ultimately wasn’t able to stay afloat.

Santana then began substitute teaching. After a couple years he began to feel he was making a difference in kids’ lives and decided to do it full time. He now works in a middle school where he teaches Spanish and coaches basketball.

“I have been teaching for 11 years and I am really glad that I am doing this,” he says “I really enjoy it and I think I’m making a difference.”

Santana is proud of what he’s doing but is more so of his children. His eldest son attends American University Law School. His middle son, who graduated from Princeton, is also going to law school when he returns from Chile and South Korea where he’s been concentrating on human rights. His youngest son is a senior at James Madison.

“My wife and I, we dedicated our lives to our kids,” says Santana. “To have successful kids is a blessing.”

Fraternity

While at West Texas A&M Tito joined the Lambda Chi Alpha Brotherhood. There were 10 football players who joined the Fraternity at the same time.

“The guys that were there were more my style. Lambda Chis were just a bunch of guys who enjoyed having a hell of a time,” says Santana. “Although we had a mixture of everything there, I thought the brotherhood was what I was looking for at West Texas.”

Santana’s time in the fraternity brought him a lot of friendships, the kind he says are hard to find. It was also important was to him that he was accepted into a mostly non-Hispanic fraternity.

“There were some good people who took you for who you are. I think that I now consider myself, that I achieved some success; I never forgot those roots and the way I was treated by complete strangers and accepted,” says Tito. “I think I learned more about life in the fraternity than just being in between beers…”

The most unique experience he had in the fraternity was the Initiation Ritual.

“The light in Initiation, you know that’s it, that’s life. It is something that you carry for the rest of your life,” says Santana. “Looking back, there were some great moments in Lambda Chi, but nothing compares to the feeling of that moment and it’s something that we will all take to our graves. Unless you are a Lambda Chi it’s something that you can never explain.”