Greg Gagne & Gene Okerlund spoke with the Minneapolis Star Tribune about the passing of Verne Gagne. Here are some highlights…
Greg Gagne on How The Family is Doing: “Beth and Will have been great, as has my sister Kathy, but the real hero in the family has been our sister, Donna. She was with Verne every day, for three or four hours, tending to his needs.”
Gene Okerlund on Verne Giving Him His Start: “I had been on radio, and then I was selling for Channel 11,” Okerlund said. “Marty [O’Neil] couldn’t make one taping, and nobody could find Roger Kent, so Verne saw me in the hall and said, ‘We need you to do the interviews.’ I said, ‘Verne, I know zero about wrestling.’ He said, ‘Do you have a suit and tie? That’s all you need.’ There were a few bucks involved, so I dived in. I just acted terrified, and Verne brought me back the next week.”