Speaking through the blog section of his official website, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross commented on the passing of AWA founder Verne Gagne.

“Verne Gagne was a man’s man who was a legit, two sport star at the University of Minnesota, football and wrestling, and will always be considered one of the most significant and influential men in the history of pro wrestling. He also trained many amazing stars and loved to utilize legit athletes with which to mold into pro mat stars much like Bill Watts, Eddie Graham and even myself did back in the day in WWE. So many within the world of wrestling will forever be indebted to Verne Gagne for what he did for their careers and even though I never worked for Verne he helped me indirectly have the career that I’ve had the past 40 years. Men like Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, the Iron Sheik, Ken Patera, Sgt. Slaughter and countless others would say essentially the same thing.”

The blog is available in full at this link.