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Animal
Animal

Animal

By George "The Animal" Steele, By Jim Evans, Foreword by Cowboy Bill Watts

SPORTS & RECREATION

224 Pages, 6 x 9

Formats: Cloth, EPUB, PDF, Mobipocket

Cloth, $24.95 (US $24.95) (CA $27.95)

ISBN 9781600787980

Rights: WOR

Triumph Books (Jun 2013)

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Overview

A candid memoir from the man behind the beast
A stand-out character in an entertainment industry where persona is everything, George “The Animal” Steele shares how he balanced his real life as Jim Myers, a highly respected high school teacher and coach, with the green tongued, hairy backed, turnbuckle eating wrestling icon he was in the ring. The memoir delves into the golden era of wrestling in the 1970s and 1980s and his entry into the World Wrestling Federation where he earned a spot in professional wrestling history despite only speaking in animal-like grunts. In reality, the educated man that overcame his struggles with dyslexia and Crohn’s Disease was a father and an inspiration to many of his students and players, and the dichotomous personalities that marked this much-loved man’s life are explored in his own words. The book is filled with nostalgic and humorous anecdotes about the whirlwind life of wrestling alongside such notables as Hulk Hogan and Bruno Sammartino, both in and out of the ring.

Reviews

“Animal is a fun read, and is well worth picking up.”—Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets

“Fans will love how he spends many pages detailing his run with Randy Savage and how what we saw on television was sometimes real reactions from people playing characters that were so close to home that they did not easily differentiate reality and pro wrestling.”—Canoe Slam! Sports

“A fun read with Myers sprinkling in his own signature humor in just about every chapter. Fans will enjoy his stories of working with the likes of Bruno Sammartino and the Macho Man Randy Savage, but the book is more than that. It’s a story of triumph and survival.”—Miami Herald

Author Biography

George "The Animal" Steele
See Author
George “The Animal” Steele is Jim Myers, a retired professional wrestler, high school teacher, and high school football and wrestling coach. He is an inductee of the Professional Wrestlers Hall of Fame, the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame, and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame as well as the Michigan High School Football Association Coaches Hall of Fame. He lives in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Jim Evans is a sportswriter and columnist for the Daily Tribune of Oakland County, Michigan and Macomb Daily. He lives in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Cowboy Bill Watts is a former professional wrestler and promoter who worked with and developed some of the biggest names in wrestling history. He is the author of The Cowboy and the Cross. He lives in Bixby, Oklahoma.

Media

Animal was mentioned in a news brief in Florida Today, in conjunction with an upcoming author signing
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Animal was featured in Florida Today, with a Q&A with author Jim Myers.
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Animal was featured on NewsItem.com.
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Animal was featured in Florida Today. The feature was also picked up by 411Mania.com.
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Animal was featured in the Dormont-Brookline Patch in conjunction with author Jim Myers' book signing in the Pittsburgh area.
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Jim Myers, author of Animal, interviews live on Sportsnet 590 "The Fan."
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Animal was reviewed in the Iron Mountain Daily News.
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Animal was featured in C&G Newspapers with a Q&A with author Jim Myers.

The feature appeared in:

  • Advertiser Times
  • Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle
  • Eastsider
  • Farmington Press
  • Fraser-Clinton Township Chronicle
  • Grosse Pointe Times
  • Journal
  • Macomb Township Chronicle
  • Madison Park News
  • Rochester Post
  • Royal Oak Review
  • Shelby-Utica News
  • Southfield Sun
  • St. Clair Shores Sentinel
  • Sterling Heights Sentry
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Animal was featured in The Post-Standard, Wrestling-Edge.com, WrestlingInc.com, and 411Mania.com, in conjunction with an upcoming author signing.
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Animal was featured on ProWrestling.net and 411Mania, in conjunction with an upcoming signing with author Jim Myers.
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Book Signings

Past Events

Feb
22
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Merritt Island, FL
1:00pm
Merritt Island, FL
Oct
27
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Orlando, FL
10:00am
Oct
26
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Orlando, FL
10:00am
Oct
25
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Orlando, FL
4:00pm
Aug
16
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Pittsburgh, PA
7:00pm
Jul
28
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Amherst, NY
2:00pm
Jul
27
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Rochester, NY
7:00pm
Jul
26
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Dewitt, NY
7:00pm
Jul
25
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Colonie, NY
7:00pm
Jul
20
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Troy, MI
2:00pm
Jul
19
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Grand Rapids, MI
7:00pm
Jul
18
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Royal Oak, MI
7:00pm
Jul
15
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Ann Arbor, MI
7:00pm
Jun
28
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Altamonte Springs, FL
11:00am
Jun
21
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Springfield, NJ
7:00pm
Jun
20
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Freehold, NJ
7:00pm
Jun
19
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Ridgewood, NJ
7:00pm
Jun
15
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Merritt Island, FL
1:00pm
Jun
08
George "The Animal" Steele - Animal ›
Orlando, FL
2:00pm

Press Releases

Wrestling legend crushes opponents, dyslexia and Crohn's Disease in new memoir, Animal

Jim Myers lived a double life. By day, he was a respected high school teacher and coach with a master's degree. By night, he was the hairy, green-tongued monster who spoke only in grunts and bit, arm-locked and power slammed his opponents in the ring.

 

Animal (Triumph Books, June 2013) by former pro wrestler George "The Animal" Steele and Jim Evans, foreword by Cowboy Bill Watts, is the chronicle of one man-and beast's-life and career during wrestling's golden era in the 1970s and 80's.

 

Animal melds the seemingly incompatible career paths Myers followed. The life of Animal outside the ring wasn't typical for a famous wrestler. In his own words, Myers explains that despite battling dyslexia, he graduated from Michigan State. He also married young, had a family and became a teacher and a coach at the high school he once despised.

 

Myers joined the WWF in the late 1960s to supplement his meager teacher's salary. In the ring, he was wild, often using foreign objects as weapons and getting kicked out of matches for illegal behavior.

 

Animal includes humorous anecdotes from professional wrestling history, when he rubbed elbows with other greats including Hulk Hogan, Junkyard Dog and Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Later, Myers fought and beat Crohn's disease and is in remission today. Animal thanks numerous mentors in both academia and athletics and credits Myers' lifetime of success to God. He inspired people to live their dreams, be it in the ring, on the field or in the classroom.

 

Myers was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1995. Animal is a nostalgic window into professional wrestling's colorful history, and a memoir of a man who unleashed his inner beast as a talented athlete. Through it all, Jim Myers remains steadfast in his convictions to help others as a great coach, father and mentor to all who know him.

 

About the Authors:
George "The Animal" Steele is Jim Myers, a retired professional wrestler, high school teacher, and high school football and wrestling coach. He is an inductee of the Professional Wrestlers Hall of Fame, the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame as well as the Michigan High School Football Association Coaches Hall of Fame. Jim Evans is a sportswriter and columnist for the Daily Tribune of Oakland County, Michigan and Macomb Daily. Cowboy Bill Watts is a former professional wrestler and promoter. He is the author of The Cowboy and the Cross.

 

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