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Steve Ernie
Ernie's Mugshot on July 21, 1971 at 11:12 PM, taken right after the Monster Accident
Born	Steven Parker Ernie (1940-01-01)January 1, 1940 Missouri United States
Died	December 23, 1976(1976-12-23) (aged 36) Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)

Steve Ernie was an American Wrestler and Musician. Ernie appeared in The Olympics in 1960, 1968, and 1972. Ernie died at the 48th Academy Awards due to a zip line accident.

Early Life

Ernie was born on January 1, 1940, the younger brother of two siblings. David, Steve's older brother, was very protective of Steve. Steve was known to be a quiet and shy kid, and could be a class clown at times. He grades were average, and he had very low interest in school. He was very passionate about football. His favorite football player was George Blanda. He was very skinny though, often told by his father Alex (1909-1992). Ernie began lifting weights at age 14. His dad would often drive him to the nearby gym to workout father and son. David was curious about Steve's hobbies, all Steve would do is lift and eat. Steve said he wanted to be a football player when he grew up, and nothing was going to stop him.

In the 11th grade, Ernie joined the football team number #14. He played Running back, his speed was his greatest ability. Steve's father suggested him to join the wrestling team. Steve wasn't sure about it, but he soon agreed. Steve was well treated and liked by his wrestling coach and peers. He was one of the best on the team due to his speed. Steve still wanted to be a football player, but he was worried that wrestling might take over.

Training

When Steve graduated in 1958, money was low and Steve was worried. He couldn't afford any football college even the lowest amount. His father was making 30$ a week. Steve started working at a nearby convenience store. He often worked late hours and sometimes worked over 16 hours. He ran into customer William Smith (wrestler) and talked about wrestling and how Ernie made the wrestling team. Ernie wrestled Smith, beating him. Smith was shocked, and asked why Ernie isn't in any public events. Smith told Ernie about public companies. Smith began to train Ernie, and in 1960, Ernie would make it to the big screen.

1960 Summer Olympics

Opening Ceremony in 1960 Summer Olympics in Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy

In 1960, Ernie competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics. He represented US and competed in the Wrestling Tournament against Hamit Kaplan. In 1987, Kaplan said: He was a very talented boy. When we shook hands, I thought he was gonna be a piece of cake. As soon as that whistle blew, FLASH, it was the fastest thing I've ever witnessed. Ernie lost to Kaplan. Kaplan also said that during the match Ernie "let one rip" and said "Whoops! shouldn't have eaten that taco!" He was a funny guy, glad that I met him.Ernie lost interest in wrestling, and still wanted to get into football, he didn't have enough money for any college, he was living in an apartment at the time and was in debt.

Guitar

In January of 1961, Steve was walking by a nearby dumpster to dispose some trash when he saw a guitar, slightly beaten but still usable. He brought it into his apartment and began strumming it. Within a couple of months Steve learned how to teach himself, he began playing on the streets for money. One incident he was mugged, Steve continued to play guitar on the streets. Townsmen began hanging out near the corner street where Steve played waiting for him to play. He then met, Jim Ed. Jim was a man who'd been homeless for 2 years. The two began hanging out together. Steve even offered Ed his room to stay. Ed told Steve he used to play drums. The two began jammin together.

Steve n' Ed

In late 1961, Steve and Ed began known among the city of Missouri. They would often play every night at around 9 pm. Ernie only had 3 strings at the time, having broken two and one missing when Steve first found it. Within 6 months, the two had made $6,000. Steve offered Ed half of the money, but he declined and only took 1,000. However, in 1962, the band ended when numerous complaints from people had started. The police told Ernie and Ed if they didn't stop, they would be arrested and charged with disturbance of peace. The band had only gone for 6 months. In June of 1962, Ed died peacefully in his sleep.

1962 Fair Incident

Mug shot of Ernie, taken in 1962 after his arrest for indecent exposure

On January 8, 1962, Steve was attending a local fair when he was caught masturbating in front of two boys. The police noticed Ernie and proceeded to arrest him, was Ernie ran to his car. When he reached the car he grabbed a bottle of urine and threw it at one of the officers face. He was later arrested and when he was being cuffed, Ernie casually said, "I didn't do it." Ernie was arrested for six months and received counsuling for mental issues.

1964-1966

In 1964, Ernie served in Vietnam, but was arrested for Molesting a fellow soldier. He was on probation and was sentenced to 2 weeks in jail.

Steve began working at a local toy store down the street from his apartment. He was walking on the way home when he saw a sign announcing open Mic Night at a local bar. Steve decided to make a character. He wore a blue ski mask, camouflage jeans, boots, and a red tank top known as the Masked Man. The idea was a instant success. The manager of the store wanted to hire Steve for late music and gigs, the audience wanted encores'. He later became known as That Bartender Guy With the Mask. Steve began playing every night at the bar, and was making a lot more money. He kept working part time at the toy store.

In Late 1964, Ernie received a call from Chester Feldman, producer of The Ed Sullivan Show. Feldman asked Steve if he wanted to make a special cameo on the show, Ernie accepted. He appeared on one episode in 1964, known as The Turkey Baster. Steve's job was to act clumsy and like a fool, he hated it. Ernie told Feldman that he came to play music, not to be a clown. Feldman said it wasn't his choice. Ernie still angered by this, still accepted it anyways and needed to stay in order to make enough money. Ernie was known by lots of the guests of the show such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, etc. Ernie didn't really have much to say to them, his interest was to get out of there as soon as he could. Ed Sullivan and Steve didn't get along well. Sullivan would often complain how Ernie wasn't tripping enough or spazzing as much. Ernie said how he felt he wasn't getting his part of the job. Ernie offered to play the guitar, but Sullivan declined.

In 1966, Ernie was arrested for masturbating in front of the police. Before he left, Ernie threw a trophy Sullivan, missing his head by an inches. Steve called his brother David, and told everything that happened. Angered by this, David came to see Steve nd talked to him. Steve said that he was running out of time to make money, and he wasn't giving up to persue his dream. In 1967, Steve began working several jobs including the toy store, the burger joint, and a bartender at the same bar he earlier performed at. While flipping burgers, Ernie met Wink Davenport, a volleyball player. Davenport taught Ernie how to play volleyball, Ernie learned fast. The two would go to a basketball court during break hours and pass volleyballs back and forth for hours and hours. The two made a team called The Wild Monkeez.

Third Arrest

Steve Ernie on June 2, 1966 taken after he had been formally charged with sexual assult

On June 2, 1966, Ernie was at the local park in Ohio when he spotted a younger boy with his parents. Ernie ran up to the boy and grabbed his testicles. The mother noticed, slapped him, and immedately called 9-1-1. Ernie grabbed the boys testicles a second time and said to him, "I love you." He then ran in hid in a nearby dumpster, were police spotted him 3 hours later. He was arrested and charged with sexual assult.

The Monkeys

Closing of the 1968 Summer Olympic Games at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City

The Wild Monkeys made thier debut in the 1968 Summer Olympics, mens volleyball. This was Steve's second Olympic appearence, and Wink's first. The two competed against Eduard Sibiryakov and Volodymyr Ivanov (volleyball). During the match, the wild monkeys had a 3-2 lead when Wink twisted his ankle. He was not able to compete and was forced to forfeit after trying numerous times to stand up. The Soviet Union won Gold in the end. They also were supposed to compete in the 1969 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup, but due to Wink's injury, it never happened.

Starting a band

In 1969, Steve got a call from David, telling him that their cousin James would like to start a band. Steve told Wink the news, but he wasn't interested. The two went on their seperate ways. Steve wanted to keep the Wild Monkeys alive, he told Jim about the band name and he liked it. The two began playing gigs at local bars around the area. James would play the bass and drum, while Steve played the guitar. The band never sang, they were a musical band cause neither of them could sing. James attempted one concert to sing, but the crowd started throwing objects at them. The Wild Monkeys became a target for no reason. Fans would often keep stashes of tomatoes and when the band would start to play, they crowd would often make monkey noises and throw the tomatoes at them. After a while the two would give up and walk off stage.

There was one incident where a crowd yelled "Fuck you James and your mother!" The fan probably didn't know that James' mother died of cancer when he was four. James bolted at the fan, Steve had to hold him back. A few months after the incident, the band attended Woodstock.

Woodstock

Part of the crowd on the first day of the festival.

The Woodstock Music & Art Fair—informally, the Woodstock Festival or simply Woodstock—was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre (240 ha; 0.94 sq mi) dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to 18, 1969. Bethel, in Sullivan County, is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, in adjoining Ulster County.

During the sometimes rainy weekend, 32 acts performed outdoors before an audience of 400,000 people.[2] It is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history. Rolling Stone listed it as one of the 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.[3]

The festival is also widely considered to be the definitive nexus for the larger counterculture generation.[4][5]

The event was captured in the Academy Award winning 1970 documentary movie Woodstock, an accompanying soundtrack album, and Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which commemorated the event and became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. When Ernie asked to perform the first act, the man on the stage said, "Beat it Ernie or I'll pound you with a tomato." Ernie became infamous by many musicians because they thought he wasn't serious about being a musician which was a huge lie. In January of 1970, James quit the band, making an end to the wild monkeys.

Independent Career (1970)

After the departure of The Wild Monkeys, Ernie began to do the same thing, play at local bars. Instead of ignoring the crowd booing and throwing props at him, he decided to go with it and be 'the bad guy'. Ernie began yelling back, yelling in the microphone to the top of his lungs yelling taunts like, I'm a winner and you're a loser! You're just jealous cause you're living in your moms basement and I'm not! Pretty soon, the comebacks began getting too personal, resulting to Ernie being kicked out of the bar by police. Ernie began appearing at bars around the state, doing the same act. Many enjoyed it, others found it entertaining, and others just hated him. He then became a fan favorite by many, especially teen boys.

After his show, Ernie would usually hang around for a couple of hours and sign autographs for kids, and pictures. He than made a guest appearence on What's my Line?, interfering with the show and arguing with the host. He then proceeded to the crowd, complaining how the place smelled and why there was no food service.

Ernie was starting to gain fame rapidly, appearing on billboards and magazines. He was also on the top 10 most hated people of 1970 being number 6. Ernie was starting to finally make money. At this point, he needed just a little bit more to make his dream.

Ernie VS Ernie (1971)

At the same time Ernie was gaining fame, his brother David, became a professional boxer. During one of David's matches, Steve appeared and the crowd began to erupt. Steve started yelling how smelly the place was, and how skinny the boxers were. He was kicked out by security.

The following night, Steve got a call from Ed Garlic asking if he and his brother wanted a feud on live television. Not sure about this, Steve called David and they had a discussion about the situation which lasted an hour. David accepted and the two signed a contract.

On January 24, 1971, David Ernie walked on stage as a guest welcoming the fans, then Steve started beating on David from behind, the two began to brawl. This feud was one of the most popular fights of all time. The fight of David and Steve became known as "Ernie VS Ernie." It was all over the news, magazines, billboards, and even a comic book series was made. During The Ed Sullivan Show, the fans started tuning in to the brothers appearing behind the stage or secretly sneaking on stage, showing the crowd a prop (like flour, hammer, basketball, etc) The fans would chant.

There was one incident known as the Tomato incident which wasn't planned. On June 26, 1971, Steve bought 300 tomatoes and at the beginning of the show gave them to audience members telling them to throw them when David came on stage. Then, Just as David came on stage, audience members began throwing tomatoes at David. It got worse though, as fans started jumping on the stage and running back stage. 35 police cars showed up, and Steve was arrested for 7 months for disturbance of peace.

Monster Accident

On the night of July 21, 1971, president Richard Nixon was taking a vacation in Ohio with his wife. Miro Barešić, was planning do attack Nixon. Ernie, while walking home from a bar drunk noticed Nixon, but was to drunk to notice the situation. Baresic was part of a ISIS group, he was related to Osama Bin Laden. Resarch shows that if Baresic' was still alive, he would've taken part of the 9 11 attacks. Baresic followed the secret serivice and Nixon, with them not knowing that he was planning an attack. Ernie, nearby noticed that Baresic had a grenade in his hand. Ernie yelled "GRENADE!"" And proceded to charge at Baresic. Baresic reacted in panic, and threw the grenade at Ernie, missing. Ernie sprinted from the grenade and it exploded. Harming nobody. The secret service protected Nixon, as Ernie tackled Baresic. Chaos ran about. The police were notified and arrested both Ernie and Baresic, due to the fact that he was public intoxication. The news spread quickly, and millions protested that Ernie was innocent, and shouldn't have been arrested. Ernie was taken into custody and was question if he had taken part in the attempted attack. After nine hours of questioning, Ernie replied, "I said what I have said a thousand times, what more do you want from me?" He was sentanced for a trial on December 4, 1971. Chaos ran around town. People setting fires that arresting Erine was one of the "Biggest Mistakes In American History" Ernie became infamous from the incident.

First Trial

Larry Smith, Ernie's defendant July 28, 1971

On July 28, 1971, Ernie was at trial going against Miro Baresic. Ernie hired Larry Smith, a professional jury, as his defendant. Smith described Ernie as, "A man with a big heart, but sadly nobody sees it" The trial was live on television, with 102.4 million watching, making it one of the biggest brodcasts in history. Ernie couldn't afford any clothes, so he wore a used white polo shirt from Smith, jeans, and black boots. People feared due to the lack of effort put on his appearence, he would lose. The heated trial took 9 hours, with the tempature being 102 C. There were two cases of people passing out, and people had to go outside and vomit due to the odor. Both teams showed there side of the story, saying that Ernie had secretly planned the attack. Smith, very furious about the situation, acted hostile, possibly one of the reasons the trial didn't go well. The descion was disccussed by the jury and Ernie was found guilty, on trying to get manslaughter and was sentanced 10 years in prison. Smith outraged, saying, "YOU CAN'T END A TRIAL LIKE THAT! YOU NEED EVIDANCE." The jury dicussed and decided to a second trial on January 4, 1972. Ernie was watched cautiously by police, and his house was investigated everyday for possible weapons. Ernie later recalled, " I can't belive what was happening, I didn't do anything wrong. This is why I hide in the shadows, because you won't get in trouble that way."

Ernie's brother was devestaed by the situation.

Steve and Yoshi (1972)

In January 1972, Ernie was released from jail. He was told by police never to return to any bars to perform his 'character.' He got a job at a burger joint earning minimum wage. He there met Yoshi Amao, a former actor from Japan. The two were "good at being funny" and the two were known to the boss as "the comedians".

In March, the two decided to create thier own show "Steve and Yoshi" were they would teach kids not to smoke in a "funny way." This wasn't the first time Ernie was on TV, He did don't smoke commercial as "The Masked Man" from 1963-1964. The show recieved positive reviews and thousands of kids soon when to millions. In December 24, 1972, 1.9 Billion people were watching the show. "It was a big shock for me." Ernie said. "Glad to see kids around the world having a good laugh while learning, now that is cool." Steve left the show in 1973 for personal reasons, he was still trying to get his football career.

Steve and the Bear (1973)

Steve applied to a football college, but he couldn't join because of his arrest in 1971. Steve was off any college for 5 years. Steve was stuck, and Yoshi had moved backed to Japan, he was back where he started. He asked if he was allowed to perform at any bars but he wasn't allowed. He had little money. He spent the year drinking and sleeping, said his family. "It was a dark time" recalled Steve.