I didn't know that about Steamboat.
Yeah!
According to Ricky, his girlfriend at the time was college roommates with Donna Gagne - Verne's daughter.
The Gagne's had the girlfriend over their house and she mentioned Ricky to Verne, who had a lot of respect for guys with solid amateur backgrounds.
Ironically, Verne had also heard about Rick through, I believe, Eddie Graham, who shared Verne's affinity for grapplers, and often recruited guys with that type of experience.
Ricky was in college to become a PE teacher in FL.
Upon graduation, he discovered that there was a loooooong waiting list to get a full-time teaching position in the state.
His girlfriend gave his picture to Verne, who then invited Ricky to come up to MN to train at the AWA camp.
Ricky made the move and was soon training under The Iron Scheik, Verne, and Billy Robinson, among others.
I think there were only 3 guys to come out of that class.
Verne's camp was TOUGH!!