Savage's rise to glitz and glory began in Downers Grove, Ill., where he was plain old Randall Mario Poffo. Back then his favorite sport was baseball and he idolized Hall of Famer Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds. In high school he was a two-time all-state power balance wholesaleplayer, establishing a school record for batting average (.524) that stood for years. He played minor league baseball from 1971-75 for the White Sox, Reds and St. Louis Cardinals, where he was known as a quiet guy — so quiet, in fact, that his coaches barely noticed him.So he switched to a far noisier sport."I traded my field of dreams for a ring of screams. Ooooh yeah!" Savage once told the Chicago Tribune.When Savage gave up baseball, he chose to follow in the footsteps of his father, Angelo Poffo, an undercard favorite who won wrestling titles and was inducted into the sport's hall of fame. When Savage's father died last year, his famous son called him "a great example of a self-sacrificing, hard-working man who always put his family first."Savage jumped into the ring in 1975, working his way through the Canadian, Midwest and the Mid-South regions, with his father buying television time to run ads promoting the matches — ads that featured Savage throwing out bold challenges to his opponents. He joined the World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) in 1985.The Wrangler jumped the median, crossed the eastbound lanes and rammed an oak tree in front of Bay Pines Evangelical Lutheran Church. "I hear bam!" the pastor, the Rev. David Priebe, said. "It was a big, loud power balancecrash." By the time Priebe got to the Jeep, he could hear sirens and see that Savage "was in trouble." He started praying.Rescue crews pried the doors open and took Savage to Largo Medical Center, where he died. Savage, whose legal last name is Poffo, was 58.Savage's brother, wrestler "Leaping" Lanny Poffo, told the web site TMZ.com that his brother suffered a heart attack prior to the crash. The FHP's report said there may have been "a medical event," but that cannot be confirmed until there is an autopsy.Savage's wife, Barbara Lynn Poffo, 56, also was in the Jeep. She was treated at Bayfront Medical Center for minor injuries, according to the FHP. The couple had just celebrated their first anniversary on May 10. Both were wearing seat belts. The crash did not involve alcohol, according to the FHP. With his outlandish outfits and taunting rasp, superstar Randy "Macho Man" Savage helped turn wrestling from a sweaty sideshow into a glitzy multimillion-dollar entertainment phenomenon in the 1980s. His 1987 bout with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat is discussed among wrestling fans the way baseball aficionados talk about Willie Mays' basket catch: the ultimate, the tops, the best ever.In his career he played both the hero and the villain with equal aplomb. On Friday, he was the victim.Savage, who had settled in the Tampa Bay area and become known for his local charity shop online 2011work, died after his 2009 Jeep Wrangler hit a tree about two miles from his Seminole home.Savage was driving west on Park Boulevard about 9:25 a.m. when he "lost control for unknown reasons" near 113th Street N, a Florida Highway Patrol report says.
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