Frederiksted Pier

I met Roddy Piper on Frederiksted Pier on the western edge of St. Croix. We were filming a movie version of the hit TV series The Love Boat and Roddy was one of the guest stars. Myself, I was an extra in three scenes.

But the date is unclear. The best I can remember is that it was sometime during the spring of 1989.

The Love Boat series was set on the cruise ship Pacific Princess and ran for nine seasons on ABC from the late-1970s thru the late-1980s. The storylines combined romantic and comic tales involving the passengers and crew.

About a year after the series ended, they decided to make a TV movie entitled The Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage.

The movie aired on February 12, 1990.

Rowdy Roddy

Roderick “Roddy” Toombs was born in Saskatoon in 1954 and raised in Winnipeg. Since one of his lifelong friends was Cam Connor – who crafted a 10-year career in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, and New York Rangers that included a Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1979 – one might assume that Roddy would’ve become a hockey player as well.

But no. Instead of hockey, Roddy turned to boxing, wrestling, and judo.

Roddy’s father was a Mountie, but Roddy and his father had a falling out after Roddy was expelled from junior high school. Because of the rift, Roddy left home, stayed in youth hostels, and started hanging around gyms.

He won a Golden Gloves championship, earned a black belt in judo, and made his pro wrestling debut at the age of 15. Of Scottish heritage, Roddy learned how to play the bagpipes during his youth and decided to use the bagpipes as his wrestling shtick. That, plus he claimed to hail from Glasgow, Scotland.

So he was playing the bagpipes and wearing a Scottish kilt when he entered the ring on that first night. The ring announcer introduced him as “Roddy the Piper.” But the audience heard it as “Roddy Piper” and that became his ring name.

Rowdy later became an organic prefix.

Berra Berra Good

Garrett Morris played the fictional Mets infielder Chico Escuela on Saturday Night Live for years. His tagline for that skit was “Beisbol . . . been berra berra good . . . to me.”

I’ve stolen that line and paraphrased it throughout the years to describe my association with the island of St. Croix.

Like so: “St. Croix . . . been berra berra good . . . to me.”

You see, I moved to St. Croix in the fall of 1987 to escape the corporate world – determined to learn the craft of writing and become an author. I was 44 when I made the break.

Livingston Bramble

And St. Croix . . . been berra berra good . . . to me.

• Taught algebra, geometry, and trig at the exclusive Country Day School.
• Tended bar to make ends meet.
• Talked my way into a sports-writing job with the territory’s Daily News where I became acquainted with future NBA stars Tim Duncan and Raja Bell and boxing’s Livingston Bramble – who defeated Boom Boom Mancini to become Lightweight Champion of the World.
• Wrote hundreds of stories covering every sport on the island . . . from horse racing to yacht racing to croquet.
• Broke my publishing cherry with “A Taste for Revenge” for Cavalier magazine.
• Was “discovered” by Linda Colon.
• My favorite granddaughter Allie Spencer was born on St. Croix

Linda Colon

During one night on the town, I was in a popular nightspot in Christiansted called Rumors when this gorgeous Hispanic female walked up to me and struck up a conversation. Truthfully, I thought she was hitting on me. But she wasn’t. She was recruiting me.

As it worked out, her name was Linda Colon and she was a casting agent.

She told me she booked a lot of commercials on St. Croix and liked my “look.” She set up an appointment and screen-tested me. Next thing I know:

• I’m walking along the beach in the sunset accompanied by a female companion in a Sitmar Cruise Lines commercial.
• Riding a bike in an Oldsmobile commercial with Shari Belafonte.
• Being both a detective and a tourist in a Love Boat special.

By the way, I’ve dramatized my meeting with Linda Colon in the soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen – although I named Linda’s character Eva Cruz. It’s one of the sexy parts.

My Friend

My friend My Friend – aka Mike Tartaglia – aka Hit-Man Bruno – came to visit me on St. Croix.

I hired Mike a couple of years earlier when I managed the Holiday Spa at Cherry Hill Mall and nicknamed him My Friend. He was right out of high school and all jacked up about working out, bench-pressing 300 pounds, and wrestling.

He later became a wrestler – i.e. Hit-Man Bruno – and today he’s “The Boss” – or something like that – at ECWA Pro Wrestling. My best memories of him as a wrestler was when he was performing his signature move of being on the receiving end of a monster body slam.

Anyway, I picked My Friend up at the St. Croix airport shortly after he landed. I’d already taped two Love Boat scenes that morning, where I played a detective investigating a crime scene. Tom Bosley – best known for his role as Richie Cunningham’s father in the sitcom Happy Days – was the lead detective in the scene.

I was a background player. During the rehearsals, I calculated the various camera angles and memorized everyone’s movements. So when we shot the scene, I called an audible for myself and modified my movements to gain maximum camera exposure.

After picking up My Friend at the airport, I drove straight to the Frederiksted Pier. That’s where the cruise ships landed and that’s where we were going to be shooting some scenes – but I never told My Friend that he was also going to be an extra and that Roddy Piper was a guest star.

With My Friend on Frederiksted Pier

When we arrived at the Pier, I gave My Friend a quick acting lesson. You see, we were going to be pretend to be tourists walking down the gangplank from the Pacific Princess onto the pier and we were supposed to look happy and smile. Waving as we walked was optional.

It called for a real stretch, but we got it done.

As we were leaving the pier, I spotted Roddy making a call on a pay phone. I called out to him and – pardon my French – but the dialogue went something like this:

“Roddy, this is My Friend and you’re his idol. How about taking a picture with him?”

“What the fuck. I’m only talking to my agent – long distance – but what the fuck. Come on.”

And he posed with My Friend – see the header photo above and below – and I snapped the picture.

Dead at 61

Roddy Piper suffered a heart attack while sleeping at his home in Hollywood on Thursday night. He was discovered on Friday.

He was 61.

Remember you heard it here.

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com, Barry Bowe is also the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Birth of the Birds
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
• Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
• Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow