Only the Good Die Young
by Danielle D'Adamo
What do all of these people have in common? Russ Haas, Chris Candido, Curt Henning, Rick Rude, Brian Pillman, Eddie Guerrero, Jimmy Hustler, Bam Bam Bigelow, Doug Gentry from RF Video.
Give up?
They all died way too young.
Today at 3pm, while I was leaving from work, I received a text message from Kevin Fields. In case you do not know who he is, he was the webmaster for Alexis Laree/Mickie James and is a fellow contributor to the podcast I am part of on AngryMarks.com. Anyway, he sent me this text message saying that Doug Gentry had passed away. Here I am, getting ready to go home and get ready to go out, and this news hits me like a ton of bricks. I knew that Doug had a rash of medical problems recently, but never in a million years did I think he would pass away at the age of 34.
Doug was one of those people in the wrestling business that you enjoyed working with. Always with a smile and a helping hand and just something genuine was the way Doug was. I could go on and on, but as Missy Sampson said, they are no words that will do Doug justice.
The last time I saw Doug was for the Model Behaviour DVD that I worked on with Robert Payes. I remember the stories he would talk about, the shoot interviews he was getting ready to work on, heck even taking some funny pictures of Doug and Missy in bed. Sorry, those did not go on the DVD. The thing was--while it was a long day, Doug made the time go by. He even is featured in one of the pictures I took of Corvis Fear and a cage/fork. He was a very creative soul and knew how to make videos and pictures work.
Another fond memory I have of Doug involved Ring of Honor, Super Dragon, and the RexPlex. Super Dragon was on the convention card of a show at the RexPlex, and after talking to Gabe, I got the big no to be ringside. Doug knew that I really wanted to be ringside to take pictures of Super Dragon. He noticed that there was only one photographer ringside, called me over to the guardrail, and said "Do you still want in?" and I, of course, said yes. He went over to the curtain area, pulled it open, and let me through. I got pictures of April Hunter's match (which she talks about on her On the Road DVD) and of course Super Dragon. Gabe finally realized what was going on, pratically yelled at me and asked me who let me ringside. I said Doug. Doug stood up to him and said that he allowed me, but Gabe yelled at him and thus I left ringside. The point is Doug knew I wanted to be there and take photos for Ring of Honor at least once, and he made that happen.
Doug was an innovator, a dreamer, a creator. He would come up with ideas for shows that some would think was ridiculous but now look. Ring of Honor is considered one of the top promotions in the USA. Why? Because of two men--Rob Feinstein and Doug Gentry. Whenever I would go to a show and learn that Doug was taping, it made my night. Always smiling, always laughing, always making things work. I guess God needed Doug to videotape the antics Chris Candido and Bam Bam Bigelow.
Doug--you will be surely missed. It is not going to be the same without you. My prayers and condolences go out to the Gentry Family. Just remember, this is not goodbye...this is til we meet again.
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