HULK HOGAN (1953 - 2025) , JIM LOVELL (1928 - 2025) , and ROBERT REDFORD (1936 - 2025) : Tributes B

In this episode we look back at three people it is almost hard to imagine not being around. 

Hulk Hogan, if you are kid in my age range, middle 50s, was as big a star as ever roamed the Earth. He was the catalyst for Professional Wrestling's leap into mainstream society taking it from a cable television novelty, to starring in, what is still today, the largest indoor sporting event in all of history with an attendance of 93,173 to see Hulk Hogan wrestle 7ft 4 inch, Andre the Giant. Huge is an understatement at what an event that was for anyone who was watching it. 

We honor Hulk Hogan here though, for one of the last things he did in his long and storied career. He spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024 on behalf of President Donald Trump. At the time, many of the political analyst were saying he was the first Pro wrestler to be involved as an endorser in Presidential Politics. That was far from the truth. Ric Flair had been a big supporter of George H. W. Bush and in 1992 he traveled North and South Carolina with him. We have an episode dedicated to that in our back catalogue from our 1992 Changing of the Guard Series.  We look back at Hulk Hogan with a great deal of fondness, he was a huge part of my childhood. Hulk Hogan was 71 years old.

Jim Lovell, helped guide the Apollo 13 Moon mission back to Earth after disaster struck it and an oxygen tank exploded mid mission. The fabulous movie "Apollo 13" starring Tom Hanks and Directed by Ron Howard tells the story, as does an episode in our back catalogue of material. Jim Lovell always came across as a super nice man, known as "smiling Jim" by his fellow astronauts in the 1960s. I was honored to tell his Apollo 13 story during our initial Richard Nixon series. Jim Lovell was also on the first trip to circumnavigate the moon, and was a a part of the crew that took the famous "Earthrise" photo. We have an episode in our series on Lyndon Johnson that covers that mission. Jim Lovell was 97 years old. 

This year also saw the passing of my Mother, Gloria Bulmer's favorite movie star, Robert Redford. He was "The Great Gatsby." I have seen the movie several times, it was my mother's favorite. Redford was famous for many other huge blockbuster movies too from "All the President's Men" to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", to another of my mother's favorite movies, "The Sting" with Paul Newman and Robert Shaw. He was the quintessential movie star. 

He also has an episode in our back catalogue, when we profiled one of my all time favorite movies, "Casablanca", and along with it another of my favorites, that was one of the few of his movies that flopped, "Havana". I loved the movie and never understood why it did so poorly at the box office. Redford also founded the Sundance Movie Festival, which has helped show some of independent films best work. For that we owe him a great deal of gratitude. Robert Redford was 89 years old. 

We invite you to comb through our back catalogue for all four of these episodes. 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1507867/episodes/9047347   Episode 42 Earthrise the story of 1968's Apollo 8

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1507867/episodes/9474650  Episode 58 Richard Nixon the Man that Saved the Union : Apollo 13 Our Finest Hour

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1507867/episodes/16716829  Episode 349 George 
H. W. Bush -  1992 the Changing of the Guard: On the Trail with Ric Flair and George Bush (and later Mike Huckabee)

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1507867/episodes/16567204  "Casablanc

Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcasts
Thanks for listening!!

Chapters

• 0:00 Hulk Hogan entrance video with his interview prior to WrestleMania 3 over it from the WWE
• 2:13 Music Intro
• 2:39 Theme to Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling
• 3:17 Hulk Hogan's speech to the 2024 Republican National Convention segment
• 4:11 remarks by then former President Donald Trump about Hogan's speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
• 4:55 Host Randal Wallace welcomes you this show of tributes
• 9:09 Mayor Glenn "Kane" Jacobs pays tribute to Hulk Hogan - ABC News
• 11:58 WWE honors Hulk Hogan's incredible legacy on Raw on July 28, 2025
• 15:34 Moment of silence in memory of Hulk Hogan
• 15:45 Remembering pioneering astronaut Jim Lovell - ABC News
• 19:24 Host Randal Wallace talks about Apollo 13
• 23:49 Milwaukie remembers pioneering astronaut Jim Lovell - Local Newscast
• 27:30 Looking back at Apollo 13 50 years later with James Lovell with Harry Smith - NBC News - Today Show
• 34:56 Moment of Silence in memory of Jim Lovell
• 35:07 Robert Redford an Appreciation - CBS Sunday Morning
• 39:02 Host Randal Wallace talks about Robert Redford
• 42:35 Robert Redford dies qt 89 - ABC News Coverage
• 45:57 Robert Redford and Paull Newman perform at Westport County Playhouse Benefit
• 58:02 Host Randal Wallace talks about one of his all-time favorite movies in which Robert Redford starred, "Havana"
• 1:03:02 Trailer for the motion picture "Havana"
• 1:05:59 Final two scenes from the movie "Havana" starring Elena Olin and Robert Redford
• 1:11:34 Moment of silence in memory of Robert Redford
• 1:11:43 Closing music