(Photo via wwe.com)

Dynasties in college football are nothing new; they have been a part of the game almost since the beginning. However, the dynasty that unfolded on the dusty west Texas plains at what is now known as West Texas A&M University is something else entirely.

The Buffaloes have been playing football in Canyon, Texas, since 1910. Since that time, the school – first known as West Texas State – has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success on the gridiron. They have won 11 conference championships and all six bowl games that they have appeared in, most recently the 2011 Kanza Bowl.

However, the true legacy and dynastic history of West Texas A&M lies in an unusual quirk that unequivocally ties the school to another athletic industry entirely – the high-flying, chair-swinging, bombastic world of professional wrestling. 

To date, more than a dozen superstars of professional wrestling have suited up for the Buffaloes. It's been an astounding confluence of two unique worlds in the most unlikely of places.

Run down the list of the legendary names that patrolled the sidelines at West Texas: Terry Funk, Dory Funk, Jr., Stan Hansen, Ted DiBiase, Kelly Kinski, Barry Windham, Manny Fernandez, Bruiser Brody, Tito Santana, Tully Blanchard, Bobby Duncum, Blackjack Mulligan, Dusty Rhodes … all were Buffaloes and all were champions in the squared circle.

“I think it all really started with Terry (Funk),” said Blanchard, a WWE Hall of Famer and former Buffs starting quarterback.

The son of a wrestling promoter in Amarillo, Terry and his younger brother, Dory, came to West Texas State with tons of athletic ability, a pedigree in pro wrestling and a ready-made pipeline into the industry through their father. Dory, Sr. was “the name” in professional wrestling in West Texas and through the connection with his sons, there as always a ready, willing, and able crop of talent to fill his rings.

Ted DiBiase, the future “Million Dollar Man” of WWE Fame, was also the son of a former wrestler. He was “lured” away from his commitment to the University of Arizona by the thought of becoming a pro wrestler like his father – and starring for the Buffaloes due to the Funks. This was not an uncommon story at all.

“My father was a wrestling promoter in San Antonio, so I had really grown up with the business and kind of in the back of my mind knew that is what I was going to be going into once I was done with school,” Blanchard said. “I initially got recruited by Hayden Fry out at SMU and I went there first. After he was let go my freshman year, it wasn't working out for me there. Terry Funk talked to the coach out at West Texas, Gene Mayfield, and to my dad and I got a tryout and they ended up giving me a scholarship.”

Time and time again, that is how the threads are connected to the Funks and the football program. Once the seeds were planted, it became a steady flow of talent. While the Funks did not directly encourage Merced Solis aka WWE Hall of Famer Tito Santana to join the world of professional wrestling, they did by proxy, as it was Blanchard who broached the subject.

“Yeah I remember my second year there at West Texas and Tully mentioning professional wrestling to me,” said Santana who also briefly played in the CFL after receiving a trout with the Kansas City Chiefs. “I was pretty big back then and he said I had the right size for wrestling. I had never thought about it before and I wasn't interested at the time.”

After his second season in Canada with the BC Lions, Santana decided to give pro wrestling a chance and he took to it like the proverbial duck to water.

“I really enjoyed [wrestling],” Santana said. “The physical nature of it reminded me of football. And I really enjoyed playing to the crowd. You don't get to do that too often in football.”

Like a lot of the bonanzas in West Texas, the pro wrestling pipeline in Canyon has long ago dried up, leaving only memories and the legacies of the great Buffaloes past. And, while many of the greats of the squared circle have hung up their boots – Santana is now a middle school teacher in New Jersey and Blanchard a minister back in his hometown of San Antonio – both credit their time on the gridiron with helping them become the men they are.

“Football teaches you that you're going to get knocked down, a lot,” said Blanchard. “You have to learn to pick yourself back up and get ready for the next play or the next game. That's football and that's like life.”

Santana echoes those sentiments.

“You're going to get hit in football and it takes a strong mind and a strong body to take those hits,” he said. “Those hits will prepare you for later in life. You're going to get hit no matter what you do. How you react to those hits, football can help prepare you for that.”