Gunner Miller was 6 years old and full of energy when his youth league baseball coach, Mike Long, told the youngster he might enjoy watching professional wrestling on Monday nights.
"My mother wasn't wild about it," the former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga linebacker recalled Thursday morning. "But I loved it. I watched it all the time."
Eighteen years later, Brenda Miller laughingly pleads guilty as charged.
"Oh, I hated it," she said. "I've never forgiven Mike for turning Gunner on to wrestling. I had to buy all those wrestling action figures. Back then, if wrestling put it out, we bought it."
UTC strength coach Scott Brincks, right, talks to Gunner Miller (11) on the sidelines.Miller bought into all of it. After all, this was the 1990s, when pro wrestling was about to become very big business. The heroes and villains from that time are the stuff of legend: Stone Cold Steve Austin, Goldberg, Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, the Ultimate Warrior, The Rock, to name but six.
He may have been on his way to becoming an outstanding football player at East Ridge High School, and a similarly successful one at UTC, but Miller never let anyone body-slam his dream of one day wrestling for pay, hopefully as a star on those outrageous WWE productions.
During his UTC playing days, he even got a call from the Ultimate Warrior - who by then had legally changed his name to the decidedly less ostentatious "Warrior" - the wrestler wanting to discuss the collegian's career path.
"He asked me what I wanted to be when I got out of school," Miller said. "I said a pro football player or a wrestler. But after talking to him I knew I probably had a better chance at becoming a pro wrestler."
Miller was so intrigued he actually got into a ring for two and a half minutes not long after that call from Warrior.
"I don't think Coach (Russ) Huesman ever knew," Miller began. "But I had to try it. I'm thinking, 'How hard can this be? I'm a college football player. I'm in great shape.' But after two and a half minutes I was gassed. I almost threw up."
Yet after helping lead the Mocs to a share of the 2013 Southern Conference championship in his senior season, Miller followed his heart.
Though Warrior won't be around to see it - having died in April of 2014, just three days after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame - the 24-year-old Miller will enter the ring tonight as the prohibitive crowd favorite for the start of the two-night Scenic City Invitational at the Empire Arena in Rossville.
"He'll play a huge role this weekend," event promoter Josh Massey said of the single-elimination tournament that will begin at 7:30 both evenings. "For lack of a better term, Gunner is almost an icon to certain parts of this city. But there are also going to be 15 other pro wrestlers, and they'll all have 10-plus years of experience. This tournament will test him."
Miller's been tested most of his life athletically. He suffered injuries all four seasons at UTC. In fact, his career prematurely ended near the close of the Mocs' seventh game his senior year against Appalachian State.
"I sacked the quarterback on fourth down," he said. "But I couldn't get up. Both my arms were numb (from a stinger). They had to carry me off the field."
Such bad luck continued into the opening professional wrestling match of his career. After pinning Johnny Viper in 33 seconds, he decided to jump off the rope onto the floor to excite his fans. Alas, he sprained his knee and couldn't walk for two weeks.
But that hasn't stopped him from wrestling at least 30 more times, his parents, Brenda and Terry, taking in every one of his matches.
"They're always there for me," he said. "My dad's my biggest critic, but he's also my biggest fan."
Added Brenda: "I still don't like it when he jumps off the ropes or somebody smashes a chair against him. But I'm proud for him and proud of him. This is all he's ever wanted to do."
Massey believes the Scenic City Invitational should make proud everyone who's long missed the heyday of pro wrasslin' in Chattanooga.
"We are trying something completely different," he said in an email. "Something that's a throwback to Harry Thornton's days of running pro wrestling at Memorial Auditorium and what is now the News 12 Studio."
Even Miller looks a tad bit different than he did at UTC, when his hair touched his shoulders and his face was covered in menacing black paint each game day.
"I've gained about 15 pounds," he said. "And I need to put a plug in for Sun Tan City, since I use their spray tan before matches. Now it's all about looking good."
But that doesn't mean it's not hard work. Miller estimates he works out two hours a day, six days a week.
"And I spend more time in the film room - watching old wrestling matches, trying to pick up whatever techniques I can - than I did as a football player," he said.
Massey agreed, adding, "I expected Gunner to be full of himself, a football star and all, but he wasn't. He's very down-to-earth. He's a hard worker. He does everything he can to become the best."
The effort is paying off. Of the 10 wrestlers Massey has trained, only Miller has been asked to try out for WWE.
Yet roles can also change quickly in pro wrestling. Today's hero can become tomorrow's heel.
"Do I think he can play the heel role?" Massey offered. "Absolutely. Just not in Chattanooga."
Neither Warrior nor Harry Thornton would have had it any other way.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.