Dale Hey (May 16, 1945 - November 29, 2012) was a professional wrestler under the ring name Buddy Roberts.
Professional wrestling career[]
Early career[]
Dale Hey grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. He started wrestling in 1965 as Dale Valentine, the "brother" of Johnny Valentine. By 1970, he had changed his name to Buddy Roberts and formed a tag team called the "Hollywood Blonds" with Jerry Brown and they won numerous regional tag team titles across the United States throughout the 1970s.
In the late 1970s, he split from Brown and joined the Fabulous Freebirds with Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy and became famous as Buddy "Jack" Roberts, due to his penchant for drinking Jack Daniels whiskey.
World Class Championship Wrestling[]
In the ring, they won several titles and moved on to World Class Championship Wrestling in late 1982 and began a legendary feud with the Von Erich family. They wrestled David Von Erich, Kerry Von Erich, Mike Von Erich and Kevin Von Erich numerous times through 1986. Roberts also had a long-standing feud with Von Erich ally Chris Adams which lasted on and off for more than five years.
Also during his time in WCCW came Roberts' most famous individual angle, which in 1983 involved the invention of what they referred to as "Freebird Hair Removal Cream", the culmination of the angle being a hair match between Roberts and Iceman Parsons. The result was Roberts seemingly winning the match via tight-pulling but the decision was reversed and the match restarted and in the fracas, Roberts' head was lathered in the hair cream. Subsequent events showed Roberts wearing a wig kept in place by boxing headgear.
At the AWA's SuperClash in 1985, Roberts helped Hayes and Gordy apparently defeat the Road Warriors for the AWA Tag Team titles, but the decision was later reversed.
Universal Wrestling Federation[]
In early 1986, The Freebirds went to the Universal Wrestling Federation, where Roberts won the Television Title. He would eventually lose the title to Savannah Jack.
Return to World Class Championship Wrestling[]
In 1987, The Freebirds split up until reforming in WCCW late in the year. Buddy and Gordy turned on Hayes and teamed with Iceman Parsons to feud with Hayes and the Von Erichs. Gordy eventually left Roberts to rejoin Hayes. The feud ended in late 1988 when Hayes and Gordy left for the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions.
Retirement[]
Roberts made one appearance as the manager for Hayes and Jimmy Garvin in a match against Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers in the NWA and then retired in 1990.
Roberts had throat cancer after he retired but had surgery to beat it. He also quotes on WWE.com "Don’t smoke. I think the reason this happened to me is because I was smoking too much. I recommend to anyone who smokes to quit now. It is hard, but it is worth it."
Death[]
He died on November 26, 2012, at the age of 65, of pneumonia.
On February 29, 2016, it was announced that Hey would be posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame as part of The Fabulous Freebirds.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Sunshine
- Oliver Humperdink
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Other honoree (2003)
- NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Jerry Brown
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Jerry Brown
- NWA North American Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles/Japan version) (1 time) - with Jerry Brown
- NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (6 times) - with Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy (5) and Iceman Parsons & Terry Gordy (1)
- WCCW Television Championship (1 time)
- WCWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy1
- NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Jerry Brown
- NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) (3 times) - with Jerry Brown
- Mid-South Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Terry Gordy
- UWF World Television Championship (1 time)
- Southern Pro Wrestling
- SPW Arkansas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- SCW Southwest Television Championship (2 times)
- SCW Southwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Match of the Year (1984) with Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes vs. the Von Erichs (Kerry, Kevin, and Mike) in an Anything Goes match on July 4
- Tag Team of the Year (1980) with Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy as The Fabulous Freebirds
1During the Freebirds' 5th reign, the reign carried over after the title's name was changed to the WCWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship since they were the champions during the time the name change occurred.
- WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2016)
