Javier :  How did you get into making Belts?  

Dave:  Like many "belt marks" I started making them out of cardboard & anything else I could find around the house. I just kept trying to get better & upgrading the materials I was using. I had an uncle that I spent a lot of time with that worked in a shop that kept sheets of steel onhand. I would draw out a cardboard pattern, he would cut the plates out for me & then I would finish the belt from there. Some had trophy parts, some with different things that could be sculpted & also adhere well to the steel. I had been making & selling belts for quite sometime when I ordered my first "Reggie belt". During our conversations I mentioned to him that I made belts, even though they paled in comparison to his. He asked me to send him some pics, so I did. I thought he was just being nice by asking  (& he was of course) but after he got them he told me I had potential & that I should make them using the same process that he does. The rest is history as the saying goes....

Javier: How did you meet Reggie? 

Dave:  I had learned of Reggie through wrestling magazines when I was a kid .  I got his number from a guy that was promoting wrestling near the area I live in. He had a great custom version of the winged eagle that was the heavyweight title for his promotion.   I didn't actually meet Reggie for quite sometime after I had started working with him. We try to get together now at least once a year, usually at one of the conventions or Cauliflower Alley Club events.
 

Javier: Since when have you been a Wrestling fan?

Dave: Pretty much as far back as I can remember, although I really got into it when I was around 12 years old.
 

Javier: Have you always marked out for belts?

Dave: When I was really young & I would watch wrestling with my older brother, the belts never really caught my eye. I would say that I started getting into them when I was about 12-13 years old & that's around the same time that all the cardboard boxes I could find were destroyed.

Javier: Who have you had the honor of meeting and or presenting the belts too?  

Dave: I can't say that I've done a lot of belt presentations really. Of the ones I have done, none have meant as much to me as being there when Reggie was presented with the "King of Belts" belt that I made for him. Several of us got together to finance that belt & it is on Reggie's wall now where it will always belong.  I've met so many past & present big names that  there would be no way for me to list them all considering how long I've been around the wrestling business. From guys like Kurt Angle (I made the first championship belt he wore..the Powerpro heavyweight title), Triple H, Steve Austin, The Rock & Chris Benoit to legends like Harley Race, Jack Brisco, Nick Bockwinkel, The Funk brothers & the late, great Lou Thesz.  One of the coolest things for me personally is that I'm friends with some of the wrestlers I grew up watching on local tv like "King" Jerry Lawler, "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant, "Superstar" Bill Dundee & Jimmy Hart. Check out some '70's  through mid '80's wrestling tapes & you can get an idea just how over those guys were here...& still are.  The old territory days will always be my favorite wrestling.