Art by Rosenthal
Wolverines are often stereotyped as violent beasts--and far be it from Dirty Doug Dramson to defy the image.
Doug Dramson started out as a professional wrestler; he'd been trained since childhood by his father Jacob Gulo Jack
Dramson and had his first match on his 15th birthday against his elder brother Horace in his father's promotion North Prairie Wrestling. He attended North Alberta Technical studying accounting. His father gave him strict orders to keep his athleticism up, but the wrestling class was full there, so he joined the basketball team instead. There he proved to be an imposing, if rough, player. His basketball playing blessed him with fast footwork, sure paws, and all-round agility in the ring, much to his father's approval.
However, things did not always go smoothly—Doug had to balance wrestling, basketball games, and schoolwork, and even got himself deliberately suspended for a game a few times so he could wrestle at a show. Eventually, Jack Dramson and the basketball coach had a sit-down and worked things out.
Just before Doug graduated from university, though, his coach confronted him with a proposition: the coach firmly believed Doug was good enough for the FBA. But Doug would have to choose between the FBA and NPW—his NPW schedule and training would crowd out any other sport, while the FBA would never allow him to continue wrestling. Gulo Jack made it clear he wanted Doug to stay as a wrestler—not just because he was family, but because he was a good worker and was the current NPW heavyweight champion. But Doug chose basketball believing it to be more lucrative than wrestling. He did promise that if he were not picked, he'd return to the NPW. Just in case he did get drafted, he was given a final wrestling angle where he turned his back on his family for money, and he dropped the belt to his brother Horace.
Doug was drafted by the Rocky Mountain Royals. In his first few months, he presented his brutish, arrogant heel persona on the court, which quickly earned him the wrong kind of heat
, as it's known in wrestling circles—in short, both fans and other players genuinely disliked him (this was when he got the nickname Six-Foot-Nine of Arrogant Asshole
).
One quick friend he made, though, was hare Bruce Bounder, also then of the Rocky Mountain Royals. Like Doug, he'd been in the squared circle, but gave it up after the fourth time (out of five shows) that the promotor failed to pay him. It was he who told Doug that a heel persona had no place on the court, and near the end of the season, basketball commentators were mentioning that Doug had greatly matured.
He has gotten himself fouled out of games deliberately a couple of times. Once, he managed to foul out during the first quarter—it turned out he had a hangover, and was hit with a stiff fine. The second time, he was playing unusually rough to show his father—who was in the crowd—that he hadn't turned into a wimp. Again, he was fined.
Doug Dramson languished on the Royals for several years, before being sent along with friends Bruce Bounder and Gary Ridge to the Winnepeg Voyageurs. He's occasionally suggested that Bruce should be more open about his former career—Tallahasee has The Dawg Pack, so Winnepeg could have The Tag Team.
While Gulo Jack
Dramson is disappointed that Doug didn't follow in the family tradition, he doesn't carp about it—of all his offspring, Doug is the only millionare.
This was drawn as part of a 2012 FBA Playoffs picture by Rosenthal, and later used on the FBA Wiki page for Doug Dramson. I got permission to use it here.