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 In
1974, I met a guy named Mike Dillard. He was a black belt in karate,and
one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. He was also paranoid about
someone stealing the patterns he had for karate uniforms that he was selling
mail order out of his garage. He called his little company Century Martial
Arts supply. I remember being at a karate party Mike attended where another
black belt told him he needed to forget that mail order stuff and open
up a karate school in south Oklahoma City where he and this other black
belt could make a killing (so to speak). Mike just said he thought he'd
stick with Century until it went down the tubes. Keep all this in mind.
In a few more paragraphs, you'll see why it's germane, I promise you.Jump forward a year. I came in contact with another black belt named B.J. (Bob) Green. He came over to my house one day with his guitar. We jammed for hours playing Beatle songs, using the same chord structures and ending on the same note. We blew each other's minds, and became fast friends. Bob Green has faded in and out of my life with varying intensity for more than a quarter of a century now. Another temporal leap is necessary here, this time to 1983. Mike Dillard's Century Martial Arts Supply has exploded to huge success, Mike has a new factory and has asked Chuck Norris to make a product endorsement deal. Norris comes to Oklahoma to visit and discuss the possibilities. While he is there, he goes on a tour of the string of karate schools Mike is involved in. One of them is located in Lawton, Oklahoma. Operating the Lawton school and teaching the classes is Bob Green. Norris just happened to walk in as Bob was teaching a class. Norris was so impressed with Bob's level of skill that he hired Bob on the spot to be his bodyguard. Bob took it in a heartbeat, thinking, "Look out, Hollywood, here we come! It's PARTY TIME!" As it turns out, it was three of the most grueling years of Bob's life. Norris is a workaholic, doing 16 and 17, sometimes even 20 hour days. He starts off each day with a four-hour workout. (I believe he still does this, even now). Bob was expected to be on deck ready for action at all times. At this point, I want to answer a FAQ. "Why would somebody as capable as Chuck Norris need a BODYGUARD?" I have been asked THAT one enough times to have finely polished the stock answer. Here it comes. It seems that everywhere Mr. Norris goes, there is some fool looking to make a name for himself that figures he'll goad Chuck into a fight. It's a no-lose situation for these losers (at least, that's what they figure). If they kick Mr. Norris' butt, they're a proven bad dude. If Mr. Norris kicks THEIR butt, they sue, and Chuck is paying them the rest of their miserable lives. So Mr. Norris carries a couple of very capable people to handle these little problems. And handle them they DO. Just for the record, Bob Green is 5'8" tall and weighs about 155 pounds. If he hits you, YOU die, your PARENTS suddenly get very sick, and your whole family tree wilts. It is amazing how fast the train gets through the tunnel, too. It's on you before you see the light. In 1987, Bob decided he wanted to be in control of his own fate. He retired from Mr. Norris' staff and came home to Edmond, Oklahoma to open his own karate school. I had been in and out of the martial arts for 14 years at that point. I decided to study with my buddy. I was his second student. He never wanted to be accused of favoritism, so he never cut his friends any slack at all in the karate school. We ALWAYS sparred full contact. He knocked me colder than a mackerel so many times I lost count. Part of the deal. You pays your money and you takes your chances. Around 1991, Bob got an offer from Mr. Norris to rejoin his staff and go to Israel to shoot a movie. Bob closed the school and took off. I went to Terry Smith's Fighting Arts in south Oklahoma City to continue karate practice, studying under Terry Smith and Jerry Irwinsky, one of the best pure teachers I've ever seen. Another GREAT SCHOOL. In 1993, Bob came into the club I was playing and said, "The boss is starting a TV series. You need to write him a theme song." I said, "Oh, yeah? What's it about?""The Texas Rangers. The boss is going to be a Texas Ranger." I had the chorus written on the back of an envelope while I was driving home from work that night. I fleshed it out with a couple of verses in the morning, and went into the studio to cut a demo a couple of days later. I gave the tape to Bob to take to Mr. Norris. A few weeks later, Bob calls me and tells me Mr. Norris LOVES the song. I'm thinking, "Wow, wouldn't that be COOL?" They run a six week tryout of the show in April 1993, just to see how it's going to go over. I watch, and they have an instrumental theme song, kind a stock Hollywood stuff. I thought, "Oh, well...we gave it our best shot". The show went on the air in fall of '93 with that same stock theme. The summer of 1994 rolls around, and I attend the United Fighting Arts Federation (Chuck Norris affiliated schools) Convention and Seminars at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. I walk into the room where we were to meet and notice a beautiful blond lady over in the corner. I am told that she is Mr. Norris' girlfriend (at the time), Ms. Monica Hall. I figured, what the heck, I'll just go over and say "hello" to her. Couldn't hurt. 
Little did I realize that conversation would change my life.I said, "Hello, Monica, my name's Tirk Wilder." She was cordial. She said, " Glad to meet you." I said, "I'm the guy who wrote that song, 'The Eyes of the Ranger'. Bob Green brought it down to Chuck. Did you ever get to hear it?"Her whole demeanor changed. She almost shouted, "You wrote that song? WOW! We lost the tape, and we keep forgetting to ask Bob to bring us another copy of it. Could you send it to us if I gave you the address?" Like I was going to say, "Naw, you had your chance . . ." It went out special delivery, insured, certified, return receipt requested on the following Monday morning, bright and early. About two weeks go by, and I get a phone call. I am told that Monica and a guy named Mike Emery, who was then Mr. Norris' business manager and lawyer, would be coming to Oklahoma City to get a contract together for the song. They were going to be there in three days, and could I meet with them? Like I was going to say, "No, I can't clear my schedule . . ." Another week goes by, and we get another phone call. This time my wife answers, and it's Monica again. She says, "Carlos would like to speak to Tirk". I honestly didn't have a clue who "Carlos" was when I picked up the phone. No one ever told me his real name was Carlos Ray Norris. Thank God I recognized his voice. When I realized who it was talking to me, my knees quickly descended from a solid to a semi-liquid form. Mr. Norris was asking me if it would be possible for me to come to Dallas and go into the studio with him, because he was going to sing the song. I would be there as a technical advisor, showing him how to inflect the vocal parts. I told him I would definitely be there. The following weekend, which was Labor Day 1994, I was in the studio with Chuck Norris. We did the full three minute version of the song. I had no idea how this was going to be used at the time.  Then, in late November, I get the call that I need to be back in Dallas on the 22nd of December when we'll go to Billy Bob's in Fort Worth and videotape Mr. Norris doing the song. He would be lip-synching the Labor Day production, and I would be in the background "singing" the harmonies. It turned out that some of the members of Tracy Byrd's band were there, and they played along with the tape, too. They took us out back to the CBS truck after they were through filming it, and I thought it looked really well done.Mr. Norris took my wife and I and the Los Angeles music producer of the song, Mr. Scott Monahan, out to dinner after it was over. He couldn't eat much of his dinner because there was a continuos line of autograph seekers coming to the table. He never turned one down. There was a boy, seven, maybe eight years old, who came in with his parents. He'd just been to his first karate lesson and was still wearing his uniform. Chuck Norris signed the little guy's white belt. That kid FLOATED away from the table as if he were in a dream. The show we taped that fateful day appeared on CBS TV as a segment in the show "Happy New Year 1995" on New Year's Eve. Six weeks later, the "Eyes of The Ranger" became the theme song for the show. It remained as the theme for all the rest of the original series of"Walker, Texas Ranger". Now, another FAQ is necessary here. "You met him? What's he really like? Chuck Norris is as warm and genuine as twenty-four karat gold. He is the epitome of "what you see is what you get". He has worked like a dog to get where he is, and deserves every bit of respect I (or anyone) could muster. I don't say these things lightly. This is not one of those deals written by a publicist. I'm talking over and above the fact of the wonderful things that have happened in my life because of my work with Mr. Norris. It just happens to be the truth. Chuck Norris is one GOOD guy, and is capable of all the things you see him do in the show. I wish him and his lovely new bride, Gina, every happiness in the world, in whatever they decide is right for them. After I won the third straight BMI TV Music Award for the theme song, I stopped off in Oklahoma City and gave it to Bob Green. I hope it still holds down a place on his mantel in all of its crystal glory, just like the other two do on mine. Those award things sure look good up there, don't they, Bob? . . . |
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