Enterprise football fans know how talented junior lineman BobbyLambert is on the football field. Lambert is an imposing figure at6-foot-6 1/2 and 275 pounds.

Lambert bench presses 310 pounds and squats 430 pounds. And heis still growing.

This Thursday night, Lambert will discard the usual football,helmet, pads and cleats for a pair of tights as he enters the worldof professional wrestling.

Lambert and a host of veteran and rookie grapplers will put on afund-raising wrestling show at the new armory on Highway 84 Westthis Thursday night. All proceeds from this six-event card will goto the Enterprise football team. The event is put together underthe banner of the IPWA (Independent Professional WrestlingAssociation).

A souvenir table will be available and concessions will beavailable. The first match begins at 7 p.m. Ticket prices are $8and $5.

The card is licensed by the Mississippi Athletic Commission.

Lambert, who began wrestling independently last March, will makehis Lincoln County debut against the Dancing Demon. He will beintroduced as The All-American Bobby Lambert and will be wearingthe Enterprise colors maroon and yellow.

Lambert has also wrestled for other independent promotions suchas Mississippi Championship Wrestling of Columbia, NWA Mississippiand the Ultimate Wrestling Federation.

“I was influenced by watching wrestling on TV,” said Lambertwhose favorite wrestlers on TV were the Von Erich family out ofDallas, Texas. “The biggest influence was my dad.”

Bobby’s father is Gordon Lambert who wrestled in regionalpromotions in the 1990’s before he was sidelined from the businesswith injuries. Gordon was trained by well-known mat stars IvanKoloff and Manny ‘Ragin Bull” Fernandez.

“I am trying to pass on the knowledge to my son,” said GordonLambert.

“I was trained by Ken “Mr. Nasty” Massey, Marvin (Brother Love),”Porkchops” Cash and my father,” said Lambert. “I have beentraining for the last 3-4 years at an academy in Columbia. I’vebeen learning how to take bumps, the holds and the ringpsychology.”

In the few months he has been wrestling, Lambert says he has nothad any major injures.

The wrestling training has carried over to the football field.”I have gotten more aggressive on the field,” Lambert stated. “Whenyou are in the ring, you have a need for acting. You become theperson. You are aggressive. I’m not worried about getting hurt onthe field.”

When asked what his coach Rickey Deere thought about hiswrestling on the side, Lambert said, “He wants me to stayhealthy.”

His classmates and friends are curious about his wrestlingcareer.

“They ask me if I ever met so and so,” Lambert explained. “Theyask me, ‘Who have you wrestled?’ They ask me if it is real. Are theprops real? Does it hurt when you take a bump.”

Other matches on the card feature Grim vs. Wild Bill, Hippy Chicvs. Dark Angel in a women’s match, Nitron vs. Kris Kaos, Doink andSkillet vs. Ken Massey and the Superstar in a tag team matchfollowed by Dan “Hitman” Heart vs. American Bulldog in the mainevent.

“My favorite move is the powerman, a football spear,” explainedLambert of his finishing maneuver. “I also use the shoulder tackle.The sidewalk slam.”

Lambert wrestled on an independent card in Laurel to raise fundsfor its football team two weeks ago. His ring colors were the sameas Laurel’s so when the All-American hit the ring, he got thebiggest pop (fan reaction) from the Laurel crowd.

“I’d like the fans to come out and support the football team,”said Lambert. “They will be entertaining. It’s a family program. Nocussing. No half-naked women.”

Lambert is determined to graduate from high school and go tocollege and get a degree in pediatrics.

“I am going to finish school,” stressed Lambert. “I’m going to ajunior college or senior college. I want to be pediatrician.”

Right now, Lambert and the Yellow Jackets are concentrating onthe rest of the games remaining on their schedule. “I compliment usas a football team. We have more ability than what we have shown onthe field.”

Lambert has 15 all-around tackles and eight solo tackles so faron the season. He has recovered two fumbles and stripped the ballloose once.

“We need to keep practicing hard,” Lambert stated. “We need tolift weights after school. We have to stick with it.”

He has two hobbies. “I like to fish and I like to wrestle.”