Professional wrestlers aren’t supposed to be this smart.

They are brutes, modern day gladiators who flex their muscles and risk injury in hope of earning the respect and adoration of millions of fans.

But not Mick Foley. He’s different.

Aside from his wrestling success – he’s a two-time WWE World Champion and eight-time WWE Tag Team Champion – Foley’s written two autobiographies, ‘Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks’ and ‘Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker Than Wrestling,’ both of which reached No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller lists. He has also received praise for his recently released novel, ‘Tietam Brown,’ and the two children’s books he’s written.

He does nothing like one would expect a wrestler would.

‘I remember I was talking about the idea of wrestlers getting hurt,’ Foley said of a discussion he had with his college professor Bob Thompson. ‘I said, ‘There’s no string job here. People are getting hurt. Suplexes are being administered.’ He said I was probably the only wrestler to utter out the word ‘administered.”

Thompson, who taught Foley at the State University of New York at Cortland and now teaches for the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, remembers him as a student in his television criticism class.

‘He was a really good student,’ Thompson said. ‘He was such a good writer back then, I kept recommending he forget this wrestling thing and go to graduate school. It proves my advising abilities. I told Mick Foley to get a Ph.D. in English.’

In fact, Foley was such a good student that in his senior year at Cortland he won the N. Allen Award, which is given to the best senior in school’s communications department.

Foley never accepted the award. His parents did it in his stead because, on the date of the presentation, Foley wasn’t in Cortland. He was in West Virginia, wrestling.

‘They were so proud of me,’ Foley said. ‘I didn’t know it was such a big deal.’

After years of wrestling as one of the most prominent and brutally physical wrestlers in the industry, Foley still has the brain capacity that once made him a strong student. His awareness extends far beyond the realm of wrestling. He’s knowledgeable on a number of topics, referencing Winston Churchill and John Edwards as easily as he does Britney Spears.

But Foley isn’t necessarily content being a wrestler and a writer. He may someday add the title of politician to his list.

‘I may shake up the political world in a few years,’ Foley said. ‘I’ve been thinking about it. We could be doing a lot more to help out the poor people, not only in this country but in the world. ‘I’m not necessarily talking about running for Congress, but maybe just being a social advocate for some of the problems in the third world and developing countries and for the 30 million people in this country who are low wage workers and failing miserably. Because they need a voice. John Edwards did a nice job, but he couldn’t do it by himself. I like to see if I can’t help spearhead an Independent revolution ten years from now. I firmly believe that’s what the country needs.’

While his venture into politics may be a long way off, Foley is still candid about his political views.

‘I have a very close working relationship with the USO and have befriended many soldiers and have the utmost respect for what they’re doing,’ he said. ‘But I think we may have rushed to judgment in Iraq. I always thought Colin Powell sounded like a salesman who didn’t really believe in the product he was pitching. And that’s a guy with enormous credibility.’

The WWE has felt pressure from proponents of broadcast regulation in the wake of Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction and Howard Stern’s censorship from Clear Channel stations.

‘Maybe we made the middle finger too commonplace,’ Foley said. ‘But turning a once fearsome gesture into a sign of friendship isn’t necessarily a bad thing.’

In terms of brutality in wrestling, though, Foley wrote the book. He’s been thrown through steel cages, had his body set on fire and has been body-slammed onto nails and thumbtacks. Some say his televised bouts desensitize children to violence.

‘Anyone who wants to blame television for the outcome of their children is excusing their responsibilities as a parent,’ he said. ‘I take an interest in what my kids are watching on TV, and if I don’t think it’s appropriate, I don’t let them watch it. It’s not a baby sitter.’

Foley, who was able to graduate from Cortland in four years despite his wrestling training, is a strong advocate of promoting education.

‘I always tell people to get an education,’ he said. ‘I don’t feel bad for broken-down, washed-up wrestlers, but I do feel bad for broken-down, washed-up, uneducated ones.’

Even with all these future plans outside the ring, there’s no need for his fans to worry.

‘(WWE owner Vince) McMahon has made it clear to me that I can consider the WWE to be my playground,’ he said. ‘And that I can play there any time that I want.’

Published on March 21, 2004 at 12:00 pm