If ever you’ve looked to crack open a nonfiction book detailing the tales of one man, a former bodyguard of Elvis Presley, who earned himself both a super middleweight kickboxing championship and a drug smuggling conviction, the pages are now hot off the printers.
Ted Pryor, formerly refereed by Chuck Norris and training partner of Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Don “The Dragon” Wilson, was hired by Presley following his world championship win. He details the job in his newly released book, “Three-Time World Champ: The Death-Defying True Story of a Kickboxer Turned Drug Smuggler . . . Turned Business Icon.”
Pryor’s stint as Elvis Presley’s bodyguard
“Elvis, when he was younger in the service, he learned a little bit of martial arts, and he was infatuated with it,” Pryor told Fox News Digital.
At the time, Pryor and his friend Joe were training Florida law enforcement, the FBI and DEA on the basics of self-defense to use as anchorage amid a physical encounter with an assailant.
Ted Pryor, former bodyguard for Elvis Presley, said he was hired due to his kickboxing expertise and Presley’s love for martial arts. (Jack Randall; Getty Images)
The work was steady until Pryor and Joe received a call from Presley to piggyback as bodyguards on what would be the final tour before his death.
“Unfortunately, no one knew it then, but he was broke,” Pryor said. “He had to start touring, because his manager gambled his money away.”
Pryor’s responsibilities included warding off zealous supporters of Presley who dreamed of reaching the stage and crowding him.
“The women used to rush the stage,” Pryor said. “It was interesting, because you’d have a chokehold around their waist. We would take them to the floor slowly and our junior bodyguards would take them away.”
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Ted Pryor told Fox News Digital he fought all over the world, including locations like China, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan. (Ted Pryor)
Pryor said the men would fend off three to four women at a time with takedown techniques and that one woman, who gad been given a scarf by Presley himself, used the accessory to choke Pryor with it.
“She was trying to get to Elvis,” he said. “She put it around my neck and started choking me.”
Parts of Florida, Memphis, California and New York, among 20 to 30 other locations later, Pryor said the fun came to an end when he received the call that the King of Rock and Roll had passed away.
“It was kind of shocking,” Pryor said. “I think the whole world was shocked when that happened. He always treated me and Joe really well.”
Pryor was also previously hired by Don Johnson during the time he was married to Melanie Griffith, though he reminisces that Johnson was “moody.”
“And that’s putting it nicely,” he said.
Pryor was 20 years old when he was shackled and cuffed by Florida police officers when they seized 32,000 pounds of marijuana from his car and boatyard, the largest weed bust in the U.S. at the time. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
Earning $5k per marijuana drop at 20 years old
Not long after the unexpected loss sent shockwaves around the world, Pryor was working as a correctional counselor for a Florida state prison when he was offered $5,000 to drive a car across Alligator Alley, a swamp sanctuary in the Sunshine State.
“I wasn’t totally naive,” Pryor said. “I knew there was something in the car.”
Pryor detailed to Fox News Digital how, at 20 years old, he’d transport 500 pounds of marijuana at a time, earning a $5,000 cut from the $20k to $30k deals.
“I thought I was Rockefeller,” he said.
As the cash rolled in, Pryor sought to reap a greater financial benefit from his work and acquainted himself with a drug dealer for whom he acted as a bodyguard, offloader and “intimidator.”
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Pryor was initially set free by a judge after his lawyer argued there hadn’t been enough probable cause for law enforcement to pull him over. He was re-indicted and served 90 days of his 18-month prison sentence. (Ted Pryor)
“I had a reputation,” he said. “I was one of the best fighters in the world. I was on the cover of magazines. I was really well-known in Florida.”
“He wanted someone that could protect him that didn’t need a gun,” he said.
Pryor added that he maintained a fit but lean physique at the time and weighed only 170 pounds, but bystanders feared him.
“Ray wouldn’t ever let me get into the business,” he said. “He wanted me clean. Not that he was a loving, caring guy. He wanted to have someone clean in his life.”
So, Pryor got greedy and took matters into his own hands.
He told Fox News Digital that his work started with “little” 2,000-pound runs on midnight express boats for buyers from New York, Chicago and Michigan.
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Ted Pryor, super middleweight kickboxing champion, was hired as one of Elvis Presley’s bodyguards for what would be his final U.S. tour before the king away suddenly. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
“We started our own little enterprise doing it on the side without him knowing it,” he said.
Until one day, Pryor sought to move 15,000 pounds of marijuana from a boatyard.
“I got pulled over,” he said. “Guns came out. These are the guys that I trained for three to four years. They couldn’t believe it was me.”
Pryor said he was cuffed, and his feet were shackled, before the team of officers located the weed in his car, which they considered probable cause to raid the boatyard. Law enforcement seized 32,000 pounds of marijuana, the largest seizure of weed in the U.S. at that time, and interrogated Pryor.
Pryor wrote “Three-Time World Champ: The Death-Defying True Story of a Kickboxer Turned Drug Smuggler . . . Turned Business Icon,” which details his time as a drug smuggler in Florida. (Cover designer Sarah Avinger; Cover illustration Sean Hsiao)
A second indictment comes crashing down
After being put in front of a judge, Pryor’s lawyer argued that the police had not had enough evidence to pull him over and search the vehicle.
Pryor was let go.
“He did the right thing by law, but he knew I was guilty,” Pryor said.
Former President Ronald Reagan was in office at the time, and his wife, Nancy Reagan, led a youth antidrug campaign at the time, “Just Say No,” which implored children to refuse drugs when offered.
“The Feds came in and had the Supreme Court of Florida overturn the state case,” Pryor said.
He was re-indicted and believes it was due to both state and national pressure to save America from a drug epidemic.
Pryor accepted an 18-month prison sentence and was back on work release in 90 days.
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After being released from jail, Pryor took $1 million, which the Feds had not seized from him, bought car washes to clean it and paid taxes on it before founding Children of America. (iStock)
“Believe it or not, where did I go?” Pryor said. “I go back to the place where I started; the state correction facility.”
However, this time, Pryor was on the other side of the program as a former prisoner.
Founding Children of America
After he served his time, Pryor started a car washing business to clean $1 million by laundering money that the Feds had never seized.
Trouble was never Pryor’s dream, though, so once he paid taxes on the money, he founded Children of America in 1997, an educational childcare provider, operating 70 locations in over 10 states and caring for nearly 10,000 kids.
“It’s been my life, and I’ve enjoyed it,” Pryor said.
As for his background, 40 years later, Pryor anticipates it doesn’t cast a shadow over the positivity and opportunities that families and children are presented with by way of Children of America.
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“Parents read the book and were asked if they’d bring their children there,” he said. “Ninety-eight percent of the people didn’t have a problem with me taking care of their child, because they’ve had some kind of experience with marijuana.”
Today, his son runs the company, but Pryor reminds that he will always be the founder.
“You can’t change that,” he said.
