The general manager, coach and producer of WWE Adam Pearce writes A letter for the time capsule of his alma mater, Waukegan High Schoolwhich will not open until 2075.
May 7, 2025
If you are reading this in 2075, please keep the following:
I am the same as you.
I am a Waukegan boy. The house in 715 Westmoreland Avenue (just behind the Balkly Mock, if it still exists in 2075) was my home. My father was mechanical at North Shore Sanitary District and my secretary mother in North Shore Gas. They forged races and a stable home for our family in 60085.
My brother and I graduate from whs. My last step through the corridors of the Brookside Campus was in 1996. I shouted with everything in the Dog Pound during the basketball matches and left everything in the Weiss field, before that there were lights. I will always remember my time at Whs. Waukegan formed me.
He gave me my determination and my working class ethics, and also gave me that “chip” on the shoulder that (I hope) I still keep. That chip has always been Purple, green and gold.
I dreamed of playing American football for the Green Bay Packers. ”Yes, I know, I hear the groans. Remember Bears fans: nobody is perfect. But the NFL was not at my destination. An acute muscle compartment syndrome on the legs ended those dreams. The medical technology of that time was not today. Surgery changed me physically, but recovery transformed me mentally. I was depressed. Without motivation. Lost.
Professional wrestling He found me when I needed to be found.
He gave me a reason to rediscover my athletic capacity. My personality fit. And my Waukegan work ethics gave me the necessary passion and impulse for this new goal. I trained in Chicago, in front of the Aragon Ballroom, in Uptown. When I was ready, my first professional fight was on a skating track called Magic City, which was at the corner of Grand Avenue with Green Bay Road. On that night of May 16, 1996 (a few weeks before graduating), Waukegan was present, noisy and proud; Many of my classmates carried their colors purple, green and gold. And I entered the ring with my football team pants.
And I never looked back.
Almost 30 years have passed since then. I have been fortunate to travel the world, and I attribute that achievement to the approach and dedication that I learned in Waukegan. I worked hard, because That is what we do in Waukegan. I never accepted a “no” by response (the Bulldogs are third, after all) and traced my own path, strangely. I had great teachers and coaches at Whs, some became friends for a lifetime. One of my football trainers as a first -year student was the Coach (and then Dean) Chris Dreyer. It was like a second father for me, and believed in my crazy career, maybe even before myself.
I was not born in a famous family of fighters. He didn't have a direct pass to stardom. But they were teachers and coaches like Mr. Dreyer who taught me – to me, a Waukegan boy, like you – than Everything is possible. That even when the world says “no”, what really matters is what the heart tells you. If your heart says “yes”, then that “no” is just a detour, not the end. That each one forges their path, and that We decided destiny.
For me, that destiny was to become World Multicampeonand over time, hang the boots and be Television coach and producer at WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment; I hope it continues to exist in 2075). And as general manager of Monday Night Raw, and the most durable authority on screen in the history of WWE so far, I teach those around me the same principles I learned in Waukegan:
That if you work hard every day, and treat others with justice every day, and do those two things for a long time, you will gain respect.
And you already know that in Waukegan, Respect is everything.
When you build a life and a career about respect, everything you put on it is strong. Like that purple, green and gold chip that lives in me (and I hope in you) shoulder.
I hope that this letter will find you well, and that from your time to the Waukegan High School you take out so much or more than me. That your success is stubborn like a bulldog, and that you follow the path you choose to your dream destination, because There is no limit to what a Waukegan boy can achieve. And believe me, I know.
I am the same as you.
With respect,
Adam Pearce
Waukegan High School
Promoción 1996
