{"id":103047,"date":"2020-08-20T18:11:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T23:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=103047"},"modified":"2020-08-20T18:11:44","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T23:11:44","slug":"collectibles-column-remembering-kamala-the-ugandan-giant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/08\/20\/collectibles-column-remembering-kamala-the-ugandan-giant\/","title":{"rendered":"COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: Remembering Kamala, the Ugandan Giant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1052385767\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Pro wrestling lost one of its all-time great characters on Aug. 9, 2020, with the passing of Kamala, aka Jim Harris.<\/p>\n<p>With his large frame, loin cloth, face paint, and spear, Kamala looked just like a 1980s action figure come to life. It\u2019s easy to picture Kamala doing battle with He-Man from the Masters of the Universe Toy Line, or tangling with heroes like Conan the Barbarian from the Remco toy line.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of wrestling collectibles, there\u2019s plenty of Kamala to go around: action figures, trading cards, signed pictures, original artwork and even the Ugandan Giant\u2019s autobiography. Several items can be found at KamalaSpeaks.com, with proceeds going to Kamala\u2019s widow. PayPal gifts can also be sent to her at <a href=\"mailto:jkimala@aol.com\">jkimala@aol.com<\/a>, according to Kenny Casanova, the co-author of \u201cKamala Speaks!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a look at five Kamala collectibles that have garnered quite a bit of attention since his passing&#8230;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>1986 Carnation Major League Wrestling Cards. This rare gem is the earliest known trading card of Kamala, so many collectors consider it to be his rookie card. The card is pure 80s nostalgia, with a picture of Kamala holding a spear against a bright green background. The back of the card lists Kamala\u2019s hobbies as \u201ceating live chickens\u201d and \u201cwar-like rituals.\u201d The 1986 Carnation cards are very tough to find; Kamala\u2019s card has been selling in the $20-$60 range, depending on the condition of the card.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/1_Card.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-103054 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/1_Card.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/1_Card.jpeg 455w, https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/1_Card-213x300.jpeg 213w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Sports Review Wrestling Magazine \u2013 March 1987. The old saying \u201cred equals green\u201d has often been used to describe gory pictures of a bloodied Bobby Heenan on 1970s magazine covers. Long before Photoshop was a thing, Sports Review Wrestling took things a step further. This memorable cover shows Kamala holding a spear with the bloodied, severed head of Hulk Hogan, with this headline: \u201cWho Gave Kamala This Gruesome Order: \u2018Bring Me the Head of Hulk Hogan!\u2019\u201d Finding one of these magazines in 2020 is no easy task; two recently sold on eBay for $19.99 and $24.95, respectively.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/2_Mag.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-103055 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/2_Mag.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/2_Mag.png 358w, https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/2_Mag-229x300.png 229w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Hasbro WWF Wrestling Figures Series 7. Kamala\u2019s first figure can be found in the fourth series of LJN action figures from 1987, and Jakks and Mattel also have produced figures in recent years. But Kamala\u2019s best figure is from the 1993 \u201cyellow card\u201d set of Hasbro figures. Most figures have white stars painted on Kamala\u2019s chest and a yellow star on his belly. There is, however, an extremely rare version that has a yellow crescent moon on his belly instead. This figure has become something of an urban legend among wrestling collectors, with many agreeing that the moon variation was part of a limited test run. The version with the star on the belly typically sells in the $40-$50 range for a loose figure, or anywhere from $125 to $200 for one that is mint on card. Assigning a value to the moon variation is practically impossible; however, one eBay seller currently has one listed for $20,000.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/3_fig.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-103056 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/3_fig.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/3_fig.png 310w, https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/3_fig-230x300.png 230w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>2012 Topps WWE Heritage Autograph. Kamala has appeared in several Topps WWE sets over the years, but his only certified WWE autograph can be found in 2012 Topps WWE Heritage. It\u2019s a very tough card to find and rarely surfaces for sale on eBay; one sold on Aug. 10 for $99.99. Kamala\u2019s signature also appears in several products from Leaf Trading Cards; these cards are much easier to find and considerably more affordable than his lone Topps auto. Some of Kamala\u2019s Leaf autographs can be found for as low as $15.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/4_card.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-103057 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/4_card.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/4_card.png 312w, https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/4_card-218x300.png 218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u201cKamala Speaks!\u201d Book. Kamala published his autobiography with cowriter Kenny Casanova in 2015, and signed copies are still available at KamalaSpeaks.com for $34.95. Kamala\u2019s autobiography received substantial praise from wrestling journalists and fans; the real-life Jim Harris writes in painful detail about his struggles in wrestling and in life.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/5_book.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-103058 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/5_book.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/5_book.jpeg 316w, https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/5_book-190x300.jpeg 190w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>PWTorch Collectibles Specialist Michael Moore can be reached at <a href=\"mailto:michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com\">michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com<\/a> or @MMooreWriter on Twitter.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THE PRIOR COLUMN:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/08\/07\/collectibles-column-mattel-gets-back-into-the-hulk-hogan-business-and-5-controversial-action-figures\/\">COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: Mattel gets back into the Hulk Hogan business, and five controversial action figures<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3138047437\"><div id=\"pwtor-3134228088\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Pro wrestling lost one of its all-time great characters on Aug. 9, 2020, with the passing of Kamala, aka Jim Harris. With his large frame, loin cloth, face paint, and spear, Kamala looked just like <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/08\/20\/collectibles-column-remembering-kamala-the-ugandan-giant\/\" title=\"COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: Remembering Kamala, the Ugandan Giant\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,52,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-specialists_collectibles","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/08\/Collectibles_Kamala.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103047"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103059,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103047\/revisions\/103059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}