Rebel with a cause

Fuzzy Bass grimaces in pain from a “Boston Crab” being applied by Lynx Wrestling Alliance champion Robert “Freight Train” Smith Jr., (not pictured) during a recent match.

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Bass lunges off the top rope onto Freight Train and Scotty Black.

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Most nights, when William “Fuzzy” Bass, aka the “Southern Rebel” steps into a wrestling ring, he doesn’t know if he will be a heel (the “bad” guy) or a baby face (the “good” guy).

“It usually depends on where we’re at,” says Bass, who wrestles for the Lynx Wrestling Alliance and other small independent promotions across the Carolinas and Virginia.

“On the road, I’m usually going to be the bad guy,” says Bass, laughing. “But at home, in my own back yard... oh, no, I can’t go there. There’s too many kids who fist-bump me in Walmart. ”

Bass might not know where the Southern Rebel stands before the bell rings, but he knows where his sequined Confederate flag vest wearing character stands when a need arises.

The 42-year-old father of two is indeed a rebel with a cause when it comes to helping out a neighbor in need.

And lining up wrestlers to help put on a benefit card Saturday night for Jamie Langley, who has esophageal cancer, was a piece of cake.

“There’s a lot of people out there who will give you the foot, but this day and time, what we ought to be doing is giving each other a hand,” Bass said.

This is the third time that Bass, who works on the groundskeeping crew at Lancaster Golf Course has put together a fundraiser by using his favorite pastime.

“You know, more than anything else it’s about setting an example,” Bass says. “It kinda sounds old school, but I really believe in that. My dad died when I was 11 and my brother is four years older than me. If it hadn’t been for him, things would’ve been tougher. When you get a chance to help somebody, that’s what you’re ’sposed to do. Anyway, it says in the Bible you don’t have your crowns down here.”

Bass’ girlfriend, Hope Self, said she isn’t surprised by his charitable nature.

“He never thinks about Fuzzy,” she said. “He’s constantly worried about helping somebody else. Who’s not to say that it could be you who needs a hand one day?”

 While he is helping raise his two sons, Waylon, 13, and Landon Bruce, 7, along with the Self girls, Brooke, 13, and Billy Kay, 10, Bass coaches youth sports teams and referees Lancaster Park and