Hulkamaniac Chris Sader | Interview

Shortly after he got his driver’s license, 16-year-old Chris Sader went on a high-speed highway chase after a limo containing his hero, Hulk Hogan, and Mr. T. Tipped off to the apparent stalker as the two vehicles headed toward The A-Team star’s Lake Forest mansion, police pulled over Sader and searched the car. They found nothing but yellow-and-red Hulkster memorabilia the Edison Park geek was hoping to have signed. This is just one of several bumps in the road discussed in the film Sadermania, which tracks Sader’s journey from just another fan to Hogan’s BFF and president and star of Chicago Style Wrestling, a local league that keeps pro wrestling family friendly. The 32-year-old Resurrection Health Care nurse called us in advance of the doc’s premiere at the Chicago International Film Fest on Saturday 15, 6:15pm, at River East 21 (322 E Illinois St, 312-596-0333).

How did you react when you were diagnosed?
Diagnosed…with what?

Hulkamania!
It was the best day of my life. [Laughs] Hulk and I have such a special bond. It’s really given me a life I never would’ve had otherwise: flying on jets, limousines, hotels.

After you got Hulk’s face tattooed on your arm, Hogan says he worried people would think you two were gay. Did your fandom ever become sexualized?
No. I look at him as my second father.

He seems more like your spiritual guide.
Oh, yeah. After my dad died, it hit me hard. I started dating this really bad girl, and Hulk saw that I was changing. He was reading this book called The Power of Now, which goes into detail about destructive, negative people. We sat and read this book for seven hours straight.

Out loud to each other?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hulk would highlight important stuff, and he said, “You have to stop blaming yourself for your dad’s death. You have to get away from the girl you’re with. You have to begin to walk again in the spirit of Christ.” The very next day, I went out to eat with Hulk and [his daughter] Brooke, and I started crying. Hulk said, “Now you’ve become present and aware.” I’ve never had a bad day since.

Your Polish immigrant mother, whom you live with, seems like she still can’t understand why her son would obsess over a muscle-bound blond man.
She may not understand my obsession with wrestling, but she understands it’s kept me out of trouble. I’ve never tried a drug in my life, never drank alcohol.

How did you reconcile the fact that while Hulk was telling kids like you to “train, say your prayers and take your vitamins” in an ’80s commercial, he was abusing steroids and cocaine?
We’ve talked about it. There was a big drug culture in pro wrestling, a lot of women. He regrets that stuff and knows that’s not the life you should lead. He says Terry Bollea [Hogan’s birth name] wasn’t doing what Hulk was saying. He always tells me Hulk Hogan made Terry Bollea a better person.

When you were a teen, you drove all the way to Tampa, Florida, to Hogan’s restaurant in pursuit of him. Stalker much?
Well… [Laughs] I was so young, so Hulk never batted an eyelash. He said if I was doing that now, it’d be different. I never looked at it as anything creepy. I just wanted to meet my idol.