Imagine watching a street fight go down at the parking lot of a local business, only for the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll himself, Elvis Presley, to swoop in to save the day.
The “A Little Less Conversation” singer was ready to use a little less talking and a lot more fists when he interrupted a street fight. At the time, the singer was in Madison, Wisconsin for a concert. It was on June 24, 1977.
While some consider the situation to be a little bit of an urban legend, others stick by the entire story. Elvis Presley was riding in his limo on the way back from the airport. His car stopped at a red light. He then noticed what appeared to be a fight happening at a Skyland service station right next to him.
Elvis Presley Breaks Up Fight
He quickly jumped into action, Presley style. There were two boys beating up another boy. Elvis approached and threatened the boys in a classic karate stance. Presley actually had a lifelong love for karate. According to Mental Floss, Presley was a seventh-degree black belt. He was taught on-and-off by his friend, Ed Parker, a Kenpo master, all the way until his death in 1977. He was also trained in a Memphis dojo under Master Kang Rhee, who gave him his seventh-degree black belt. Presley even opened his own karate center, Tennessee Karate Institute.
On top of the teens turning to see widely beloved musician and movie star Elvis Presley, they were also greeted by a pretty serious fighter.
According to a WISN 12 News video from 2007, both a random onlooker and Presley’s limo driver at the time remembers the incident vividly. It happened on the corner of Highway 51 and Washington Ave.
The limo driver remembered Presley saying, “Hold up there boy.” He pulled over and let The King out. Meanwhile, there were also other people nearby to witness the event, including the person directly behind the limo, Bruce Frey.
“The person I immediately recognized as Elvis Presley immediately jumped out of the limo and walked directly over to confront the two boys beating him up … he said, ‘I’ll take you on right now.’ That’s when they looked back and they were just stunned … He had a big grin on his face, he was very entertained by the way it turned out, the reaction he got from those two boys,” Frey said.
A Plaque And Elvis Protecting Himself
According to Atlas Obscura, there is now even a plaque installed to commemorate this interesting event with the musical legend. The plaque has an image of Elvis holding a guitar and standing in a karate stance.
Sadly, Elvis died suddenly in his Graceland master bathroom only 52 days later.
Despite always having several bodyguards he very much trusted with his life, Presley was always interested in learning how to keep himself protected from any possible threats. He often walked through life forgetting he was even a celebrity or that people adored him beyond belief.
“Sometimes when I walk into a room at home and see all those gold records hanging around the walls I think they must belong to another person. Not me. I just can’t believe it’s me,” Elvis Presley once said.
