Largo – friends and colleagues from Terry Bolea, the wrestler better known to the world as Hulk Hogan, gathered on Tuesday night to say goodbye to the resident of Clearwater.
Bolea died on July 24 at the age of 71.
Law enforcement cars accompanied the funeral procession through Pinellas County, where Boleya lived for decades and where a restaurant and beach shop still bears his name. Bollea will be cremated, according to district records.
During the service in the Baptist Church of the Indian rocks, the ark of Bolea was covered with red and yellow flowers, the colors of his WWE fight suit. The musician Kid Rock, the podcauo Theo von and the television personality Bam Margera attended, as well as Pro Wrestling Legends Ric Flair, who lives in Tampa, Paul Triple H Levez and Vince McMahon.
“Even in the sky, he sold out again,” Feller told the memorial where he was packed. “The most beautiful funeral I attended! Everyone was there.”
The vehicles of the order had blocked the entrances to the church until noon, while the Pinellas County MPs traveled the K-9 sites. When the guests arrived, a television news helicopter flew over their heads and the photographers put themselves on the sidewalk.
Hogan grew up right through the bay, in Tampa, before a career in the fight, movies and television made him famous all over the world. Florida governor Ron Ron Last week announced Hulk Hogan’s Day in Florida.
The program given to the attendees contained a collage of Hogan photos from his childhood and high school years, as well as Hogan’s photos with his ex-wife Linda Bolea and their children Booke Boley Olexy and Nick Bolea, better known as Linda, Nick and Brooke Hogan. There were also photos of Hogan with his wife Sky Daily Hogan.
At a meeting of the Pinellas County Committee on Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner Chris Lavala, who is parts of Clearwater, talks about Hogan.
He recalled that he saw Hogan with his Clearwater family for a youth non -profit event, which he was present last year with Commissioner Renee Flowers. Latwala noted how he had never met the WWE star, although he was a longtime resident of Pinellas County.
“Oh, well, we’ll go to meet him,” he remembered Lavala Flowers. Lavala said it was a “great honor”.
“He was really the first character I have ever had as a child,” Lavala said. “He was a lifetime of life and really lived that way throughout his life. He will be missed around Clearwater and around Pinellas County.”
In December 2023, Bolea shared a video of his baptism in the Baptist Church of the Indian Rocks, along with his new wife, Sky Daily Hogan.
“The total show and dedication of Jesus is the biggest day of my life,” he wrote in the inscription. “No worries, no hatred, no judgment … only love!” The leading pastor of the church Aaron Filipone performed the ceremony.
In an interview with Joe Rogan’s podcast, Boleya talks about regularly visiting the church on Sunday. Rogan asked if it could be a bad idea to name the church publicly, as this could lead to fans that show up to “go to church with a hulk.”
“No,” said Bolea, “I want more people there.”
Three days after Bolea’s death, Filipone spoke with his assembly about him during Sunday.
“Terry was not a perfect man – he never claims to be. He had a past and made mistakes,” he said. “But Terry was a man from Jesus, and this is the beauty of the Gospel.
“Those of us who had the joy of worshiping with Terry, knew him not as a celebrity, but as a brother in Christ. He loved God, loved people and loved his neighbors here in Pinelalas County.”
President Donald Trump has published Hogan’s Memorial for Truth Social.
“Today, they have the funeral of Hulxter and I thought everyone would be happy to see this photo,” he wrote above a photo of himself by fighting Hogan, who in a certain way he called his biceps “24-inch pythons.”
Times employee Lizzie Azpah has contributed to this report.