Antonino Rocca
Hamilton was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. Before turning professional, Hamilton was a promising amateur boxer, but instead of continuing his training, he decided that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Larry Hamilton. Larry was a professional wrestler billed as "The Missouri Mauler". Hamilton started working for "Gust Karras Promotions", a professional wrestling promotion based in Kansas City, Missouri, where he made his debut against Rip Hawk in a 40-minute match. By 1957, Hamilton had started teaming with his brother Larry and worked as a full-time professional wrestler. The Hamilton Brothers worked for the New York, NY based Capitol Wrestling, (the precursor to World Wrestling Entertainment), where they were put in a storyline with the top tag team of the promotion Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez. In May 1958, the Hamilton Brothers faced Rocca and Pérez in the main event of a Madison Square Garden show making Jody, age 19 at the time, the youngest man to ever co-star in a main event at Madison Square Garden.