After graduating from high school, he received a college scholarship to play football for the University of Tennessee, but after less than a year, he became depressed and homesick.

Tom Murphy was part of that original UCF coaching staff of Sam Woodshed local fame.

He also had the honor of being the 2nd man from the college to go professional (Tim Kiggins, a defensive back playing for the Toronto Argonauts was the first from the first two years of UCF Football.

In February 1987, Gantner was awarded the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship, after his manager Sir Oliver Humperdink defeated Bad News Allen for the title.

Gantner feuded with Humperdink's group with Barry Windham, Blackjack Mulligan, Bugsy McGraw and even Dusty Rhodes as his partner at different times.

He complied by giving up red meat and starting a holistic diet, making his own watermelon tea.

By the fall of 1989, his heart and kidneys were failing, after refusing doctors' orders to lose weight and alter his exercise regimen.

Early in the fall of 1990, Gantner's mental health began to falter even further, as he started calling his parents late at night.

He would get dressed for work, make it to his car, and sit there for a half-hour with the keys in the ignition, before going back in his house.

When his mother finally decided to bring him home in Orlando, she found him in a dark room, sitting down, rocking on his bed.

He was pronounced dead upon arrival when taken to the hospital, and his death was ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the heart.