"What are you guys doing?"18-year-old Red West demanded to know as he walked into the restroom of Humes High School in Memphis.

“We’re fixing to cut this racoon’s long hair,” answered one of the three bullies holding Elvis Presley against the wall while one of them held scissors at the ready.

Red later said, “I never saw anyone’s face so scared as the day I walked into that restroom."

Red, wearing crew-cut hair, as all the boys in school did, said to the bullies, “Well, if you cut his hair, then you’re gonna have to cut my hair. And that’s a whole other situation.”

The boys quickly contemplated Red being on the football team and his streetfighter reputation. They let Elvis go. 

Red went on to have six fights with Elvis … in the movies, racking up 103 acting credits including: Roadhouse, Natural Born Killers and Francis Ford Coppola’s Rainmaker.

Red wrote the songs If Every Day Was Like Christmas, If You Talk in Your Sleep and Separate Ways, recorded by Elvis.

Unfortunately when Red and two others of Elvis’ security men were let go by Elvis’ father, they weren’t informed that they would be hired back in a few weeks.

Red was hurt and angry after spending 22 years with Elvis. So, along with his cousin, (bodyguard Sonny West), he wrote the infamous book: Elvis. What Happened?

The debate continues to this day, if Red wrote the book for money, or to encourage Elvis to lead a healthier lifestyle.