Tony Funches doing his job
From Kenny Hurst on Facebook, 11/13/17: Wow. I just learned that my Dear Friend Tony Funches passed back on June 21st of this year. He had the greatest stories. He was the friend and body guard for Jim Morrison and the Doors as well as The Rolling Stones. He was a 6 foot 5 inch Bad Ass. Bless you, my friend. I am posting some wonderful pics of him.
[Tony] had a father that installed values in his life. He grew up in the tuff side of L.A and went to Vietnam after HS. He completed his VN tour in country 1966-1967 than came back for college at which time he met Jim Morrison and quickly became friends. Upon the Doors getting signed, etc., Jim took Tony as his personal body guard and to help him stay out of trouble which sounds easier than said. Many a time Tony would have to give drinking establishment $500 $1,000.00 to let it go and not call the police. The record company had Tony always ready with $1.000.00 ‘s in cash at all times. After the Doors departed, Tony went to the Stones and his work with them is epic — him having caught and controlled the shooter and Hell’s Angel’ s member who killed the guy. He is very prominent in the Altimont video. He was old school where a hand shake was a binding contract….He had movie star looks out of high school but Vietnam called and he answered like the hero he was. He always told me he had no idea he would be in the A list of the music book after coming home. God Bless you my friend.