The King of Rock and Roll had a number of bodyguards over the years. And one of them was the brother of Elvis Presley’s girlfriend, Linda Thompson. Sam first met the late star in 1972 and last year revealed how he once had a terrifying motorbike ride with him, which actually turned out to be a very funny story.
Speaking with Spa Guy, Sam Thompson said the ride took place around 1974 when he rode on the back of a Honda Goldwing driven by Elvis.
The former bodyguard said: “We were going down 55, we got on the interstate and, of course, Elvis would drive fast and we were just ripping.
“I thought he was going 100 miles an hour.
“But I was riding on the back of the motorcycle and all of a sudden I saw orange sparks coming up over his head.”
READ MORE: Elvis Presley: Lisa Marie says he ‘masked’ pill addition from her
Sam continued: “And I was frightened, I thought, ‘Well, we’re about to crash, something’s on fire!’
“The faster we went, these sparks were flying up over his head.
“And the faster we went and the more sparks we got, the more nervous I got, [so I] tightened up [my hold] on him, to the point where I had him in a bear hug round the waist.
“And he was like, ‘Urgh!’ He would grunt like this.”
Meanwhile, Spa Guy interviewed one of Elvis’ pilots who revealed he was once caught sleeping in The King’s bed.
The event happened before take off early one morning.
Ron Strauss said: “By the time I got done with the stuff that I was doing, the other pilot was asleep on one of the couches [and] the flight engineer was on the other couch.
“So the only thing that was really left was Elvis’ bed.”
He added: “So I just went back there, threw my boots off, jumped in bed and pulled the covers over my head. I was sleeping and then the security came out and woke me up.
“‘What the hell are you doing sleeping?’ I said, ‘I was tired until I got rudely awakened.’ And then Elvis came, and off we went wherever we went.
“On route, I guess security had to tell Elvis what happened. So Elvis came over and said, ‘Hey, Ron! I understood you got in a little trouble?’
“And I said, ‘Yeah, Elvis, I got caught sleeping in your bed.’ He said, ‘Ron, you can sleep in my bed anytime you want!’”