Fonzie seems to respect people brave enough to stand up to him, as evidenced in the episode where Richie recalls meeting Fonzie for the first time while he was a member of a gang called the Falcons. Fonzie resented Richie at first, threatening to beat him up; but when Richie refused to back down, Fonzie told him "you got guts". Early on, Fonzie almost invariably addressed Richie and his peers by their surnames. Fonzie regards Richie's two closest friends, Ralph Malph and Potsie Webber, as nerds, largely because of their collective willingness to do virtually anything to fit in. Contrary to Ralph and Potsie, Richie doesn't readily compromise his own principles and sticks to what he believes is right, and on occasion even stands up to Fonzie himself. Because of this, Fonzie begins to admire Richie and over time grows fond of him, eventually referring to him as his best friend.