Paul Boesch, Dan Coates and the Ed McLemore-Morris Sigel Promotional War

In 1966, when the promotional war was going on, I was 12 years old and did not realize it. I remember Dallas TV had some matches from the Bronco Bowl. I just thought the Sportatorium was undergoing repairs.

Paul Boesch was announcer on KTVT. One night he was not there and there was no explanation given. That is when Dan Coates moved from ring announcer to TV announcer. Boesch's last night in Fort Worth was 8-8-66. I remember this because he was interviewing Danny Little Bear one week and Dan Coates was interviewing Little Bear the next week. Paul Boesch was really a good announcer and I hated to see him go.

There was a subtle change in the television programming on KTVT. Over the next several months, they started to show part of the main events on TV. The first partial main event to be shown on TV was the third fall of the Fritz Von Erich-Joe Blanchard match for the Texas Heavyweight Title. It can now be seen on YouTube. When Fritz turned babyface, more entire or partial main events were seen.

Another change in booking was Duke Keomuka coming to Fort Worth. He did programs with Fritz at this time in Dallas but was not used in Fort Worth. Gene Kiniski also did a program with Fritz in Dallas but did not come to Fort Worth before he was champion. Boesch may have been the booker coming in from Houston and chose not to use Kiniski and Keomuka.

Gary Hart said in his book that he came in during the promotional war. I looked back at the results from 1966 and his first match was on 10-31-66. He added a lot more excitement as did Fritz's babyface turn also because he brought in a lot of top heels to face him.