Showing posts with label FAQ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FAQ. Show all posts

FAQ: Current Whereabouts and Final Resting Places

Whatever happened to (insert former WCCW worker's name here)?    

The information in this list (last updated 6/1/2015) comes from numerous sources, and from several "friends of friends".  Any incorrect information is in no way intended maliciously, and corrections or updates are more than welcome.

Brian Adias is no longer involved in the wrestling industry. He lives in the Arlington, Texas area, where he sells exercise equipment.
Andrea the Lady Giant (Nickla Roberts) currently resides in North Carolina with her two daughters, and still appears at independent wrestling shows.
Ted Arcidi is living in Manchester, New Hampshire where he owns and operates a gym. He often appears on ESPN doing color and interviews during various "World's Strongest Man" competitions. Ted also resells used fitness equipment and runs a women's gym.
Tony Atlas remains active in competitive powerlifting and works as a personal trainer at a gym in Maine. He promotes local area wrestling shows and is an active volunteer in attempting to keep children away from drugs.
Brian Blair lives in the northern Florida area. In 2004, Blair was elected County Commissioner, District 6 of Hillsborough County, Florida.
Scott Casey lives in Las Vegas, where he works security for the Luxor. Casey had worked as a trainer for a wrestling school in the city that recently closed.
Steve Cox resides and runs his own business in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He wrestled for the Japan based shoot wrestling promotion UWFi in the early 1990's.
Bill Dundee still lives in Tennessee and wrestles for various indy promotions.
Eli the Eliminator is in the construction business in Indiana.
Eric Embry is a licensed electrician and recently ran for jailer in a town in Kentucky.
Jimmy Jack Funk (Jesse Barr) currently works in the construction business in Portland, Oregon.
"Fantastic" Bobby Fulton is now an ordained minister and runs the Ohio-based Big Time Wrestling indy promotion.  
Jimmy Garvin and his wife Patti (Precious) live in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Jimmy is a licensed pilot, and both he and Patti are involved in a ministry for the poor and homeless. In October 2006, Jimmy was hired as a member of WWE Creative, but resigned after only a few days.
Syndicated TV producer Mickey Grant is now a documentary filmmaker.  His recent works include the recently released Gentleman's Choice (on the rise and fall of WCCW star Chris Adams) and Injection (dealing with the spread of HIV/AIDS via reused hypodermic needles).
The Great Kabuki owns a restaurant in Tokyo. He is now semi-retired and works behind the scenes for the New Japan promotion.
Michael Hayes currently works for WWE as head writer for Smackdown, and co-hosts WWE 24-7's WCCW rebroadcasts along with Kevin Von Erich.
Rick Hazzard was long believed to be deceased, even by some of his former WCCW colleagues.  However, according to Dennis Condrey, who says that he spoke with Rick via phone in April 2007, the former referee is alive and well and working as finance manager for a Pelham, AL car dealership.  Rick's name has now been removed from our In Memoriam page -- which we are very happy to be able to do!
Phil Hickerson (P.Y. Chu-Hi), along with Shane Connor, co-hosts the Shane and Phil Hometown Morning Show on WWYN-FM in Jackson, TN.
Manager "Gentleman" Jim Holliday now runs a karaoke business in Myrtle Beach, FL.
Missy Hyatt works for various indy promotions as a wrestler and valet.
Bill Irwin now lives in Duluth, Minnesota, where he runs a medical construction business for Mike Morrow (former USWA/GWF wrestler Mike Blackheart).
Referee John Keaton currently lives in Oklahoma.
Killer Khan now runs a restaurant in Tokyo.
Mark Lewin, whose whereabouts were unknown for a number of years, is now reported to be running a restaurant along with his wife in the Seattle area.
Marc Lowrance is a pastor at a Methodist church in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Al Madril is a security guard at a hospital in the Los Angeles area.
David Manning remains a close friend of the Adkisson family, and was co-host along with Kevin Von Erich for the 2004 Best of the Von Erichs DVD.
Bill Mercer has retired from sports broadcasting.  His memoir of his career, Play-by-Play: Tales from a Sports Broadcasting Insider, was published in September 2007.
Nord the Barbarian, until recently, worked for a Minnesota car dealership which, according to reports, is now out of business.
One Man Gang is a prison guard for the State of Louisiana.
Iceman King Parsons still works independent shows in Texas. He was involved in a serious auto accident a few years ago which severely injured his back, but thankfully seems to have recovered from its effects.
Al Perez made a brief comeback a few years ago for a Pennsylvania independent promotion. Perez still lives in Tampa, FL where he works as a delivery driver for United Parcel Service.
Rod Price now works for a plumbing company in the New Orleans area.
The Real Thing (Rip Morgan) currently runs the Kiwi Pro Wrestling promotion, along with "Bushwhacker" Butch Miller, in Wellington, New Zealand.
Butch Reed occasionally wrestles for Harley Race's Missouri promotion, and is still involved in the rodeo business.
Steve and Shaun Simpson own a chain of mattress stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Sunshine now lives with her husband and daughter in the Tampa area.
John Tatum lives in Pensacola, Florida where he and his family operate the Pensacola Interstate Fair. The property is used both for the annual fair and for other exhibitions and events.
Terry Taylor works with TNA as an agent. He currently lives in Atlanta.
Kevin Von Erich, along with most of his immediate family, moved to Hawaii in January 2007.  He currrently appears as co-host (with Michael Hayes) on WWE 24-7's rebroadcasts of the syndicated WCCW show.  He became a first time grandfather in 2004 when daughter Kristen gave birth to a girl; she and husband Joey Nikolas are now the proud parents of twin sons as well!  Kevin still keeps in close touch with his late brother Kerry's family.
Lance Von Erich is still living with his wife in South Africa.
George Weingeroff, who was legitimately legally blind at the time of his World Class stint, has reportedly had most of his vision restored via surgery.  He now runs a school for the visually impaired and has a successful vending machine business in the Nashville area.
Gary Young appeared a few years back on the Montel Williams Show, reuniting with a daughter he had not seen in years.  He currently manages a restaurant in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Chris Youngblood lives in Amarillo, Texas, where he runs Romero's Academy of Wrestling and promotes shows.


Where are the Von Erichs (or other deceased Big Time Wrestling/WCCW personalities) buried?      

You may click the links below for information on the gravesites of departed Big Time and World Class Wrestling stars and employees. With a few exceptions, most of these listings are from Find a Grave.  (Last updated 11/10/2017)

 Fritz, David, Kerry, Mike and Chris Von Erich:  Grove Hill Memorial Park, Dallas, TX  (Jack Adkisson Jr., Fritz's first son who died tragically at age 6 in New York, is also buried at Grove Hill, as is family matriarch Doris Adkisson.).
Chris Adams:  Oak Grove Memorial Gardens, Irving, TX        
Jack Brisco: Wolf Cemetery, Wolf, OK
Ray Candy (Superfly):  Washington Memorial Gardens, Decatur, GA        
Dan Coates (KTVT commentator):  Mount Olivet Cemetery, Fort Worth, TX      
Tiger Conway Sr.:  Houston Memorial Gardens, Pearland, TX       
Al Costello: Chapel Hill Memorial Park, Largo, FL        
Rick Davidson (Red River Jack II):  Greenwood Memorial Park, Fort Worth, TX      
Ronnie Etchison: St. Joseph Memorial Park, St. Joseph, MO      
Fabulous Moolah:  Greenwood Cemetery, Greenwood, SC       
Rick "Buster Blackheart" Fowler:  Brock Cemetery, Brock, TX       
Stan "Uncle Elmer" Frazier:  Biloxi National Cemetery, Biloxi, MS       
The Great Goliath:  Palm Memorial Park Northwest, Las Vegas, NV        
Glen Goza ("Heaven Needed a Champion" songwriter):  West Mountain Cemetery, West Mountain, TX   
Crazy Luke Graham:  Bethesda Cemetery, Lexington, GA      
George Harris III:  Thornrose Cemetery, Staunton, VA        
Lord Alfred Hayes:  Christ Methodist Cemetery, Plano, TX      
Gino Hernandez:  Memorial Oaks Cemetery, Houston, TX        
Hercules Hernandez:  Florida National Cemetery, Bushnell, FL        
Arman Hussein:  Muslim Cemetery, Krum, TX (no Find a Grave listing)      
Lanny "Cousin Junior" Kean:  Rexroat Cemetery, Jamestown, KY        
Killer Kowalski:  Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett, MA        
Bronko Lubich:  Restland Memorial Park, Dallas, TX       
Chief Peter Maivia:  Diamond Head Memorial Park, Honolulu, HI       
Harvey Martin:  Restland Memorial Park, Dallas, TX        
R.G. McElyea (Fort Worth promoter, early 1960s): Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park, Fort Worth, TX 
Ed McLemore (Dallas promoter, 1940-1969):  Calvary Hill Cemetery, Dallas, TX        
Sputnik Monroe:  Alexandria National Cemetery, Pineville, LA       
Elizabeth Moore (Fort Worth promoter, early 1960s-1988): Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park, Fort Worth, TX
Blackjack Mulligan: Florida National Cemetery, Bushnell, FL
Dick Murdoch:  Dreamland Cemetery, Canyon, TX       
Dave "D.J." Peterson:  Blakely Cemetery, Easton, MO       
Danny "Bulldog" Plechas (referee): Graceland Park Cemetery, South Omaha, NE        
Percy Pringle:  Serenity Memorial Gardens, Theodore, AL        
Dick Raines (referee): Haven of Memories Cemetery, Canton, TX     
Joe Rinelli (ring announcer): Mount Vernon Memorial Park, Fair Oaks, CA        
Dewey "The Missing Link" Robertson:  Woodland Cemetery, Burlington, OH       
Sylvester "Junkyard Dog" Ritter:  Westview Memorial Park, Wadesboro, NC        
Joe Scarpa (AKA Chief Jay Strongbow): St. Elmo Baptist Church Cemetery, Omaha, GA      
Dave "Angel of Death" Sheldon:  Bear Creek Cemetery, Euless, TX       
Grizzly Smith: Mount Tabor Cemetery, Sandusky, TX        
Billy Travis:  Resthaven Cemetery, Corbin, KY        
Kathy White (Fritz Von Erich's secretary): Oak Grove Memorial Gardens, Irving, TX
Jay Youngblood:  Llano Cemetery, Amarillo, TX       

 Finally, there is one more giant of the sport whose final resting place -- or should we say, final resting places -- are worth noting here.  According to Kit Bauman (who assisted the late Lou Thesz with the writing of his autobiography, Hooker), in a post at the Dallas Historical Society message board:
A point of interest for some of you is the fact that some of legendary wrestler Lou Thesz's ashes were spread among the empty wine bottles and trash that litter the site of the Sportatorium today. I know it's true, because I'm the one who did it. He was a close friend, and his widow thought it was a fine idea to spread Lou's ashes at the site of many of his favorite wrestling venues. So, with the help of several people, we've left some of Lou not only in Dallas but in Miami, Houston, St. Louis and Hawaii.
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FAQ: Who Was...?

Who was (insert masked wrestler's name here)?

This list covers the masked men who appeared in World Class between 1982 and 1990.  
  • Checkmate:  Tony Charles (although this has been a topic of debate on pro wrestling message boards, where it's also been claimed by some that Les Thornton was behind the mask)
  • Doctor Who (1988):  Tug Taylor
  • El Diablo Grande:  Buddy Moreno (aka Omar Atlas)       
  • Friday (Kamala's masked handler):  Frank Dalton
  • Grapplers I & II:  Len Denton / Rick Hazzard
  • The Hood:  Jeff Gaylord (previously worked for Wild West Wrestling under the same mask as The New Spoiler)
  • Jimmy Jack Funk:  Jesse Barr
  • The Magic Dragon:  Kazuharu Sonoda
  • Mil Mascaras:  Aaron Rodriguez
  • Mr. Ebony:  Tom Jones   
  • Mr. X (Reunion Arena, 12/25/84):  Mike "The Alaskan" York, who was called in to work the losers-leave-Texas elimination bout at the last minute when Killer Khan no-showed
  • The Punisher:  Mark Calaway (AKA The Undertaker)
  • Red River Jack:  Bruiser Brody / Rick Davidson (when "Jack" appeared alongside Brody) 
  • Socko (Tarrant County Convention Center, 9/1/86):  Unknown (was thought to have been Mark Miller, one of Jim "Dingo Warrior" Hellwig's former teammates in Rick Bassman's Power Team USA group, but according to WrestlingData.com, Miller was working in Seaside, Oregon on that date)
  • Super Destroyers I & II:  Scott & Bill Irwin
  • The Spoiler:  Don Jardine
  • Super Zodiacs I & II:  Cactus Jack / Gary Young
  • The Superfly:  Ray Candy (not James "Kamala" Harris, who is sometimes said to have played this character but was actually wrestling in Memphis at the time)
  • Texas Red:  Mark Calaway    

Who was (insert non-masked wrestler working under a gimmick name here)?       
  
...Ten Gu?      

The sinister Japanese heel seen teaming with Frank Dusek and Bill Irwin against the Von Erichs in WWE's The Most Powerful Families in Wrestling DVD was played, for most of his time in Dallas-Fort Worth, by Kazuo Sakurada, who was best known as Kendo Nagasaki in the Florida territory.  He had worked as Mr. Sakurada (partner of Mr. Hito) a year earlier in Texas, and would come in again for a short time in 1988 as manager of the Super Black Ninja (Keiji Mutoh, aka The Great Muta).      

 Sakurada was not the first wrestler to portray the character, however.  In his TV debut on KTVT in mid-1981, the role of Ten Gu (who was heavily hyped prior to his arrival in the area by manager Gary Hart as being even more dangerous than the Great Kabuki) was played by a worker who was in no way convincing, either as a person of Japanese heritage or as a martial arts master, and in fact, appeared to be somewhat elderly.  The actual match (a squash) came off so poorly that, immediately after the commercial break, Bruiser Brody interrupted a promo by Bill Mercer for an upcoming card to declare that the man fans had just seen in the ring was an imposter.      

 According to Gary Hart's son Jason, the Kabuki character had been so successful that Gary -- who was then booking for the promotion -- was being pressured by others in the front office to create an equally menacing tag team partner for him.  Hart, feeling that Kabuki's gimmick would be watered down by such a move, deliberately nipped the idea in the bud by bringing in an inferior worker for the debut.  The identity of this "fake" Ten Gu, who appeared only in this one bout, remains a mystery.       


...Richard Blood?     

No, this wasn't Ricky Steamboat, nor was it Tito Santana.  This Richard Blood, who performed in D/FW rings from late 1981 through mid-'82, was Tommy Wright, an undercard worker in the Florida and Mid-South territories.  Frank Dusek, posting at Wrestling Classics, fills us in:
Gary Hart just loved the name "Richard Blood."  In fact, he liked it so much he wanted to have a "Richard Blood" on the cards in Texas.
For several weeks, all he told Bill Irwin & I was that we were going to get a new tag partner & we were going to call him "Richard Blood."  We knew it wasn't Tito Santana or Rick Steamboat, but Gary assured us he would be a "player" who would live up to the name "Richard Blood."
Believe me, after all the build up we gave the fans on camera (& all the build up Gary Hart gave us in the dressing room), no one was more surprized that Bill Irwin & me to see Tommy Wright.
The 2nd week in the territory we "turned" on Tommy, discharging him from our army.  That led to the infamous headline in a Dallas program that read, "Dusek Discharges Blood!"
You gotta love Texas "Rasslin!

...Koko the Clown?       

The jolly, dancing pie-thrower who appeared briefly as Bugsy McGraw's "manager", after he turned babyface in 1982?  None other than WCCW TV producer Mickey Grant, who thought donning the clown suit would be fun when the angle was mentioned to him by Bugsy (whose idea it reportedly was).      


...Mike Sharpe, Ben Sharpe and Tom Steele (who lost to David Von Erich, Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy at Christmas Star Wars '82)?        

Mike Sharpe was in fact the real "Iron Mike", on loan from Mid-South.  On the other hand, the guys he teamed with may have later had WCCW fans wondering where they'd seen them before: "Ben Sharpe" was actually Kelly Kiniski, while "Tom Steele" was veteran grappler Gene Lewis, who would return to World Class a few months later as The Mongol.



...Stella Mae French?  
Tanya West in 1974 (bigbearwrestling.blogspot.com)

The tough, truck-driving "aunt" who filled in for Valerie "Sunshine" French during her 1984 leave of absence was played by Tanya West.  Ms. West, a one-time womens' prison guard who was active as a wrestler from the early '60s until about 1980, worked for much of her career in Detroit and other northern territories.    

 According to her daughter in a post on the Wrestling Classics message board, Tanya West passed away on May 11, 1996.    


...The Thing and The Real Thing?      
   
Online World of Wrestling, where this pic was first posted, identifies the original Thing as Brian Carriero (that's Phil Apollo, AKA Playboy Vince Apollo, on the right). Carriero later worked as enhancement talent in WCW circa 1990 under the name Brian Carr, and on the indy circuit as Piranha Steele and The Terminator.  

 In the late 1987 storyline, manager Killer Brooks offered to sell The Thing's contract to the highest bidder, with New Age Management (Apollo and Gary Hart) vying with Percy Pringle for his "services".  Percy won when New Age withdrew their bid at the last minute, on the grounds that Brooks was offering what announcer Marc Lowrance called "a bogus Thing" (never mind the fact that he had been utterly annihilating every opponent he faced).  It turned out that Apollo and Hart, while traveling around the world in their constant search for new talent, had been able to locate the genuine article in New Zealand.  So, out went the "bogus" Thing (after doing a quick job to the returning Kerry Von Erich at Thanksgiving Star Wars), and in came Rip Morgan as -- what else? -- The Real Thing.      

 Brian Carriero suffered from Parkinson's disease during his final years, which he spent in a nursing home.  He passed away on March 12, 2012 at the age of 65.      


...P.Y. Chu-Hi?        

Memphis fans, no doubt, had little trouble recognizing Phil Hickerson as the none-too-convincing "Japanese" monster heel.  Note the similarity to the name P.Y. Chung, which Hickerson's manager Tojo Yamamoto used in the Carolinas during the early '60s.       


...Taras Bulba?      

The man who shocked a Sportatorium crowd by beating Kerry Von Erich with a clawhold and sending him to the dressing room on a stretcher (as booked by Eric Embry) was Juan Reynosa, who had previously wrestled and worked as a referee in Joe Blanchard's Southwest Championship Wrestling and other territories.        


Who are the wrestlers depicted in the WCCW logo?    

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's record for the logo contains the statement, "The portrait shown on the drawing is merely fanciful and is not the likeness of any particular living individual."  However, according to Kevin Von Erich (via his son-in-law Joey Nikolas at the now-defunct Heroes of World Class message board), the logo does depict two living individuals -- namely, Kevin (on top, applying the Iron Claw), and puroresu legend Tatsumi Fujinami.      


Who was Ed Watt, the man listed as matchmaker on the Sportatorium wrestling programs? Was he a real person?

The "matchmaker" title was more kayfabe than fact, but Edwin Boyd Watt, Jr. -- a former boxer from Chicago who was related to Sportatorium impresario Ed McLemore by marriage -- was most definitely a real person.       

 Born on April 26, 1919, Watt was first brought to Dallas by McLemore in 1953 as booking agent for the Big D Jamboree.  By all accounts a tough, no-nonsense businessman, Watt's job involved keeping a tight rein on the show's young and often wild talent, including rockabilly legend and Jamboree regular Gene Vincent (on one occasion, when Vincent was threatening his wife with a gun during a drunken argument, McLemore dispatched Watt to the site to defuse the situation), as well as booking package tours featuring the stars of the weekly music showcase.  And according to Stanley Oberst and Lori Torrance in their book Elvis in Texas: The Undiscovered King 1954-1958, Watt once stood his ground against one of the most hardnosed, hard bargain-driving carneys of all time: Colonel Tom Parker.  In September 1955, Parker reportedly attempted to renegotiate the contract for the next Jamboree appearance of the young, soon-to-be megastar Presley, demanding a steep increase in pay.  Watt's response?  "Go to hell and take Elvis with you."       

 David Dennard of Dragon Street Records, however, told the Dallas Observer of a different side of Watt: "...I think that he was the 'bad guy' for McLemore, though he was actually very sweet as a person when you got to know him."       

 After the Jamboree's demise in 1966, Watt continued to work in much the same capacity for Southwest Sports, booking spot shows (the cards that took place mostly in smaller, outlying towns, often done as charity/fundraising events).  After McLemore was incapacitated by a heart attack in early 1968, leaving Fritz Von Erich in charge of the company, Watt also served as figurehead "matchmaker", remaining with the promotion throughout the WCCW era.  To the best of our knowledge, he never appeared in public, but was often announced as having "signed a return match" after the initial meeting of two grapplers ended indecisively.        

 Ed Watt retired in 1989 and passed away on January 28, 2002.        



Wikipedia's entry on WCCW lists Gene Summers as a ring announcer. Who is he?   
   
Summers (born in Dallas in 1939) is a legendary rockabilly singer who may have become acquainted with Fritz Von Erich via Ed McLemore during the era of the Big D Jamboree (see above). His best known recording is probably "School of Rock and Roll" (1958), which received airplay on the XM Satellite Radio network in September 2006, courtesy of a somewhat well-known chap by the name of Bob Dylan.   

 As evidenced by the photo, Summers did indeed perform ring announcing duties briefly for the promotion before being replaced by  Marc Lowrance in June 1980.  This was not Summers' only involvement with wrestling in north Texas, though:  in what may have been one of the first instances of entrance music in the modern era of pro wrestling -- predating even the Freebirds and Leroy Brown -- Summers' single "The Legend of Moondog Mayne", recorded under the pseudonym Ricky Ringside, was used by Mayne for his entrances in the Dallas/Fort Worth area after his late 1976 babyface turn.  Mayne was killed in a San Bernardino, CA car crash on August 13, 1978.  

 Summers still performs live worldwide, particularly in Europe where 1950s rockabilly still has a devoted and fanatical following, and is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.      


 
Who was Betty Ann Stout, the masked columnist who covered WCCW for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram?   

The woman behind the mask was then-"Startlegram" sportswriter Jennifer Briggs Gerst (and no, before anyone asks, she's not related to former Dallas Times Herald drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs; his real name is John Bloom).  Ms. Gerst, the first female journalist to cover the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers, is also the author of a number of books including Strive to Excel: The Will and Wisdom of Vince Lombardi; Quotable Billy Graham (the evangelist, not the wrestler); Nolan Ryan: The Authorized Pictorial Biography; The Book of Landry; Texas Speak: Advanced Course; and the Brady Bunch Movie tie-in book A Very Brady Guide to Life. 
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FAQ: Wild West Wrestling

What was Wild West Wrestling?  Was it a part of WCCW?      

Wild West was an outlaw promotion run by Ken Mantell during the summer and fall of 1987.  Mantell, after booking World Class during its 1982-85 heyday, defected to Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation (formerly Mid-South Wrestling) shortly after the 1986 Parade of Champions show, along with a sizable chunk of WCCW's roster.  When Watts sold the UWF to Jim Crockett Promotions a year later, Mantell launched Wild West, promoting matches at the popular Fort Worth nightclub Billy Bob's Texas.  A number of former WCCW and UWF wrestlers joined Wild West, including Iceman Parsons, the Missing Link, Buddy Roberts, Wild Bill Irwin, John Tatum, Jack Victory and Fabulous Lance (the former Lance Von Erich, who had recently walked out of World Class)      

 The new promotion's TV show, like the weekly syndicated WCCW hour, was produced by Channel 39 (KXTX) in Dallas and was hosted by longtime World Class announcer Bill Mercer.  However, it never really got off the ground as Fritz Von Erich, emotionally battered by the tragedies involving his sons, elected to leave the wrestling business only a few months after Wild West was established, selling WCCW to Mantell (who became a 40% owner), Kevin and Kerry (who each owned 30%).  At that point, Wild West was absorbed into WCCW, and an interpromotional war angle was run on both groups' TV shows to explain the sudden return of numerous familiar faces to World Class following the 1987 Thanksgiving Star Wars card.    

  Although Mantell's promotion only produced about 25 to 30 TV episodes during its existence at Billy Bob's, a syndicated Wild West Wrestling show, consisting of WCCW bouts taped at the Sportatorium, continued to air outside the Metroplex area for a time.  Reruns of these shows have aired in recent years on ESPN Classic Canada.       


What titles were defended in Wild West?        

 The one and only championship the promotion established before closing its doors was the Wild West Tag Team titles.  Here is the history (note that all title changes occurred in WCCW after the initial tournament):  
   
John Tatum & Jack Victory87/11/30Fort Worth, TX
Defeated the Missing Link & Jeff Raitz in tournament final.
Steve & Shaun Simpson88/02/29Fort Worth, TX
John Tatum & Jack Victory (2)88/05/08Irving, TX
Defeated Steve Simpson & Terry Gordy.
Steve & Shaun Simpson (2)88/07/25Temple, TX
John Tatum & Jimmy Jack Funk88/09/05Fort Worth, TX
Samoan Swat Team (Samu & Fatu)88/09/12Fort Worth, TX
Unified with WCWA World Tag Team titles.







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FAQ: The Sportatorium

What can you tell me about the history of the Sportatorium before Fritz Von Erich became promoter?
 
Several exterior photos of the original octagonal;Sportatorium have been found since WCM was launched in 2006. Click the above image (probably from the late 1930s) for a larger view. Another, an aerial photograph from 1949, can be seen at Wikipedia's Sportatorium page. Finally, several images of children playing in front of a flooded Sportatorium, apparently taken on April 5, 1945, can be viewed at the Flashback: Dallas website.
Thanks to the diligence of researchers who have posted information at the message boards of the Dallas Historical Society, Wrestling Classics and the defunct Old School Wrestling board, we've been able to piece together a sketchy outline of the legendary arena's early history.

Before getting started, however, we should mention a page at the Dallas County Pioneer Association's website which claims that the Sportatorium's first promoter, Herbert E. "Bert" Willoughby (1890-1963), "raised enough capital in 1920 to buy land at the intersection of Cadiz and Industrial Boulevard and build the first Sportatorium in 1922."  Unfortunately, we must point out that this claim is not accurate.  Willoughby and partner Jack Fox did own an arena in the early '20s, but it was not called the Sportatorium, nor was it located at Cadiz and Industrial; the 1927 edition of Worley's Dallas City Directory lists the Fox-Willoughby Athletic Arena on East Jefferson near Hutchins Avenue (putting it just across the Trinity River from the Sportatorium site, to the southwest).
      
The same directory lists Willoughby as a coffee roaster (his day job) at the U.S. Coffee and Tea Company, as well as one Edward E. McLemore, a clerk at the Oriental Oil Company.  By 1933, according to that year's edition of Worley's, McLemore had started his own business, the Green Lantern Barbecue Stand, at 2822 North Henderson Avenue (most recently the location of Mesero, a Mexican restaurant which closed in late 2018).     

In 1935, W.T. Cox, president of Cox Steel and Wire (later the Cox Fence Company), began construction of the Sportatorium, which would be the new home of Bert Willoughby's wrestling cards.  The Dallas Morning News ran the following story on September 13 of that year:
 
Undated photo taken at an early Sportatorium card
(click to enlarge)
NECKTWISTERS TO GET AIR-COOLED BUILDING; NO SHOW MONDAY
There will be no wrestling matches Monday night. Promoter Bert Willoughby, who has turned his Fair Park arena over to Centennial officials to be razed shortly, said Thursday.  The next program will be staged in Fair Park Auditorium, Sept. 23.  Negotiations were completed Thursday for acquisition of the auditorium, where the tinears will cavort until Promoter Willoughby completes his own building.
Willoughby has leased a block at Cadiz street and Industrial boulevard, where work started Thursday on a new arena, to be one of the finest in the Southwest. It will be ready for occupancy in five weeks and will be enclosed, with a heating system [for] winter shows and air conditioning for the hot summer months.

On December 1, the Morning News reported on the new facility's opening:
 
WILLOUGHBY OPENS NEW ARENA DEC. 9
The new sports bowl, under construction at Cadiz and Industrial, will have its official opening Monday night, Dec. 9, when Promoter Bert Willoughby will offer the biggest wrestling program ever staged in Texas, if present plans go through as outlined. This 10,000-seating capacity structure, built as the home of wrestling, will also entertain many other events, such as boxing, basketball, indoor circuses, style shows, conventions and gatherings of all kinds.
"I am hot on the trail of twenty of the Nation's best wrestlers," Willoughby announced Saturday, "and we hope to offer on opening night, ten matches. Some will have to be cut to a twenty-minute time limit, but the main go will be for two out of three falls. I can't say just now who will be on the card, but hope to have the name of every man by Monday or Tuesday, and among them will likely be Juan Humberto, Southern heavyweight champion, who will defend his title against some outstanding opponent."


 Whether fans of today's wrestling product -- or, for that matter, fans of World Class! -- will recognize any of the names who ultimately appeared on that first card is a different story, of course; but, for the historical record, here (thanks to Dan Anderson and Jim Zordani) are the results:      

 12/9/35 Dallas (att. 8,500)       
Sol Slagel beat Bob Stuart     
Jack Nelson drew Pat O'Brien       
Dick Stahl beat Tiny Roebuck     
Jack League drew Nick Elitch   
Dan O'Connor drew Eddie Newman   
Jack Ryan beat Bob Wagner DQ       
Billy Edwards beat Pete Schuh    

Note that the larger original building was configured as a full octagonal amphitheatre, as opposed to its "half amphitheatre" reconstruction after the 1953 fire that destroyed it.

The Sportatorium as it looked in 1972, in a newspaper
ad emphasizing the building's rich history (originally
posted by "Gino von Steiger" at pinterest.com)
By 1938, McLemore was working as a salesman at Cox Steel and Wire; evidently, he worked in that capacity during the day and as concessionaire for Bert Willoughby at the evening wrestling events (his previous experience with the Green Lantern Barbecue Stand having obviously proven valuable).  What is certain, though, is that in 1940 McLemore was able to buy the promotion from Willoughby; Ed's company, Texas Rasslin', Inc., would promote cards in Dallas until breaking away from Houston promoter Morris Sigel (who, up to that point, had been supplying talent to McLemore) and the Dallas Wrestling Club in 1966 -- a conflict that resulted in Sigel taking over the Sportatorium for a very brief period, while McLemore temporarily relocated his shows to the Bronco Bowl Auditorium.   

 Due to declining health, Sigel's attempt to run shows in opposition to McLemore was extremely short-lived (Sigel would, in fact, be dead by year's end), and in the fall of '66, McLemore and Jack Adkisson (Fritz Von Erich) formed a partnership, moving back into the Sportatorium and establishing Southwest Sports, Inc.  This company, which was taken over entirely by Fritz upon McLemore's death in January 1969, promoted under the name Big Time Wrestling and, beginning in spring 1982, as World Class Championship Wrestling.      

 Though the WCCW promotion has, of course, long been defunct, Southwest Sports -- having been taken over by Kevin Adkisson after Fritz's death -- still exists today as K.R. Adkisson Enterprises, Inc.  

 
Why was the Sportatorium demolished?      

As Dallas wrestling crowds dwindled in the post-WCCW era, it became prohibitively expensive for indy promotions to rent the building, pay insurance costs, etc.  As a result, local feds in the D/FW area began to use smaller venues.  (The last cards held at the Sportatorium were promoted in early 1998 by Arturo Agis, who ran lucha libre shows off and on in the Dallas area for several years.)     

 For the next few years, the decaying venue was vacant, save for the homeless persons in the area who periodically broke into the arena seeking shelter.  Finally, on December 8, 2001, some of these people apparently lit a fire inside the building to keep warm and wound up starting an out-of-control blaze.  The upstairs offices where Fritz Von Erich, Gary Hart, Percy Pringle and others had once worked sustained heavy damage (which can be seen during Kevin Von Erich's tour of the soon-to-be-dismantled Sportatorium in Brian Harrison's documentary, Heroes of World Class).  

The owners of the building reportedly did look into the possibility of restoring the Sportatorium and bringing it up to code.  But, after receiving estimates that were well into the six-figure range, they made the sad but perhaps inevitable decision to demolish the arena in early 2003.


I've always wondered why the Sportatorium was built with sections C, D and E walled off. Can you explain this?

From the limited info that we've been able to find, it appears that a January 7th, 1953 ruling by the late Dallas District Judge Sarah T. Hughes (who would become world-famous a decade later for swearing in Lyndon Johnson as U.S. President aboard Air Force One shortly after John F. Kennedy was assassinated) ultimately led to this rather odd configuration.

On March 27th of that year, an appellate court upheld the earlier ruling by Judge Hughes that one-third of the original octagonal Sportatorium (on the side facing the Trinity River) had been constructed on land that, under an old agreement, belonged to the state of Texas. This would have required the arena to be demolished, but before that could be undertaken by any professional crew, it was totally (not "partially", as has been claimed) destroyed in the five-alarm fire that was set by arsonists only a month later, on May 1st. The legal issue was evidently resolved by having the venue rebuilt as an oblong structure at the same location, retaining the old octagonal seating arrangement but with only parts of sections C, D and E remaining (walled off so the building no longer encroached on the State's land).

While we've not been able to locate any further details, one can assume this compromise met with the approval of all parties concerned, as the "new" Sportatorium reopened on September 22nd, 1953 and remained standing for the next half-century. (The site to which we've linked, The University of North Texas' Portal to Texas History, has also posted the film that accompanied the next day's Texas News report on WBAP-TV, which is now KXAS-TV. It includes about thirty seconds of footage of the intense May 1st blaze.)    


What was the Sportatorium's seating capacity?  And how large was it?  It certainly doesn't look very big in the pictures I've seen.    

No, it wasn't terribly large.  The legal limit posted by the Dallas Fire Marshal was 4000, although it was possible to squeeze more people into the Sportatorium with a little...er...persuasion.   (Which, according to Roddy Piper in his book In the Pit with Piper, did indeed happen, at least during his mid-'70s stint in Dallas.) 

 This satellite photo of the Sportatorium, taken circa 2000, is from Google Maps:  
     

...while the image below, showing the former location as it looks today, is from Microsoft Virtual Earth (click images to open full-size versions in new browser windows; the crosshairs in each photo indicate the approximate location of the ring).
      


We were able to determine the size of the Sportatorium, even though the building is long gone, by using Google Earth.  After entering the former address of the venue (1000 South Industrial Blvd., Dallas, TX), clicking Search and zooming in on the top photo, we used the program's measuring feature to get the approximate length and width: 
  • Length, side facing Industrial Blvd. (bottom left):  ~205 feet
  • Length, side facing Trinity River (top right):  ~250 feet
  • Width, measured across center of building:  ~145 feet 
Splitting the difference between the two sides (227.5 feet), and multiplying it by the width, gives you a ballpark figure of just under 33,000 square feet.  (For the sake of comparison, about six buildings the size of the Sportatorium would have fit under the roof of nearby Reunion Arena.)  And there you have it.  Hey, you've got questions?  By golly, WCM has answers!  :)      


What was the Big D Jamboree?      

Late August/early September 1955 ad from the
Dallas Morning News, promoting an upcoming
appearance by "Elvis Pressley" at the
Big D Jamboree 
The Jamboree was a weekly country music showcase held Saturday nights at the Sportatorium beginning in October 1948.  It was essentially the Dallas equivalent of Nashville's Grand Ole Opry and Shreveport's Louisiana Hayride, running some four hours each week and broadcast live in the D/FW area on KRLD Radio (with a half-hour segment airing nationally on the CBS Radio Network).  Literally all the major country stars of the era played the Jamboree until the mid-1950s, when performers such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly ushered in the show's rockabilly era; Sportatorium promoter Ed McLemore soon began managing some of the rock-and-rollers who appeared regularly on the show (most notably Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps, of "Be-Bop-a-Lula" fame) and promoting package tours.    

 In the mid-1960s, the Jamboree faded away due to changing tastes in popular music, broadcasting its final show in 1966. Attempts were made to revive the Jamboree in 1970 and again in 1984 (as the "Big D Jamborama"), but neither effort got off the ground.      

Much more info on the Jamboree can be found at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame website, and also at the official website of the late Scotty Moore (Elvis' original lead guitarist), which includes an entire page devoted to the Sportatorium, with many photos from the period.  In the mid-'90s, the Dallas-based Dragon Street Records label released a line of "Legends of the Big D Jamboree" CDs featuring rare studio recordings and live performances from the show by many of its stars. And in 2013, the German label Bear Family Records, known for its massive and pricey box sets of classic rock 'n' roll and country music reissues, released an eight-CDs-plus-hardcover-book collection including a number of full half-hour CBS Jamboree broadcasts. Suggested retail price is just under two hundred U.S. dollars, so we recommend checking out Amazon Marketplace sellers for a discount if you're interested.



Were other concerts held at the Sportatorium?    

Definitely.  Unfortunately, despite what has been posted on numerous bootleg tape trading sites, an early Bruce Springsteen gig was not one of them.  According to Brucebase, although "The Boss" was scheduled to perform there on November 10, 1974, the show was canceled (evidently a last-minute decision; radio commercials hyping the concert as taking place "this Sunday night" have surfaced) and never rescheduled; no reason is given, but the same site reveals that some Springsteen dates earlier that year at Gertie's, a Dallas nightclub, had been poorly attended.  This, of course, would not be the case for much longer, as Springsteen was then in the process of recording the album that would propel him to worldwide rock superstardom: Born to Run.    

 But many other well-known performers did play the Sportatorium, among them Texas music legend Willie Nelson, who is reputed to have considered it one of his favorite venues.  The online archives of TIME Magazine include this article (subscription required) on a 1957 concert in which rocker Fats Domino and his band contended with the building's "rainbarrel acoustics".  In one of the newspaper articles reproduced here, GWF promoter Grey Pierson recalled how The Beastie Boys' high-decibel onslaught in 1992 caused the corrugated sheet metal walls to vibrate intensely.  And many gospel music package shows were held at the Sportatorium over the years, with such stars as the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, the Dixie Hummingbirds and many others.    

 One curious claim we've seen online which we probably shouldn't bother debunking, but will anyway, since we are YOUR source for accurate, dependable info on this sort of thing:  that a Dallas concert hall known as the Electric Ballroom supposedly "used to be called the Sportatorium" where "local, semi-professional wrestling" was held (what the heck is "semi-professional wrestling"?!).  Sorry, but no.  The Enhancement Guy, who fondly recalls listening to live broadcasts from the Electric Ballroom over KZEW-FM ("The Zoo"), featuring AC/DC, Spirit, Rush, Ted Nugent and other 1970s rock luminaries, hastens to point out that that particular venue (formerly the Aragon Ballroom) was, in fact, located across Industrial Boulevard from the Sportatorium, which was still standing long after the Ballroom was torn down.  Seemingly an egregious mistake, but then it isn't too difficult to understand how the passing of four decades, and the general rock-and-roll atmosphere of that era, could cause some folks' memories to go to pot...so to speak.  ;)      


Killer Tim Brooks attacks an unidentified opponent at a GWF house show
(click to enlarge)
Is it true that a fan once tried to shoot a wrestler at the Sportatorium?    

Yes.  The incident in question took place, not at a World Class card, but at a WCW house show on September 5, 1992 following a tag team main event pitting Sting and Nikita Koloff against Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Super Invader (Hercules Hernandez).  During the post-match brawl, an elderly fan (who reportedly had been attending matches at the arena for 30 years without incident) pulled out a gun, apparently aiming for Roberts.  Another fan seated nearby reacted quickly and pulled the man's arm down, and the bullet went into the floor.  The gunman was subdued by WCW security personnel and several Dallas Police officers, who arrived shortly after a 9-1-1 call was made from the arena.      

 This was by no means the only hair-raising incident that unfolded at the Sportatorium over the years.  The late Percy Pringle's tribute to the old, barnlike venue includes a story told by its longtime maintenance man Bill Hines, of how Hines found a man slumped over in one of the box seats after a show and, upon closer inspection, discovered a knife stuck in the man's back. (NOTE: Percy's original blog, to which we previously linked here, was understandably taken down after his passing. However, the story can still be read online as part of this article at prowrestlingstories.com.)  Then there's the story the Enhancement Guy heard back in the early '70s from a family friend, who told of being showered with blood when a knife fight broke out in the aisle next to her, and one of the men involved fell into her lap...further proof that, although the Sportatorium was one of pro wrestling's greatest venues, attending a show there wasn't for the faint of heart.      

 Ironically enough, the one shooting incident that is known to have taken place at a WCCW card happened at Reunion Arena rather than the Sportatorium.  During an intermission at the 6/17/83 Wrestling Star Wars show, an off-duty Dallas policeman, who was working as a security guard, shot and killed a knife-wielding man who was involved in a scuffle in the upper balcony.  


I sure miss those great french fries they used to sell at the Sportatorium. Any idea where I can get them today?       

Jack's French Frys (yes, that's how they spell it), which served 'em up at the Sportatorium for many years, got its start at the State Fair of Texas in 1945 and still operates a couple of stands there.

At this time, we don't know of any other venues or events where the "frys" are currently sold.
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