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Jack Brisco
passed away on Monday, February 1, 2010. Our heartfelt condolences
go out to the family and friends of one of the greatest wrestlers of
all time.
Online Reports:
Jack Brisco Was a Real Wrestling Hero
by Mike Mooneyham
Charleston Post & Courier
Jack Brisco-NWA Champion (Mitchell)
Truly A World Champion (Cline)
TampaBay.com Obituary
Kentucky
Fried Rasslin Report
Things You Might Not
Have Known...
Slam! Canoe Report
Tampa Bay Online Report
Wrestling
Observer Report
Jim Ross on Brisco (J.R.'s BBQ)
Jack Brisco Career Results
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It always hurts when we lose
one of our heroes. But this one is hurting a great deal
today.
When I first fell in love with
professional wrestling, Jack Brisco was the world
heavyweight champion. The first I remember seeing him was on
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling against Wahoo McDaniel
in a non-title match that Wahoo won to help set up a series
of title matches between the two around the territory. Many
months later, it was strangely in defeat that he became one
of my favorites. In December 1975, when the tape was shown
of Terry Funk defeating Jack for the NWA title in Miami
Beach, I was in total awe of his grace in the ring in that
match. Aided by the dramatic slow-motion applied to many of
the sequences in the match, both wrestlers made the brutal
contest look more like a dance. It was something to behold.
I was a huge Jack Brisco fan
from that moment forward. I followed him closely in the
news-stand wrestling magazines and learned about his past
epic battles with Dory Funk Jr. as Jack chased the NWA
title. I got an occasional glimpse of him out of
Atlanta
on the superstation WTCG, and hoped he would come to the
Mid-Atlantic territory one day.
I didn’t know then that he had
been a regular in the territory only a few years before I
started watching wrestling, holding the area’s top singles
title, the Eastern Heavyweight championship, and battling
Rip Hawk, Ole Anderson and others for the prized belt. I was
delighted when he and his brother Jerry (who also was a
Mid-Atlantic regular in the early 70s and held the Eastern
title) came back to the Mid-Atlantic area together in early
1982. Jack had singles battles with Roddy Piper and long
time opponent Paul Jones, as well as challenging Ric Flair
for the NWA world title. He even renewed his legendary feud
with Dory Funk Jr., this time exchanging the Mid-Atlantic
title. In 1983, the unthinkable happened for fans as Jack
and Jerry turned heel to challenge Ricky Steamboat and Jay
Youngblood for the NWA world tag team championship. It was a
run for the ages, featuring spectacular matches culminating
in a memorable bout at the first Starrcade. Jack later
recounted that this run with Steamboat and Youngblood was
one of the most enjoyable of his career.
Jack left wrestling in 1985.
When on the tour for the WWF during horrible weather, he
told his brother Jerry he was going home and hanging it up,
and he never wrestled again after that. That is one of the
things I have always loved about Brisco. It is part of his
legend and very rare in pro-wrestling; he walked away and
never looked back.
It was a thrill to finally meet
him at one of the NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest events in
Charlotte. He took time with fans, always pleasant and
engaging, and seemed to really appreciate fan's efforts to
remember him and the era in which he wrestled. He once told
Carroll Hall of WrestlingMemories.com how much it meant to
him that websites like his were there to help keep those
memories alive. I will always consider the 45 seconds I
spent alone on an elevator with Jack in Charlotte riding
from the 9th floor to the lobby as one of the coolest
moments in my life. I just got lucky. We briefly talked
about the night he won the NWA title in Houston TX in 1973.
He had this great smile while talking about it.
Late last year, I made contact
with his wife Jan, and sent them a copy of “Ten Pounds of
Gold”, the book I had recently published with Dave Millican
on the version of the NWA World Championship belt used from
1973-1986. Jack was the first wrestler to wear that
particular world title belt. Jack sent back a nice message
through Jan. He had agreed to an interview late last year,
but became ill around that
same
time, and it never happened.
Jack’s passing hurts me deeply
as a fan because he was such a huge part of my early
wrestling memories, and I have always grouped him together
in my mind with the other champions of that era, especially
Terry Funk and Harley Race. It was a magic moment in
Charlotte at that same Fanfest when Jack Brisco, Terry Funk,
Dory Funk Jr., and Harley Race all appeared together on the
same stage. It was for me as if everything briefly came into
perfect alignment within the wrestling universe, that
powerful axis of champions all arm and arm on the same
stage, fans filling the ballroom showing them their
appreciation. Now that Jack is gone, we’ll never see such a
group together again on that stage, at least in my mind. His
passing leaves a huge void in the world of great wrestling
legends. Rest in peace.
©
2010 Mid-Atlantic Gateway
• Article published 2/1/10
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