We Gather
Together
For
decades, wrestling fans in and around
Greensboro NC and Norfolk VA (as well as
occasionally Charlotte NC and Charleston SC and few
other spot towns)
spent the better part of their Thanksgiving
day in the same way most other folks did.
They gathered with family and feasted on
turkey and dressing and Mom's pecan pie. But
after Thanksgiving dinner had settled, and
the afternoon football games were over,
that's when things began to change for
wrestling fans.
The
4th Thursday in November meant a national
day to give thanks for God's bounty,
originally the celebration by the Pilgrims
in the early 1600s of the harvest festival.
In
Greensboro and Norfolk, it also meant
wrestling.
In
1983, Jim Crockett Promotions began
spreading this tradition to other towns in
the territory by use of closed-circuit
broadcasts from Greensboro, and later
Atlanta. For the final four years of the
company's existence, Thanksgiving meant Starrcade.
I
am currently researching the history of the
Thanksgiving day tradition of wrestling
cards by Jim Crockett Promotions. My current
focus is on the years 1967-1987, and once
those years are complete, I will begin
working back through the years as far as I
can get. I am grateful for the help and
resources of Mark Eastridge, one of the
great wrestling researchers, whose tireless
work makes this feature possible.
These
pages will primarily document the
Thanksgiving shows with newspaper clippings,
but will also include where available event
posters, photographs, ticket stubs, and
other special memorabilia from those events.
The
next phase in this project will be to add
the years 1961-1966. Jim Crockett's first
wrestling show at the Greensboro Coliseum
was the Thanksgiving show in 1961. Lou Thesz
brought the NWA world title here for
Thanksgiving in 1963. And for a couple of
years in the 1960s, fans in Charleston SC
also got some extra turkey on Thanksgiving.
Look for the next update here down the road.
So
let's all now give thanks for our great
harvest of good fortune, which includes the
rich history of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling on
Thanksgiving.
- Dick Bourne
October 2007
A Note from Mark Eastridge to
the Gateway:
Thanksgiving in the seventies
consisted of an early dinner at my
grandmothers house, rooting for the Dallas
Cowboys to lose, and heading to Greensboro
that evening. The first Thanksgiving show I
went to was in 1975 and the last was for
Starrcade '83.
I get so wrapped up right now
getting all of the clippings scanned to my
computer that I forget to enjoy them. Then I
get a couple of e-mails from you that bring
back such good memories. I stop and reflect
on how lucky I have been.
That's what the
Gateway brings to my life, and that's why
I'm so happy to be able to provide any
material I can for others to enjoy on your
website.
- Mark Eastridge,
10/29/07
©
The Mid-Atlantic
Gateway
Research
by Dick Bourne and Mark Eastridge.
Thanks
also to Carroll Hall.
Clippings
from the collection of Mark Eastridge unless
otherwise noted.
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