The following story from Kyra Quinn was originally posted in 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
1985 Calling: Tony Schiavone, George South, and One Magical Phone Call
About a year ago I got a phone call. But it was more than that. It was a link to a cherished part of my past, a connection to my youth and to one of the men who helped make wrestling real to me.
It was Sunday morning, August 7, 2016. I was getting ready for church and almost didn’t answer my ringing phone. But then I looked and saw that the caller was my friend, Mr. No. 1 George South. It was the Sunday of Fanfest weekend in Charlotte, and George knew I was sorely disappointed that I was unable to attend. I knew George was there, and I also knew that one never quite knows what Mr. No. 1 has up his sleeve. So I answered.
I was hailed with an excited, “Hey baby! How are you?” which is a pretty typical greeting from George. I could tell he was pumped to be there, spending the weekend amongst his friends and heroes – guys he has wrestled with and against for several decades. Quickly, George let me know he had someone who wanted to say hello to me. He told me to hold on.
The next voice I heard took my breath away: “Hi Kyra, this is Tony Schiavone.”
Of course, he needn’t have introduced himself. I would recognize that voice anywhere. It was one of the primary voices of my youth, the voice that conveyed magical moments with the perfect blend of exuberance, enthusiasm and realism. My heart pounding, my mind racing, I babbled some sort of ‘hello.’ As usually happens when I meet my wrestling heroes, I was awestruck. Initially, all I could think of was that he had said my name. Tony Schiavone said my name! Immediately I attempted to capture that moment in my mind forever so that I would always be able to recall it.
The conversation lasted a few minutes, and my excitement was such that I honestly don’t recall half of what I said. But I do remember the most important thing: I thanked Tony for helping to make it all so real to me. I discovered Crockett wrestling on Pittsburgh’s WPGH-53 one late summer morning in 1985 at the age of 8, with my introduction being the exhilarating title win of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express over the Russians. I was hooked from then on, mesmerized by the athleticism, excitement, and the struggle between the good guys and the bad guys. From that first Saturday morning, Tony’s voice was an integral part of the spectacle, and of the realism that was the hallmark of Jim Crockett Promotions. Tony’s love for wrestling came though, but so did his professionalism, in the way he called matches and handled interviews. He was, for me, a huge part of Jim Crockett Promotions, and when he left, some of the magic left with him.
My friends at the Mid-Atlantic Gateway had Tony sign this for me that August in Charlotte.
It was a Fanfest I hated to miss.
Of course, Tony’s departure in early 1989 was only one of a slew of big changes around that time. My favorites, Ricky and Robert, were long gone; the Horsemen had disbanded; the whole talent roster had experienced upheaval; and the look and feel of the shows had changed. But Tony’s leaving was especially upsetting to me. He had been a constant – he had provided the soundtrack – and now he was gone. I was delighted when Tony eventually returned to what had become WCW, and I was always happy when past favorite wrestlers of mine found their way back to the promotion. But too much had changed. Wrestling was never quite the same for me.
When I thanked Tony for being such a big part of helping to make it real, he seemed genuinely grateful. Maybe it’s not a comment he hears very often, but he should. He was so good at what he did, and yet is so underrated. For those too young to remember, those who have simply forgotten, and those who can be critical, I’d suggest a visit to YouTube and a trip back to Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 or 1986. Those shows have retained their magic. Watch the amazing talent in the ring, listen to the pops of the red-hot crowds, and pay special attention to the professional yet boyishly enthusiastic voice delivering the play-by-play. It doesn’t get much better.
Originally published in August of 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
Also don't miss our huge feature with Tony looking back on his days as a fan of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. It was a multi-part series called "Sunday's With Schiavone" and can be found in its entirety by clicking here.
With the recent sad passing of Bobby Eaton, the one common thread among all the tweets and Facebook posts - - even more than the comments on what a great performer and worker he was - - was that he was one of the sweetest, kindest people you would ever meet. He always had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. In good times and bad.
My fondest memory of Bobby as a person goes back to the mid-2000s, attending shows promoted by George South in Mooresville, NC and surrounding areas. George booked Bobby somewhat frequently on his "trainee" shows back in those days, primarily because George loved Bobby, and Bobby was so easy to deal with and would happily do anything you asked and could still help draw a crowd to those little independent shows at that time.
Being a friend of George's, I had the privilege to hang out with Bobby on a handful of occasions before the shows after he had arrived at the building. I was bit in awe of him at first because, well, he was "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton and one of the greatest in ring performers to ever lace up a pair of boots. But Bobby's friendly, gentle nature immediately put you at ease and before you knew it, it was like you had known him forever. He treated most everyone that way, that I could see. It said something about him.
During that time, I was collecting replica belts of the old territory championships. Crafted by Dave Millican from legendary beltmaker Reggie Park's original artwork, these belts were so special to me, and George and I decided to have a little fun with them. Whenever George booked one of our favorites on his shows (Bobby, Masked Superstar Bill Eadie, Jimmy Valiant, etc.) he would make them a champion for that night and we would come up with some outlandish pro-wrestling tale that explained why the Georgia or Missouri or Florida champion was defending that title in North Carolina. Some of George's students at that time (Ricky Steamboat Jr., Cedric Alexander, Tessa Blanchard, Jason Jones, Caleb Konnely, Mike Lee, to name a few) also held those mythical EWA regional titles. It was so much fun.
One night in Charlotte, Bobby was made EWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion. I will never forget the look on his face as George had me try to explain to Bobby why he was Georgia champion and why he was defending the Georgia championship in North Carolina. He thought it was hilarious. And he had such fun with it.
Years later, when I would run into Bobby at conventions or at indy shows, he wouldn't always remember my name, but he knew me from George, and he would break into that smile, and hug me and whisper into my ear, "Am I still Georgia champion?" It was like we were both 12-year old kids or something. It was just Bobby's sweet way of reconnecting with you and letting you know he had fun memories with you. That little gesture just meant the world me, and was so Bobby Eaton.
I can only imagine the grief shared by Bobby's friends, family, and the hundreds of his peers who thought so much of him personally and professionally. He will be remembered by fans as one of the greatest wrestlers ever, and is forever associated with one of wrestling's greatest tag teams, the Midnight Express.
Rest in peace, "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. Your beautiful heart made the world a better place.
by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway Originally Published April 2007
Note: The article below was originally published here on the Gateway in April of 2007. Price's Chicken Coop in Charlotte closed for good on June 19, 2021, creating great sadness here at the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. We acknowledged that earlier in this post:Darkness Falls on Old Charlotte: The Sad Demise of the Chicken Coop.I am re-publishing this story to share my good memories of the day I first discovered "the Coop" and its loose connections to Mid-Atlantic Wrestling.
Riding around Charlotte with George South is like being on a guided bus tour of famous wrestling-related landmarks for Jim Crockett Promotions. And not just the more obvious significant sites like the Park Center, the original Coliseum, or the location of the Crockett offices on Briarbend Drive. The smallest details, the places and things that might seem insignificant to others, are the things that are often the most special to George.
“Now ladies and gentlemen, over on your right is Little Hardware, where Klondike Bill would purchase the special colored duct tape used on Crockett’s rings.”
You think I’m joking.
Actually, it’s not quite like that, but you get my point. Everywhere we go, George can relate where we are to Mid-Atlantic wrestling. That’s one of the things I love about George South. Everything in life has some connection to wrestling (as it should, you know, when you’ve got the sickness like we do.)
So off we go. We’re on a tight schedule, we’ve only got an hour or so before we go pick up the Sotos and El Reyo when they get out of school. Just enough time to make my first visit to another Crockett landmark, Charlotte’s world famous Chicken Coop.
Price’s Chicken Coop has been written up in national magazines and featured on television all over the country. It fits the description of hole-in-the-wall. The Chicken Coop has to look just like it did 30 years ago, which is pretty amazing given it’s smack in the middle of Charlotte’s trendy fast growing up-scale South End district, just south of the downtown financial center, blocks from the Panther’s NFL stadium and the new NBA basketball arena. But the yuppie, hipsters, movers and shakers haven’t changed this special place, a step back in time, and the best fried chicken I think I've ever had. That covers some territory for me. I’m already a fried chicken or two over my limit for a lifetime.
This is starting to sound like a restaurant review, so I’ll stop here. I'll leave it at this: my first bite of Price’s Chicken Coop chicken and I was taken back 30 years ago to my grandmother Nana’s kitchen at her cabin on Lake Summit, in North Carolina. She pan-fried the chicken, of course. That was the best fried chicken I’d ever had, until now. I’m not going to say Mr. Price does it better than Nana, but let’s just say Nana and Mr. Price would have gotten along pretty well.
So what does all this have to do with Jim Crockett Promotions and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling?
“You ain’t seen nothing until you see Tully Blanchard in a three piece suit, diamond rings and shades, digging into a box of chicken from the Chicken Coop,” George tells me.
Beginning in the early-to-mid 1980s, after the main TV tapings had moved from the studio to the arenas, Crockett would tape the local promos for each town at a small make-shift studio at the Briarbend Drive office during the day on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays, rushing to get done so everyone can head out to whatever town they were running that night. It was a non-stop taping marathon that lasted sometimes as many as eight hours, and during that time, the wrestlers couldn’t leave.
My first box of chicken at "the Coop."
“The guys would have me run down to the Chicken Coop and pick up these huge boxes of chicken,” George told me. “The dinners all came with sides and fixin’s , but the boys just wanted the chicken. I’d bring it back, and they’d all dig in. Sometimes, Jackie Crockett would drag things out so they’d be waiting for a break to get to that chicken. There it is, this big box of fried chicken and every big name in this business is all digging in at the same time.”
But what about George? Surely he didn't get left out.
“You got that right! I’d sneak a piece on the way back to the office, and I’d always have to shake the box up to level it out so there wouldn’t be this big hole where I had pulled out a piece of chicken.”
Of course, if the chicken cost $20, George made ten times that in tips form the boys.
“Tully would tip me $20 bucks, and Arn and Flair would be looking out of the corner of their eye, and they’d have to tip me $25 just to out-do each other. I made more in tips on Tuesday promo tapings than I ever made wrestling.”
Price’s chicken is take-out only. So there we are, George and I sitting in his car, Journey on the radio, 70 degrees, sunny blue skies, prettiest day of the year so far. We’re slamming down the fried chicken, hush puppies and sweet tea as fast as we can. We ran out of napkins, I had to wipe my fingers on a Texaco road map. Best fried chicken I’ve ever had in my life.
And of course, we had to drive by the old Crockett office location and reminisce. Those days are gone forever, I guess we should just let ’em go.
Nah.
I’m going to get out my old 1985 wrestling tapes, maybe I’ll spot a small greasy spot on Tully Blanchard’s tie while he’s cutting one of those promos. I’ll know then that George has just made a run to the Coop.
A Charlotte light-rail train approaches (far left) on the tracks across the street from Price's Chicken Coop (far right) just minutes before closing time on an early November evening.
From the old Gateway site archives. Originally published in April of 2007 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.
George South sent a text to me last Thursday morning with the sad news that was spreading like wildfire around Charlotte and the local area - - after nearly six decades, the iconic Chicken Coop had announced it was closing its doors for good.
This news broke my fried-chicken-loving heart. Another piece of the old Charlotte dies a sad, tragic and needless death. Price's Chicken Coop had stood strong and steadfast at its location on Camden Road downtown. It had and survived the economic recessions of the 1970s and the 2000s, the homogeneous gentrification of the the South End neighborhood, and even the worst worldwide plague in a century in the form of the covid pandemic. Ironically after all that, the reasons given for what finally brought this beloved walk-in, take-out, cash-only institution to its knees were conditions largely unnecessary: (1) a labor shortage (as we continue to pay people not to work), (2) out-of-control price inflation of raw chicken, and (3) a coin shortage. Yes, a freakin' coin shortage, which cripples a cash-only business. What is happening to this country? Mr. Price is wondering the same thing, I guarantee you.
So a tradition beloved by families going back three generations dies a needless death, casualty of the modern world we live in.
Back in 2006, George South first took me to get fried chicken at Prices Chicken Coop. Not living in Charlotte, I had never heard of the place until he told me about it and its loose connections (for George, anyway) to Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. I just dove elbow deep into that take-out box of chicken and tater-tots, and thus began a culinary love affair that I've enjoyed over the last 16 years.
So in love was I with that perfect fried chicken and the stories George told about running errands to pick up boxes of it for the Crockett wrestlers stuck in day-long promo TV tapings on Briarbend Drive, I actually wrote about it on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. That original article is still on the old Gateway Archive site. I'll be re-publishing it here later this week. That article reflects on a great memory for me of that little hole-in-the-wall chicken shack, a memory that will now have to fill the hole in my heart left by its closing.
A box of fried chicken, tater tots, slaw, hush puppies and a roll from Price's Chicken Coop in Charlotte.
I created my own wrestling connections to the Coop, too, spearheading a side trip for a group of out-of-town friends during a Charlotte wrestling fanfest to picnic at nearby Latta Park with boxes full of Chicken Coop fried chicken. I even returned to the Coop after that picnic to pick up one more box to take back to the convention hotel where Bob Caudle and his lovely wife Jackie eagerly awaited my return. Jackie had insisted I bring the Chicken Coop to her, having heard me go on about it after Bob had read the article on the Gateway. I happily obliged.
I must admit that I haven't been to the Coop as often in recent years because of the horrendous traffic problems in the South End neighborhood created by the out-of-control development in that area. The Chicken Coop is one of the last holdouts not to sell to the developers, and so the condos and office buildings just grew up all around it, nearly swallowing whole the tiny little brick building that remained just as it had looked for the last several decades. Mr. Price apparently still owns the building and the parking lots around it, estimated in recent news reports to be worth nearly 1.7 million dollars in total. If he chooses to sell the property, I hope he holds out for twice as much. This last little bit of the old Charlotte now just fades away and the next generation of upwardly mobile hipsters to move in to those expensive condos will have no idea it was ever there to begin with.
"There will always be more fried chicken. There will always be debates over the best fried chicken. But the announcement that Price’s Chicken Coop will close Saturday after 59 years is about more than dark meat vs. white or whether you’ll sneak in an order of gizzards on the side. The loss burns a deep-fryer-sized hole in Charlotte’s soul."- Kathleen Purvis, Charlotte Magazine
Traditions die hard. This one has finally done the job, taken the three count, looked up at the lights. I wish the long-term employees there all the best in their lives after the Coop. They always took your order with smiles on their faces, quick service, and delivered a box of good food for a fair price. Those things are becoming rarer in this world, too.They certainly are rarer after last Thursday in Charlotte.
Tony Schiavone has a new t-shirt on Pro Wrestling Tees. Well, I think it's new, it may have been around awhile, but I just came across it. But I marked out a little bit for this. It's a take-off on an old historic, but largely forgotten, classic Jim Crockett Promotions t-shirt sold at the Starrcade '84 event.
Whoever created this design nailed the homage to the original. Bravo.
The original design has a bit of a story to it, as it was the first (and only to my knowledge) "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" t-shirt produced by Jim Crockett Promotions.
Let's be honest, merchandising was never Jim Crockett Promotions' strong suit. The list of marketing and merchandising missed-opportunities makes for a pretty long list.
There had been wrestling programs (Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Magazine) and a few posters (Wahoo, Blackjack, Steamboat to name a few) in the 1970s, but those were only sold at the arenas and were never marketed on TV.
In 1983, Crockett made a short-lived attempt to capitalize on the success of their first huge closed-circuit event Starrcade '83 by offering the Starrcade '83 photo album and a t-shirt through mail order.
In 1984 came the very first t-shirt sold at the arenas that bared the words of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. And it was the last as far as we know. It was a simple design bearing the name of their follow-up closed-circuit extravaganza, Starrcade '84, with the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling moniker stretched below.
The shirt is very rare, there weren't many made. George South has one in his collection, hanging in his museum. You can occasionaly come across one on Ebay, sometimes going for a high asking price, depending on what shape the t-shirt is in.
Following this 1984 shirt, JCP would introduce their first line of slogan/logo t-shirts featuring their top stars in 1985. The logos were also available on hats, jackets, and bandanas. "I Do It With Flair" is the best remembered of that series, and spurred
on a similar t-shirt design for Ric Flair's daughter in the WWE in 2015.
In 1986, a second line of designs were released featuring artistic renderings of their top stars, a trend which continued until the sale of JCP to Ted Turner in 1988.
The Schiavone t-shirt is a very cool item indeed, and we hope to see more things like this that call back to the glory years of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling.
Late edit: Kudos to the artist who created this shirt, Ryan D (@highonryan), the creative genius who handles merchandise for Conrad Thompson's wildly popular Ad Free Shows (@adfreeshows) podcasts.
by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway originally published in February 2010
Can you imagine being 12 years old today and writing a letter to one of the WWE wrestlers and actually hoping for a response? Well, of course, today a 12 year old wouldn’t write a letter; he’d send an e-mail, I suppose. Do any of us actually write letters anymore? But if, in a grand gesture to an earlier more gentler time, a 12 year old would indeed put pen to paper and write one of his childhood wrestling heroes, what are the odds that same wrestling hero would put pen to paper and write him back? Probably slim to none.
In July of 1975, a young kid by the name of George South was a fanatical wrestling fan who did his best to attend every Monday night wrestling card he could at the old Charlotte Park Center and would never think of missing wrestling on WBTV-3 television every Saturday afternoon. At 12 years old, the only way his grandmother could make him behave was to threaten to not let him do either.
That worked, by and large, and he immersed himself in the wonderful, colorful world of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and closely followed all the big stars - Paul Jones, Blackjack Mulligan, the Anderson Brothers, “Mr. Wrestling” Tim Woods, Wahoo McDaniel, Johnny Valentine, and even a very young Ric Flair. But one of his very favorites was a wrestler who had begun to phase out of his active wrestling career, his matches at the Park Center becoming fewer and far between. This star was a legend in the territory, a wrestler who had main-evented in singles and tag team competition for as long as George could remember. His legend was bigger than life, especially to this young kid who lived every moment for his wrestling heroes. That wrestler’s name was Sandy Scott.
Sandy & George Scott
Before the Anderson Brothers there were the Scott Brothers. The “flying Scotts” they were called then, Sandy and George Scott, wrestling’s greatest brother tag team at that time, champions in various territories for parts of three decades, and bonafide legends in the Mid-Atlantic territory. George Scott no longer wrestled, but Sandy had continued his ring career, teaming with other partners like Nelson Royal. Sandy Scott and Nelson Royal won the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team championships just weeks after George South's 11th birthday.
Now at age 12 and out of school for the summer, with a baloney sandwich and a glass of milk, he watched Mid-Atlantic Wrestling every Saturday afternoon, hoping to see Sandy Scott. Host Bob Caudle would announce that if fans wanted to write the wrestlers, they could send their letters to the TV station where they taped studio wrestling. He faithfully gave the P.O. Box address in Raleigh each week; it was the same address if you wanted to reserve tickets for the TV matches in Raleigh, too. George knew he would probably never get to go to the tapings; Raleigh seemed a world away to a 12-year old boy. But that wouldn’t prevent him from writing to one of his favorites. So at Bob Caudle's suggestion on TV, he decided to write Sandy Scott a letter.
George sat down at his grandmother’s kitchen table with a pencil and a piece of notebook paper and wrote Sandy the nicest letter he knew how to write. He told Sandy how much he loved him, how much he loved the Scott Brothers team, and how he was Sandy's most loyal fan. George also drew a picture of Sandy, working hard to duplicate what he had seen in a wrestling magazine.
George carefully folded the letter and the drawing, slid them into a plain white envelope, applied a 10-cent first class postage stamp, placed the envelope in his grandmother’s mailbox, and raised the red metal flag.
He didn’t really expect anything in return. Surely, he thought, a wrestler as important as Sandy Scott wouldn't have time to write a letter back to a fan. But a few weeks later a large white envelope arrived from Charlotte, the mailing label bearing the logo and address of Jim Crockett Promotions. It was the coolest thing George had ever seen. He held it for a while before opening it, marveling at the words on the label – “Member of the National Wrestling Alliance.”
Inside was a letter from the one and only Sandy Scott. And it wasn’t a form letter that someone from the office had sent him; it was in Sandy’s own handwriting, and mentioned things that George had written in his original letter. He knew Sandy had written it himself. Not only was there the letter, but he had also sent an 8x10” black and white photograph that Sandy personally signed: “To George, Yours in Sports, Sandy Scott.”
The letter, dated July 15, 1975, read:
Dear George,
It was good to receive your letter and to know you’re such a good fan. I’ll be sure to tell George that you said hello and the nice things you said about us as a tag team. Enclosed you will find a picture that I have autographed for you. Good luck to you. Yours in Sports, Sandy Scott
And on the back: PS – The picture you drew of me was very nice and I enjoyed it very much.
It’s hard to imagine today’s superstars taking the time to write fans, if one could even imagine fans caring enough to write the wrestlers to begin with. Wrestling today is just one of many amusements to pass the time, a few hours on Monday night, and not another thought given to it after the show is over. No one is reaching out to make a personal connection, no wrestler is talking you into the local building for the next show in your home town. Today they just hope you’ll tune in the following week, hoping they can pull a good rating. No emphasis is given to filling the seats at the Park Center on a Monday night, or other arenas like it, once the life's blood of the wrestling business. This letter was but one example of the outreach that Jim Crockett Promotions conducted with its fans.
Lost is the personal bond between wrestlers and fans, or between a wrestling company and its fans. But that summer in 1975, Sandy Scott had made a 12 year old fan very happy with a short hand-written letter. And that young fan, now in his late 40s, has held on to that letter to this day.
Story originally published February 10, 2010 and republished January 23, 2016
on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Sandy Scott passed away on Thursday March 11, 2010 after a tough fight with pancreatic cancer. The Mid-Atlantic Gateway sends its heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Sandy Scott.
The video tribute above was produced by Thom brewer, a friend of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, for a tribute show for Sandy in Rocky Mount, Virginia in 2010.
by Andy McDaniel Contributor, Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Wrestling conventions are a regular thing these days. Along with comic-cons and the like, pretty much any weekend or month, there is an event taking place somewhere. I remember the days of wondering what it would be like to meet my heroes from wrestling. On Saturday morning television, they were larger than life figures. At the matches on Friday nights, they seemed even larger but somehow more personal. You could reach out and touch them. If you were close enough, you might get some of their sweat on you or even some blood. (My mom had a fit when I came home after a Wahoo match in a white shirt that had several spots of McDaniel blood on it, and they were not mine) The one thing still missing was a conversation or a personal moment with the wrestlers. While close, they still seemed far away. The conventions have helped open doors for the questions people always wanted to ask, the handshake, or the picture desired. Now, such is not unusual or out of the norm.
"Mr. No. 1" George South
Most recently, there was an event held in Winston-Salem, NC. All that I could read, and from all the pictures posted, it appeared that many, many legends and wrestling stars were there. It is always great to see the stars of the past get recognized for their contributions to the business. However, there was one name that stood out to me, my friend Mr. #1 George South. Here it is 2019, and George was not only still on the card but was in a match with the Great Muta. Social media had a mixed response to this match up. I get that to a degree. However, the intent was to have a connection to the past. It was not going to be Ric Flair, it was not going to be Abe Jacobs, it was not going to be Jimmy Valiant, but to give some nostalgia, to give a nod to the past and do so in a credible way with a guy that could put on a fun match, there was no better choice than George.
I have been friends with George South for as long as I could remember. I got to "know" him from a distance while watching on television. I would later enjoy booing him at the live matches. His interaction with the fans was hilarious. The matches between him and Rocky King stole the undercard by far. I just enjoyed the guy. However, things became different in 1998. I was promoting a fanfest type show in Charleston, SC. I very well may be wrong with this statement, but such an event had never taken place in Charleston. Beyond a significant show like Slamboree in Atlanta in 1993, there had not been that many convention-style events. Regardless of how many or where the fact is that we were bringing in the legends.
No one had seen Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson together in 25 years. They had not seen each other in that long. Few had seen Johnny Valentine or George "two-ton" Harris, but they were there. In the midst of this was George South. Although we did not know each other, from the moment we met, it was as if we always had. His friendship is one that I cherish after all these years. The event was, of course, centered around all the legends. On the night of the main show, we planned for a few matches. The historical County Hall would be the arena. Legendary promoter Henry Marcus was our guest of honor. The very man who, for years and years, brought in the very best in professional wrestling. Friday night at 8:15 was a staple moment in the lives of many in the greater Charleston area. We had a mixture of matches, featuring local talent, known talent, and even a few legends from the business. One of the unique things that took place in each bout was the special referees on hand. Mark Curtis/Brian Hildebrand, Charles Robinson, Ronnie West, Tommy Young all joined us and were so gracious to lend their talents to our show.
The main event was to crown the first-ever Low Country Wrestling Champion. The masked Unknown (yours truly) was to face Lee Scott. I was so excited about this match for many reasons. First, Lee was a great opponent. I was getting to perform in front of many of the heroes from my childhood. Finally, it was the fact that this was taking place at County Hall. The very place I first saw professional wrestling. I was now on the card in the main event, and Tommy Young was the referee. Talk about a kid's dream moment taking place; it was without question my fifteen minutes of fame. How does George South fit into this story? This event was a considerable on-taking. It required planning, scheduling, marketing, and so much more. I had help from various places and people, none more critical than my dear friend Mike Mooneyham, without whom this event would not have happened. During planning for the show, I was trying to get a championship belt made. At this time, it was not like today when you simply go on the Internet and order one or find websites to connect you to belt makers. It was just not like it is now. However, I was able to contact Exotic Adrian Street, and he, at that time, was offering custom made championship belts. I spoke with him, had a great conversation, and commissioned the work on the first-ever, LCW title.
Due to circumstances beyond all of our control, the belt did not arrive by the day of the show. However, as the adage states, "the show must go on." We pressed forward with everything that weekend and had a great time. All the while, in the back of my mind, I could not help but wonder how I was going to have a title match with no belt. During a conversation with George, he told me that he has his PWF belt in his bag and would be glad to let me use it. I was very grateful for the offer. I took him up on his kind gesture, and the match went forward with Tommy Young counting my shoulders down for the 1-2-3. The little kid inside of me was cheering, screaming, crying, and pretty much every emotion imaginable.
As the years have gone by, the friendship I have maintained with George is something I cherish. He is one of the only active links to wrestling the way I remember it. He came through for me when he did not have to, and I will never forget his kindness to me in a moment of need.
I've written before about all the stories that George South has told me over the many years we've been good friends, and usually I find myself not believing half of them. I mean, come on - - wrestlers tend to tell tall tales, am I right? And George loves to tell a good story. But then someone comes along that was involved in one of those stories and says something that confirms his story and I wind up calling him and confessing - - "You were right!"
Such was the case awhile back on an episode of the "WOOOO! Nation" podcast, when Ric Flair and co-host Conrad Thompson were taking questions sent in by fans. One question dealt with wrestler Mike Jackson and why he never quite got a break to move up the cards back in the day. Jackson was thought of at the time (and still to this day) as one of the best underneath workers in the business and all the main event guys liked working with him.
But Flair moved on quickly from Jackson and said this, which confirmed part of a story George had told me long ago:
"You know who was actually the best worker back then, was George South .... I got in the ring with him one time and I said, 'Buddy, today you're Ricky Steamboat'. And we tore it down." - Ric Flair, WOOOO! Nation, December 9, 2015
The audio of this is embedded at the bottom of this post.
About ten years ago, George told me the story about his November 12, 1988 match with Ric Flair on Superstation WTBS, a match that went nearly 15 minutes, much longer than the usual WTBS TV match at the time. We were making a 22-hour round trip in a rented truck to visit the great Blackjack Mulligan at his home in Florida. That's right, I had 22 hours of listening to George South tell stories with the same Journey CD playing in the background the whole time. (And that part about Journey is a shoot!)
World Championship Wrestling on Superstation WTBS, November 12, 1988
George told me on that trip that before they walked through the curtain that morning in the WTBS studio, Ric had uttered those same words to him: Today you're Ricky Steamboat. Now, I never knew if I really believed that or not. I mean, I knew George loved Ricky Steamboat, and at times thought he was Ricky Steamboat, so it seemed plausible that in the context of the story this was George's wishful thinking. That is until last week when I heard Ric Flair say those very same words.
So having once again called George to acknowledge he had indeed told me the truth, I asked him to tell me whole story again. He quickly reminded me that it was a match Ric didn't want to have to begin with.
"When you got to TV, you found out who would actually work," George told me. "Ric was scheduled to work for the first time in awhile, but he really didn't want to. He had just gotten in from Pittsburgh after being up all night and he had to catch an early plane to Ohio after the taping. That studio was so cold and he didn't want to work and then have to shower and have that wet hair and rush to the airport."
Indeed, a quick review of notes from those Saturday night shows in the fall of 1988 showed that Ric didn't wrestle on any WTBS studio taping that late summer or fall until that Nov. 12th show. He did lots of those classic interviews, but didn't work in the ring.
"He and Dusty sort of got into it right there in front of everyone, and Dusty told him he was going to have to wrestle," George told me. "So Ric threw his bag on a chair and said, 'Well then I want South.'"
I asked George if he remembered who he was originally scheduled to work, or if he remembered who Flair was scheduled to work, but he could not recall. "All I know is Ric changed it and I was now working with him."
George had wrestled Flair on several occasions on different Crockett TV shows going back to 1985, but this time the circumstances were different. Flair was in a horrible mood and George figured he might be in for a tough, stiff, short match.
"Ric got dressed," George told me, "and as we were at the curtain about to go out, he looked at me and said, 'Buddy, today you're Ricky Steamboat."
George's heart skipped a beat. "I about peed in my pants!"
He entered the ring alone during the long break set aside for the "College Football Scoreboard" segment that aired on WTBS during fall Saturday afternoons in those years. Ric didn't follow right away and it seemed like an eternity waiting for him, even though it was only a few minutes. George had time to ponder what was to come.
When they came out of the break and back on air, Ric came through the curtain and entered the ring wearing one of his beautiful white robes. He removed the "Big Gold" NWA world heavyweight title belt and handed it to his manager James J. Dillon at ringside. George told me he thought to himself, "OK, buddy, here we go," and then they locked up.
But George wasn't prepared for what happened next.
"Ric started calling all these spots," George told me, "and I was going a hundred miles an hour. I was having the time of my life, but I was rushing."
Indeed, Ric was giving a great deal to George early on. George was reversing holds, working a lot of drop-downs, trading chops, and even throwing drop-kicks.
Suddenly, he was aware that he wasn't pacing himself. And there was no finish in sight.
"I got so blowed up in there," George said. "I was really hurting."
I asked George if he and Ric had discussed the match before hand. "No, not at all," he told me. "Back in those days, he called it in the ring. I didn't know anything. And I didn't know if we were going 2 minutes or 20 minutes. I was just going so fast. Ric did this every night, but I didn't!"
Given that Ric didn't want to work to begin with, it was surprising the match was going the way it was. "Honestly, I think he was doing it just to tick Dusty off," George told me. He laughed as he thought back on it. "He was so annoyed with Dusty, I think he would have let me win the NWA belt just to get back at him."
"Dusty
was hollering at me 'What are you doing?' and I said, you know, I'm not
gong to beat a guy like George South in one minute. Sorry."
- Ric Flair, WOOOO! Nation, December 9, 2015
George thought he might have a chance to rest when they went to a commercial break during the match, but no such luck. "Ric just kept going," he said.
By the time they were back from commercial, they were over eight minutes into the match, with still no end in sight.
"If there ever was a clinic in pro-wrestling, we're watching it. The world champion Nature Boy Ric Flair against George South, showing us a variety of moves during the break." - Tony Schiavone, World Championship Wrestling, November 12, 1988
Back in those days, unlike today, commercial breaks during matches were relatively rare except in longer main event matches. The fact Ric went two segments with George made the match seem all the more special. Ric was calling all the signature spots that he would normally do with main event guys like Harley Race, Sting, Lex Luger, and yes, certainly with Ricky Steamboat.
"He had me shoot him out of the corner and he did his flip into the turnbuckles," George said." I couldn't believe what was happening. Then he went to the top turnbuckle and told me to throw him off. Brother, I was about to die in there! I think he just flipped off the turnbuckle himself!"
When George finally threw Ric from the top, Ric's feet hit the lights, and debris fell into the ring. It was a surreal moment for George, and Ric kept giving him a comeback.
Finally, Ric called for the finish. He lifted George high in the air and held him for a few moments before delivering the vertical suplex.
"Now, we go to school!" Flair shouted, as he applied the figure four leglock. It didn't take long for George to submit.
George lay prone on the mat, exhausted. As TV aired the instant replay of the figure four, Ric hopped out of the ring to do a ringside post-match interview with David Crockett.
Referee Teddy Long knelt down on one knee beside George. They were right behind Flair, who would soon be joined in the interview segment by Barry Windham and J.J. Dillon.
"I thought Teddy was checking on me, making sure I was OK. So I whispered, 'I'm OK, Teddy.' He said right back to me, 'Brother, you've got to get out of this ring! I've got to get you out of the shot.' I could barely move, so he just rolled me like a big log out of the ring."
David Crockett prepares to interview Ric Flair after the match. Teddy Long tries to usher George South out of the ring behind them.
If you carefully watch this back on tape, you can see this happening. "Oh, it's funny now," George said, "but it wasn't funny then. I had never been so blowed up in all my life."
To make matters worse, George observed that Ric was barely breathing hard. "He was just so in shape, it was amazing. You couldn't blow him up. He was what he said he was - - a 60-minute man."
Still exhausted, George made his way back to the dressing room and then collapsed on his hands and knees and crawled to his chair.
"Kevin Sullivan was sitting in a chair right inside the door watching the monitor," George said. "He just looked down at me crawling on the floor and laughed. Not so much laughing to be mean, just laughing as if to say 'brother, we have all been there.' I don't think there was a wrestler in that locker room who hadn't been blown up at one time or another by Ric Flair."
George looks back on that match with fondness. It is without a doubt the longest and most competitive match he ever had on TV, and it is a memory he will hang on to forever. Nice to know Ric remembers it, too, all these many years later.
Edited from an original post on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway, from December 18, 2015.
Listen as Ric Flair talks about George South on WOOOOO! Nation
December 9, 2015
You can probably find the whole match if you do a little searching on YouTube. Otherwise, enjoy this one-minute music video of a few highlights from the match.
Check out MapleLeafWrestling.com's new book on the history of the
Canadian Heavyweight Championship, now available on Amazon and our book store.
Back in October of 2005, George South presented a tribute wrestling show to Chief Wahoo McDaniel called "The War Dance Never Dies." Blackjack Mulligan heard about the show and was interested in supporting it and sent the following statement via email, which was read to the fans in Mooresville, NC, on the night of the show.
STATEMENT FROM BLACKJACK MULLIGAN ON WAHOO MCDANIEL
People come and go in the wrestling business, but rarely is there a person who has such impact as Wahoo McDaniel.
Wahoo McDaniel was the person responsible for getting me into wrestling. We grew up near each other in Texas. Wahoo was a few years older than me, I was a freshman at Odessa High School when Wahoo was a senior at Midland High School just 20 miles apart. We both went on to the NFL and in 1967, he introduced me to San Antonio promoter Joe Blanchard and I began training to be a professional wrestler. When I first came to Mid-Atlantic Wrestling in 1975, I had a series of matches with Wahoo that were some of the toughest of my career! Ballplayers always had their separate little deal. You know, there was no complaining about getting hit hard or anything like that. We just went out and worked each other over. He was one of the toughest men I ever fought, and one of the toughest men I ever met. Wahoo set the bar at a very high level in our profession and the rest of us just tried to keep up. He was truly one of our great characters and is greatly missed by all. My best to everyone in Mooresville and to all the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling fans at this special event to remember the great Chief Wahoo McDaniel. May God bless you all, - Blackjack Mulligan September 2005
It was a fun night in Mooresville. Wrestling legends Masked Superstar (Bill Eadie), Chief Jay Eagle, and Jimmy "Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant worked the show, along with "Mr. No. 1" George South. Masked Superstar won the EWA Heavyweight Championship that night.
The EWA "War Dance Never Dies" Locker Room
Reflecting back, it was quite a crew working those EWA and Highspots shows in 2005. Some of the great EWA standouts of that era included Jason Jones, Jake Manning, Bobby Houston, Rob and Chris Guerrero, The Canadian Bulldog, and Jimmy Jack Funk, Jr., among others.
One of the top moments of the night, though, was a giant screen airing of a legendary brawl between Wahoo and Johnny Valentine back in June of 1974. It took place at the studios of WGHP channel 8 in High Point, NC, and is considered some of the rarest video footage of the two known to exist. Charlie Harville was on commentary and the referee trying to break up the two was Angelo Martinelli. Wahoo and Valentine literally beat the crap out of each other! (As they were known to do.)
The icing on the cake was the reading of the statement by Blackjack Mulligan, which was also displayed on the giant video screen.
I always had a good time at George South's shows back in those days, and miss them. I miss his crew of guys, too. Good times.
An excellent local feature from WSOC-9 in Charlotte on the Highspots Wrestling School, focusing on Cedric Alexander, Tessa Blanchard, and their original trainer George South.
Features footage from Impact, WWE, the Cruiserweight Classic, the Mae Young Classic, and footage from inside the Highspots training school.
Congrats to Austin Edwards for a well researched and well presented piece.
by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway
Originally published May 2003
When George South was ten years old, his brother would drop him off right in front of the Charlotte Park Center every Monday night. He would wait in line, ticket in hand, ready to continue his forays into the exciting world of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. Those Monday nights at that venerable old building that sat in the shadow of Charlotte Memorial Stadium would form the foundation of a lifetime of adventures in the world of professional wrestling.
George South (circa 1984)
Wrestling was what kept George South on the straight and narrow. Born in Boone, NC, his parents died in an automobile accident when George was six years old, and he would move to Charlotte, living at different times with his brothers and his grandmother. Largely unsupervised, every opportunity presented itself for George to find himself in a lot of trouble, but what kept him on course was his love of wrestling. If he got in trouble, he wouldn't be allowed to watch Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling that Saturday on TV on channel 3, and he wouldn't be allowed to go to the Park Center on Monday night. Worse yet, he wouldn't be able to follow the exploits of his childhood hero, "Number One" Paul Jones.
George South loved Paul Jones. He celebrated when Paul won the U.S. belt from Terry Funk; he missed three days of school when Paul lost the U.S. belt to Blackjack Mulligan. "What do you mean, why don't I have my homework?" George would ask his teacher. "Don't you know? Paul Jones lost the belt!" Anyone ought to understand how such a traumatic and disastrous event could disrupt one's life for days at a time. Or so George thought.
It was only a matter of time, though, before Paul Jones won that belt back. And all would be right with the world.
With Paul Jones in Charlotte in 2003
Now here we were 28 years later (in 2003), George South inviting David Chappell and me to Charlotte to meet and have dinner with "Number One" Paul Jones. Paul wears the scars of over 30 years in the ring. He moves pretty slowly, the pain of all those bumps showing in every step he takes. But he still has that twinkle in his eye when you get him to talk about drawing a sold out house in Greensboro to beat Terry Funk for the U.S. Championship. Or shocking a sold out Charlotte Coliseum by turning on Ricky Steamboat (which he insists was really Steamboat turning on him.) Or once working a 90-minute time-limit "broadway" with Wahoo McDaniel against the Anderson Brothers in Richmond. Get him talking about those glory days, and it seems as though "Number One" is ready to get in the ring again at that very moment.
Heck, George wants him to! It's George South's dream to have Paul put the Indian Death Lock on him in the center of the ring. It's not going to happen, but that doesn't stop George from talking about doing what in his mind would be the ultimate tribute doing the ultimate job.
After our dinner, we close out the evening by taking a "Mid-Atlantic" tour of Charlotte, with Paul taking us by the old Crockett offices on Carmel Road and Briarbend Drive, the old Charlotte Coliseum, and of course the old Charlotte Park Center, where 28 years ago George South bought his ticket and took his seat.
George South's van in front of the Charlotte Park Center in 2003
As we came to a slow stop, George has come full circle. As he did all those years ago, he waits in front of the Charlotte park center, but this time his childhood hero isn't getting in the ring, he is sitting beside him in his van parked right in front, right at the spot where he used to patiently wait, ticket in hand. Paul Jones is telling us about all of those Monday nights in that jam packed smoke-filled auditorium. These days it sits empty, bruised and battered. George South has tears in his eyes.
We sit quietly for a moment, and then pull away from the curb. Paul Jones smiles and starts in on one more story.
(Originally published May 2003. This story is rededicated to the memory of Paul Jones who passed away in April 2018.)
GATEWAY FLASHBACK Today we revisit one of our favorite articles from the past, just in case you missed it, or perhaps might enjoy it again. (It's kind of like your favorite TV show is in re-runs!)
And apparently, although I can't confirm it having not yet seen it, but Ashley Flair (WWE's Charlotte Flair) mentions this in her new book.
* * * * *
Ric Flair tells George South: "Today You're Ricky Steamboat" by Dick Bourne Mid-Atlantic Gateway Originally published Dec. 18, 2015
I've written before about all the stories that George South has told me over the many years we've been good friends, and usually I find myself not believing half of them. I mean, come on - - wrestlers tend to tell tall tales, am I right? And George loves to tell a good story. But then someone comes along that was involved in one of those stories and says something that confirms his story and I wind up calling him and confessing - - "You were right!"
Such was the case on a recent episode of the "WOOOO! Nation" podcast, when Ric Flair and co-host Conrad Thompson were taking questions sent in by fans. One question dealt with wrestler Mike Jackson and why he never quite got a break to move up the cards back in the day. Jackson was thought of at the time (and still to this day) as one of the best underneath workers in the business and all the main event guys liked working with him.
But Flair moved on quickly from Jackson and said this, which confirmed part of a story George had told me long ago:
"You know who was actually the best worker back then, was George South .... I got in the ring with him one time and I said, 'Buddy, today you're Ricky Steamboat'. And we tore it down." - Ric Flair, WOOOO! Nation, December 9, 2015
About ten years ago, George told me the story about his November 12, 1988 match with Ric Flair on Superstation WTBS, a match that went nearly 15 minutes, much longer than the usual WTBS TV match at the time. We were making a 22-hour round trip in a rented truck to visit the great Blackjack Mulligan at his home in Florida. That's right, I had 22 hours of listening to George South tell stories with the same Journey CD playing in the background the whole time. (And that part about Journey is a shoot!)
World Championship Wrestling on Superstation WTBS, November 12, 1988
George told me on that trip that before they walked through the curtain that morning in the WTBS studio, Ric had uttered those same words to him: Today you're Ricky Steamboat. Now, I never knew if I really believed that or not. I mean, I knew George loved Ricky Steamboat, and at times thought he was Ricky Steamboat, so it seemed plausible that in the context of the story this was George's wishful thinking. That is until last week when I heard Ric Flair say those very same words.
So having once again called George to acknowledge he had indeed told me the truth, I asked him to tell me whole story again. He quickly reminded me that it was a match Ric didn't want to have to begin with.
"When you got to TV, you found out who would actually work," George told me. "Ric was scheduled to work for the first time in awhile, but he really didn't want to. He had just gotten in from Pittsburgh after being up all night and he had to catch an early plane to Ohio after the taping. That studio was so cold and he didn't want to work and then have to shower and have that wet hair and rush to the airport."
Indeed, a quick review of notes from those Saturday night shows in the fall of 1988 showed that Ric didn't wrestle on any WTBS studio taping that late summer or fall until that Nov. 12th show. He did lots of those classic interviews, but didn't work in the ring.
"He and Dusty sort of got into it right there in front of everyone, and Dusty told him he was going to have to wrestle," George told me. "So Ric threw his bag on a chair and said, 'Well then I want South.'"
I asked George if he remembered who he was originally scheduled to work, or if he remembered who Flair was scheduled to work, but he could not recall. "All I know is Ric changed it and I was now working with him."
George had wrestled Flair on several occasions on different Crockett TV shows going back to 1985, but this time the circumstances were different. Flair was in a horrible mood and George figured he might be in for a tough, stiff, short match.
"Ric got dressed," George told me, "and as we were at the curtain about to go out, he looked at me and said, 'Buddy, today you're Ricky Steamboat."
George's heart skipped a beat. "I about peed in my pants!"
He entered the ring alone during the long break set aside for the "College Football Scoreboard" segment that aired on WTBS during fall Saturday afternoons in those years. Ric didn't follow right away and it seemed like an eternity waiting for him, even though it was only a few minutes. George had time to ponder what was to come.
When they came out of the break and back on air, Ric came through the curtain and entered the ring wearing one of his beautiful white robes. He removed the "Big Gold" NWA world heavyweight title belt and handed it to his manager James J. Dillon at ringside. George told me he thought to himself, "OK, buddy, here we go," and then they locked up.
But George wasn't prepared for what happened next.
"Ric started calling all these spots," George told me, "and I was going a hundred miles an hour. I was having the time of my life, but I was rushing."
Indeed, Ric was giving a great deal to George early on. George was reversing holds, working a lot of drop-downs, trading chops, and even throwing drop-kicks.
Suddenly, he was aware that he wasn't pacing himself. And there was no finish in sight.
"I got so blowed up in there," George said. "I was really hurting."
I asked George if he and Ric had discussed the match before hand. "No, not at all," he told me. "Back in those days, he called it in the ring. I didn't know anything. And I didn't know if we were going 2 minutes or 20 minutes. I was just going so fast. Ric did this every night, but I didn't!"
Given that Ric didn't want to work to begin with, it was surprising the match was going the way it was. "Honestly, I think he was doing it just to tick Dusty off," George told me. He laughed as he thought back on it. "He was so annoyed with Dusty, I think he would have let me win the NWA belt just to get back at him."
"Dusty
was hollering at me 'What are you doing?' and I said, you know, I'm not
gong to beat a guy like George South in one minute. Sorry."
- Ric Flair, WOOOO! Nation, December 9, 2015
George thought he might have a chance to rest when they went to a commercial break during the match, but no such luck. "Ric just kept going," he said.
By the time they were back from commercial, they were over eight minutes into the match, with still no end in sight.
"If there ever was a clinic in pro-wrestling, we're watching it. The world champion Nature Boy Ric Flair against George South, showing us a variety of moves during the break." - Tony Schiavone, World Championship Wrestling, November 12, 1988
Back in those days, unlike today, commercial breaks during matches were relatively rare except in longer main event matches. The fact Ric went two segments with George made the match seem all the more special. Ric was calling all the signature spots that he would normally do with main event guys like Harley Race, Sting, Lex Luger, and yes, certainly with Ricky Steamboat.
"He had me shoot him out of the corner and he did his flip into the turnbuckles," George said." I couldn't believe what was happening. Then he went to the top turnbuckle and told me to throw him off. Brother, I was about to die in there! I think he just flipped off the turnbuckle himself!"
When George finally threw Ric from the top, Ric's feet hit the lights, and debris fell into the ring. It was a surreal moment for George, and Ric kept giving him a comeback.
Finally, Ric called for the finish. He lifted George high in the air and held him for a few moments before delivering the vertical suplex.
"Now, we go to school!" Flair shouted, as he applied the figure four leglock. It didn't take long for George to submit.
George lay prone on the mat, exhausted. As TV aired the instant replay of the figure four, Ric hopped out of the ring to do a ringside post-match interview with David Crockett.
Referee Teddy Long knelt down on one knee beside George. They were right behind Flair, who would soon be joined in the interview segment by Barry Windham and J.J. Dillon.
"I thought Teddy was checking on me, making sure I was OK. So I whispered, 'I'm OK, Teddy.' He said right back to me, 'Brother, you've got to get out of this ring! I've got to get you out of the shot.' I could barely move, so he just rolled me like a big log out of the ring."
David Crockett prepares to interview Ric Flair after the match.
Teddy Long tries to usher George South out of the ring behind them.
If you carefully watch this back on tape, you can see this happening. "Oh, it's funny now," George said, "but it wasn't funny then. I had never been so blowed up in all my life."
To make matters worse, George observed that Ric was barely breathing hard. "He was just so in shape, it was amazing. You couldn't blow him up. He was what he said he was - - a 60-minute man."
Still exhausted, George made his way back to the dressing room and then collapsed on his hands and knees and crawled to his chair.
"Kevin Sullivan was sitting in a chair right inside the door watching the monitor," George said. "He just looked down at me crawling on the floor and laughed. Not so much laughing to be mean, just laughing as if to say 'brother, we have all been there.' I don't think there was a wrestler in that locker room who hadn't been blown up at one time or another by Ric Flair."
George looks back on that match with fondness. It is without a doubt the longest and most competitive match he ever had on TV, and it is a memory he will hang on to forever. Nice to know Ric remembers it, too, some 28 years later.
Listen as Ric Flair talks about George South on WOOOOO! Nation. December 9, 2015
You can probably find the whole match if you do a little searching on YouTube. Otherwise, enjoy this one-minute music video of a few highlights from the match.
About a year ago I got a phone call. But it was more than that. It was a link to a cherished part of my past, a connection to my youth and to one of the men who helped make wrestling real to me.
It was Sunday morning, August 7, 2016. I was getting ready for church and almost didn’t answer my ringing phone. But then I looked and saw that the caller was my friend, Mr. No. 1 George South. It was the Sunday of Fanfest weekend in Charlotte, and George knew I was sorely disappointed that I was unable to attend. I knew George was there, and I also knew that one never quite knows what Mr. No. 1 has up his sleeve. So I answered.
I was hailed with an excited, “Hey baby! How are you?” which is a pretty typical greeting from George. I could tell he was pumped to be there, spending the weekend amongst his friends and heroes – guys he has wrestled with and against for several decades. Quickly, George let me know he had someone who wanted to say hello to me. He told me to hold on.
The next voice I heard took my breath away: “Hi Kyra, this is Tony Schiavone.”
Of course, he needn’t have introduced himself. I would recognize that voice anywhere. It was one of the primary voices of my youth, the voice that conveyed magical moments with the perfect blend of exuberance, enthusiasm and realism. My heart pounding, my mind racing, I babbled some sort of ‘hello.’ As usually happens when I meet my wrestling heroes, I was awestruck. Initially, all I could think of was that he had said my name. Tony Schiavone said my name! Immediately I attempted to capture that moment in my mind forever so that I would always be able to recall it.
The conversation lasted a few minutes, and my excitement was such that I honestly don’t recall half of what I said. But I do remember the most important thing: I thanked Tony for helping to make it all so real to me. I discovered Crockett wrestling on Pittsburgh’s WPGH-53 one late summer morning in 1985 at the age of 8, with my introduction being the exhilarating title win of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express over the Russians. I was hooked from then on, mesmerized by the athleticism, excitement, and the struggle between the good guys and the bad guys. From that first Saturday morning, Tony’s voice was an integral part of the spectacle, and of the realism that was the hallmark of Jim Crockett Promotions. Tony’s love for wrestling came though, but so did his professionalism, in the way he called matches and handled interviews. He was, for me, a huge part of Jim Crockett Promotions, and when he left, some of the magic left with him.
My friends at the Gateway had Tony sign this for me that August in Charlotte.
It was a Fanfest I hated to miss.
Of course, Tony’s departure in early 1989 was only one of a slew of big changes around that time. My favorites, Ricky and Robert, were long gone; the Horsemen had disbanded; the whole talent roster had experienced upheaval; and the look and feel of the shows had changed. But Tony’s leaving was especially upsetting to me. He had been a constant – he had provided the soundtrack – and now he was gone. I was delighted when Tony eventually returned to what had become WCW, and I was always happy when past favorite wrestlers of mine found their way back to the promotion. But too much had changed. Wrestling was never quite the same for me.
When I thanked Tony for being such a big part of helping to make it real, he seemed genuinely grateful. Maybe it’s not a comment he hears very often, but he should. He was so good at what he did, and yet is so underrated. For those too young to remember, those who have simply forgotten, and those who can be critical, I’d suggest a visit to YouTube and a trip back to Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 or 1986. Those shows have retained their magic. Watch the amazing talent in the ring, listen to the pops of the red-hot crowds, and pay special attention to the professional yet boyishly enthusiastic voice delivering the play-by-play. It doesn’t get much better.
Don't miss Tony's popular podcast "What Happened When" with co-host Conrad Thompson. It drops each Monday on the MLW Radio Network and can be found on all major podcasting platforms, including iTunes.
Also don't miss our huge feature with Tony looking back on his days as a fan of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. it was a multi-part series called "Sunday's With Schiavone" and can be found in its entirety by clicking here.
It was Sunday morning, August 7, 2016. I was getting ready for church and almost didn’t answer my ringing phone. But then I looked and saw that the caller was my friend, Mr. No. 1 George South. It was the Sunday of Fanfest weekend in Charlotte, and George knew I was sorely disappointed that I was unable to attend. I knew George was there, and I also knew that one never quite knows what Mr. No. 1 has up his sleeve. So I answered.
