Hot August Night in Richmond (Revisited)

by David Chappell, Mid-Atlantic Gateway
from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives 2001


INCLUDES RARE VINTAGE AUDIO CLIPS BELOW

August 1, 1980 was a scorching summer’s day in the Richmond area. On that Friday, the temperature soared, and then soared some more. It felt like about a 120 degrees, though the official high was "only" 99 degrees in Richmond and 104 degrees in nearby Norfolk.

Being a Friday, of course, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling was in town that evening. Typically, Jim Crockett Promotions would bring in a sizzling card of wrestling action to match the hot weather outside. Such was the case on this night, though in a somewhat different fashion. This card at the Richmond Coliseum, while in no measure one of Jim Crockett’s best, gave me two of my most lasting memories of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.

The semi-final bout of the evening saw Blackjack Mulligan square off with Enforcer Luciano in a Texas Street Fight. While Blackjack was a familiar face to Mid-Atlantic fans, the Enforcer was a strange character who was only in the area for about three months. As the story goes, the Enforcer came into the area from Detroit with a "contract " out on Mulligan. In actuality, Mulligan had dispatched the challenge of Superstar # 2 (John Studd) in the late spring of 1980, and Mulligan’s next significant program would not occur until mid-August 1980 with newcomer "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum. Hence, the Enforcer was only a brief transition figure, but a pretty entertaining one. Many may best remember Luciano for breaking cement blocks with his bare fist and chewing up a light bulb on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television program!

The Texas Street Fight was Mulligan’s specialty match, and involved the participants dressing however they wanted and bringing whatever they wanted into the ring. It amazed me how many "foreign objects" that Luciano could cram into his clothing. He had nearly everything on him but the kitchen sink. Despite chains, brass knuckles, powder, etc. Luciano never got on track against Mulligan. It became clear after a couple of minutes, that this would be a slaughter and Luciano’s swan song in the Mid-Atlantic area. After wearing the Enforcer down, Mulligan took one of his cowboy boots off, flung Luciano into the ropes and smashed him in the head with the hard boot. The Enforcer was counted out, and Luciano proceeded to lay flat on his back with his arms and legs spread out wide for a good five minutes. The image of Luciano laying in the middle of the ring for so long has always stayed with me. To this day, when I see anyone in any sport get a real butt-kicking, I remember the Enforcer on this night and think to myself that they didn’t get laid out nearly as badly as Luciano did! Needless to say, Enforcer Luciano was never heard from again after this Texas Street Fight!

The Richmond Coliseum

The main event on this hot August night also provided me with a lasting remembrance of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. The match was a NWA World Tag Team Title match with Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Ray Stevens defending against Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in a fence match. It was always an adventure when there was a fence match in Richmond. There would be a number of men that would come out before the match with the four sections of the fence and "attach" the fence sections to the four ring posts. It never made for a sturdy looking structure, and apparently it wasn’t as at least four men stayed during the match itself acting as a "human brace" with their hands holding onto the fence. You always wondered if the fence would collapse, particularly when a wrestler was thrown headfirst into the fence, which happened often. On this night, the high flying Jimmy Snuka would give the fence its ultimate test.

Hear match promos from Ray Stevens and manager Gene Anderson:

[ More audio clips at the bottom of this post, including Steamboat, Youngblood, Mulligan, and Luciano. ]

Snuka’s usual finishing move was a dive off the top rope with his opponent lying nearly on the other side of the ring. It was a breathtaking maneuver, particularly during this time period, as wrestling did not showcase many aerial moves in this era. During this match, Ray Stevens had weakened Jay Youngblood considerably and tagged in Snuka. The "Superfly" mounted the ropes, with Youngblood a good three-quarters of the way across the ring from him. Snuka perched himself on the top rope, crouched, and we in attendance all thought the great dive would begin. But then Snuka inexplicably paused, turned, and looked toward the top of the rickety fence. We were all thinking, NO, he couldn’t be considering going to the top of the fence!! But that’s exactly what he was doing….everyone in attendance held their collective breaths as Snuka attempted to navigate from the top rope to the top of the 10 foot fence as the flimsy fence was swaying. He eventually made it and was somehow standing on top of the fence, with the men below holding on to their respective parts of the fence with all their might. When the "Superfly" raised his arms above his head in preparation for his jump, he appeared to lose his tenuous balance and everyone in the Coliseum had their hearts in their throats. I know I was positive that he was going to fall backwards off of the fence. Somehow, miraculously, Snuka kept from falling off the fence and righted himself and actually jumped upward but still flew through the air far enough to reach a prone Jay Youngblood. Jay moved out of the way a split second before Snuka arrived, and Snuka plowed face-first into the mat. The other three wrestlers backed off momentarily, obviously waiting to see if Jimmy was all right. Snuka was down for about thirty seconds and then was able to make a tag to Stevens, while Youngblood was in turn making his tag to Steamboat. The match continued in anti-climactic fashion, with Stevens and Snuka ultimately capturing the win and keeping their titles.

Anyone who saw Snuka scale and jump off that fence will never forget that magical moment. I sweated during the early part of that Friday because of the searing heat, but never more so than later that night inside the Coliseum when Jimmy Snuka was teetering on top of that fence. This was undoubtedly a hot August night in Richmond that I’ll always remember!


Postscript: The Madison Square Garden Connection

It is interesting to note that Jimmy Snuka later received national acclaim after moving to the WWF for doing a similar dive off the top of a cage in Madison Square Garden in New York City during a title match against Bob Backlund. You heard about that match, and the well publicized story about Mick Foley seeing Snuka dive off the cage in MSG and emulating Snuka by jumping off his own house onto a mattress which literally sprung Foley into a great career in professional wrestling. What you never heard, though, was that Snuka first performed the death defying maneuver in the Mid-Atlantic area under much more dangerous circumstances, and emerged intact to be able to do it later for a bigger audience in the "Big Apple."

Originally published  in 2001 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

then republished June 15, 2015.

MORE AUDIO! Additional  promos have been added to this post for this big August 1980 card in Richmond. Great memories - - Enjoy! 

Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood Promo


Blackjack Mulligan


Enforcer Luciano

Jesus, Elvis, and All-Star Wrestling

One Amazing Week at the Charlotte Coliseum (1972)
by Dick Bourne, Mid-Atlantic Gateway
from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives (originally published July 2010)

The evolution of sports venues is often a sad state of affairs in many U.S. cities. Mid-size cities in particular struggle to maintain financially viable arenas and stadiums, with sports franchises often holding up fans, voters, and city governments for better facilities, usually at the tax-payer’s expense.

Such has certainly been the case in Charlotte, North Carolina. But while most venues are torn down when they become obsolete, the old Charlotte Coliseum has somehow survived while its immediate successor has already been destroyed now years ago.

The original Charlotte Coliseum, now the Bojangles Coliseum

It has seen several name changes, becoming Independence Arena in 1988 (named for its location on Independence Boulevard) after a larger coliseum was built to accommodate an NBA basketball franchise. It later became Cricket Arena and now Bojangles Coliseum through different naming rights agreements.


Back in the day, the Charlotte Coliseum was the center of sports and entertainment activity in the city, hosting all variety of sporting events, concerts, and assorted other gatherings. It was also one of the main venues for regular pro wrestling events for Jim Crockett Promotions.

My friend Kyra Quinn was visiting Charlotte and attending the NWA Legends Fanfest in the summer of 2009, and while there spent a day or so visiting some of the other local attractions, including the Billy Graham Library. No, wrestling fans, not that Billy Graham – but the Reverend Billy Graham, perhaps the most famous Christian evangelist in the world.

In the lobby of the Library was a photograph that caught Kyra’s eye – the famed Charlotte Coliseum, back in its heyday, its marquee showcasing events taking place over the upcoming week. The photo, in the context of the Graham library, features the dates of one of Graham’s large multi-day evangelical crusades in 1972. But what caught Kyra’s eye further was what else was on that marquee – Elvis Presley, hockey, and wrestling - all in one week! Could it get any better than that?

What a wild and busy 10 days in April 1972 it must have been for the staff and management of the building, hosting events that would draw such huge crowds, if not sellout crowds, each night. A closer look at each event illustrates just how important a center of activity the Coliseum was for the surrounding community. These events weren't just average stops on a tour. They had a special significance of their own, making for an amazing week in Charlotte.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The Billy Graham Crusade: Wednesday April 5 – Sunday April 9, 1972

Billy Graham is thought to have preached to more people than anyone else in the world. The 5-day crusade in Charlotte would not only sell out the Coliseum (including thousands watching on closed circuit in the adjacent Ovens Auditorium), but was taped for broadcast and shown via syndication at various times over the following weeks in TV markets across the United States and around the world. The fifth night of this 1972 crusade, even though listed on the Coliseum’s marquee, actually took place at nearby Memorial Stadium.

Charlotte was Graham’s hometown. Born on a small dairy farm in 1918, he held his first crusade at a church in Charlotte in 1947 and had major crusades there in 1958 and this one in 1972. After this April 72 crusade, Graham would not hold another in the Queen City until September of 1996, drawing capacity crowds four straight nights at the brand new Carolina Panther’s NFL football stadium.

Charlotte Coliseum staff and crew barely had time to catch their breath after four nights of capacity crowds for Billy Graham in their building; Jim Crockett’s pro-wrestling event would take center stage two nights later.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Pro-Wrestling (Jim Crockett Promotions): Monday April 10, 1972

In 1972, Jim Crockett Sr. was running weekly events every Monday night at the Charlotte Park Center consisting of 4 to 5 matches. But about every other month or so, he held a larger event at the larger Charlotte Coliseum, often when the NWA world champion came to town.

Such was the case on April 10, 1972 when NWA champion Dory Funk, Jr. returned to the Queen City to face top contender Johnny Weaver in the culmination of a series of five major matches in Charlotte over a 14-month period of time between the two. The feud had angles and diversions that spilled over into the Florida and Amarillo territories as well. (That whole 14 month run was chronicled in Mike Cline’s 2008 article on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.)

Weaver began this particular chase for the NWA title in February of 1971 going to a one hour time limit draw with the champ at the Park Center. They went to a second time limit draw five months later in the rematch, this time in front of a capacity crowd at the Coliseum on Independence Day weekend. Dory’s father, who carefully controlled the bookings of his son, refused to allow Weaver any other title matches, but the NWA ordered a third match between the two in September. In advance of that match, Funk Sr. put a bounty on Weaver’s head, hoping someone might injure him before the September match with Funk Jr. Weaver made it through the bounty matches, but may have suffered the brutal consequences of those matches as Funk beat him cleanly two out of three falls in their third match. Weaver would not give up, though and relentlessly pursued Funk. On Valentine’s Day night in 1972, Funk agreed to meet Weaver in a Texas death match and if Weaver won that, he would earn another title shot. Weaver defeated the champ in the Funk family’s own specialty match, earning another shot at the NWA belt. That final title match between the two for the time being took place on the April 10 show, and is the event featured on the marquee in this photograph. Funk defeated Weaver in the first and third falls, ending this classic series of matches that Weaver himself called the most important series of matches of his career.

NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr. hands the world championship belt to referee Ron West before a title defense against Johnny Weaver, 
April 10, 1972 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

On that same card, Jack Brisco regained the Eastern States heavyweight title (which would later become the Mid-Atlantic title) defeating Rip Hawk in a rematch from the previous super show at the Coliseum two months earlier.

Charlotte Coliseum staff still didn’t have a chance for a break. The Charlotte Checkers returned to the dome the next night.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Charlotte Checkers Hockey: Tuesday April 11 and Friday April 14, 1972

The Charlotte professional ice hockey franchise was the Charlotte Checkers, a member of the Southern Division of the 12-team Eastern Hockey League (EHL).

The Charlotte Checkers were on a roll in April of 1972, tearing through the EHL play-offs after having won their 4th consecutive regular season championship. They defeated the Suncoast Suns (St. Petersburg) and Greensboro Generals in the quarter and semi final rounds to win the Southern Division and then swept the Syracuse Blazers of the Northern Division to win their second straight Walker Cup and EHL Playoff Championship. The Checker's Gaye Cooley won the Davis Trophy as the EHL's leading goaltender.

The Checkers were only the sixth team in EHL history to win back-to-back championships in a league that went back to the 1940s. The team drew huge crowds at the Charlotte Coliseum during the early 1970s.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Elvis Presley in Concert: Thursday April 13, 1972

Nestled in between the EHL play-off games on the 11th and the 14th was a concert by “the King”, Elvis Presley, on the 13th.

Following a two month stand at the Las Vegas Hilton in January and February of 1972, and a March recording session that yielded the no. 1 smash hit “Burning Love”, Elvis hit the road in April of 1972 for a 15-city tour that included the April 13 show in Charlotte. Many of those shows were filmed by MGM. The footage was used in the Golden-Globe winning documentary feature “Elvis On Tour”, which wound up being the final film in his prolific movie career which began in 1956.

Elvis was hurting emotionally during this time following his estrangement from wife Priscilla Presley four months earlier. The two would legally separate a few months later.

The show in Charlotte was a great success, as was the entire string of shows shot for the movie.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

What a 10 day run for the Coliseum, captured forever in a small black and white photograph hanging in the lobby of a library in Charlotte. Billy Graham brought together a community in revival in 1972. Jack Brisco regained his Eastern title belt while Elvis Presley sported a nice belt of his own, adorning his famous white fireworks jumpsuit. They came no tougher than NWA world champ Dory Funk or Checker’s goaltender Gaye Cooley.

The pulpit, ice rink, concert stage, and squared circle all featured names not soon forgotten in one amazing week at the Charlotte Coliseum. It didn’t get any more main event than that.

- Dick Bourne

Mid-Atlantic Gateway, July 2010

2017 Edit - The Bojangles Coliseum is alive and well in 2017! Since this article was written and originally published in 2010, some amazing things have been happening at the old Charlotte Coliseum/Independence Arena. It's the new home of the Charlotte Checkers hockey team and soon home to the new AAL arena football team the Carolina Energy. Now, if only Jim Crockett Promotions cold resurrect and bring Mid-Atlantic Wrestling back to the building! Some significant capital investments and renovations have made the Bojangles Coliseum a special place again. Support events at this historic venue.

Credits and Resources

Photographs and graphics:

• Photograph of the picture displayed in the Billy Graham Library taken by Kyra Quinn on her visit there August 2009.
• Billy Graham photo from Wikipedia, listed as public domain from US News & World Report magazine.
• Wrestling clipping from Charlotte 4/10/72 courtesy the collection of Mark Eastridge.
• Charlotte Checkers logo from The Internet Hockey Database (HockeyDB.com.)
• Elvis Presley photo in concert in Charlotte Coliseum 4/13/72 from ElvisConcerts.com.
• Photo of Dory Funk vs. Johnny Weaver in the Charlotte Coliseum 4/10/72 taken by Gene Gordon © Scooter Lesley / Ditchcat Photography. Used with permission.

Research:

• Billy Graham Center Archives: Charlotte Evangelistic Campaigns Research Project, http://www.wheaton.edu/
• Billy's Team: Keeping Graham by Jim Schlosser, Greensboro News & Record September 28, 1996
• Graham: Society Needs Its Heroes, Associated Press, Sumpter Daily Item April 6, 1972, Sumter, SC (Thanks to Carroll Hall)
• Graham Opens Crusade, Associated Press, Spartanburg Herald Journal April 5, 1972, Spartanburg SC (Thanks to Carroll Hall)
• Elvis Presley Biography website. www.elvispresleymusic.com.au Specifically: Elvis Aaron Presley 1970-1972: The Way It Is
• ElvisConcerts.com www.elvisconcerts.com, Tours 1972
• Eastern Hockey League Standings 1971-1972, Sun Coast Suns http://www.suncoastsuns.com
• The Internet Hockey Database www.hockeydb.com , Charlotte Checkers (EHL)
• Hockey in Charlotte by Jim Mancuso and Pat Kelly, Arcadia Publishing © 2006 ISBN-13: 978-0738542300
• The Johnny Weaver Interview (Chappell & Bourne), Mid-Atlantic Gateway, Nov. 2007
• Johnny Weaver's Title Chase by Mike Cline, Mid-Atlantic Gateway, March 2008

Special thanks to Kyra Quinn and Guy Depasquale. 

Article originally published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway July 7, 2010.
Updated and edited with new information on the state of the Coliseum 7/12/15.
Featured again on 2/25/18 following Billy Graham's death.

Copyright © 2010, 2015, 2018 Mid-Atlantic Gateway

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Jim Crockett Scholarship Fund (1973)

by Dick Bourne

Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Ticket stub from Thanksgiving Night in Greensboro 1973

The Territory's Biggest Night

When Jim Crockett passed away in 1973, the family decided to establish a scholarship in his name. According to a report in the Greensboro News & Record, the traditional Thanksgiving night event in the Greensboro Coliseum was the first in a series of scholarship events to be held in the coming weeks to honor the legacy and memory of James Allen Crockett, Sr. Proceeds from the event would go to that fund.

The Thanksgiving event in Greensboro, which was always a big affair and one of the biggest shows of the year in the entire territory, was particularly loaded that evening. The NWA world champion Jack Brisco was booked to defend the ten pounds of gold against former champion Dory Funk, Jr. in what was another in a series of classic battles between the two wrestlers who defined pro-wrestling in the 1970s. Jack had defeated Harley Race in July of that same year for the title, and the angle now was that Brisco had never defeated his arch-rival Funk, Jr. in a title match.  This was a huge deal at the time and billed as a special event selected for Greensboro. To add even more star power to that main event, former legendary champion Lou Thesz was brought in to act as special referee for the title contest.

A number of other big names were brought in from outside the area for the show, which wasn't that unusual for big shows in Greensboro. Terry Funk was in to challenge Eastern heavyweight champion Jerry Brisco in a battle of the younger brothers who were in the main event that night. Indeed, Thanksgiving night in Greensboro was a Funk vs. Brisco showcase.

Also in were the father and son combination of Eddie and Mike Graham. Eddie and Mike were top stars for Championship Wrestling from Florida, and Eddie was also the promoter of that territory. They squared off against one of the Mid-Atlantic territory's top legendary heel tag teams Rip Hawk and Swede Hanson. What a classic brawl that must have been.

Another top star in for the big card that didn't wrestle regularly in the territory was Cowboy Bill Watts. A regular in Georgia and Florida, Watts had made several special appearances in Greensboro that year, but was not a regular member of the Crockett roster.

The newspaper clippings are shown above and transcripts of the articles follow.

My Secret Charlotte

by Kyra Quinn

from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives

I live in Charlotte now. I just moved here after having spent most of my life in Pennsylvania. During repeated visits over recent years I slowly fell in love with Charlotte's tree-lined streets, distinctive neighborhoods and New South charm. But what drew me here initially and continues to captivate me is wrestling - the gritty, compelling wrestling of Jim Crockett Promotions from the mid-1980s.

I discovered Crockett wrestling one Saturday morning in Pittsburgh in the summer of 1985 when I was 8 years old. Immediately I became hooked, captivated by what I now understand to have been the perfect mix of athleticism, drama, and charismatic personalities working together to near perfection. The result was wrestling so gripping and so real that people truly believed. I certainly did. I believed in the hatred between Tully Blanchard and Magnum T.A. I believed that the Four Horsemen were trying to permanently maim Dusty Rhodes. And I believed without question that Ric Flair was the best wrestler alive in what he always referred to as the "greatest sport in the world".

I quickly became an avid fan and was even able to see wrestling in person when the NWA came to the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. But they didn't come to Pittsburgh very often, and it didn't take me long to realize that the wrestling I loved was centered in the faraway and, to my young mind, exotic states of the Carolinas and Virginia. As a 4th grader in 1985 my knowledge of United States geography was undoubtedly broader than that of my classmates because each week I watched as Tony Schiavone promoted upcoming shows in places like Greensboro, Raleigh, Richmond, Norfolk and, of course, Charlotte. The names of these cities - and their venues - took on an almost mythical status for me. But Charlotte - home of Charlotte Coliseum, Memorial Stadium, Jim Crockett Promotions and the "Nature Boy" himself - was clearly the center of it all.

That, though, was all decades ago. The Charlotte of 1985 could scarcely have imagined its present-day self. The Queen City has grown exponentially in the years since Jim Crockett Promotions grossed millions of dollars working out of a tiny office on Briarbend Drive. Charlotte is now the country's 17th largest city. It is home to professional sports teams, a vibrant cultural scene and a continually growing and diversifying population. Charlotte is a modern boomtown that continues to carefully craft and cultivate its burgeoning identity as a cosmopolitan New South city. But professional wrestling is no longer part of Charlotte's reality or self-image. Although it was a mainstay of the city for decades, wrestling simply slipped away. Jim Crockett Promotions was sold off, the wrestlers left town, and Charlotte didn't look back. These days, the only official recognition of the importance of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling/Jim Crockett Promotions is located at the exceptional Levine Museum of the New South in uptown Charlotte. There, as part of the main exhibit, a small display educates visitors about the storied history of Mid-Atlantic wrestling and its cultural significance to the city and the region. Beyond that, there are sporadic references in the local media to the glory days of Charlotte wrestling. And the city still has a healthy independent wrestling scene. But that grand tradition - the sold-out arenas, the white-hot feuds, the rabid fan base - seems to have been relegated to a footnote in the story of Charlotte.

The Grady Cole Center, once known as the Charlotte Park Center, home to weekly Monday night Mid-Atlantic Wrestling cards from the late 1950s through early 1980s

And so there are no physical markers here, virtually nothing to indicate the hold wrestling once had on this place. But if you know where to look, reminders of Charlotte's rich wrestling heritage are all around. In a city that often seems to demolish rather than retain its history, the key venues are, incredibly, still standing. Memorial Stadium and the adjacent Park Center (now Grady Cole Center) are both still in use and appear largely as they did during their wrestling heydays. I am not old enough to remember the days when Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling filled the Park Center every Monday night. But I do recall the sight of Memorial Stadium in 1985 and 1986 when it hosted the Great American Bash. I only got to see clips of the Bashes on television, but that was enough for me to sense the magic: stadium lights blazing against a velvet Charlotte sky... tens of thousands packed into the bleachers... and at the center of it all, the ring, bathed in light, with the wrestlers giving it all they had on those hot July nights. Even through TV the excitement was palpable.

As for the other primary Crockett venue, the old Charlotte Coliseum (now Bojangles Coliseum) still proudly stands on Independence Boulevard. Instantly recognizable by its silver roof and glass façade, the Coliseum somehow remains in operation, though long gone are the days when it hosted all of the city's major events. Because of their historic and cultural importance to the city, both Charlotte Coliseum and Memorial Stadium have been designated as historic landmarks by the City Council of Charlotte. In all of the documentation that accompanied those designations I found only one reference to wrestling. But it made me smile. Buried deep in the lengthy historical essay which was prepared for Charlotte Coliseum as part of the designation process was the following elegantly understated sentence: "Professional wrestling also flourished." And so it did.

The Charlotte Coliseum in the early 1960s. The facility was known as Independence Arena during the 1980s heyday for Jim Crockett Promotions. It is now known as the Bojangle's Coliseum.

It is not, however, only the venues which serve as connections to Crockett Era Charlotte. There is Price's Chicken Coop, where George South was once a regular customer, buying up boxes of the legendary fried chicken; he bought it not for himself but for the Four Horsemen, among others, who were stuck at the Crockett office on Tuesdays during marathon taping sessions for local promos. And there is the classic South 21 Drive-In on Independence Boulevard, just down the road from the Coliseum and a long-time wrestling program sponsor. Obscure as they are, these connections evoke a time when wrestling was a fixture here, part of the fabric of Charlotte. And there is one other location of note, the aforementioned Crockett office. Although the building has long since been demolished, its place in wrestling history is secure for what happened there on an overcast fall day in 1986. It was there, of course, in the parking lot, that the Horsemen cornered and attacked an unsuspecting "American Dream". It was shocking, and it was perfect, and it is now the stuff of legend.

Ric Flair and Nikita Koloff square off at the Great American Bash at Memorial Stadium

I encounter at least one of these history-laden sites on an almost daily basis, and each time it is a thrill. Charlotte is a magical place for me. When I drive through the city, I feel like Charlotte and I share a secret. I live in and enjoy the Charlotte of the present, but I also see a Charlotte most people don't. When I drive the same stretch of road that the Horsemen did as they followed Dusty that day, I imagine his little red sports car up ahead, delivering him to that masterful ambush. When I pass Memorial Stadium at night, I see it with the lights still blazing and the World Champion making his triumphant helicopter entrance. And when I ride by Charlotte Coliseum, I hear the echoes. The echoes of a wild "Rock-and-Roll!" chant; of the majestic 2001 theme; of the gasps as Baby Doll turned on Dusty.

When I come across native Charlotteans - which is not the common occurrence one might think here in Charlotte - I always try to work wrestling into the conversation, just to see if they remember. They usually do. They remember and they smile and then casually toss out a memory of the Bash they saw at Memorial Stadium, or nonchalantly recall how they used to live on the same street as Ricky Morton. I listen, and I wonder all over again what it must have been like to live here then, when wrestling was so much a part of this city.

Much has changed, but wrestling will always be part of the story of Charlotte. And for those of us who listen - for all who remember and all who believed - the whispers of magic will never cease.

Charlotte's Memorial Stadium in the distance, much as it might have looked on a hot July night in 1985 at the Great American Bash.    (Photo credit - Flickr: Compulsive Collector)

Originally published December 14, 2013 in the Smoke Filled Rooms section of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

The original article, with additional supporting links and material, can be found on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives.

Postscript

This article was written during my brief but meaningful stay in Charlotte in 2013. Since that time I moved back to my home state of Pennsylvania. I love Pennsylvania, but I miss Charlotte; most of all, I miss my near-daily encounters with the city's magical wrestling relics. But I know that wherever I am, the whispers will continue.

 - Kyra Quinn, June 2015

Feedback From a Friend
by Dick Bourne

A good friend of ours, Linda Ostrow, gave Kyra Quinn (the author of the above article) some positive feedback on "My Secret Charlotte" that I thought I would include here. While Linda is admittedly not a wrestling fan, she has a strong connection to wrestling, Charlotte, and to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway as well.

Linda wrote Kyra:

"So moving and touching. Your writing brought tears to my eyes. I was taken back to what I thought was a great movie about second chances...Field of Dreams. If only to go back to that time, even for just a day. But dust is slowly covering memories and nothing seems  as glorious. Even though I never got hooked, wrestling touched everyone [in Charlotte] and I think it had a lot to do with putting Charlotte on the map. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.  - Linda"

Linda has been a good friend of Ric Flair's ever since the "Nature Boy" moved to Charlotte in 1974. She is the person to whom he entrusted the original 1973-1986 NWA world title belt that Ric maintained possession of, after it was retired, from 1986 until it went to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011. (It current hangs in the office of WWE executive Paul Levesque, a.k.a. "Triple H.") She designed a custom frame for it, and had always been the person responsible for removing and replacing it in the intricately designed custom case when Ric would need to have it with him on WCW or WWE television. The belt today is still in the frame she made as it hangs on the wall at WWE headquarters.

Her story, as it regards that wrestling connection, is documented fully in "Ten Pounds of Gold", the book written about the history and construction of that belt.

When I first took Kyra by to meet Linda years ago at her Queen's Gallery studio in Charlotte, we learned Linda is originally from Pittsburgh as is Kyra. The two immediately struck up a friendship and have enjoyed occasional visits now that Kyra has moved to the Queen City.

Linda Ostrow's art gallery and frame shop are located at 1212 The Plaza, Charlotte, NC. For more information, visit www.thequeensgallery.com

- Dick Bourne, Jan 2014, Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Photograph by Dick Bourne from the book "Ten Pounds of Gold"

Original post with additional links and information on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives.

 

I Still Owe Harley Race a Beer

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

There has always been an ongoing debate over how many times Harley Race officially held the NWA world heavyweight title: seven or eight. Regardless of which number you decide in the end is correct, one can’t argue how impressive either of those numbers are, especially when considering the era in which he held those titles. Unlike today, where the “world title” changes hands seemingly every other Monday night, when Race captured his first title a champion might hold the title for years at a time. Granted, by the late 70s and early 80s, there were several cup-of-coffee title interruptions which inflated the total. That was a harbinger of days to come, I suppose.

I had always been on the side of seven times; that was the traditional way history was written and how things played out to fans at the time. Everybody agrees on the first seven reigns, the seventh of which in 1983 broke Lou Thesz’s record to that point. The modern-day  debate centers around the title change that would be counted number eight: a short three day title switch that took place in 1984 between Race and Ric Flair on the other side of the world, a switch none of us as fans knew about at the time and a switch the wrestling press (except in Japan), by and large, did not report.

However, after reflecting back on a chance encounter I had with Mr. Race many years ago, I began to rethink my position on this debate. It also made me aware of a debt still owed him, a small debt that goes back almost 20 years.

Hot August Night

by David Chappell, Mid-Atlantic Gateway
from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives
Updated with three new audio promos from Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, Blackjack Mulligan, and Enforcer Luciano! Scroll to the bottom of the post to hear those great local promos for this big card in Richmond!


August 1, 1980 was a scorching summer’s day in the Richmond area. On that Friday, the temperature soared, and then soared some more. It felt like about a 120 degrees, though the official high was "only" 99 degrees in Richmond and 104 degrees in nearby Norfolk.

Being a Friday, of course, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling was in town that evening. Typically, Jim Crockett Promotions would bring in a sizzling card of wrestling action to match the hot weather outside. Such was the case on this night, though in a somewhat different fashion. This card at the Richmond Coliseum, while in no measure one of Jim Crockett’s best, gave me two of my most lasting memories of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.

The semi-final bout of the evening saw Blackjack Mulligan square off with Enforcer Luciano in a Texas Street Fight. While Blackjack was a familiar face to Mid-Atlantic fans, the Enforcer was a strange character who was only in the area for about three months. As the story goes, the Enforcer came into the area from Detroit with a "contract " out on Mulligan. In actuality, Mulligan had dispatched the challenge of Superstar # 2 (John Studd) in the late spring of 1980, and Mulligan’s next significant program would not occur until mid-August 1980 with newcomer "Bad Boy" Bobby Duncum. Hence, the Enforcer was only a brief transition figure, but a pretty entertaining one. Many may best remember Luciano for breaking cement blocks with his bare fist and chewing up a light bulb on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling television program!