WAS THE THIRD TIME A CHARM?

August 8, 1968

STATESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

53 Years Ago

The event date of July 18 is incorrect. That was the date of the previous card in Statesville.

The correct date of this event was August 8th.

For the third straight month, ALDO BOGNI, BRONCHO LUBICH and their manager GEORGE "TWO TON" HARRIS appeared at the Statesville ball park, and for the third straight month, the bad guys took it on the chin (or in Two Ton's case - the double chin).

This time out, GEORGE and SANDY SCOTT "flew" past them, winning the first fall clean, then winning the second fall on a disqualification.

LES THATCHER and PAUL DEMARCO took the toll of THE GAUCHOS.

SAM STEAMBOAT bested TINKER TODD.

BOB RAMSTAD (listed in the publicity as LES RAMSTAD) topped BILLY SPEARS (but then, who couldn't top BILLY SPEARS).

Three wrestling shows in three months for Statesville, North Carolina.

Plus my weekly Monday night journeys to Charlotte for JCP wrestling.

Nice

THE 1966 STATESVILLE, NC SUMMER OF WRESTLING

                                                                      August 12, 1966

STATESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Just three weeks after drawing a crowd of nearly 1400 fans, Statesville, North Carolina, hosted it's second of three JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS wrestling cards of the summer.

There was a minimum of two objects which would be at the baseball park behind Statesville Senior High School this night...a wrestling ring at home plate and...me.

Fortunately, I had lots of company. Another large crowd was in attendance this night to add to the coffers of both JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS and the COMMUNITY BASEBALL CLUB, which sponsored the event.

The SOUTHERN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP was up for grabs (we thought) this night. Of course, a key championship was not going to change hands in a hamlet the size of Statesville, but the participants had us all believing that it could happen.

Champions BOGNI and LUBICH and challengers McKENZIE and ROYAL were in the third and deciding fall. TEX and NELLIE were on the verge of capturing the titles when that low-down, unscrupulous manager HOMER O'DELL wacked ROYAL with his cane (in the referee's vision), causing his team to be disqualified, thus enabling BRONCHO and ALDO to leave the "City of Progress" with the belts which had accompanied them to our fair town.

Disappointment? Sure, but we had definitely witnessed a great match which made us all "believe" - something rare in today's "sports entertainment."

The MINNESOTA WRECKING CREW, i.e., the original incarnation of the name, wrestled separately this night. LARS took the toll of ABE JACOBS, and GENE toppled youngster PAUL DEMARCO.

KEN HOLLIS pinned CORSICA JEAN to open the show, but this was not a big deal as my grandmother probably could have pinned CORSICA JEAN.

Regardless, any time "many of the top TV wrestling stars" came to town was worth plopping down the two bucks to sit two hours in a hard-on-the-bottom steel chair in the infield dirt of the ball park.

And in just three more weeks, the stars of JIM CROCKETT PROMOTIONS would return again.