Jack Brisco, Former NWA World Champion, Dead at 68
Jack Brisco, native Oklahoman and former 2-time NWA World Champion, was found dead this morning following complications from triple-bypass surgery. He was 68 years old.
Brisco was born September 21, 1941 in Seminole, OK as Freddie Joe Brisco, but took the name "Jack" by his grandfather because, to help improve his co-ordination, he chased jackrabbits in his youth. One of five children, he moved to Blackwell, OK where he grew up, excelling in sports, but turned down a football scholarship to OU, concentrating on wrestling at Oklahoma State instead. Brisco would be the first Native American to win the NCAA Championship, which he did his junior year. He was never taken down during that season.
Brisco made his debut in Tulsa on May 31, 1965, defeating Mark Starr at a TV Taping. Brisco would continue to wrestle in Oklahoma for the next 3 years, winning the TSW United States Tag Team Title 3 times. He teamed with Lou Thesz and defeated the Assassins on December 12, 1966, but lost the titles back, possibly as early as the next night in Amarillo, TX. A couple of weeks later, Brisco teamed with Haystacks Calhoun to take the titles away from the Assassins again. This title reign would last about 2 months, before the team of Karl Karlsson and Skandar Akbar defeated them for the titles. Brisco would be US Tag champion one more time, this time teaming with Gorgeous George, Jr. to again defeat the Assassins on May 9, 1967. But this championship reign would last just one week as they were upended for the titles by Chati Yokouchi & Togo Shikuma on May 16.
Brisco is also credited with being both a TSW Oklahoma and Arkansas Champion, but it's possible those belts were one and the same. Brisco stated in an interview that, for the purposes of TV tapings, TSW promoter Leroy McGuirk had different plates made for the same belt and would interchange them depending on where the taping was being done. If they were in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma plate was used. If they were in Arkansas, he became Arkansas champion. No clear distinction is available for thee titles or the length of the reigns.
While known as a native Oklahoman, Brisco is probably most closely associated with the state of Florida, where he began to compete in 1968. He immediately began to acquire gold, but after making his return from his first tour of Japan in 1969, he and his brother Jerry, whom he had trained and teamed with in Oklahoma, began to acquire the first of 20 different tag team titles, including 10 Florida Tag Team championships and 3 NWA World Tag Team Titles.
Many fans of wrestling think of the fued between the Briscos and the Funks as one of the greatest fueds of all time and that fued centred around the NWA World Title. Most sources agree that Brisco was supposed to win the NWA World Title from Dory Funk, Jr., but Funk didn't want to lose to a fellow babyface as it implied that Brisco was a better wrestler than he was. So he politiced his way into losing the title to Harley Race. A few weeks later, on July 20, 1973, Brisco won his first NWA World Title, defeating Race for the belt. Brisco would hold the title for over a year before losing it in Japan to Shohei Baba on October 4, 1974. He regained it 4 days later and began his second NWA World Title reign, which would last just one day over a year, when he lost it to Terry Funk on October 10, 1975. Briscos NWA World Title reigns gained him several significant places in history: He was only the 2nd person to have been both NCAA Champion and NWA World Champion (the first being Dick Hutton) and he was the only multi-time NWA World Champion at the time to have all title reigns last over a year.
After losing the NWA World Title for a second time, Brisco stayed away from Florida for a while, competing in Missouri and Memphis, where he defeated stars such as Bob Backlund and Jerry Lawler for more titles. But again, the "Sunshine State" called for his return and he went back in 1977, again teaming with Jerry and winning more tag team championships. He also made his first venture in Georgia Championship Wrestling, becoming the very first NWA National Champion.
The 1980s. saw Brisco venture into Puerto Rico and then into Mid-Atlantic, where fans saw a very different side of him. For his entire career, Brisco had been a clean-cut babyface, but while competing for the NWA World Tag Team Titles, a feud erupted between the Briscos and Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood which saw the Brisco Brothers jeered for the first time in their career.
The Briscos acquired minority interests in Georgia Championship Wrestling, and in 1984 they convinced a majority of the shareholders (52%) to sell their shares to Vince McMahon, enabling him to increase his dominance of the professional wrestling world. Contrary to popular folklore, Jack and Jerry Brisco were never offered lifetime jobs with the WWF in exchange for selling their interests in Georgia Championship Wrestling. Jack Brisco debunked that myth in 1996 when he was interviewed by Wrestling Perspective.
Jack Brisco retired in 1984 and opened the Brisco Brothers Body Shop, which would be his main focus for the next 25 years. He occasionally made appearances at wrestling reunions, but was never forgotten by the fans and his fellow professionals. He is a member of 3 different wrestling hall of fames: The George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2001), the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2005) and the WWE Hall of Fame (2008).
In 2003, a biography about his life, simply entitled "Brisco" was published.
Although he hadn't competed in Oklahoma for over 40 years (his last match in the state occurring on September 15, 1969 where he lost to TSW North American Champion Chuck Karbo), Brisco's connections to this state cement his legacy both here and around the world. A world class competitor and outstanding representative of the state. One of only 4 Oklahomans to have become World Champion, Brisco's accomplishments and status will continue to live on in the annals of wrestling history for decades yet to come.
Oklafan extends it's condolensces to the rest of Jack Brisco's family on his death.
