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Former Oklahoma State champ and pro wrestler Jack Brisco dead at 68

Posted: Feb 2nd 2010 By: mikeiles

It is being reported that Jack Brisco, a 1965 NCAA champ for Oklahoma State University who became a professional wrestling champ, died at age 68 Monday. Reports vary as to whether Brisco died during or sometime after open-heart surgery.

Born Freddie Joe Brisco on September 21, 1941 in Blackwell, Oklahoma -- a true hotbed for wrestling in the Sooner State -- Brisco had a great amateur sports career that helped lead to fame and fortune in pro wrestling.

Jack Brisco was a football star and three-time Oklahoma high school state wrestling champ at heavyweight for Blackwell High from 1958 through 1960. Brisco then headed to Oklahoma State, where he amassed a 27-1-1 record in varsity competition, with ten of his wins by pin. The Blackwell native became a two-time Big 8 (now Big 12) conference champ for the Cowboys at 191 lbs in 1964 and 1965. He was a two-time NCAA Division I All-American at 191. At the 1964 NCAAs, Brisco lost in the finals, 6-3, to Harry Houska of Ohio University -- his only loss in college. One year later, Brisco won the national title at the 1965 NCAAs at the University of Wyoming by pinning Wisconsin's Dan Pernat at 6:32 in the 191 lb finals.

Jack Brisco launched his professional wrestling career right out of college in 1965. His time in the squared circle lasted nearly two decades.

Jack Brisco was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame at the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute & Museum in 2001.

In late December 2009, another Sooner State collegiate wrestler-turned-pro wrestler, Steve "Dr. Death" Williams, died at age 49. Williams was an NCAA Division I All-American heavyweight wrestler at the University of Oklahoma in the early 1980s before becoming a pro wrestler.

Tags: Jack Brisco, Lou Thesz, Steve Williams