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Still A Winning Team

Posted: Feb 21st 2008 By: mikeiles

DREW PARK - Call Brisco Brothers Body Shop about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Jack Brisco might be sitting in an office chatting or reading the sports section.

Try reaching him 45 minutes later, and he's probably gone from the Drew Park car shop he opened as an investment with his brother, Jerry, in 1973.

A former World Heavyweight Championship wrestler, Jack Brisco, 66, leads a relaxing, quiet life in retirement, a huge difference from his life as a professional wrestler, when he competed in Tokyo, Australia and across the United States, including matches at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in West Tampa.

Jerry Brisco, 61, still has wrestling in his veins. He logs about 200,000 miles a year flying around the world as a talent producer for World Wrestling Entertainment. He also volunteers as assistant wrestling coach at Sickles High School.

Although leading different lives now, the brothers paralleled each other so closely that they were a tag team.

Born and raised in Oklahoma, they became wrestling stars, earning championships and the adoration of fans during three decades. Type their names into an Internet search engine and you will find tons of photos, biographical information and videos of their matches.

"We brought a collegiate style to the sport, which was new," Jerry Brisco said. "It was different. We weren't big guys. We knew how to wrestle, and people picked up on that."

Jack Brisco turned professional in 1965, shortly after winning the wrestling national title at 191 pounds while a senior at Oklahoma State University. In high school, he won the Oklahoma state championship three consecutive years.

He planned to teach history and physical education but couldn't resist the lure of professional wrestling.

"They made a lot more money than schoolteachers," he said. "That was the bottom line. It was an opportunity to travel. I never had an opportunity to travel."

In the early years, he wrestled in Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, earning $25 to $50 a night on the mat. It took him three years to develop a following, and by 1968 he had come to Florida, where he joined the National Wrestling Alliance's Florida Championship Wrestling.

He became Florida Heavyweight Champion in 1969, Southern Heavyweight Champion in 1970 and was World Heavyweight Champion from 1973-75.

'A Tough Business'
Jerry Brisco also was a respected high school wrestler who competed in the state finals for three years.

"Wrestling is individual," he said. "It is how hard you work. It is how hard you dedicate yourself. When you get beat, you just have to work harder. It teaches you that hard work breeds success."

As an Oklahoma State freshman, he lost only once in the 177-pound division. A knee injury and illness kept him from wrestling in his sophomore and junior years, and he dropped out of college his senior year to enter professional wrestling.

He became regional champion, Florida champion and U.S. champion in the early 1970s. In 1975, he was World Junior Heavyweight champion.

Although they had been a tag team before, the brothers formed a formidable partnership in 1976. As the Brisco Brothers, they won the Florida tag team title, then the Southern Heavyweight tag team title and, finally, the world tag team title in 1983, defeating Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in Greenville, S.C.

Their moves included the fireman's carry, the figure-four leg lock, the suplex and the arm drag. Their opponents included Terry and Dory Funk Jr., Gene and Ole Anderson, and Chief Wahoo McDaniel.

Through the years, the brothers suffered multiple broken noses. Jerry tore a ligament in his knee, and Jack broke an ankle.

"It was a tough business," Jerry Brisco said. "We were on the road continuously. If you didn't wrestle, you didn't get paid."

Wrestlers earned a percentage of the attendance, he said. As a wrestler advanced, the pay increased. In the 1970s, a middle-tier wrestler could earn several hundred dollars, and a main-event wrestler could earn several thousand dollars.

Today, wrestlers are under contract.

Body Slams To Body Work
The brothers quit wrestling in 1984.

"I got to a point where going to an airport or the sound of an airplane would make me ill," Jack Brisco said.

"My mind was still there; the body wasn't there," he said.

He went to work at the Drew Park body shop doing public relations. He also picked up parts and delivered vehicles to customers. He stopped working at the shop in 1999.

Today, the shop, 4315 N. Hubert Ave., has 17 employees doing body and mechanic work, said Travis Allred, a co-owner and general manager.

In 1985, Jerry Brisco joined the World Wrestling Federation, which later became World Wrestling Entertainment, and has held several positions, including as a "character" wrestler.

"I miss competing on that level," he said. "It was a lot of fun. I met a lot of great people."

Although wrestling is more glamorous now and the stage bigger, the competition is the same, he said. Wrestlers work out consistently and have intense schedules - they might be in the United States one day and fly to Japan the next for a media event before returning stateside in two days for a match.

"These guys are tremendous athletes," Jerry Brisco said. "They sacrifice as much as we did in the old days."

Jack Brisco doesn't follow the sport. He spends his weekday mornings working out at a gym and visits the body shop at least three times a week. He also watches sports, including football and NASCAR.

He and Jan, his wife of 32 years, live in Odessa, a few miles from his brother.

Jerry Brisco's wife of 30 years, Barbara, teaches honors government and economics at Sickles High. They have two sons: Joe, a University of Tampa freshman; and Wes, a professional wakeboarder who is entering professional wrestling.

"I think he will be good," Jerry Brisco said. "He's an athlete."

Jack and Jerry remain close.

"I look at him as more than my brother," Jerry Brisco said. "He was the one who was there all the time."

Tags: Jack Brisco, Jerry Brisco, WWE, NWA, Wahoo McDaniel, WWF