I’m taking the 4th of July Holiday off today, but I still have some great things in the Chronicle for you wrestling history buffs. I’ll return tomorrow with a regular edition and some amazing Flashbacks!
July 4th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Jack Curley 1876
Billy Wolfe 1896
Carey Lloyd\Rufus R "Freight Train" Jones 1933
Bob Sweetan 1940
Happy Birthday:
Donald G Cox\Don Diamond (68)
Barry Windham (65)
Jose Estrada, Jr\Super Medico III (52)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Yusif Ismail\The Terrible Turk 7-4-1898 at the age of 41
Adrian Adonis 7-4-1988 at the age of 34
Pat Kelly 7-4-1988 at the age of 40
Dave "The Bearman" McKigney\The Wolfman 7-4-1988 at the age of 56
Joey Marella 7-4-1994 at the age of 31
Lee Fields 7-4-2000 at the age of 69
Debuts:
7-4-1939: Buddy Rogers vs Moe Brazen in Camden, New Jersey
7-4-1960: Les Thatcher, Les had his first match against Cowboy Ronnie Hill in Blue Hills, Maine. He was 19 years old.
Happy 4th of July
I have the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel machine on pause for today due to the United States National Holiday. Pro Wrestling never stopped for July 4th in the old days, but I'm taking a much-needed break today to catch my breath and observe our Nation's birthday. I'll return tomorrow with more flashbacks in history in Daily Chronicle.
In the meantime, feel free to read through back issues you may have missed to catch up on all the happenings in Pro Wrestling history from April through the first part of July in the 1900s through my back catalog and archives.
Happy 4th of July and thank you for your subscription and interest in my work. It's going to be an amazing second half of this year!
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Pictured: Rufus R Jones with a headlock on the mat
Rufus R Jones trained to become a wrestler at the Tony Santos wrestling school in Boston. When he started, he used the name Buster Lloyd (Lloyd being his real last name) and he claimed to have learned to fight at the corner of Lenox Avenue & 125th Street in Harlem in New York City. He used his gimmick in Texas and claimed the other wrestlers were inferior fighters to himself who learned to fight on the streets of New York. He was put with Tiger Conway, Sr in a program which drew decently for his first push. He later adopted the Rufus "Freight Train" Jones because his finishing move was two shoulder tackles and a head butt, which was called at the time, the "Freight Train". In interviews, he said the "R" as his middle initial stood for "guts". He had a longtime tag team with Burrhead Jones, who was billed as his kayfabe cousin. Even though it's been many years since his heyday here in Missouri, one of the ladies who cleans my condo was looking at my wrestling stuff on the walls and she asked me, "you got anything on Rufus "Freight Train" Jones?" A lot of people here still remember Rufus.
Thank You for Reading
I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Remember, paid subscribers get access to exclusive and special content such as some special issues including a multi-part deep dives on wrestling territories, wrestler bios and championship title histories, special audio and video interviews on territory pro wrestling and more available in The Vault of the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel for Paid Subscribers.