Wrestling has lost one of the greats. Jack Brisco has passed away at the age of 68. Brisco was a true pioneer of wrestling in both singles and tag team disciplines. He and brother Jerry (perhaps now better known as Gerald Brisco, WWE Road Agent and late 90s on screen talent) came out of the Missouri territory before really striking out as a top name in the early 60s in the Florida territory (via a short stint in Tri State), and occasionally in Mid-Atlantic.
Jack held different incarnations of the NWA Tag Team Titles 20 times with his brother and had an additional 4 with other partners, most notably legend of the then WWWF, Haystacks Calhoun and Jimmy Garvin, but is best known for his NWA World Heavyweight Title reigns, with the NWA belt being tied up in feuds between Jack and Jerry and the other Hall of Famer brothers Terry and Dory Funk Jr, a rivalry which gave many classic matches of the era. Jack would hold the NWA title on two occasions, and holds the record of being the only NWA World Champion to have both reigns with the belt last over a year.
Jack entered semi-retirement in the early 1980s, one of his last notable matches occuring at the first ever Starrcade event in 1983, at that stage the biggest wrestling event staged anywhere in the world, teaming again with Jerry against the team of Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood.
After retiring in 1984, Jack and Jerry acquired minority shareholdings in Georgia Championship Wrestling, a particularly strong competitor for Vince McMahon Jr’s then rapidly expanding WWF, and persuaded other shareholders to sell the territory to Vince McMahon, enabling his continued progress.
Time and space don’t allow for a truly fitting summary of Jack’s life and career, so please, for more information on Jack visit www.jackbrisco.com
