06.08.2007, 05:24
Tampa Tribune
Tampa, Florida
14 Februar 1973
king dory, queen bonnie rule
king rex farrior jr. and queen wynnette howell were not the only royalty crowned in tampa lasted night.
concurrent, very nearly, with the coronation of ye mystic krewe of gasparilla at the curtis hixon hall, a mile west under somewhat different circumstances but before a far more enthusiastic assemblage of subjects, another king and queen were assuming thrones.
they were king dory of the house of funk and bonniw queen bonnie of the house of watson. their court was the mystic world of professional wrestling.
though king dory funk jr. and queen bonie watson came by their titles at fort hesterly armory somewhat differently than the new rulers of gasparilla, they too are supreme in their special domain and doubtless held in comparable adulation by their followers.
and it must be acknowledged that while king rex and queen wynnette ascended to their thrones amid satin and lace and the smell of perfume, king dory and queen bonnie fought their way to theirs in a world of sweat and grimace and threats of doom.
the hesterly coronoation ceremonies were preceded by two ealry jousts matching muscular cavaliers performing in preliminaries before the standing room only crowd. blue-trunked bob bruggers, a former miami dolphin football player, rather quickly disposed of black-trunked, goateed and tatooed phil robley who was no favorite with the crowd, they gesturing back at him when he'd leer at them after their boos. he even earned an isolated bird or two.
next in an interesting match-up, a curly-haired, handsome jewish wrestler in red trunks named mark lewin finally gave skin-headed geran hans schmidt the just-due the crwod thought he deserved. schmidt wore black pants with boots, and aggrogantly defied, to no avail of course, referee corsica gene's decision favoring lewin, often the victim of low germanic blos, corsica had indicated.
now it was time for the selection of the quuen, to be decided in combat between the reigning monarch, bonnie queen bonnie watson, a poular ruler, and challenger kay noble, a spry contestant who wore a leopard-skin one piece bathing suit type and and who also quickly fell into disfavor the the crowd. she was in frequent shouting matches with ringsiders, including one off-duty cop.
there were moments when queen bonnie, a longtime tampa resident, seemed to be in terrible jeopardy of losing the florida women's wrestling title, particularly when kay had her by the throat, but showing regal cunning and resolution, the champ prevailed after flinging noble over the top ring-rope and onto the floor below where she landed in a most ignoble position -- on her keester.
the courtly chaplain held her robe
corsica gene gave the match and the crown (in wrestling, however, it is a belt) to quen bonnie and the courtly american legion chaplain at ringside returned kay noble her lounging robe he had held for her during the ceremony.
three more competitions of especial interest followed before the coronation's highpoint, one of them a surprise.
in the first, a young prince of the people, mike graham, son of eddie, after some anxious moments, handled unpopular chris markoff, the shouter of the evening. markoff would ohhhhhhhhhh, quite loudly, when graham would force it from him with a stragle-hold, arm-bend, or some other similar inducement and the crowd would immediately echo him. indeed, at times they ohhhhhhhh-ed along with markoff in disgust.
next southern champ buddy colt, regarded as an unsavory too, clung to his title by working over popular young oklahoman jerry brisco when the people thought the ref was inattentive. colt is a barrel-chested, acrobatic sort who also waers the black well. he has an absolutely menacing scowl, with accompanying bad-eye. his win was soundly jeered, a circumstance which, in truth, seemed to please the calloused colt.
george was a beaut
perhaps the disappoinment of the coronation night to the aptrons came when big bad john and tim woods, their favorites, fell victim to more trickery missed by referee stu schwatz, the people thought. perhaps their dismay was doubled because of the nature of the winning team which was composed of blond, mustched bobby shane, regarded by the mutitutes as an unsavory sort, and gorgeous george jr. george wore peroxide blond curls fresh from curlers and those in a hairnet, two blue ribbons (which the chaplain also kept during the contest) and lace on his red boots.
gorgeous was just that. the crowd made many reccommendations to him during the fight, particularly when he assumed as especialy dainty aire, non of which hw followed. it was perhaps the most unpopular decision of the night, and it set the secene properly for the combat to decide who'd be the world heavyweight wrestling champion, as well as winner of the premier event of the gasparilla wrestling spectacular -- in short, who'd be the king.
dory funk jr. entered as the champ-king, popular dark-haired part-cherokee jack brisco the challenger. funk is out of amarillo and has held the title for four years. he's a fine athlete, solid american, former west texas state football player and popular most places.
brisco was twice national wrestling champ when at oklahoma state, then turned to the pro circuit and had lived in tampa four years. brother jerry had wrestled before him tuesday night, and lost to heavy buddy colt.
clearly the crowd was for brisco, and for the first 15 minutes of clutching and body-slams, leg-twisting, arm-ulling and neck chopping, even a bit of undetected hair-pulling, brisco had the first fall and was on his way to a staggering upset. it had been this time four years ago, and here, that funk had won the world championship and first crowned king. it was tense, amd loud, and high drama to the subjects of that intriguing world.
but, after 8 minutes of the second go, funk seemed to regain strength from some hidden supply -- though in ruth he surely seemed barely to be hanging on at times -- and with a mighty thrust upwards of both feet hurled brisco (as the doomed kay noble had gone) over the top ring rope, northside. he plunged downward onto the concrete and lay still.
just before the time limit count of 20 from ref stu schwatrz, brsico managed to haul mimself partly back onto the mat where funk flung his 240 pounds onto him for a pin and the second fall.
only three minutes rest are allowed between falls.
jack's concerned brother rushed out of the wings and implored the ref to give his kin more time to revive, for he lay there quite still. young brisco even tried, it seemed, to drag the limp body of jack out of the ring to safety.
but before he could become his brother's keeper, funk, himself seemingly dazed by punishment of the falling here and there, was tearing at the lifeless brisco, the crowd meanwhile screaming in unison: "go jack go! go jack go!"
jack responded to to their call momentarily, but it was not to be. funk disposed of him for a second fall rather quickly and it was at that moment, about the time king rex was ascending to another throne of importance at curtis hixon, that referee schwatrz hoisted the weary arm of the winner heavenward.
the other coronation was now completed too.
king dory had joined his queen, bonnie, as rulers of their somewhat mystic kingdom, thier subjects departing every bit as gratified by the evening as the crowd at curtis hixon.
one fellow said he'd bet even more. but then he's never experienced the joys and delights of a gasparilla ball and coronation
Tampa, Florida
14 Februar 1973
king dory, queen bonnie rule
king rex farrior jr. and queen wynnette howell were not the only royalty crowned in tampa lasted night.
concurrent, very nearly, with the coronation of ye mystic krewe of gasparilla at the curtis hixon hall, a mile west under somewhat different circumstances but before a far more enthusiastic assemblage of subjects, another king and queen were assuming thrones.
they were king dory of the house of funk and bonniw queen bonnie of the house of watson. their court was the mystic world of professional wrestling.
though king dory funk jr. and queen bonie watson came by their titles at fort hesterly armory somewhat differently than the new rulers of gasparilla, they too are supreme in their special domain and doubtless held in comparable adulation by their followers.
and it must be acknowledged that while king rex and queen wynnette ascended to their thrones amid satin and lace and the smell of perfume, king dory and queen bonnie fought their way to theirs in a world of sweat and grimace and threats of doom.
the hesterly coronoation ceremonies were preceded by two ealry jousts matching muscular cavaliers performing in preliminaries before the standing room only crowd. blue-trunked bob bruggers, a former miami dolphin football player, rather quickly disposed of black-trunked, goateed and tatooed phil robley who was no favorite with the crowd, they gesturing back at him when he'd leer at them after their boos. he even earned an isolated bird or two.
next in an interesting match-up, a curly-haired, handsome jewish wrestler in red trunks named mark lewin finally gave skin-headed geran hans schmidt the just-due the crwod thought he deserved. schmidt wore black pants with boots, and aggrogantly defied, to no avail of course, referee corsica gene's decision favoring lewin, often the victim of low germanic blos, corsica had indicated.
now it was time for the selection of the quuen, to be decided in combat between the reigning monarch, bonnie queen bonnie watson, a poular ruler, and challenger kay noble, a spry contestant who wore a leopard-skin one piece bathing suit type and and who also quickly fell into disfavor the the crowd. she was in frequent shouting matches with ringsiders, including one off-duty cop.
there were moments when queen bonnie, a longtime tampa resident, seemed to be in terrible jeopardy of losing the florida women's wrestling title, particularly when kay had her by the throat, but showing regal cunning and resolution, the champ prevailed after flinging noble over the top ring-rope and onto the floor below where she landed in a most ignoble position -- on her keester.
the courtly chaplain held her robe
corsica gene gave the match and the crown (in wrestling, however, it is a belt) to quen bonnie and the courtly american legion chaplain at ringside returned kay noble her lounging robe he had held for her during the ceremony.
three more competitions of especial interest followed before the coronation's highpoint, one of them a surprise.
in the first, a young prince of the people, mike graham, son of eddie, after some anxious moments, handled unpopular chris markoff, the shouter of the evening. markoff would ohhhhhhhhhh, quite loudly, when graham would force it from him with a stragle-hold, arm-bend, or some other similar inducement and the crowd would immediately echo him. indeed, at times they ohhhhhhhh-ed along with markoff in disgust.
next southern champ buddy colt, regarded as an unsavory too, clung to his title by working over popular young oklahoman jerry brisco when the people thought the ref was inattentive. colt is a barrel-chested, acrobatic sort who also waers the black well. he has an absolutely menacing scowl, with accompanying bad-eye. his win was soundly jeered, a circumstance which, in truth, seemed to please the calloused colt.
george was a beaut
perhaps the disappoinment of the coronation night to the aptrons came when big bad john and tim woods, their favorites, fell victim to more trickery missed by referee stu schwatz, the people thought. perhaps their dismay was doubled because of the nature of the winning team which was composed of blond, mustched bobby shane, regarded by the mutitutes as an unsavory sort, and gorgeous george jr. george wore peroxide blond curls fresh from curlers and those in a hairnet, two blue ribbons (which the chaplain also kept during the contest) and lace on his red boots.
gorgeous was just that. the crowd made many reccommendations to him during the fight, particularly when he assumed as especialy dainty aire, non of which hw followed. it was perhaps the most unpopular decision of the night, and it set the secene properly for the combat to decide who'd be the world heavyweight wrestling champion, as well as winner of the premier event of the gasparilla wrestling spectacular -- in short, who'd be the king.
dory funk jr. entered as the champ-king, popular dark-haired part-cherokee jack brisco the challenger. funk is out of amarillo and has held the title for four years. he's a fine athlete, solid american, former west texas state football player and popular most places.
brisco was twice national wrestling champ when at oklahoma state, then turned to the pro circuit and had lived in tampa four years. brother jerry had wrestled before him tuesday night, and lost to heavy buddy colt.
clearly the crowd was for brisco, and for the first 15 minutes of clutching and body-slams, leg-twisting, arm-ulling and neck chopping, even a bit of undetected hair-pulling, brisco had the first fall and was on his way to a staggering upset. it had been this time four years ago, and here, that funk had won the world championship and first crowned king. it was tense, amd loud, and high drama to the subjects of that intriguing world.
but, after 8 minutes of the second go, funk seemed to regain strength from some hidden supply -- though in ruth he surely seemed barely to be hanging on at times -- and with a mighty thrust upwards of both feet hurled brisco (as the doomed kay noble had gone) over the top ring rope, northside. he plunged downward onto the concrete and lay still.
just before the time limit count of 20 from ref stu schwatrz, brsico managed to haul mimself partly back onto the mat where funk flung his 240 pounds onto him for a pin and the second fall.
only three minutes rest are allowed between falls.
jack's concerned brother rushed out of the wings and implored the ref to give his kin more time to revive, for he lay there quite still. young brisco even tried, it seemed, to drag the limp body of jack out of the ring to safety.
but before he could become his brother's keeper, funk, himself seemingly dazed by punishment of the falling here and there, was tearing at the lifeless brisco, the crowd meanwhile screaming in unison: "go jack go! go jack go!"
jack responded to to their call momentarily, but it was not to be. funk disposed of him for a second fall rather quickly and it was at that moment, about the time king rex was ascending to another throne of importance at curtis hixon, that referee schwatrz hoisted the weary arm of the winner heavenward.
the other coronation was now completed too.
king dory had joined his queen, bonnie, as rulers of their somewhat mystic kingdom, thier subjects departing every bit as gratified by the evening as the crowd at curtis hixon.
one fellow said he'd bet even more. but then he's never experienced the joys and delights of a gasparilla ball and coronation