Jackie Fargo

Professional wrestling career

Fargo's first experience with wrestling was as a teenager at the YMCA in Goldsboro, North Carolina; after he took part in the state championships, a local promoter suggested that Fargo could earn more money by switching to professional wrestling. Fargo was trained at the Quonset Auditorium in Bowling Green, Kentucky by Joe and Kenny Marshall, and first wrestled under the name "Wild Man Fargo". Fargo started his professional wrestling career around 1950 for Johnny Long in Atlanta. In 1952, Fargo wrestled in Cuba before serving in the Korean War. Fargo was a very successful tag team wrestler, having held tag team championships 45 times throughout his career. He formed a famous tag team with Don Fargo (real name Don Kalt) as the Fabulous Fargos; together they won the NWA World Tag Team titles in 1958 and dominated the National Wrestling Alliance during the late 1950s. Jackie and Don Fargo's match against Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez was witnessed by a record breaking 20,125 people at Madison Square Garden on March 30, 1957. Upon ceasing his tag team with Don Fargo, Jackie Fargo formed another tag team with his real-life brother, Sonny, also known in the ring as Roughhouse; this team also enjoyed success. Jim Cornette credits Fargo with popularising wild brawls and the use of tables and chairs in wrestling in the Tennessee area, which he sees as one of the origins of the later 'hardcore' wrestling style. During the 1960s, Fargo won the NWA Georgia Tag Team title with Joe Fargo and Mario Milano as well as enjoying numerous title reigns capturing the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship with Don Fargo, Lester Welch, Tex Riley, Mario Milano, Sonny Fargo, Len Rossi, Dennis Hall, Jerry Jarrett, Mr. Wrestling and the legendary Lou Thesz. Fargo was the originator of the "Fargo Strut". This charismatic walk in the ring has been copied by other professional wrestlers including Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett and the Fabulous Ones. Although fellow wrestler Buddy Rogers also had a distinctive strut, Fargo claimed that he had never seen Rogers. A longtime mentor to many younger wrestlers in the Memphis area, he later became involved in a feud with former protégé Jerry Lawler who defeated Fargo in a handicap match with Jim White for the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship on March 28, 1973. Fargo later teamed with George Gulas and Tojo Yamamoto to capture the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship title several times during the early 1970s, becoming the first NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champions along with Gulas and Dennis Hall in November 1973. In 1972, Fargo had a notorious feud with Al Greene, who once during the feud shaved off Fargo's blonde hair. Although retiring in 1980, he joined Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association to help The Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane and Steve Keirn) in their feud against The Moondogs before their departure in 1984 and retired shortly thereafter. On June 19, 2002, Fargo appeared on the first NWA-TNA Weekly pay per view along with other NWA legends. Fargo's last matches saw him wrestle both in 2004 and later 2006, at the age of 76.

Personal life

Fargo was hospitalized with pneumonia in both lungs in December 2011. Fargo died on June 30, 2013, after being hospitalized for a week for congestive heart failure. Fargo was survived by three daughters, one grandson, two granddaughters and two great-grandchildren.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments