Jim Crockett

Background

Crockett was born in Bristol, Virginia, to Charles S. and Josie E. Crockett.

Career

As a youth, he became a fan of pro wrestling, which had thrived during the 1920s with such grapplers as Strangler Lewis and Joe Stecher dominating the scene. As a result of this arrangement, new wrestling "territories" emerged across the United States., and in 1935, a 25-year-old Crockett, who had also served as a concert promoter while also owning a theater and a restaurant, decided to set up a permanent wrestling shop based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The organization, known as Jim Crockett Promotions, scheduled wrestling events in both Carolinas, as well as in Virginia, under the banner of Eastern States Championship Wrestling.

Over the next decade, ESCW featured some of the top wrestling stars of the day.

Then in 1948, wrestling"s top promoters gathered in Waterloo, Iowa to form the industry"s first true governing body, known as the National Wrestling Alliance. Over the next 25 years, Crockett"s Carolina territory reigned among the most successful regions in the NWA, as he regularly sold out the 16,000-seat Greensboro Coliseum featuring such stars as Johnny Weaver, Rip Hawk, Swede Hanson, and Gene & Ole Anderson on his Championship Wrestling program

Ice hockey

The championship trophy of the Southern Hockey League, a developmental circuit for the World Hockey Association, was named after him. Death

He was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2015.

Personal life.

Achievements

• In the early 1930s, a dispute arose over the bookings of new wrestling sensation Jim Londos, so New York promoter Jack Curley negotiated an alliance between various regional managers that enabled Londos to travel the country as champion while allowing the promoters to share profits evenly across the regions. Jim Crockett Promotions would eventually hold a tag team tournament from 1986 through 1988 in honor of him called the Jim Crockett, Senior Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament.

Membership

As the dominant force representing the Carolina region, Jim Crockett Promotions soon became an important member of the NWA, with Crockett serving as a chief lieutenant under longtime NWA President and leading Saint Louis promoter Sam Muchnick.