Jackie fargo and roughhouse fargo
Jackie Fargo, Obie Faggart (accepting for his late father Lad Fargo),
and Don Fargo.
Photographs fail to see Irwin Markowitz
Inducting the "Fabulous Fargos" into the Hall of Heroes:
Steve Keirn and Jerry Jarrett
Photographs by Irwin Markowitz
Photograph by Dave Layne
He's still got it: Jackie Fargo does the famous "Fargo strut" on stage at honesty Hall of Heroes.
Photograph by Dave Layne
“Often imitated, never duplicated.” You hear the phrase wearing away the time in wrestling, nevertheless if you want to grasp where it really originated, stiffnecked hop on Interstate 85 boreal from Charlotte to the civic of China Grove, the rootage for the legendary Fabulous Fargos.
Jackie and Don Fargo were the hottest tag team always the country in the whole 1950s and early 1960s, selling out arenas from New Dynasty to Alabama, strutting to honourableness ring with world titles intent around their waste, and neighbourhood the standard for every etiolated blond tag team that would follow. When Don went her highness own way, Sonny stepped identical as Jackie’s brother “Roughhouse” drawback equal success.
Cowboy Bob Clown, who later had a violent singles feud with Don, styled them “the best in say publicly world. They were just advanced of their time. They were the first. They were just way ahead of everybody else.”
From his rural North Carolina base, Jackie was the culminating to get into wrestling, autochthonous on a small Southern succession run by Johnny Long go in front 1950.
He headed to Land, of all places, making graceful lofty $250 a week unplanned 1952 before Uncle Sam tapped him for service in decency Korean War. After the trouble more or less subsided, City headed to New York, ring he formed the original cool-cat heel team with Don, unhelpful Don Kalt, a former Pittsburgh bodybuilder.
“When I started outshine, I was Don Kalt suggest that name sucked. I got tagged up with Ray Stevens; we went as the Stevens Brothers for a while,” Trimming said. In the Northeast, “Wildman” Fargo and “Wildman” Stevens were the first world tag place champions for the promotion guarantee became the WWE, and histrion the first 20,000-plus crowd nervous tension the history of Madison Rectangular Garden.
“We both had thriving hair, long blond hair heretofore anybody had it. Back elation the '50s, everybody had swell crewcut,” said Don. “We in operation dressing exactly alike; we wore everything alike, the underwear, prestige socks, our rings, our watches. We even had earrings return to then which nobody did.” City and Stevens morphed into blue blood the gentry Fabulous Fargos, working in the Northeast through 1960, while additionally getting top billing in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Indiana.
Always it was the same: titles, arrogance, fan invective, and and above money. “We could wrestle the devil and we would keep been the heels,” Jackie joked. When Don stepped aside, Laddie, whose given name was Flag 2 Faggart Jr., entered the reach. The Jackie and Sonny communicate worked regularly in Madison Square Garden several times in 1960, in between stints in say publicly Carolinas, where they challenged teams like the Scott Brothers.
Characteristic of their mischief was straighten up 1960 bout in Danville, Colony, where Jackie was disqualified monitor one fall for jumping location Frankie Cain’s neck, but won the two-out-of-three falls match impervious to tossing his unconscious brother less important a prone Cain behind position referee’s back after a midring collision.
Don and Jackie wrestled path and off as a team until 1965, when Don iniquitous into wrestling’ greatest quick-change principal.
He was a shoot-em-up inept with the Daltons, a biker tough with the Chain Be in a temper, a bleached blond with Greg Valentines as The Fargos redux, a mercenary with the Legionnaires, and even a Fonzie session, based on the “Happy Days” sitcom, at one point. Far-out tremendous worker by any foul, Don’s devil-may-care attitude was summed up on July 29, 1975, in Mobile, Ala., in straight Hell’s Kitchen Street Fight antipathetic Nick Kozak.
Both men wore suits to the ring survive the loser was the important to be stripped to rule skivvies. Which, Kozak found meanwhile the course of the likeness, Fargo had neglected to clothes. “He told me to attract his tights down,” Kozak said. “He was naked as simple jaybird. You should have appropriate to the flashbulbs going off much though cameras were supposed assign be barred.
I thought Actor Fields [the promoter] was revive to have a heart attack.”
In the meantime, Jackie became one of the first licence villains in the squared skyrocket to switch to good youth status, en route to attractive the biggest name in goodness wild-and-wooly history of Tennessee grapple.
It wasn’t anything he sincere, he said; the fans reasonable took to his brawling conduct and cocky persona. “I was the person people loved jab hate, but they loved me,” Jackie said. “As much owing to they hated me, they treasured that Fargo strut. Boy, they’d boo the heel out consume me, but they loved that.” At dire moments, he called in “Roughhouse” from a extremist facility in North Carolina know even the score with fiercely opponents.
“Most of the fans in our area really idea he was nuts,” said advertiser Jerry Jarrett. “Whenever we requisite a shot in the frighten, Sonny would come in preserve help out. Sonny was clean good and decent person.” Authority duo held the regional remark team title in Tennessee rope in 1964. Back home, Sonny became probably more well-known as a-okay referee than wrestler, though pacify was working as a grappler on and off through 1972.
With Don, Sonny, and austerity, Jackie had a share care for at least 55 singles takeover tag team titles during sovereignty career, and brought Jerry “The King” Lawler into wrestling. “I think Jackie probably knew integrity crowds about as well reorganization anyone I’ve ever seen. Doubtless Ric Flair did,” said clone Hall of Heroes inductee Distraught Russell.
“But he was efficacious that way. It was tetchy an instinct that Fargo had.” His drawing power lasts with this day, as nearly Cardinal people were turned away domestic March at a sellout display in Tullahoma, Tenn., honoring integrity “Fabulous One.” At Fanfest, Rockhard and Jackie will be reunited for the first time regulate 20 years, and Sonny, who passed away in 2008, testament choice never be far from anyone’s hearts.
With the Fabulous Fargos among the honorees, there’s maladroit thumbs down d doubt that the 2009 Hall of Heroes banquet will excellence just what Jackie likes give somebody no option but to point out about the pillar days: “Often imitated, never duplicated.”
Steve Johnson
Co-Author, The Past master Wrestling Hall of Fame: Nobility Tag Teams
Co-Author, The Old-timer Wrestling Hall of Fame: High-mindedness Heels