Gunslinger Rap Archives
As told to me by Don "The Lawman" Slayton
Fall of 1973, Jack Brisco was NWA Champion. He won the title
from Harley
Race July 20th. Six weeks earlier, Harley had won a disputed decision
from
me in Kansas City. These conditions were great for business in the
Amarillo
Territory. Brisco was champion after having chased me for years and
yet,
he never beat me for the belt. A Funk vs Brisco match in the Amarillo
Territory
is a natural to do great business.
Terry Funk is on the phone with Abilene wrestling promoter, Don
Slayton,
Aka The Lawman. The Lawman is upset! Abilene runs on Friday nights. The
Amarillo Booking Office had dates on the NWA Champion. The champ would
appear in Albuquerque on Sunday, El Paso on Monday, Odessa on Tuesday,
Lubbock on Wednesday, Amarillo on Thursday, and return on Friday to
wrestle
Keil Auditorium in St. Louis. Abilene, The Lawman's town didn't have
the
champion. The Lawman knew the world champion in his town would draw him
money.
The NWA President Sam Muchnick received a salary of three percent of
the gate on all appearances of the champion. President Muchnick would
rather
book the champion in St. Louis with a guaranteed gate of twelve
thousand
people than Abilene where attendance could not compare with St. Louis.
Conversation between Terry and the Lawman centers around securing Jack
Brisco for Abilene Texas. Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe carries the same
family name as the NWA Champion. Terry and the Lawman decide they will
entice Jack to come to Abilene, with the carrot of the governor of
Texas
wanting to meet his namesake Jack Brisco. It would make for great
publicity
with champion Brisco meeting Governor Briscoe.
Great idea! A call goes to NWA President, Sam Muchnick. He confirms
that Jack Brisco will appear in Abilene for one match the week
following
his St. Louis booking. The Lawman is satisfied. He schedules a return
Championship
Match, Dory Funk Jr. vs Jack Brisco. A sellout is assured with six
weeks
to promote the show.
The Lawman assumed Terry would contact the Governor's office. Terry
Funk assumed the Lawman would contact the Governors office, besides
that,
nobody really cares if they have a governor. The important thing to a
promoter
is a rear end for every eighteen inches of seat space in the building.
A Funk Brisco world title match would accomplish that.
Three days before the show, a call comes from Sam Muchnick's office
that they want pictures of Jack Brisco meeting the governor of Texas.
Furthermore,
Jack is going to make a speech to the Governor and present him with a
Brisco
Brothers T-shirt. To say the least, The Lawman is up a creek. He has no
Governor Dolph Briscoe and Jack Brisco is not one to be messing with.
The
Lawman must come up with a Governor.
The History: The Lawman is unfamous as a ribber, most noted for
the time he induced Amarillo Promoter, Jerry Kozak to drive all the way
to Abilene to arrive at 6:00am for a deer hunting trip with the Lawman.
Kozak wound up pumping twelve rounds of ammunition into an old dead
deer
with rigamortis, tied to a tree. (That is another story for a later
time)
The Set Up: The Lawman gets his old buddy Martin Pryor, a Ford
car salesman in Abilene to get a bright red Lincoln from the company.
He
also has one of his clean up boys from the wrestling matches dress up
like
a chauffeur.
The Objective: They must keep Jack away from the local people
in Abilene because any idiot in Texas would know old paunchy sly
talking
Martin Pryor isn't the governor of the State of Texas, Dolph Briscoe.
Small Problem: Wrestling strong man Ivan Putski is also
scheduled
into Abilene on the 11:00am flight from Dallas. Ivan is from San
Antonio
and would surely know what the Governor of Texas looked like. They must
keep Ivan from telling off on the governor. The Sting: First off the
plane
is Ivan Putski. The Lawman quickly shakes Ivan's hand and says quietly,
"Ivan, we are going to pull a little joke here on Jack, just go along
with what ever you see take place.
Following Ivan Putski off the plane is Jack Brisco, NWA Champion
dressed
in suit and tie carrying a Brisco Brothers T-shirt to present to the
governor.
The Lawman shakes Jack's hand, looks right at him and says, "Jack,
I-- I'm sorry to have to tell you that the Governor Briscoe isn't going
to be able to meet you today. He had to go down to Mexico, you know
where
they had that earthquake."
As they walked to the terminal, they saw a twin engine aircraft.
propellers
turning. The Lawman said, "Jack I-- I believe that is his plane over
there warming up right now." By now Jack was really depressed. He
never really wanted to come to this town in the first place.
The four, Lawman, Jack Brisco, Ivan Putski, and another one of the
Lawman's
helper, wanna be wrestlers, Lawman Jr, leave the airport together in
the
Lawman's old Ford Station Wagon. In those days, from the Airport into
town
was a good distance on a country road.
As they left the airport and made the first turn into town The Lawman
was the first to speak. "Well my golly, That looks like, I believe
it is, It's him, it's governor Briscoe, It's him!!!" The Lawman slams
on his breaks and the red limousine does the same. A cloud of dust
flies
up in the air as the two cars come to a stop. The Lawman gets out of
the
car and says, "My gosh Governor, we thought for sure we were going
to miss you. Jack Brisco is out of the car and the introduction takes
place.
Jack Brisco thinks he meets the governor of Texas, Dolph Briscoe.
The Rest of the Story: Jack Brisco came prepared to meet the
governor, give a speech, and present the Governor with a Brisco
Brother's
T-shirt. Come hell or high water he was going to do just that. Right
there
on a lonely dusty road in Abilene Texas Jack began his speech. It was
something
about long ago the two families were from Oklahoma, they split and
their
names were spelled different but sounded the same. As quick as he got
started,
he forgot his speech. While Jack was stammering and trying to remember
what he was going to say, The ol'e Governor just laughed and said now
Jack,
I know your family but, I want you to know those Funk Boys are pretty
tough
hombres. Jack didn't really hear a word the governor was saying as he
raced
to the car as in the excitement he had forgotten his Brisco Brothers
T-shirt.
He was actually fumbling with the latch on the Lawman's old Ford
station
wagon to get the Brisco Brothers T-shirt before the Governor left. Jack
finally got the door open and the T-shirt out and made the presentation
to the Governor.
Verification: This event is recorded on old 8 mm movie film for
posterity in the wrestling business. The film was taken by Lawman Jr.
and
features Jack and the Governor (aka Martin Pryor) conversing at the
T-shirt
presentation. Periodically you can see Ivan Putski walk into view with
an old Polaroid taking snap shots of the presentation.
Time was short and soon the Lawman reminded the Governor about his
plane
warming up for the trip to Mexico. The Governor apologized but wished
Jack
good luck and said he had to get going. "You know Jack I have just
got to get down to Mexico." The Governor was in the red limousine
and in a cloud of dust was gone.
The Finish: Now all was quiet, the governor was gone. The
Lawman,
Jack, Putski, and Lawman Jr. were in the old station wagon. The first
to
speak was Jack, "Lawman, I just gotta tell you, that rib that you
pulled on Jerry Kozak when he shot that old dead deer was one of the
funniest
ribs I have ever heard of."
And Finally: For the next six months our office in Amarillo
received
many calls from the St. Louis office requesting pictures of Jack Brisco
meeting Governor Dolph Briscoe. We had the pictures, but couldn't send
pictures of Jack and the paunchy old car salesman.
And as You Would Know: Everyone in the wrestling business knew
the story of Jack Brisco meeting the Governor of Texas, but everyone
was
afraid to tell him the truth. At least six months went by without
anyone
telling Jack he didn't meet the Governor of Texas. In the end Harley
Race
told Jack he was had.
I don't recommend that anyone mention this story in person to Jack
Brisco.
The Gunslinger
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