Melvin Nelson (1936/1937 – October 15, 2017) was an American
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
. He competed in the United States under the
ring name
A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...
s Jimmy Jones and Burrhead Jones. As an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
wrestler, he was not permitted to wrestle against
caucasians in some territories, thus he also worked as a
referee
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
.
Early life
Nelson was born and raised in
Moncks Corner, South Carolina
Moncks Corner is a town in and the county seat of Berkeley County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,885 at the 2010 census. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Moncks Corner is included within the Charleston-North Charleston-S ...
. His father left before he was born, and his mother moved away to find work when Nelson was two years old. He grew up with his grandparents and five siblings. He worked in the family's cotton fields for several years before moving to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
at age 17. He found employment at a vegetable packing plant and later worked as an elevator operator at a store.
[
]
Professional wrestling career
Nelson began training with professional wrestlers at a gym near the store where he worked. After gaining muscle and learning how to wrestle, he was given the ring name Jimmy Jones by Vincent J. McMahon
Vincent James McMahon (July 6, 1914 – May 24, 1984), sometimes referred to as Vince McMahon Sr., was an American professional wrestling promoter. He is best known for running the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, which was later renamed WWWF (World ...
upon being hired to compete in the World Wide Wrestling Federation
Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. was an American sports promotion company. It was run by Vincent J. McMahon from 1953 to 1982. Operating as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing p ...
.[ He competed in occasional matches for the WWWF from 1968 to 1971. His WWWF stint included a match against ]Ivan Koloff
Oreal Donald Perras (August 25, 1942 – February 18, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. He was the third wrestler to hold the WWWF Championship.
Early life
Perras was b ...
, who went on to win the WWWF Championship two months later.
Nelson also competed in several other promotions, as many wrestling organizations in the United States were racially segregated
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
and there were not enough African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s in any single promotion to provide sufficient competition. As a result, Nelson also worked as a referee
A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
when no African American opponent was available.
In the early 1970s, Nelson wrestled in the Continental Wrestling Association
Continental Wrestling Association (later the Championship Wrestling Association) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually ref ...
based in Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. He teamed with Bearcat Brown and Charlie Cook
Charles Edward Cook Jr. (born November 20, 1953) is an American political analyst who specializes in election forecasts and political trends.
Cook writes election forecasts and rankings in the publication he founded, ''The Cook Political Report'' ...
and had a series of matches against Jerry Lawler
Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, although he has not performed as a full-time commentator since Apr ...
, Jim White, and Sam Bass. In the middle of the decade, he competed in the Tennessee-based Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling
Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship Wr ...
. Nelson also wrestled for Championship Wrestling from Florida.
Nelson's ring name was changed as a joke by promoter and wrestler Billy Hines. He told the media that Nelson would be competing as Cockleburrhead Jones, although the promotion later shortened the name to Burrhead Jones. The name which some people believe to be a racial slur, was a reference to Nelson's afro
The afro is a hair type created by natural growth of kinky hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" ''Ebony'', February 1973. ...
hairstyle.[ As Burrhead Jones, Nelson also competed for ]Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...
's Tri-State Wrestling, where he originally competed as a heel
The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg.
Structure
To distribute the compressive for ...
(villain). After losing a tar-and-feather match, which saw Jones end up covered in molasses
Molasses () is a viscous substance resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, method of extraction and age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used to sweeten and flavour foods ...
and feathers, Jimmy Golden
James "Jimmy" Golden (born August 1, 1950) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name Bunkhouse Buck. He also appeared in WWE as Jack Swagger Sr.
A member of t ...
came to the ring and asked to team with him. Golden was a face
The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...
(fan favorite), and the storyline saw Golden convert Jones. Together, the pair later held the Tri-State Wrestling Tag Team Championship. Jones also competed in, and lost, a tar-and-feather match in Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County, Mississippi, Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County. The city popu ...
. After the match in Mississippi, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP) protested and several wrestling shows were cancelled as a result.[
]
Retirement and death
Nelson also worked in advertising for A&M Furniture Mart, a local Montgomery, Alabama furniture store.
Nelson continued to reside in Moncks Corner, South Carolina
Moncks Corner is a town in and the county seat of Berkeley County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,885 at the 2010 census. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Moncks Corner is included within the Charleston-North Charleston-S ...
, where he found work as a forklift operator after retiring from wrestling. In 2006, he moved to New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to be closer to his children. He died at a hospital in New York City at the age of 80 on October 15, 2017.
Championships and accomplishments
*NWA
NWA or Nwa most commonly refers to:
* N.W.A ("Niggaz Wit Attitudes"), a hip hop group from Compton, California, US
* National Wrestling Alliance, a professional wrestling organization
NWA or Nwa may refer to:
Music
* New Weird America, a subgenr ...
Mid-America
**NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship
The NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title for lighter wrestlers, board-controlled by the National Wrestling Alliance since December 1949.
It originally was used by various promotions across the Southeaster ...
( 1 time)
*Tri-State Wrestling
**Tri-State Heavyweight Champion (1 time) 1974
**Tri-State Wrestling Tag Team Championship (1 time)[
]
References
External links
Profile at Online World of Wrestling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Burrhead
1930s births
2017 deaths
African-American male professional wrestlers
American male professional wrestlers
Professional wrestlers from South Carolina
Professional wrestling referees
Tarring and feathering in the United States
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people
People from Berkeley County, South Carolina