James White
(July 11, 1942 – January 7, 2010) 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 ...
during the 1960s and 1970s in the southern United States. He was frequently the
tag team
Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...
partner of
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 ...
.
Professional wrestling career
White entered the professional wrestling business after meeting and training with Johnny Thunder.
[ Thunder later introduced him to Chicago promoter ]Fred Kohler
Fred Kohler (April 20, 1888 – October 28, 1938) was an American actor.
Career
Fred Kohler was born in Kansas City, Missouri or in Dubuque, Iowa. As a teen, he began to pursue a career in vaudeville, but worked other jobs to support himself. ...
's booker.[ White's first match was in 1959 against Johnny Kace. Because he was only 17 at the time, his father had to sign a parental consent form to allow him to wrestle.][ Afterward, White also began wrestling for ]Nick Gulas
Nick Gulas (September 3, 1914 – January 21, 1991) was an American professional wrestling promoter in the Southern United States, partnered with Tennessee promoter Roy Welch for decades. Gulas was also known as "The King of Managers", "King B", ...
in Nashville on the weekends, while he continued to attend high school during the week.[
After graduating high school, White became a full-time wrestler, teaming with Ron Wright under ]manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
Ron Bass.[ He wrestled across the southern United States, even competed as The Medic under a mask.][ In 1970, he began wrestling in Alabama, teaming with Roy Klein as The Green Shadows.][ After the team lost their masks, they became known as Woodrow and Roy Bass, with Sam Bass as their manager.][ As a singles wrestler in 1972, he also used the ring name The Green Shadow, with Dr. Ken Ramey as his manager.][
White also frequently teamed with ]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 ...
.[ In the ]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 ...
promotion, the team won the NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
The NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship was a secondary tag team title promoted as the name indicates mainly in the Tennessee region from 1967 until 1977, first by ''Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling'' and occasionally NWA Mid-America from 1967 to ...
no later than November 1972, but lost it to Tommy Gilbert
Thomas Edward Gilbert Sr. (January 15, 1940 – November 26, 2015) was an American professional wrestler. He wrestled for Continental Wrestling Association and throughout the South as Tommy Gilbert. He was the father of wrestlers Doug Gilbert and ...
and Bearcat Brown The bearcat, also known as the binturong, is a viverrine mammal from Southeast Asia.
Bearcat or bearkat may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Bearcats!'', a 1971 American TV series
* ''The Bearcat'', a 1922 film starring Hoot Gibson
* "Do the Bea ...
on December 8 of that year. In 1973, the team won the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship The NWA Southern Tag Team Championship is any of a group of professional wrestling tag team championship titles in the National Wrestling Alliance.
Specific titles include:
* The NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Florida version)
* The NWA South ...
.[ They held the title a total of seven times that year.] Lawler and White also had a series of matches against Melvin Nelson and various partners. The team, however, split by 1974.[
After the split with Lawler, White moved to the Gulf Coast, where he held the ]NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version)
The NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship was a tag team title created in 1962, and contested in the National Wrestling Alliance's Tri-State territory, which was promoted by Leroy McGuirk (Arkansas and Oklahoma) and Jack Curtis and Aurelian "Gri ...
with Steve Lawler in September 1974. He wrestled only occasionally in the 1980s, wrestling his last match in 1985 due to hip pain.[
White later worked for Diehard Championship Wrestling from 1999 to 2004 managing such stars as the ]Mongolian Stomper
Archibald Edward Gouldie (November 22, 1936 – January 23, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He wrestled for Stampede Wrestling for decades as Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie, with the nickname coming from the wrestler's reputation of ...
, DCW Heavyweight Champion Lee Luger Billy Joe Travis, The Hansen Brothers(Brody & Billy Jack), and The Tennessee Connection(Chuck Lee & J.D.Biggs). At the age of 65, he defeated The Matador for the DCW Heavyweight Championship via fireball. He also was commissioner for Southern Championship Wrestling, a southeastern Kentucky promotion, in his last couple of years before his death.
Personal life
White played American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
in High School.[ But he could not tell his football coach that he was a wrestler because he would have had to quit the team.][
After retiring from professional wrestling, White became an avid camper and fisher.][ In 1987, he was employed as the transportation for alcohol and drug patients to rehabilitation centers.][ He also worked as the general manager of Alono, Inc., which was an organization that treated people for drug and alcohol abuse.][
White had a wife, Barbara, and two sons, Jeff and Tommy.][ Years after his divorce, he moved to Kentucky in 1997 and lived with his significant other Beatrice and welcomed her two children, Shelia and Wayne, as his own. White died at the age of 67 on January 7, 2010 of cancer.][
]
Championships and accomplishments
*Cauliflower Alley Club
The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America.
Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Abram ...
**Honoree (1997)[
*Diehard Championship Wrestling
**DCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*]NWA Mid-America
NWA Mid-America was a professional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama from the 1940s until 1981. The company was founded in the 1940s by N ...
** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' ( 7 times) - with 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 ...
*NWA Tri-State
The Universal Wrestling Federation was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to a national-level rival ...
** NWA United States Tag Team Championship ''(Tri-State version)'' ( 1 time) - with Steve Lawler[
*]Southeastern 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 ...
**NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
The NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship was a secondary tag team title promoted as the name indicates mainly in the Tennessee region from 1967 until 1977, first by ''Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling'' and occasionally NWA Mid-America from 1967 to ...
( 1 time) - with 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 ...
[
*]Southern States Wrestling
Southern States Wrestling is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Kingsport, Tennessee. Founded by wrestler Beau James in early 1991, SSW (along with NWA Bluegrass) succeeded Smoky Mountain Wrestling as the top promo ...
** East Tennessee Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 1999)[
]
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Jim
1942 births
2010 deaths
American male professional wrestlers
Professional wrestling promoters
People from Rogersville, Tennessee
Professional wrestlers from Tennessee