Jackie Fargo
Encyclopedia
Henry Faggart, known by his ringname Jackie Fargo, is a retired American professional wrestler
who competed in Southeastern regional promotions and the National Wrestling Alliance
during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. A mainstay of NWA Mid-America (later the Continental Wrestling Association
), he served as a mentor to Jerry "The King" Lawler
and The Fabulous Ones
, among other wrestlers in the Memphis area.
was witnessed by a record breaking 20,125 people at Madison Square Garden
on March 30, 1957. Jim Cornette
credits Fargo with popularising wild brawls and the use of tables and chairs in wrestling in the Tennessee
area, which he sees as one of the origins of the later 'hardcore' wrestling style.
During the 1960s, Fargo won the NWA Georgia Tag Team title with Joe Fargo and Mario Milano as well as enjoying numerous title reigns capturing the NWA Southern Tag Team title with Don Fargo, Lester Welch, Tex Riley, Mario Milano
, Sonny Fargo, Len Rossi, Dennis Hall
, Jerry Jarrett
, Mr. Wrestling and Lou Thesz
.
A longtime mentor to many younger wrestlers in the Memphis area, he later became involved in a feud with former protege Jerry Lawler who defeated Fargo in a handicap match with Jim White
for the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship on March 28, 1973. Fargo later teamed with George Gulas and Tojo Yamamoto
to capture the NWA Mid-America Tag Team title several times during the early 1970s, becoming the first NWA Six-Man Tag Team Championship along with Gulas and Dennis Hall in November 1973.
Although retiring in 1980, he joined Jerry Jarrett
's Memphis promotion to help The Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane
and Steve Keirn
) in their feud against The Moondogs
before their departure in 1984 and retired shortly thereafter. Although presently in retirement, he has appeared on several shows for Jerry Jarrett's NWA-TNA
promotion during the early 2000s.
Finishing Move: Atomic Kneedrop
Favorite Moves: Roaring Forearm Smash
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
who competed in Southeastern regional promotions and the National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. A mainstay of NWA Mid-America (later the Continental Wrestling Association
Continental Wrestling Association
The Continental 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 referred to as Mid-Southern Wrestling...
), he served as a mentor to Jerry "The King" Lawler
Jerry Lawler
Jerry O'Neil Lawler is an American professional wrestler, wrestling commentator, musician, businessman, commercial artist and film actor, known throughout the wrestling world as Jerry "The King" Lawler. He is currently signed to WWE, working on its Raw brand as the color commentator and occasional...
and The Fabulous Ones
The Fabulous Ones
The Fabulous Ones was a professional wrestling Tag team consisting of Stan Lane and Steve Keirn that was active between 1982 and 1987 with brief reunions during the 1990s...
, among other wrestlers in the Memphis area.
Professional wrestling career
Although teaming with numerous wrestlers during his career, Fargo was most successful with Don Fargo who together won the Chicago and Georgia versions of the NWA World Tag Team titles in 1958 and dominated the National Wrestling Alliance during late 1950s; their match against Argentina Rocca and Miguel PerezMiguel Perez
Miguel Pérez may refer to:*Miguel Pérez , Venezuelan baseball player*Miguel Pérez , Puerto Rican wrestler*Miguel Pérez, Jr., Puerto Rican wrestler*Miguel Perez , American TV actor...
was witnessed by a record breaking 20,125 people at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
on March 30, 1957. Jim Cornette
Jim Cornette
James Mark "Jim" Cornette is an American professional wrestling manager, commentator, promoter, and booker. As a manager, he has worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation and from 1991 to 1995, was the owner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling...
credits Fargo with popularising wild brawls and the use of tables and chairs in wrestling in the Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
area, which he sees as one of the origins of the later 'hardcore' wrestling style.
During the 1960s, Fargo won the NWA Georgia Tag Team title with Joe Fargo and Mario Milano as well as enjoying numerous title reigns capturing the NWA Southern Tag Team title with Don Fargo, Lester Welch, Tex Riley, Mario Milano
Mario Milano
Mario Bulfone, better known by his ring name Mario Milano is a former professional wrestler. Milano got his start in wrestling in Venezuela and later competed in the United States and Australia.-Early career:...
, Sonny Fargo, Len Rossi, Dennis Hall
Dennis Hall
Dennis Hall is a Greco-Roman wrestler from Hartford, Wisconsin, United States. Hall was a 10-time US National Champion, a World Champion, and 3-time USA Olympian. He won a Silver Medal at the 1996 Atlanta....
, Jerry Jarrett
Jerry Jarrett
Jerry W. Jarrett is an American promoter and former professional wrestler, and the father of wrestler Jeff Jarrett. He is the co-founder and former part-owner of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
, Mr. Wrestling and Lou Thesz
Lou Thesz
Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz was a United States professional wrestler and 18-time world heavyweight champion, most notably holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times. Combined, he held the NWA Championship for 10 years, three months and nine days , longer than anyone else in history...
.
A longtime mentor to many younger wrestlers in the Memphis area, he later became involved in a feud with former protege Jerry Lawler who defeated Fargo in a handicap match with Jim White
Jim White (wrestler)
James "Jim" White was an American professional wrestler during the 1960s and 1970s in the southern United States. He was the frequent tag team partner of Jerry Lawler.-Professional wrestling career:...
for the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship on March 28, 1973. Fargo later teamed with George Gulas and Tojo Yamamoto
Tojo Yamamoto
Harold Watanabe was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Tojo Yamamoto. He was born in Hawaii.-In-ring career:...
to capture the NWA Mid-America Tag Team title several times during the early 1970s, becoming the first NWA Six-Man Tag Team Championship along with Gulas and Dennis Hall in November 1973.
Although retiring in 1980, he joined Jerry Jarrett
Jerry Jarrett
Jerry W. Jarrett is an American promoter and former professional wrestler, and the father of wrestler Jeff Jarrett. He is the co-founder and former part-owner of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
's Memphis promotion to help The Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane
Stan Lane
Wallace Stanfield "Stan" Lane is an American professional wrestler, trained by Ric Flair, who started wrestling in 1974 in Championship Wrestling from Florida. For a brief time in Florida, he was nicknamed Nature Boy...
and Steve Keirn
Steve Keirn
Stephen "Steve" Paul Keirn is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for being part of the tag team The Fabulous Ones, with Stan Lane, and later for a run in the World Wrestling Federation as Skinner, a gimmick that portrayed him as a tobacco spitting alligator hunter from...
) in their feud against The Moondogs
Moondogs
The Moondogs were a professional wrestling stable in the World Wrestling Federation and in two Memphis promotions: the Continental Wrestling Association and the United States Wrestling Association...
before their departure in 1984 and retired shortly thereafter. Although presently in retirement, he has appeared on several shows for Jerry Jarrett's NWA-TNA
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...
promotion during the early 2000s.
Personal life
Henry's first wife was Fronia Blair and they had one daughter together named Jackie Mae; they later divorced. Henry then went on to marry high school sweetheart Janice Ozzy on October 20, 1971. They have four children and two grandchildren. They live in the small town of China Grove, North Carolina.Championships and accomplishments
- Georgia Championship WrestlingGeorgia Championship WrestlingGeorgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version)NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version)The Georgia version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship existed from 1954 until 1969.-Title history:-See also:*National Wrestling Alliance*NWA World Tag Team Championship*Georgia Championship Wrestling...
(1 time) with Don Fargo
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version)
- Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling
- NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Gulf Coast Version) (2 times) - with Joey Fargo (1) and Jack Donovan (1)
- NWA ChicagoNational Wrestling AllianceThe National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Chicago version)NWA World Tag Team Championship (Chicago version)The Chicago, Illinois version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship existed from 1953 until 1960, when the Chicago promotion became part of the American Wrestling Association.-Title history:...
(1 time) with Don Fargo
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Chicago version)
- NWA Mid-America / Continental Wrestling AssociationContinental Wrestling AssociationThe Continental 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 referred to as Mid-Southern Wrestling...
- AWA Southern Tag Team ChampionshipAWA Southern Tag Team ChampionshipThe AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship from its inception through 1977, when it was renamed the AWA Southern...
(1 time) - with Randy Fargo - NWA Mid-America Heavyweight ChampionshipNWA Mid-America Heavyweight ChampionshipThe NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title defended in the US states of Tennessee and Alabama.The title began in 1957 and lasted first 1980 when it was first abandoned when Jerry Jarrett took over the Mid-American titles from Nick Gulas...
(3 times) - NWA Mid-America Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Mid-America Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Mid-America tag-team championship was a tag-team title promoted by the NWA Mid America promotion that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky from the 1940ties until 1980...
(5 times) with Tojo YamamotoTojo YamamotoHarold Watanabe was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Tojo Yamamoto. He was born in Hawaii.-In-ring career:...
(2) and George Gulas (3) - NWA Six-Man Tag Team Championship (2 times) with George Gulas and Dennis Hall
- NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight ChampionshipNWA Southern Junior Heavyweight ChampionshipThe NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title for lighter wrestlers, board-controlled by the National Wrestling Alliance since December 1999....
(5 times) - NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version)AWA Southern Tag Team ChampionshipThe AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship from its inception through 1977, when it was renamed the AWA Southern...
(22 times) with Don Fargo (2), Lester Welch (3), Tex Riley (1), Mario Milano (2), Sonny Fargo (3), Len Rossi (2), Lou Thez (1), Dennis Hall (1), Jerry JarrettJerry JarrettJerry W. Jarrett is an American promoter and former professional wrestler, and the father of wrestler Jeff Jarrett. He is the co-founder and former part-owner of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
(4), Don Greene (2), and Randy Fargo (1) - NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version)NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version)The Mid-America version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship existed from 1957 until 1977. It was defended primarily in Tennessee and Alabama.-Title history:...
(15 times) with Don Fargo (9), Joe Fargo (1), Mario MilanoMario MilanoMario Bulfone, better known by his ring name Mario Milano is a former professional wrestler. Milano got his start in wrestling in Venezuela and later competed in the United States and Australia.-Early career:...
(1), Len Rossi (1) Herb Welch(1), Robert Fuller (1), and Jerry Jarrett (1)
- AWA Southern Tag Team Championship
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of FameWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of FameThe Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to the sport. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is not...
(Class of 1996)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
Finishing Move: Atomic Kneedrop
Favorite Moves: Roaring Forearm Smash