The first champion was crowned in 1939 and until 1974 was called the Southern Junior Heavy Weight title. The Championship was changed in 1974 to the Southern Heavyweight Title..
For a history of the Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship CLICK HERE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_Southern_Junior_Heavyweight_Championship
For a History of the Southern Heavyweight Championship, Click Here http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-h.html
For a list of Mid South Coliseum Cards starting in 1971 CLICK HERE http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/memphis/
Lou Thesz
Ron Wright
Bob Armstrong
Jackie Fargo
Brother Frank Jares
Johnny Long
Robert Fuller
Below Picture of Paul Orndorff with Southern Title
Many THANKS TO DAVID MILLICAN, BEAU JAMES, JUSTIN CASE, SEAN REEDY AND MANY MORE FOR THEIR HELP ON THIS PROJECT.
Every true Wrestling Fans wants their own Championship belt. Without a doubt the ultimate belt expert and the best belt designer and maker in the world is Dave Millican. To check out Dave's great work CLICK HERE http://www.davemillicanbelts.com/dmbelts.htm
Hi may I know the source of the Lou Thesz pic in this lists? thank you
ReplyDeleteJust getting to this episode of the podcast and wanted to throw in a few Joe Gunther facts. Joe Gunther was born and raised in Nashville and was one of the top light heavyweight wrestlers in the 1930s-1940s. He had no children, so no relation to Joey Gunther, the amateur. Joe Gunther was a protege of old time middleweight wrestler Chris Jordan, the man who established the first major territory in the South. Gunther took over Jordan's promotion after Jordan's untimely death in 1940.
ReplyDeleteWhile Jordan, based in Birmingham, ran shows all over Alabama, and into Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, north Florida and Louisiana, when Gunther took over, he contracted the territory a bit, ceding North Alabama and Tennessee to Roy Welch and Nick Gulas. Gunther moved to New Orleans and ran the Southern part of Alabama from there for another 10+ years before finally selling. While in New Orleans, Gunther got the horse racing bug, and owned a few horses. After his marriage broke up, he ended up moving to Iowa to raise horses for the last 20 years or so of his life. In Alabama in the 1930s, Gunther, Freddie Knichel and Charlie Kuehn were sort of the Lawler, Dundee, Valiant of the territory, always drawing good houses when they worked with or against each other.
Not widely known, but Nick Gulas also got his start in the mid-1930s under Chris Jordan, before Gulas moved to Nashville.