This is the fourth part of a series on John Ringley, a trusted confidant of the late Jim Crockett Sr. and an influential force in Jim Crockett Promotions during the late 1960s and early '70s.
Before the Carolinas and Virginia evolved into a territory where the major emphasis was placed on singles performers and singles programs in the early 1970s, the circuit had become known as a hotbed for tag-team wrestling throughout the '60s.
Rare was the occasion when a singles bout headlined a show during that period. With the exception of a world or regional singles title defense, the majority of mat cards were headlined by some of the top teams in the business.
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One of the many tag teams that dominated the Crockett territory during the '60s was the villainous tandem of Skull Murphy and Brute Bernard.
John Ringley knew both men well.
"I liked them a lot. John (Skull) was very quiet if he was around someone he really didn't know. And Jim (Brute) was the same way. John would do the talking and Jim would walk back and forth doing those interviews. He'd see if I was there and look over at me and grin. He was a real hoot."
Drawing heat
Two of the scariest and most feared heels pro wrestling has ever seen, the Canadian-born grapplers ran roughshod through the Carolinas during the '60s. Their notoriety, though, was known far and wide.
To accentuate the "danger" surrounding the two, promoters would sometimes advise fans in the ringside area to vacate their seats if they felt at all uneasy about being in close proximity to the chrome-domed Murphy and Bernard. Oftentimes before announcers even had the chance to finish their sentence, many ringside customers had already fled to the safer confines of the balcony.
Murphy, with an intense and deliberate tone, did the talking for the team during interviews, vowing to not only beat his opponents, but to cripple them, while the maniacal Bernard would circle around his partner, gyrating his hips, moving his arms in a twist-like fashion, and grunting and drooling like a madman.
Sports John Ringley took shows on the road with Crockett Promotions By Mike Mooneyham Special to The Post and Courier
The hairless terrors were villains of the first order, stopping at nothing to draw heat, long before the lines between "good guys" and "bad guys" became blurred in the wrestling world. It was an era of "true believers," and the crowd responded to Murphy and Bernard with both fear and anger. Few of their bouts ever ended without security escorting them back to the dressing room, and sometimes riots would break out in the arena.
The 6-2, 270-pound Brute, whose real name was James Prudhomme, was known for tearing up ringside furniture and using it on his helpless opponents; the sadistic-looking Murphy usually finished off his foes with his signature head butt.
While Murphy was more of a methodical worker in the ring, cold and calculating, "Brute was a heel that made the people believe, and was always pushing the limits in a match," recalled Les Thatcher.
Skull's final bell
Outside the ring, John Joseph Murphy and Jim Prudhomme were close friends, sharing a Canadian background and nearly a decade of traveling on the road from city to city.
Murphy, who was billed from County Cork, Ireland, but was actually a native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, was stricken with scarlet fever as a child, a condition that prevented him from growing any hair on his body. He also battled with severe depression for most of his adult life.
Ringley will never forget the day before Murphy's sudden death.
"John (Murphy) had brought his son over on a Sunday afternoon," recalled Ringley, who was at a boat show at the Charlotte Coliseum. "He found a boat that he liked. It was a yellow boat made by Dixie Boats up in Newton (North Carolina). He said, 'Tell the guy not to take that because I'm going to come back tomorrow and buy it.'"
That would be the last time Ringley would see Murphy alive.
"Sandy Scott called me up at 7:30 the next morning and said, 'John's dead.'"
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John Joseph Murphy's life came to a tragic end on March 23, 1970, before a scheduled main event at Charlotte's Park Center in which he and Bernard were scheduled to face The Kentuckian (Grizzly Smith) and Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods). His wife had found him unconscious in his Charlotte apartment, and in a panic called one of his friends (and ring rival) George Scott, another Hamiltonian who had known Skull as a veteran when he was getting into wrestling and who lived nearby.
Scott discovered Murphy lifeless with an empty bottle of sleeping pills beside him. Murphy, at age 39, had overdosed on the pills in an apparent suicide.
"When they made trips to Australia, they would give them sleeping pills to make the trip back," noted Ringley. "And John's brother-in-law had died of cancer, and it was an agonizing thing that he went through. John got a pain and was sitting there (in his apartment) drinking Scotch and took the sleeping pills and committed suicide. When they did the autopsy, they found that he only had appendicitis. He thought he had cancer."
"Jim came to our office with tears in his eyes," recalled Ringley. "What about me," asked Bernard. "Jim, don't you worry about you, you'll be fine,' he was reassured. "He was afraid of being fired."
Friends said Bernard never quite got over his friend and partner's death.
"It affected my dad very badly. He was hurt, like anybody would be," Tony Prudhomme, Bernard's son, said in the 2005 book "The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams."
The Brute wrestled for another decade and teamed with other partners along the way, but it never was the same. Past his prime and dealing with physical issues, he was forced to hang up his tights for good in the early '80s.
In 1984, 14 years after losing his partner, the 63-year-old Bernard died from a gunshot wound. It was not determined if his death was a suicide or an accident.
"They were both good people," Ringley said of the team that fans feared.
Did you know ...
Tully Blanchard, a member of the original Four Horsemen, was a former standout quarterback at West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M).
Blanchard started for three seasons before graduating in 1977. Two of his West Texas State teammates -- tight end Merced Solis (Tito Santana) and defensive tackle Ted DiBiase -- would also pursue pro wrestling careers.
On this date
Forty-seven years ago today on this date (Dec. 15, 1977): Terry and Dory Funk Jr. defeated Abdullah The Butcher and The Sheik via disqualification to win the inaugural All Japan Pro Wrestling Real World Tag League tournament in Tokyo.
The brothers would team in 10 Tag Leagues between 1977 and 1990, winning on three occasions and being forever linked to its lineage.
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Reach Mike Mooneyham at [email protected], or follow him on X at @ByMikeMooneyham and on Facebook at Facebook.com/MikeMooneyham. His latest book -- "Final Bell" -- is available at evepostbooks.com and on Amazon.com