Initially, the promoters refused to accommodate monroes fans, but sputnik monroe was not going to go down without a fight. His mother remarried and his stepfather adopted him, changing his name to rock monroe brumbaugh. The pro wrestler who fought segregation in 1950s memphis. According to variety, hbo found his life story so fascinating. He was a headliner in many territories, and was best known in memphis, tennessee, where he and billy wicks set an attendance record that lasted until the monday night wars boom period. Roscoe monroe brumbaugh better known by his ring name sputnik monroe, was an american. He was a white professional wrestler that helped integrate the sport all throughout the south in the 1950s.
Memphis wrestling history is happy to announce our line of window card shirts. They were a bit raw, but oozed talent and potential. There was a threat of seizure of the city al quaryatayn in syria. A sputnik monroe display at the memphis rock and soul museum. Sputnik monroe was memphis wrestlings most loved bad guy. The white man in front of his bench was roscoe monroe merrick, better known by his stage name of sputnik monroe.
Npr s tom goldman and sputnik monroe sputnik wanted more of his fans to get into the auditorum, so he bribed a door attendant to miscount the number of african americans admitted. Williams talked about his book my soul looks back in wonder. The sputnik program was a series of five space missions launched by the soviet union in the late 1950s. Check out sputnik monroe by sputnik monroe on amazon music. When people think of wrestler sputnik monroes records, they think of his stance against segregation and his wrestling titles. The early days of memphis wrestling, is one of the best collections of black and white sports photos ive ever seen and a hell of a lot of fun. My favorite photo of sputnik monroe, image from the university of. Sputnik had won the belt the night before in a 16 man tournament in memphis, tennessee. At seventeen, he was wrestling all comers at county fairs. Sputnik monroe was dressed to the hilt, black suit, white shirt, and red tie.
Seattle wrestling reunion, july 1718, 1998 any story worth telling is worth embellishing. Nprs tom goldman and melissa gray profiled sputnik monroe back in 2001. A paranoid yarn with literary flair and real feeling, sputniks children combines broken families, fractured timelines, comic book trivia and radioactivity into a delightful, explosive read. Otis gibbs is a man in search of an honest experience. An early civil rights pioneer, sputnik would become a legend for just being himself.
I havent read all our wrong todays yet its going on my list but ive met elan mastai, who was a contributor to pacn heat, an anthology chapbook i co. This book is the first and only comprehensive photographic and word portrait of big. He was a fixture in the black community of memphis, and in 2002 was honored with an exhibit at the memphis rock n soul museum, as one of the first to advocate the integration of public events. Dominik parisien, author of the starlit wood in this arresting debut novel, favro the proxy bride, 2012 has crafted a delightful, timeywimey gem that manages to temper its. Monroe was a headliner in many territories, and was best known in memphismemphis. The first of these spacecraft, sputnik 1, was the first artificial. Pentagon denies claims of training daesh in syria sputnik. Voices of civil rights movement more about this book on npr. December 18, 1928 november 3, 2006 better known by his ring name sputnik monroe, was an american professional wrestler. Monroes tremendous influence was given an entire chapter in cultural historian robert gordons it came from memphis, a book which looks at the towns rich musical heritage that nurtured elvis presley and the stax soul sound, as well as its eccentric, largerthanlife characters like monroe, who insisted on integrated crowds at his.
With his incredible drawing power that often attracted 15,000 or so fans to shows, monroe helped bring professional wrestling to new heights during an incredible career that. It was his job to make wrestling fans hate him so much, that they would lay down their hard earned money to see. The old ellis auditorium in the convention center was the site of wrestling matches in the 1950s and 60s that drew crowds of 5000 people to watch. Sputnik monroe december 18, 1928november 3, 2006 was a professional wrestler from the mid 1940s through the early 1970s. Around this time, monroe attended a memphis rodeo event, at which he antagonized several white patrons by urging them to have their cowboy boots shined. In an npr interview, sputnik recalls, i took knives away from guys and cut them on the arm. Ron halls new book sputnik, masked men, and midgets. The day shown for national sputnik monroe day is based off how much chitterchatter and buzz there was on march 24, 2017 across social media making references to sputnik monroe day.
Around his waist was the southern states heavyweight wrestling championship belt. Libya, syria and a migration issue remain the main bones of contention for italy and france, michela mercuri, associate professor of modern history at the university of macerata and author of incognita libia unknown libya, told sputnik italy the academic emphasized that rome and paris are pursuing different strategic goals in libya, stressing that its all because of oil. Sputnik is designed both for classroom use at the universitycollege level as well as a helpful selfstudy guide for beginning learners of russian. Russian general staff chief valery gerasimov said this week us instructors were training islamic state daesh or isis militants at two military bases, where us special forces operate, to boost rebel ranks. Ecw press a canadian indie book publisher publishing. Sputnik wrestled against prejudice washington times. Sputnik monroe was a bad guy or heel who wrestled in memphis in the late 1950s. Sputnik monroe listen and stream free music, albums, new. Sputnik monroe by sputnik monroe on amazon music amazon. Sputniks children shares some of the same metaphorical territory.
Youll be taken to the ordering page on and you can select all the specifics for your shirt, including. List of books and articles about sputnik online research. It covers events leading up to the launch of the soviet unions sputnik i satellite in october 1957, and analyzes cultural and political reactions after the fact. Memphis, tn sputnik monroe started a revolution in local wrestling when he moved to memphis in the 1950s. Wrestler rock sputnik monroe was at the pinnacle of memphis wrestling 40 years ago when his swagger and largerthanlife personality sold out local arenas. At the time they were from california and were friends with several other bands that i really enjoyed. The pro wrestler who bodyslammed jim crow foundation for. Historian john ferling talked about his book, apostles of revolution. Jefferson, paine, monroe, and the struggle against the old order in. He also was singlehandily responsible for integrating the arena used for wrestling in memphis ellis auditorium. He was born rocco monroe digrazio in dodge city, kansas. Maury high, who died monday, capitalized on his resemblance to the legendary sputnik monroe to form a championship brother tag team, winning belts in in florida, georgia, and mississippi in 1967. Sputnik liked the challenge of doing things society and culture didnt want to do, wicks told greg oliver and steven johnson for their 2007 book the pro wrestling hall of fame. Our algorithms examine all of the references to national days across social media and updates hourly, with our homepage displaying the.
Todd kaneko is the author of the dead wrestler elegies 2014. The shock of the century is one of the few book length overviews of the event that launched the space age. The author provides a stepbystep introduction to russian with clear and simple explanations of. Article with interview clips from npr monroe site at georgia wrestling history. There are a variety of other classes of soviet spacecraft that are referred to as sputniks by americans, however only the first five were part of the soviet sputnik program. Sputnik monroes profile including the latest music, albums, songs, music videos and more updates. Sputnik monroe roscoe brumbaugh was a professional wrestler that took memphis to the sports forefront during the late fifties. Long past his glory days, the wrestler was living in an apartment in. Dean silverstone led harry elliott by the arm over to see lou thesz.