Folks who grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s can still recall those Saturday afternoon pro wrestling matches on TV, a primitive (and often corny) forerunner of today’s Friday Night SmackDown. During Black History Month, it’s only fitting that we pay tribute to the athlete who broke down racial barriers for the sport, Bobo Brazil. The 6′6”, 270-lb. Michigan native is regarded as wrestling’s Jackie Robinson, rising to popularity during an era of segregation when African-Americans were banned from many hotels and restaurants. He handled the adversity with an inspiring dignity.  Bobo spent parts of five decades in the ring, capturing nearly 50 titles and stoking rivalries with such legendary personalities as The Sheik, Andre the Giant, Killer Kowalski, Dick the Bruiser and Abdullah the Butcher. Several of his crowns were won right here in Ohio, which has embraced the spandex superstars for nearly a century. Bobo made his wrestling debut in 1951 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1994. Today’s flamboyant grapplers like MVP, Mark Henry and King Booker can certainly appreciate the difficult path that Brazil paved for them during the early years of pro wrestling. Click here to see the pioneer in action, along with a bevy of beefy brutes—an unusal 3-ton, 2-ring free-for-all!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Friday Night Smackdown. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.