Remembering Woody Durham

After Charlie Harville left WFMY in 1963 to join WGHP 8, Woody Durham became the sports director at WFMY 2. Mr. Durham left WFMY in 1977. He became the news/sports director at WRDU 28 in Durham, NC effective September 1, 1977.

Wrestling in Pilot Mountain 1970

Jim Crockett & The Becker Bros.

The photo above is from April 1954. On the left is Bobby Becker, Promoter Jim Crockett is seated in the center and on the right is George Becker. Bobby Becker passed away on Thanksgiving day in 1954.

Jim Crockett,Promoter

That is boxer Tony Galento in the photo with Jim Crockett. Tony Galento was coming in as a special referee on a wrestling show. Jim Crockett moved to North Carolina in 1933. In early 1940, Mr. Crockett acquired a building in Greensboro,NC at Neeses Hall on the corner of Washington and Davie Streets. The building was completely renovated and painted.Then new seating and a lounge for the ladies was added.This building was transformed into an arena for wrestling,boxing and other types of shows. The first wrestling show was held there on Wednesday night April 17,1940.For much of the forties and fifties, Jim Crockett promoted weekly wrestling events on Wednesday's in Greensboro.

August 7, 1969 High Point, NC

High Point July 10,1969

Jim Crockett Sr. ran several live wrestling events in High Point,NC during the sixties.

International Wrestling Association

Remember IWA Wrestling on WXII channel 12 in Winston-Salem, NC? This clipping comes from the personal collection of wrestler/referee Mike Wray. The matches previewed in this article took place in Mount Airy, NC on Sept.24,1975.

Wrestling & Coca-Cola

This ticket was issued in the sixties by Coca-Cola. The wrestlers who autograhed it were Penny Banner, George Becker, Billy Two-Rivers, Tiny Anderson, Big Boy Brown and Brenda Scott.

Wrestling in Winston-Salem

Remember the Pro Wrestling shows presented by Jim Crockett Promotions in the old Winston-Salem Coliseum? I attended shows there from 1965 into the eighties. From 1964-1974, the Championship Wrestling program on WGHP channel 8 in High Point played a huge role in advertising these shows. Charlie Harville would interview the wrestlers at ringside about these arena shows. To me those were the glory years of wrestling in the Piedmont.