We have lost the man from Sweetwater Texas. My longtime friend and 1/2 of the Infamous Blackjacks Mulligan and Lanza, Managed by Pretty Boy Bobby Heenan!
I cannot believe he has passed on, but I know he is resting from a long illness which really wore him down.
So many comments and articles have mentioned him from WCW and WWF, but I will highlight his WWA and AWA days.as well as Professional Football.
A big man, BJM was seen as a young man as a prospective football player by his coaches in High School.
He excelled on the football field, and eventually served his country by joining the USMC.
He went from a street fighter to a competent fighting machine skilled and able.
Professional Football was calling and BJM played professionally with the new York jets until a severe leg injury took him off the field.
The squared circle was going to be the new game plan.
Under the AWA BJM developed into a Professional Wrestler feared by many.
Blackjack Lanza befriended Mulligan and a Tag Team that was as rough as they come was formed. Managed by Pretty Boy Bobby Heenan, they team took off in Chicago.
September 1, 1972 was the top of the ladder!
The Steel Cage Match where the Blackjacks and bobby Heenan were locked in a Steel Cage with not only The Wrestler Who made Milwaukee Famous The Crusher, and The Worlds Most Dangerous Wrestler Dick The Bruiser, but Professional Boxing Champion Jersey Joe Walcott for the referee!!
The cold wind blew in off Lake Michigan at Soldiers Field as construction left part of the wall open.
The Blood was everywhere as the toughest guys in town went at it, and the bloodbath was the talk of the Professional Wrestling World. Not much thanks to Bill Aptor or any of the magazines of the day, but it still was on top!
Promoter Bob Luce had his dreams come true on this! Mulligan to me many times that the cold Chicago wind was colder than any he ever felt.
This was a card he would never forget.
And at Classic Professional Wrestling, we will never you Blackjack Mulligan!
