Goodbye to Pedro Morales at the age of 76.
Morales was the first man to hold title reigns with both the WWF (then the WWWF) title and the Inter-Continental title.
Morales' reign as WWWF champion came way before my time, but his Shea Stadium match vs fellow "babyface" Bruno Sammartino that went to a time limit draw in 1972 was the biggest gate for a pro wrestling match in New York for years.
My best memories (or worst as a "heel" fan) of Morales were when he became the I-C champion defeating TRS favorite Ken Patera in December of 1980 when Patera was on his way from leaving the territory before a series of matches in 1981 where he dropped the title to another noted TRS favorite in the Magnificent Muraco in Philadelphia in June 1981 before winning it back in December in Madison Square Garden.
Muraco would return to the territory in January of 1983 and defeat Morales for the title at the Garden.
Muraco moved onto bigger things, but that would not be the case for the aging Morales, who was not the type of wrestler that would click with a national audience that was not very familiar with him.
Many other older grapplers were in the same boat as McMahon expanded and Morales rarely was defeated at first, but his opponents became lower and lower on the cards as Morales lost more than a step before retiring in 1987.
Goodbye to Rocky Lockridge at the age of 60.
Lockridge, who has become somewhat famous for a crying event on a show called "Intervention" is more famous to fight fans for his 93 second knockout of then-undefeated Roger Mayweather to win the WBA junior lightweight title and later reign as the IBF champion in the same division.
The rugged Lockridge was ironically not a huge puncher, but he forever changed the career of Mayweather (uncle of Floyd Jr) who would still continue with a successful career but never fought in the same manner again as Mayweather changed his style to protect his vulnerable chin.
Lockridge had burst on the scene in 1980 with a split decision loss to WBA featherweight champion Eusebio Pedroza, that was more remembered for the dirty tactics of the future Hall of Famer that for any action in particular.
Lockridge would be knocked out in two by Juan LaPorte and lose another close decision to Pedroza before he moved to 130 pounds, where he would find his greatest success in defeating Mayweather and Tony "the Tiger" Lopez to win titles, but other than the Mayweather KO, he again was best defined by defeats to more Hall of Famers, losing his WBA title to Wilfredo Gomez in Puerto Rico by a majority decision that was so terrible that Gomez "the winner" was so badly beaten that Gomez wouldn't fight for over a year (common today, but not then) and was dominated and knocked out by the undistinguished Alfredo Layne in his return.
Lockridge would also lose a majority decision in a challenge for Julio Cesar Chavez and his WBC title, the even card turned in by one judge was the first card that Chavez had not won by that stage of his career.
Lockridge had battled homelessness and drug addiction since leaving boxing and had been in nursing homes of late having suffered several strokes over the last few years.
Goodbye to Bob Friend at the age of 88.
Friend, who finished with a losing career record for the Pirates, spent all but the final season of his 16-year career in Pittsburgh and won 20 games for the 1960 world champions.
Friend is still the Pirates all-time leader in starts, innings pitched and strikeouts, 54 years since he last pitched for the team.
Friend also won 20 games in 1958 along with winning the league ERA title in 1955 for the last place Pirates.
Goodbye to Les Thornton at the age of 84.
England's Thornton was best known for his reigns as NWA and WWF junior heavyweight champion along with brief stays at the beginning of the WWF expansion and Georgia Championship Wrestling.
Thornton was one of the few Georgia wrestlers that accepted Vince McMahon's offer of a job that McMahon likely thought no one would accept.
Thornton won a few television matches and I remember doing a Piper's Pit before shortly leaving.
Thornton was noted for his real-life shooting (actual wrestling) ability and was involved in the death of Dory Funk Sr. outside the ring.
Funk supposedly said that he could escape a particular hold of Thornton's on his ranch in 1973.
Funk escaped the hold, but the strain caused a heart attack that proved to be fatal.
Goodbye to Pat Caddell at the age of 68.
Caddell, who in recent years had drifted rightwards on the political dial, was a key part of the team that not only that won the Democratic nomination for George McGovern in 1972, but won the Presidency for Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Caddell worked in many prominent campaigns for the White House after Carter but never worked for another successful campaign and the pollster's last swing was with Jerry Brown in 1992.
Caddell was prominent for years as a media pundit for various networks, most recently with Fox News and served as an advisor to Republican contributor Robert Mercer in 2016.
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