Bobby Duncum Sr. has died at the age of eighty-one.
The Cauliflower Alley Club released the news on Wednesday of his passing:
Our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and fans of the legendary Bobby Duncum, who has passed away at the age of 81. Bobby’s unique voice, toughness, dedication, and contributions to the sport left a lasting mark on professional wrestling. Rest in peace.
The former football player and professional wrestler was among the crop that transitioned from the NFL to professional wrestling.
Duncum Sr. was born on August 14, 1944, and played as a tackle at West Texas A&M, which was a factory for future pro wrestlers. Duncum Sr. set his sights on playing professionally and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1967 draft, but he only played four games.
Before being drafted, he had already delved into professional wrestling after being trained by future NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. His first listed match is from late 1966, although records may be incomplete. He was drafted in March 1967, and the Cardinals would go 6-7 later that year.
Duncum’s early career centered on West Texas before he ventured to the Central States and Florida, and he began wrestling full-time in 1969, following the end of his football career.
In Florida, he teamed with Dick Murdoch and had a brief stint as the promotion’s Southern heavyweight champion for one week before dropping the belt to George Gaizer.
Duncum would travel to Georgia Championship Wrestling and team with Stan Vachon and feuded with Bob Armstrong over the Macon version of the championship.
His first trip to Japan occurred in 1973 when he toured with All Japan during its infancy. On the tour, he wrestled against The Destroyer Dick Beyer, Jumbo Tsuruta, and 1964 Olympic Judo gold medalist Anton Geesink. He returned two years later and then shifted allegiances to New Japan Pro Wrestling in the next decade.
His arrival at Madison Square Garden was in October 1974, defeating Haystacks Calhoun in his debut at the famous arena to rocket him into a main event with champion Bruno Sammartino the next month. Duncum received back-to-back main events with the champion as the two had their first match stopped due to blood loss by each man, before Sammartino won the rematch in December.
His most consistent run occurred in the AWA, where he arrived in 1975 and would become a member of The Heenan Family alongside Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens. Shortly after, Blackjack Lanza came to the territory and joined the group, winning the AWA tag title with Duncum from area legends, Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher in July 1976. The pair held the belts for almost a year and were unseated by The High Flyers, Jim Brunzell and Greg Gagne.
While Duncum would be in and out of the AWA for the next decade, he traveled and worked in many parts of the country. Duncum returned to Florida and defeated Jerry Brisco for the Television Championship, dropping the belt to Dusty Rhodes, who was one of the top babyfaces in the country by then.
In the territory, he teamed with Killer Karl Kox and worked as “Spoiler II,” teaming with Don Jardine.
In 1979, Vince McMahon Sr. brought Duncum back for a series of matches with champion Bob Backlund, with another back-to-back set of matches at The Garden. The two wrestled in November with a non-finish, setting up a Texas Death Match the next month, where Backlund prevailed. Duncum would wrestle Andre the Giant in MSG in April 1980 and had his final match at the arena in December 1980, wrestling Antonio Inoki for the NWF title underneath Backlund vs. Killer Khan.
Duncum switched Japanese promotions in 1981 and toured with New Japan Pro Wrestling as part of the MSG Series (a precursor to the G1 Climax), which was won by Inoki and stacked with Stan Hansen, Hulk Hogan, Tiger Jeet Singh, Tatsumi Fujinami, and Riki Choshu. Duncum finished with fourteen points.
He returned two years later for the MSG Tag League, teaming with twenty-five-year-old Curt Hennig. Sixteen years later, Hennig would ally with Duncum’s son when the two were part of WCW.
Throughout the latter stages of Duncum’s career, he wrestled as ‘The Mummy’ in Southwest Championship Wrestling and wound down in 1986.
His son Bobby played in the Arena Football League and started wrestling in 1989. He worked for Global in Texas, where he teamed with John Layfield, toured with All Japan, and was signed by WCW in 1998 at the height of the Monday Night War. Duncum Jr’s biggest run occurred with Hennig, Barry & Kendall Windham as the West Texas Rednecks in 1999. The group was aimed as heels to feud with Master P’s No Limit Soldiers, but became babyfaces to the crowd and had an accidental hit song with “Rap is Crap”, which received radio play.
Duncum Jr. died of a drug overdose in January 2000 at 34 and was among a sea of wrestling tragedies during the era.
