Sputnik Monroe was an American professional wrestler and civil rights activist.
The death of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea) got me to thinking about the wrestlers I watched on tv and saw in person back in the late 50s and early 60s.
Even as a kid, I enjoyed the 'showman,'
who often was the 'heel' the name given to the villain or bad guy in wrestling lingo back in the day.
One who stood out was a guy called Sputnik Monroe.
Roscoe Monroe Brumbaugh (born Rosco Monroe Merrick in Dodge City, KS) was better known by his ring name Sputnik Monroe.
He began wrestling at carnivals in 1945.
He used the names Elvis Rock Monroe,
Pretty Boy Roque, Rock Monroe, finally in 1957 deciding on Sputnik Monroe, taken from the Russian satellite Sputnik 1.
The country at the time feared that the U.S. had fallen behind the enemy Russians in the implementation of space and weapons programs deemed crucial to national security. So the word Sputnik was a thorn on most people’s side and a very sore topic.
His jet black hair was done in a pompadour, and had a white section in the front. This was the result of a head wound after being hit with a wooden chair that left numerous deep splinters and as it healed, white hair grew back. Fact or fiction? Only he knew for sure, but it's a good story, right?
He had two tattoos on his chest, one a pig, the other, a bear. On each forearm he had tattoos that he acquired while serving in the US Navy.
He often would "strut" as he approached the ring. Monroe arrogantly stated to the viewing public that he was “235 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal with a body that women loved and men feared.” He was truly a promoter’s dream in that he possessed the good looks, physique and flamboyant charisma needed to bring professional wrestling into the spotlight.
Monroe spent much of his time wrestling in the southern states, for some period in Memphis, TN. though it was in Fort Worth, TX. that I got to see him up close and personal. All I saw was a flamboyant showman, playing the role of the bad guy for all it was worth.
How little did I know.
He was a rebel in the Jim Crow era, but was no Johnny Reb.
In 1957, while driving to a wrestling show in Alabama, Monroe became tired and invited a black hitchhiker he met at a gas station to take the wheel. Upon arriving at the arena, Monroe placed his arm around the man, which drew a chorus of boos and insults from the white crowd; in response to this Monroe kissed the man on the cheek. Monroe would later use this underlying racism as a promotional tactic and become a noteworthy figure in Memphis cultural history.
Perhaps it also mirrored the fear and/or confusion some people felt when they saw a white man fraternizing so openly with a person of color, and a kiss between two males in the conservative South no less!
Most didn’t know what to make of this outlandish, unique-looking brawler who sported the white streak of hair and ignored the current established norms society had in place when it came to race relationships.
Let me step in here at this point and tell you that even as a young man in Kansas, Monroe could never understand why people of all colors could not live together in harmony, so his strong feelings for equality was no publicity stunt. It was a deeply held belief.
During a period where legal segregation was the norm at public events, and during a general decline in the popularity of professional wrestling, Monroe recognized that the segregated wrestling shows (whites sat in floor seats while blacks were required to sit in the balcony) were not properly marketing to black fans. The witty, flamboyant Monroe began dressing up in a purple gown and carrying a diamond tipped cane and drinking in traditionally black bars in the black area of Memphis, where he would openly socialize with black patrons and hand out tickets to his wrestling shows.
As a result of this, he was frequently arrested by police on a variety of vague, trumped up charges, such as mopery, a minor offense like loitering or as
Monroe describes it, "an old southern vagrancy thing they made up," and disorderly conduct, for merely socializing or drinking in an establishment with black people.
These were examples of the Jim Crow laws still being enforced even though they had been outlawed in 1954. In essence, they mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in the states formerly of the Confederacy. This was known as "separate but equal."
In each case, he would then hire a black attorney and appear in court, pay a small fine, and immediately resume the behavior that resulted in his prior arrests. Due to this, and in spite of the fact that he was a heel (villain) at the time, his popularity soared among the black community. At his shows, although floor seats in arenas would be half empty with white patrons, the balcony would be packed to capacity with black patrons with many others unable to enter due to the balcony selling out.
His over the top interviews and overwhelming self-confidence would soon bring hatred from fans. That’s exactly what Monroe wanted.
At every opportunity, the also nicknamed "Sweet Man" relished in demonstrating a gaudy strut like a rooster as if eternally taunting the raucous crowd and goading them to react.
He had a gruff voice and trash-talked throughout his interviews, with his outlandish boasts wowing the crowd, bringing attention to himself, and, more importantly, bringing people to the wrestling shows. The more disparaging, the more ticket sales.
Sputnik Monroe became a cultural icon known to kiss black babies, drape his arms around black friends, and generally acted like he was oblivious to the racial divide the South and much of the United States was experiencing during the mid-1950s and most of the ’60s.
Monroe, having become the biggest wrestling draw in the territory, soon refused to perform unless patrons, regardless of their race, were allowed to sit in any seat at the Ellis Auditorium.
As a result, the promoter was obliged to desegregate his wrestling shows, which then completely sold out with Monroe's black fans, in some cases over 15,000 at a time, filling the auditorium. Soon, other Southern sporting events, recognizing the enormous financial benefits, began to desegregate as well.
Monroe really began to draw large crowds in a time when Memphis wrestling was not doing particularly well. For the most part, these people truly hated him, but nonetheless, they were paying customers that had not been regularly coming to the shows beforehand.
He single-handedly desegregated the spectators from the wrestling community. Monroe exhorted praise from the crowd, but not from the posh front rows which seated the white observers, but from the auditorium’s small upper rafters whose fans observed almost in the shadows.
He focused on the nosebleed section, also called "The crow’s nest," where the blacks were seated, bunched together and segregated in the former Ellis Auditorium located in Memphis, Tennessee.
He, a white man from Kansas, was focusing on the most down-trodden and much less economically well-to-do fans, the fans who had been pushed way up into the darkness to occupy the worst seats in the house.
Being a white man infuriated most of his peers and put his family in grave danger. If one man was responsible for the desegregation of sporting events in the state of Tennessee, and later possibly the whole of the South, it was Sputnik Monroe.
Sputnik Monroe was a bad guy in the ring, but a hero on the outside who challenged the status quo of racial segregation in the south.
At the time, Ellis Auditorium, like practically all public venues in the South, segregated its seating. The area for "blacks only" was very controlled by the building administration, but Monroe took it upon himself to bribe the employee that counted the number of black people who entered and so he would report a much lower number to his supervisor.
This led to more black fans being able to enter the building. When they didn’t fit in the area assigned to them anymore, the administration was forced to integrate the seating. This allowed them to mingle with the white fans in the lower sections.
Monroe used his popularity and coerced the promoters and venues to allow more black people to enter.
There were times when several thousand black fans were not allowed to enter the building, not because they didn’t have tickets, but because the area designated to them was full. So Monroe usually got his way when threatening to no-show if his black friends were not let inside to enjoy the show too.
Monroe dressed outlandishly as a "diamond ring and Cadillac man" and socialized at black bars and restaurants (called Negro Cafes), as confirmed by his daughter Natalie.
"Monroe was hated so much because of his activity with the blacks. He would spend his weekend on Beale Street and promoting wrestling and hanging out at the black bars and restaurants.
"They absolutely idolized him and thought he was some kind of hero. I really don’t know how else to explain it. I know that he always felt that they didn’t get a fair shake in life, and he wanted to make things better for them."
Monroe’s point in all this was equality, and he used his craft to promote social change. But the bottom line in wrestling is money, and money is colorblind. It was their livelihood and that the only color that should matter was green (as in money) and not what skin color the paying customers happened to be born with.
Wrestling historian and writer Scott Teal from Crowbar Press calls Sputnik Monroe a "civil rights icon." Jerry "The King" Lawler, a WWE Hall of Famer and Memphis wrestling legend in his own right, praises Monroe as well. "He really changed, especially in the South, the culture of wrestling… He broke the color barrier as far as people attending wrestling matches.
His battle wounds would be sewn together with thousands of surgical stitches in emergency rooms and clinics throughout the South. Sputnik Monroe was the ultimate bad guy and innovator of the anti-establishment hero. He possessed a complete understanding of the sport of professional wrestling and in the ring, performed like no other. The man who started his career as a carnival wrestler would leave his mark on the wrestling world for both his toughness and his stand for integration in Memphis. Sputnik Monroe served as a champion for a segment of the Memphis population that badly needed one. There will never be another one like him.
Sputnik Monroe died on November 3, 2006 in Edgewater, Florida after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 77 years old.
Sources:
Sputnik Monroe | The Wrestling Rebel Who Challenged Racial Divide
By Javier Ojst
Sputnik Monroe: The Man Who Defeated Jim Crow in Memphis
By Jeff Droke
Wikipedia.
My personal remeberances.
Even as a kid, I enjoyed the 'showman,'
who often was the 'heel' the name given to the villain or bad guy in wrestling lingo back in the day.
One who stood out was a guy called Sputnik Monroe.
Roscoe Monroe Brumbaugh (born Rosco Monroe Merrick in Dodge City, KS) was better known by his ring name Sputnik Monroe.
He began wrestling at carnivals in 1945.
He used the names Elvis Rock Monroe,
Pretty Boy Roque, Rock Monroe, finally in 1957 deciding on Sputnik Monroe, taken from the Russian satellite Sputnik 1.
The country at the time feared that the U.S. had fallen behind the enemy Russians in the implementation of space and weapons programs deemed crucial to national security. So the word Sputnik was a thorn on most people’s side and a very sore topic.
His jet black hair was done in a pompadour, and had a white section in the front. This was the result of a head wound after being hit with a wooden chair that left numerous deep splinters and as it healed, white hair grew back. Fact or fiction? Only he knew for sure, but it's a good story, right?
He had two tattoos on his chest, one a pig, the other, a bear. On each forearm he had tattoos that he acquired while serving in the US Navy.
He often would "strut" as he approached the ring. Monroe arrogantly stated to the viewing public that he was “235 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal with a body that women loved and men feared.” He was truly a promoter’s dream in that he possessed the good looks, physique and flamboyant charisma needed to bring professional wrestling into the spotlight.
Monroe spent much of his time wrestling in the southern states, for some period in Memphis, TN. though it was in Fort Worth, TX. that I got to see him up close and personal. All I saw was a flamboyant showman, playing the role of the bad guy for all it was worth.
How little did I know.
He was a rebel in the Jim Crow era, but was no Johnny Reb.
In 1957, while driving to a wrestling show in Alabama, Monroe became tired and invited a black hitchhiker he met at a gas station to take the wheel. Upon arriving at the arena, Monroe placed his arm around the man, which drew a chorus of boos and insults from the white crowd; in response to this Monroe kissed the man on the cheek. Monroe would later use this underlying racism as a promotional tactic and become a noteworthy figure in Memphis cultural history.
Perhaps it also mirrored the fear and/or confusion some people felt when they saw a white man fraternizing so openly with a person of color, and a kiss between two males in the conservative South no less!
Most didn’t know what to make of this outlandish, unique-looking brawler who sported the white streak of hair and ignored the current established norms society had in place when it came to race relationships.
Let me step in here at this point and tell you that even as a young man in Kansas, Monroe could never understand why people of all colors could not live together in harmony, so his strong feelings for equality was no publicity stunt. It was a deeply held belief.
During a period where legal segregation was the norm at public events, and during a general decline in the popularity of professional wrestling, Monroe recognized that the segregated wrestling shows (whites sat in floor seats while blacks were required to sit in the balcony) were not properly marketing to black fans. The witty, flamboyant Monroe began dressing up in a purple gown and carrying a diamond tipped cane and drinking in traditionally black bars in the black area of Memphis, where he would openly socialize with black patrons and hand out tickets to his wrestling shows.
As a result of this, he was frequently arrested by police on a variety of vague, trumped up charges, such as mopery, a minor offense like loitering or as
Monroe describes it, "an old southern vagrancy thing they made up," and disorderly conduct, for merely socializing or drinking in an establishment with black people.
These were examples of the Jim Crow laws still being enforced even though they had been outlawed in 1954. In essence, they mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in the states formerly of the Confederacy. This was known as "separate but equal."
In each case, he would then hire a black attorney and appear in court, pay a small fine, and immediately resume the behavior that resulted in his prior arrests. Due to this, and in spite of the fact that he was a heel (villain) at the time, his popularity soared among the black community. At his shows, although floor seats in arenas would be half empty with white patrons, the balcony would be packed to capacity with black patrons with many others unable to enter due to the balcony selling out.
His over the top interviews and overwhelming self-confidence would soon bring hatred from fans. That’s exactly what Monroe wanted.
At every opportunity, the also nicknamed "Sweet Man" relished in demonstrating a gaudy strut like a rooster as if eternally taunting the raucous crowd and goading them to react.
He had a gruff voice and trash-talked throughout his interviews, with his outlandish boasts wowing the crowd, bringing attention to himself, and, more importantly, bringing people to the wrestling shows. The more disparaging, the more ticket sales.
Sputnik Monroe became a cultural icon known to kiss black babies, drape his arms around black friends, and generally acted like he was oblivious to the racial divide the South and much of the United States was experiencing during the mid-1950s and most of the ’60s.
Monroe, having become the biggest wrestling draw in the territory, soon refused to perform unless patrons, regardless of their race, were allowed to sit in any seat at the Ellis Auditorium.
As a result, the promoter was obliged to desegregate his wrestling shows, which then completely sold out with Monroe's black fans, in some cases over 15,000 at a time, filling the auditorium. Soon, other Southern sporting events, recognizing the enormous financial benefits, began to desegregate as well.
Monroe really began to draw large crowds in a time when Memphis wrestling was not doing particularly well. For the most part, these people truly hated him, but nonetheless, they were paying customers that had not been regularly coming to the shows beforehand.
He single-handedly desegregated the spectators from the wrestling community. Monroe exhorted praise from the crowd, but not from the posh front rows which seated the white observers, but from the auditorium’s small upper rafters whose fans observed almost in the shadows.
He focused on the nosebleed section, also called "The crow’s nest," where the blacks were seated, bunched together and segregated in the former Ellis Auditorium located in Memphis, Tennessee.
He, a white man from Kansas, was focusing on the most down-trodden and much less economically well-to-do fans, the fans who had been pushed way up into the darkness to occupy the worst seats in the house.
Being a white man infuriated most of his peers and put his family in grave danger. If one man was responsible for the desegregation of sporting events in the state of Tennessee, and later possibly the whole of the South, it was Sputnik Monroe.
Sputnik Monroe was a bad guy in the ring, but a hero on the outside who challenged the status quo of racial segregation in the south.
At the time, Ellis Auditorium, like practically all public venues in the South, segregated its seating. The area for "blacks only" was very controlled by the building administration, but Monroe took it upon himself to bribe the employee that counted the number of black people who entered and so he would report a much lower number to his supervisor.
This led to more black fans being able to enter the building. When they didn’t fit in the area assigned to them anymore, the administration was forced to integrate the seating. This allowed them to mingle with the white fans in the lower sections.
Monroe used his popularity and coerced the promoters and venues to allow more black people to enter.
There were times when several thousand black fans were not allowed to enter the building, not because they didn’t have tickets, but because the area designated to them was full. So Monroe usually got his way when threatening to no-show if his black friends were not let inside to enjoy the show too.
Monroe dressed outlandishly as a "diamond ring and Cadillac man" and socialized at black bars and restaurants (called Negro Cafes), as confirmed by his daughter Natalie.
"Monroe was hated so much because of his activity with the blacks. He would spend his weekend on Beale Street and promoting wrestling and hanging out at the black bars and restaurants.
"They absolutely idolized him and thought he was some kind of hero. I really don’t know how else to explain it. I know that he always felt that they didn’t get a fair shake in life, and he wanted to make things better for them."
Monroe’s point in all this was equality, and he used his craft to promote social change. But the bottom line in wrestling is money, and money is colorblind. It was their livelihood and that the only color that should matter was green (as in money) and not what skin color the paying customers happened to be born with.
Wrestling historian and writer Scott Teal from Crowbar Press calls Sputnik Monroe a "civil rights icon." Jerry "The King" Lawler, a WWE Hall of Famer and Memphis wrestling legend in his own right, praises Monroe as well. "He really changed, especially in the South, the culture of wrestling… He broke the color barrier as far as people attending wrestling matches.
His battle wounds would be sewn together with thousands of surgical stitches in emergency rooms and clinics throughout the South. Sputnik Monroe was the ultimate bad guy and innovator of the anti-establishment hero. He possessed a complete understanding of the sport of professional wrestling and in the ring, performed like no other. The man who started his career as a carnival wrestler would leave his mark on the wrestling world for both his toughness and his stand for integration in Memphis. Sputnik Monroe served as a champion for a segment of the Memphis population that badly needed one. There will never be another one like him.
Sputnik Monroe died on November 3, 2006 in Edgewater, Florida after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 77 years old.
Sources:
Sputnik Monroe | The Wrestling Rebel Who Challenged Racial Divide
By Javier Ojst
Sputnik Monroe: The Man Who Defeated Jim Crow in Memphis
By Jeff Droke
Wikipedia.
My personal remeberances.
