Unusual Wrestler
Chapter One: Skull Murphy
#PWHS #Article #UnusualWrestler #SkullMurphy
July 17, 1960 - Central New Jersey Home News (Brunswick)
The first wrestler(s) to scare me as a fan was actually the tag team of Skull Murphy and Brute Bernard. I was second row at the Richmond, Virginia State Fairgrounds and it was an all Canadian (I found out later) tag match against the Scott Brothers: George and Sandy. Out come the strange freakish team of Murphy and Bernard. Murphy looking like an evil scientist and Bernard doing his unusual strut. It took me thirty seconds to hop the chairs and sit on the third row - I thought these guys were for real.
Skull Murphy looked like a man in his 50s then, but he never reached his fortieth birthday. An unusual childhood disease had made his body unable to grow hair--and somehow it made him look freakish. At 6'1", 265 lbs, he found the most success with Bernard, but also won belts with Killer Karl Kox and Toru Tanaka, in addition to winning a World singles belt in Australia. I was surprised to discover that he and Brute even won United States tag belts in the WWWF. He even challenged the mighty Bruno for his World Belt while displaying his talents in the NY area.
He and Brute were to wrestle The Kentuckian and Mr Wrestling in Charlotte when George Scott and Skull's wife found him dead by suicide with sleeping pills. Look him up on Youtube and enjoy the uniqueness of Skull Murphy.
Skull Murphy looked like a man in his 50s then, but he never reached his fortieth birthday. An unusual childhood disease had made his body unable to grow hair--and somehow it made him look freakish. At 6'1", 265 lbs, he found the most success with Bernard, but also won belts with Killer Karl Kox and Toru Tanaka, in addition to winning a World singles belt in Australia. I was surprised to discover that he and Brute even won United States tag belts in the WWWF. He even challenged the mighty Bruno for his World Belt while displaying his talents in the NY area.
He and Brute were to wrestle The Kentuckian and Mr Wrestling in Charlotte when George Scott and Skull's wife found him dead by suicide with sleeping pills. Look him up on Youtube and enjoy the uniqueness of Skull Murphy.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Unusual Wrestler: Chapter One.
Author: Terry Kent.
Published: July 2014.
Article: #14.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Unusual Wrestler: Chapter One.
Author: Terry Kent.
Published: July 2014.
Article: #14.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Unusual Wrestlers: Chapter Two - Read Here.
Other articles by Terry can be Read Here.