Johnny Weaver and Bob Bruggers make an Impact on A Young Man at WGHP

FROM THE GATEWAY MAILBOX: A LETTER TO THE GATEWAY FOLLOWING THE POSTING OF OUR WGHP STUDIO TELEVISION FEATURE

I spent many days at the TV tapings at High Point, and I got to know a lot of the guys, at least as well as a little kid that was star struck could. Two of my earliest memories are from those tapings.

Charlie Harville and Johnny Weaver at Channel 8

I never had a dad around, and even as a very young man I was already showing signs of going down a bad road. I was fighting and telling lies. My mom saw where this kind of thing could lead. Well one day after we went to the tapings at WGHP, she went to Johnny and talked to him for a few minutes, then she called me over. I was in awe. The studio was empty other than us. Johnny was sitting on the ring near were the seats were and I was standing there next to him looking up at my hero. My mom had let him in on my acting up, and he asked me what was going on. I really don’t remember what I said, more than likely not a lot, people that have known me for a long time would be shocked that I was ever at a loss for words, but I was then. I do remember that he asked what I wanted to do with my life, and I said with out a moments thought that I wanted to be a wrestler. He smiled and said if I acted right at home and did not give my mom problems, and did good in school, that he would one day teach me how to wrestle.

Well I thought of that many times in my life after that. I ended up only being 5'8", so I never did call him on it! But I have no doubt that it changed my life. I did stop telling lies, and tried to be a good person, and I to this day try my best to live a life where I help people. In just a few minutes he became my role model, and I will never forget that.

Then one day when we went to the taping, there where no seats left. I remember being upset that we would not be able to see the show, but then the coolest thing that could have happened to a kid happened. We ended up sitting with the wrestlers. 

There was a small room that led into the studio. After the people were in there seats the guys would come in and sit there waiting for their matches. The guys were talking, and sitting around. I was looking at the monitor seeing the show, and then someone sat next to me. I looked over and it was Bob Bruggers. He said hello and talked to me for a bit. I asked him about himself, and then he told me that he had played football for the Dolphins. WOW! That just blew me away. 

Growing up in High Point we had no teams around, and the team that I loved was the Dolphins. This was near the end of the tapings there, around 1974 I think. After a few minutes he went out and did his match. I can not even tell you how cool it was to sit there and watch him walk away and then he was on the screen in front of me. I was yelling for him to do well. I remember the guys getting a laugh watching me get so into it. 

Well you know what happened in 1975 not long after that. When the plane crash happened, I was in shock. When I heard he was in that plane, I felt that my friend was gone. What a damn shame that was, but I will always remember him for the kindness he showed a little kid one day in High Point. 

I have so many good memories from that point in my life, going to the shows in Greensboro, and Winston Salem, and all over really. Thank you for starting this website. It is great to have these memories, and to know I am not the only one that really misses the days when the best show in the world was in my backyard.

- Michael Roach
February 2006

Charlie Harville spotlight in Greensboro Newspaper (1962)

Thanks to Mark Eastridge who passed this along to us. This was a notice about time changes of WFMY channel 2 (Greensboro) news and sports reports in February of 1962. 

A few years before Harville became so closely associated with professional wrestling in the area with his move to WGHP, he had some major wrestling mements, including interviewing NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers on his WFMY "Sports Final" show, the program mentioned in the newspaper piece above.

Harville would move to WGHP channel 8 in October of 1963 as sports director of the new station in High Point, NC (same Greensboro market), and would begin hosting Championship Wrestling in February of 1964. The program was a production of WGHP and was  syndicated to a few other TV markets in the Mid-Atlantic area as well before the consolidation of Crockett TV production and distribution to WRAL in Raleigh in 1974.

"Harville was as much an icon as the wrestlers for those of us growing up in the Greensboro/Winston Salem/High Point area in the sixties & seventies," Mark said in his email. 

Harville's show on WGHP promoted live events in that market, including the main towns of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Lexington, plus other spots shows in the area.  

For more on Charlie Harville's rich legacy in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, check out Wayne Brower's lengthy piece on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway: Charlie Harville: Remembering His Remarkable Journey.

Frank Deal: The Opening Voice of WGHP Championship Wrestling (1973)

This is an ad from a 1975 TV Guide magazine for WGHP's "Eyewitness News" featuring weatherman Frank Deal. Frank's voice is the voice you heard over the theme music for WGHP's Championship Wrestling show in the early 1970s.

Charlie Harville was the host of "Championship Wrestling", but it was Frank's voice over the opening theme of the show. 

Deal was the channel-8 weatherman from 1969 to 1996. He also hosted his own "Superstar" classic movie show in primetime. 

Thanks to Carroll Hall at "All Star Championship Wrestling" blog for this image and information on Frank Deal. It's further proof we go to any lengths to document the smallest details of TV wrestling at the Mid-Atlantic Gateway and Studio Wrestling!

Charlie Harville with Becker and Weaver

Charlie Harville: Remembering His Remarkable Journey

Wrestling 101 (Excerpts)

by Wayne Brower
Excerpts from "Wrestling 101",  an article published on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway

My desire to watch wrestling was limited only by our television’s ability to receive the distant signals. In the early 1960s there was neither cable nor satellite TV available. Most reception was either through “rabbit ears” – with or without tin foil – or from a roof mounted antenna.

Growing up in Trinity, North Carolina did not allow for reception of numerous stations. The area programming of that time was from WFMY Channel 2 in Greensboro and WSJS Channel 12 in Winston-Salem. Neither broadcast wrestling. The best we could occasionally receive with ideal atmospheric conditions was WDBJ Channel 7 of Roanoke and Charlotte’s WBTV Channel 3.

Two events would occur that had a significant impact on my viewing habits. In October 1963 WGHP Channel 8 in High Point signed on the air. Shortly thereafter wrestling was held in their studio on Tuesday nights for broadcast the following Saturday afternoon. Next, my dad purchased an antenna rotator connected by wire to a control box that sat on top of our television. With a turn of the dial pointing to the preferred direction we now had clear signal access to the aforementioned stations, plus another wrestling provider, WRAL Channel 5 in Raleigh. Talk about sensory overload. And it was so much more interesting than anything I was being taught in school at the time.

. . . . . . . . .

In almost every conflict the heels would consistently create mischief and mayhem, all in cowardly ways or while holding an unfair advantage. The hosts of the TV shows would passionately describe the action, and often disagree with the cheater’s denials during their interviews. Nick Pond warned many bad guys that scores would be settled at Dorton Arena next Tuesday night. Big Bill Ward argued with manager Homer O’Dell, and told him that he and his team should be very concerned about facing the Scott brothers at Charlotte Park Center. Charlie Harville provided detailed results of matches in Greensboro where more often than not the good guys ultimately defeated the heels and from there would go on to the next challenge. Virtue and honor had been satisfied.


[ Read Wayne's entire article Wrestling 101 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway. ]

For more information, history, and memorabilia related to the broadcasters mentioned in this story visit the Studio Wrestling website, part of the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

For an in-depth look at the career of Charlie Harville, see Wayne Brower's excellent look at the NC Broadcast Hall of Famer: Charlie Harville: Remembering His Remarkable Journey

Charlie Harville: Remembering His Remarkable Journey (Excerpt)

by Wayne Brower
Exclusive to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway
from the Mid-Atlantic Gateway Archives

The following is an excerpt from the main article. A link at the bottom will take you to the conclusion on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway website.

In the spring of 1954 Jim Crockett spoke before an audience in the City of Lexington, North Carolina to publicize the debut of professional wrestling at the local YMCA gymnasium. He announced an agreement that he had entered with the organization whereby a portion of the proceeds would go towards funding the newly constructed arena. Crockett also told the assembled group about his plans for weekly shows if the initial matches drew adequate crowds.

Marketing the wrestling matches would be through advertisements in local newspapers, along with display cards in store fronts and on utility poles at strategic intersections. Since locally affiliated wrestling was not televised in the immediate area, Crockett described the need for a strong connection with the population in the Piedmont section of the state. He then advised the attendees about his new association with a prominent sports authority who would play a significant role in providing a major event atmosphere, while drawing sports fans not previously interested in wrestling. That prominent authority was Charlie Harville.

Charles Edward Harville was born December 15, 1918 in High Point, North Carolina. From an early age he had a tremendous interest in playing various sports that progressed into his college years. Not being as successful as he had envisioned in football, Charlie turned to baseball but failed to make the High Point College team. Showing his lifelong ability to overcome setbacks through trust in his own self-reliance, he would later tell a newspaper reporter that being cut during the baseball tryouts made him strive to succeed in his second ambition – being a sports broadcaster.

So while still in college, Charlie went to his hometown WMFR radio and boldly offered his services as a substitute play-by-play announcer for the Thomasville Tommies baseball games. The station manager was impressed by the articulate young man and decided to give him an opportunity in an on-the-job audition on April 28, 1938. The next day he was hired as their full time play-by-play announcer for baseball and football games.

World War II interrupted his career, but after an honorable tour of duty in the Army Air Corps, Charlie reemerged in radio working at stations in Martinsville, Virginia, Goldsboro, North Carolina and then LaSalle, Illinois. During his time at WLPO in LaSalle he created the unique closing phrase that would always end his future sportscasts: “That’s the best in sports today.”

In 1949 WFMY Radio in Greensboro provided an opportunity for him to return to his home area. The station had made the effort to broadcast the new medium of television and obtained the license to do so later that year. Charlie was selected as host of what is believed to be the first live local sports show broadcast in North Carolina. Almost fifty years later he would tell a staff writer for the Greensboro News & Record “It was a gamble on the part of the station. I practiced by pretending I was looking at a camera during my radio broadcasts. I had no doubt I’d succeed at it, but I didn’t know if it would go over with the public. I was surprised at the speed and breadth of its acceptance. By 1953 WFMY’s venture into TV was so successful that it closed the radio station.”

However, radio continued to be a significant part of Charlie’s career. Through the late 1940s and into the 1950s, he was a part of the Tobacco State Network that broadcast big four Atlantic Coast Conference basketball. For the next three decades he was the play-by-play announcer for numerous universities’ football and baseball programs, including East Carolina, Appalachian State, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Florida State.

* * * * * * * * * *

On Saturday night, May 1, 1954 Charlie Harville walked toward the ring, through the then record setting attendance of 4,300, for the first professional wrestling matches ever held at the Lexington YMCA. Neither he nor those in the arena knew that they were a part of events that would significantly impact him and wrestling in the region for the next thirty years.

Article continued on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway >>>>>

Wrestling & Basketball Memories

When recently scouring the web for mentions of broadcaster Charlie Harville as he related to pro-wrestling, I came across this post on the WRAL.com website that mentioned Harville in reference to his days as an ACC college basketball announcer. I loved reading this because it also makes reference to my favorite college basketball announce team of all time: Jim Thacker, Billy Packer, and Bones McKinney.

Article excerpt:

I was raised on ACC basketball with Jim Thacker and Billy Packer. I remember the black and white days of CD Chesley and Charlie Harville. I remember shooting baskets with my Burke County buddies during halftime and between games dreaming of the day when we might star for the Wolfpack, Tar Heels, Deacons or Devils.

From "A View to Hugh" Website - see link below.

Thacker, Packer, and McKinney were magic together on the C.D. Chesley syndicated sports network in the 1970s. And I have great memories of those basketball games coming on after Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, especially the wars between Norm Sloan's N.C. State Wolfpack and Lefty Driesell's Maryland Terrapins.

And little did I know that it was Charlie Harville who may have been responsible for Bones McKinney getting his big break in broadcasting, as it was Harville who recommended McKinney for the role to Mr. Chesley. From : "Player, Preacher, Coach, Commentator" on the website A View to Hugh:

... soon after the ’65-’66 basketball season started, (McKinney) got a call from ACC TV producer Castleman D. Chesley.  It seems that Bones’ good friend Charlie Harville had recommended him as a possible broadcaster with the ACC network.

Another Harville reference here: ACC Hoops Tonight (GreensboroSports.com):

N.C. State never, and I mean NEVER loses when Jim Thacker, Billy Packer and Bones McKinney are mentioned in the same paragraph. We will be watching on our local WFMY TV 2 station and thinking back to the days of Thacker, Packer, McKinney, Woody Durham, Charlie Harville and Lonesome Lee Kinard...

Another nice post regarding televised ACC basketball memories, this from the Shelby Star:
Along Route 74: Growing Up in ACC Country Was a Big Deal

(Updated On 2/13/2015)

Pro Wrestling Included in Harville Sports Ad

Ad courtesy Carroll Hall at Vintage TV & Wrestling Nostalgia

Here is another great ad featuring one of wrestling's great announcers and a rare inclusion of wrestling with the other sports.

This 1971 add for Charlie Harville's "Eyewitness Sports" segment on WGHP channel 8 in High Point NC, features art work of Charlie plus art representations of several major sports . . . . including professional wrestling! This was very rare for wrestling to be included, but Charlie was a major advocate for wrestling and as a respected sports broadcaster and journalist was able to have wrestling included in many of the ads as well as included in his news/sports broadcasts.

Special thanks to Carroll Hall at the Vintage TV & Wrestling Nostalgia blog (as well as All-Star Championship Wrestling) for sending us this clipping.

"Mid-Atlantic" Wrestling on WGHP 1972

Clipping courtesy Carroll Hall at the All-Star Championship Wrestling blog.

The name of the wrestling show that was taped at and aired on WGHP-8 in High Point NC from 1964-1974 was "Championship Wrestling". But in 1972, Jim Crockett began changing the brand name associated with his wrestling to "Mid-Atlantic" Wrestling, a process that would be completed by the end of 1973.

Toward the end of the run of "Championship Wrestling" on channel 8, host Charlie Harville began referring to the program as "Mid-Atlantic Wrestling" on air, and the name began to pop up in ads for the TV show in the newspapers. One of those early ads using that name is seen above, from the September 17, 1972 edition of the Greensboro paper.

This was not long after the slow change began. The earliest reference we've ever found by the promotion to "Mid-Atlantic" wrestling is from March 28, 1972 in an add for a wrestling event in Raleigh, NC. (See that ad here.)

Charlie Harville & Buddy Rogers 1962

Carroll Hall recently posted this very cool newspaper ad from 1962 on his All Star Championship Wrestling blog. It features WFMY-2 sports anchor Charlie Harville and NWA Champion Buddy Rogers on the 11:15 "Sports Final" in Greensboro NC. Harville would later become the host of Jim Crockett's "Championship Wrestling" on WGHP-8 in High Point NC in 1964. Both stations were (and still are) part of the same Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point TV market.

It was unusual in the 1960s or 1970s for wrestling to get mainstream sports media attention, even on a local level.

Hall wrote on his blog: "Charlie Harville interviewed NWA World Heavyweight Champion Buddy Rogers two nights before Buddy defended the belt against Billy Darnell in the Greensboro Coliseum.The match took place on April 5,1962."
Original post http://allstarchampionshipwrestling.blogspot.com/2012/11/buddy-rogers-wfmy-1962.html

Here are the newspaper articles and ads for that match and card in Greensboro, courtesy the collection of Mark Eastridge on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.

Studio Wrestling: WGHP-8 with Charlie Harville
Mid-Atlantic Gateway  |  Ten Pounds of Gold  |  Minnesota Wrecking Crew

Charlie and the Coach

A 1960s ad in "TV Guide" magazine for UNC Basketball featuring Charlie Harville and UNC basketball coach Dean Smith.

Harville, a member of the North Carolina Broadcasting Hall of Fame, was host of "Championship Wrestling" on WGHP-8 in High Point, NC from 1964-1973.