PROMOTER PAUL C. WINKHAUS
Winkhaus was the promoter in Greenville SC and surrounding area
for Jim Crockett Sr. in the 1950s through the early 1970s.
Edited E-mail to the Mid-Atlantic Gateway from longtime
Greenville SC wrestling historian Don Holbrook
Yes, I knew Mr. Winkhaus well. He was indeed Crockett's man in Greenville. He also handled Columbia, Asheville, Anderson back then and did a few other cities around here from time to time like Greenwood at the ball park and others. He was already up in years, we are talking late 1960's for a reference point here. He lived in Matthews North Carolina, outside of Charlotte and he was originally from Ohio I think. He told me that he was a sports writer for a newspaper somewhere before he got into wrestling. One thing I remember was how creative he was at writing press releases that he would send over to the newspaper here in town to go along with the ad they ran every week for Monday nights card.
Most of the years Billy Powell was ring announcer, he actually worked for Winkhaus. Billy would walk in the back door about 15 minutes before show time and he and Mr. Winkhaus would go over the line up and any changes or announcements, etc.
I actually rode to the Anderson Recreation Center with Mr. Winkhaus a few times on Thursdays. There was a period of time he was running a show there every other week or so. This was before I was old enough to drive. He used to stop by the Greenville Memorial Auditorium on Thursday afternoons on his way to Anderson. He also would run the tape for Saturday afternoon television by the WFBC-TV studio over on Rutherford Road on some of the Thursdays. I can remember running it in to the lobby desk at channel 4 for him a time or two.
He was a nice old man to me, but he had a gruff sounding voice and back then wrestling was so believable that many of the folks around here would be on him the minute they saw him, complaining about the heels, one thing or the other. He was interesting to talk to and he would tell me wrestling stories and at a young age. I thought it was so cool to have this inside track on wrestling.
Mr. Winkhaus died not long after he retired. After his death, there was a short period I don't think they had anyone acting as local promoter. I can remember Johnny Ringley, Crockett's son-in-law coming down a few times, and once I remember Jim Sr. was here on Monday handling things. There may have been an interim along that time, I don't remember, but the next one I do remember was Sandy Scott. He actually lived in an apartment out on Wade Hampton Blvd. for a long while and ran the same towns Winkhaus did but also helped George Harbin with Spartanburg and more spot shows in Western N.C. Then Danny Miller came in when Sandy went back to the Charlotte office.
- Don Holbrook, Greenville SC
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| Despite what the caption indicates, promoter Paul Winkhaus is on the LEFT, Billy Powell is on the right. |
Asheville NC 1970
The Passing of Paul Winkhaus
Paul Winkhaus died November 1974. He was ill for several months prior to that and could hardly walk the last 3 or 4 times he came to Greenville, so much so that he couldn't even make it down the steps to the dressing rooms to talk to the guys. So they had to send the referee upstairs to get the instructions from Winkhaus who was in a small dressing room on the main floor level. Mr. Winkhaus "resigned", moved to his hometown in Ohio and died shortly afterward.
I remember that he took great pride in the newspaper ads and the results and write ups. He was a former newspaper writer and had a great ability so that is why the ads and the write ups were so good. I used to see him at Greenville Auditorium in an outer office typing his materials for the newspapers. Asheville was one of his towns and he worked really hard to promote it. He was the main reason WLOS had such a good relationship with Crockett Wrestling.
- Don Holbrook, June 2012
