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
 |
Despite what the caption indicates, promoter Paul Winkhaus is on the LEFT,
Billy Powell is on the right. |
Snow Cancellation and Holiday Announcement
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
