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Former NFL star turned professional wrestler Don Manoukian passed away at the age of 80 yesterday, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Born in June 1934 in Merced, CA, Manoukian was raised in Reno, Nevada (where he was a football and track star) and after going to college at Stanford, played for both the AFL and the NFL in 1960.
Before and after (possibly during) his time in football, Manoukian got into professional wrestling, where there was far more money to be made at the time compared to professional football. My records indicate he began wrestling in 1958.
Although he toured a number of territories, Manoukian was most prominent in San Francisco, where he and Ray Stevens were AWA Tag Team champions for almost five months after beating José Lothario and Pepper Gómez in September 1963. The pair retained the belts for several months before dropping them to The Destroyer and Billy Red Lyons.
In the Pacific Northwest region, Manoukian teamed with Kurt Von Poppenheim to win the PNW Tag Team championships and was also the NWA Pacific Northwest champion for short title runs. In Texas, he held the NWA Texas title as a singles star and was Texas Tag Team champions with Tony Borne.
Manoukian also toured Japan for the JWA.
To read the Charlotte Observer piece on his passing, click here.
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