Nick Bockwinkel

Nick Bockwinkel, born Nicholas Warren Francis Bockwinkel in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1934, was an American professional wrestler who died in 2015. The son of the wrestler Warren Bockwinkel, he played football at the University of Oklahoma until knee injuries ended his scholarship, and debuted in 1954. He spent the first half of his career as a journeyman babyface in California and Hawaii before joining the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association in 1970. There he became a main event heel, held the AWA World Tag Team Championship three times and the AWA World Heavyweight Championship four times, and retired in 1987. Historians remembered him for technical skill, ring psychology and articulate interviews, and he entered the Wrestling Observer, Professional Wrestling, WWE, Lou Thesz and NWA halls of fame between 1996 and 2016.