How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die
Andre the Giant was such a physically imposing man, but no one really knows just how tough he was because few ever dared to challenge him. Blackjack Mulligan was a giant in his own right, and unlike Andre, proved how tough he was through countless bar fights. If the two ever faced off against each other, all Hell would break loose.
- How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die In Real Life
- How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die Away
- How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die
- How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die Twice
- How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die Cutting Machine
In 2016, just 1 day after celebrating his 44th birthday, Mahoney suddenly died in his New Jersey home while watching an episode of Jeopardy, with the autopsy determining that he suffered a fatal heart attack. His final match was a Flaming Tables Match, and the victory occurred just 4 months before his untimely death. Blackjack Mulligan would feud with some of the biggest stars in the territory including Ric Flair, The Masked Superstar, Greg Valentine and Paul Jones who Mulligan defeated for the United States Heavyweight Championship. Blackjack also won one half of the Mid-Atlantic's version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with his new partner Ric Flair.
May 15, 1971 was a big day in the life of Blackjack Mulligan. It was the day he nearly got stabbed to death. Mulligan was wrestling Pedro Morales for the WWWF world title in Boston, and he’d only been a pro, and for that matter, a Mulligan, for a relatively brief time. He had the Grand Wizard (Ernie Roth) at his side, and the two went overboard. Robert Deroy Windham (November 25, 1942 – April 7, 2016), better known by his ring name Blackjack Mulligan, was an American professional wrestler, author, and American football player. He was the father of wrestlers Barry and Kendall Windham, father-in-law of Mike Rotunda, and the maternal grandfather of Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas. Augusta, GA (WJBF) – According to a post on the WWE’s website, Blackjack Mulligan has passed away at age 73. His real name was Robert Windham, and he is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame.
Fight: Andre the Giant vs Blackjack Mulligan
Date: unknown
Location: Manny Fernandez’s apartment in Amarillo, TX
Source: Is Wrestling Fixed? Podcast with Bill Apter
Background
Manny Fernandez grew up an angry young man who was always getting into fights. But as tough as he thought he was, he knew he was no match for the man who got him started in wrestling, Dick Murdoch, and one of his early mentors, the gigantic Blackjack Mulligan. Mulligan was a big star in the 1960s and 1970s, and is the father of Barry Windham.
Since Manny was just starting out, he would often do some of the grunt work for the boys. In this case, he was told to pick up Andre the Giant from the Amarillo airport. At the time, Manny didn’t know much about Andre or how big he truly was. When he saw Andre at the airport, he thought, “How in the Hell is this guy gonna fit in my tiny Trans-Am??”
Manny approached Andre and told him he was there to pick him up. Andre replied, “OK boss,” which is what he called everybody in his inner circle. They were on a 70-mile trek through Lubbock, TX, but Andre first asked to go to a liquor store in Amarillo. He came out of the store with a case of beer and a fifth (1/5 of a gallon) of tequila.
Andre drank everything by the time they got to the show (the future Baby Doll was the ticket taker). Manny thought Andre was for sure going to be drunk, but instead he got up and walked out of the car just fine, not even buzzed at all. And he had a good match that night to boot.
How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die In Real Life
After the show, Manny had to drive Andre the Giant, Dick Murdoch, and Blackjack Mulligan back to Amarillo. In Manny’s tiny Trans-Am car.
Murdoch was about 260 pounds, as was Manny. Mulligan was a whopping 390. Manny claimed Andre was almost 500 pounds, but that was a little exaggerated since Andre was in better shape back then, but still well over 400 pounds. So that’s almost 1,500 pounds in a small car, AND they had three cases of beer and two fifths of tequila. And they drank it all.
The Confrontation
While we’d all love to hear a blow by blow account of what happened, unfortunately there are no details. And everyone who saw it is no longer alive.
The way Manny told the story, they got to his apartment and were playing Cribbage. This was Andre’s favorite card game, and between his passion for the game and the fact they were all liquored up, things got heated. Before long, Andre and Blackjack Mulligan got into a big argument.
Manny remembered Mulligan punching Andre. Andre then said, “We fight now, boss.” Manny thought, “Holy crap, it’s time for me to get the heck out of dodge.” He was afraid of these two giants going at it, especially in such a small space. He didn’t make it clear if he left the room or not, but he offered no details other than they started hitting each other.
While it wasn’t a knockdown, drag out bloodbath, it was still wild enough that they did $1,800 worth of damage to Manny’s apartment. Today that would probably translate to almost $5,000 worth of damage, which is huge for an apartment of that size.
My own belief is that it was more horseplay than a fight, but it would be unfair to categorize it exclusively as one or the other. Too violent to be horseplay, and not violent enough to be a full-on fight. If it were really a fight, we’d have heard a lot more about it over the years. Still, even a playful blow from either Andre or Mulligan would be enough to do damage to most human beings.
Part II – Beach Brawl
There was another incident between Blackjack Mulligan and Andre the Giant in 1976, although we don’t know if it took place before or after the fight mentioned above.
How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die Away
Ric Flair told a story on a few different podcasts of a time when he was with Mulligan, Andre, and Dick Murdoch in Virginia Beach, VA. The four of them were at a bar, sitting on the deck in the back, and presumably a few other wrestlers were there too. This was back when Mulligan and Andre were considerably younger, more athletic, and tougher.
It’s not known what may have caused the tension between Mulligan and Andre, but Flair said Mulligan had the shortest temper in the world. Mulligan looked at over at Murdoch (who was also very tough) and said, “Watch this,” and suckerpunched Andre.
Andre, who was sitting in a chair, got up and grabbed both Mulligan and Murdoch by their shirt collars. He dragged them both out to the beach and started drowning them both. He never intended to drown them, but tried (and succeeded) to scare them to death. Flair said he was so scared that he watched it all while walking backwards, so that Andre wouldn’t grab him either.
Keep in mind Mulligan was only an inch or two shorter than Andre, but Andre was at least 100 pounds heavier and exponentially stronger. Murdoch was no slouch, either.
It’s believed these are the only two times Andre was ever challenged, at least that we know of. Bad News Allen did challenge him once, but it never got physical. Another time at WrestleMania II one of the NFL players was thinking about challenging him too (after Andre told him he talked too much), but was talked out of it by other wrestlers who told him it’d be wise if he didn’t. There was also the time a match between Andre and Akira Maeda that turned into a half shoot, but Andre was much older by then and he wasn’t even really trying to finish him.
Blackjack Mulligan was a West Texas roughneck who was known to take no nonsense from anybody. He even once stood his ground against Andre the Giant and Ole Anderson! But on one fateful night in Boston, Massachusetts in 1971, he wasn’t able to protect himself.
Being one of the top heels in the business back when kayfabe was well and truly protected came with its own set of risks and dangers — not from his opponents in the ring, but from the fans. In this one particular instance, a bloodbath ensued!
Born in Sweetwater, Texas, Blackjack Mulligan’s imposing physical stature–6-feet, 8-inches tall, 320 pounds–made him an intimidating figure inside the ring, and he was tough enough outside of it to be one of the top heels in wrestling.Until he met Pedro Morales for the WWWF (now WWE) world championship on May 15, 1971, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Morales was a fiery babyface, and his Latin fanbase at the time was so rabid in its support that heels were getting too much heat. That night in the old Boston Garden, a fan jumped Mulligan as he was heading for the ring. The result? A bloodbath.
Here’s how the Boston Globe revisited the story back in 2005:
“A male spectator wielding a knife hopped the guardrail as Mulligan climbed into the ring. The fan stabbed Mulligan in the thigh, opening gushing wounds.
The crowd, many of whom initially froze, realized the episode wasn’t part of the show when Gorilla Monsoon, a wrestler then known as a “good guy,” raced to attend to Mulligan, who, according to wrestling logic, he should have hated.
Towels on Mulligan’s wounds quickly reddened as he was carried from the ring to receive 100 stitches at the hospital.”
A bloodbath ensued after a Boston fan entered the ring and stabbed Blackjack Mulligan with a knife dipped in pig fat.
Sheldon Goldberg, a fan in attendance that night who would go on to own New England Championship Wrestling, told the Globe that Mulligan’s heat that night was off the charts. But that was nothing unusual for a Pedro Morales match.
“People really lived or died with Morales,” Goldberg said. “The people were so demonstrative in their affection for him. They would go crazy, and they hated Blackjack Mulligan.”
Mulligan told Mid-Atlantic Gateway that he and his manager were white-hot all around the territory. The angry crowd in Boston wasn’t exactly unexpected.
“We were just major hot,” Mulligan said. “It was the first time that Ernie Roth had managed anybody other than the Sheik.
They put Ernie and me together, and we were the magic combo. This little goofy looking guy Ernie Roth, together with a big ol’ cowboy! We sold out everywhere.”
But this went beyond heat. The attacker caught the big cowboy in the leg and arm with a stiletto-type knife. In the aftermath, Mulligan–who was only into his fourth year as a pro wrestler–lay on the mat, blood pooling from stab wounds to his leg and arm. Special referee Gorilla Monsoon rushed to help the downed grappler.
“Boston was a violent town,” Bobby Heenan wrote in his book, Bobby The Brain: Wrestling’s Bad Boy Tells All. “… mind you, if you take Gorilla’s glasses off, he can’t see how many people are in a room.
How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die
A fan jumped into the ring with a stiletto and stabbed Mulligan up the leg. Mulligan reached out for the guy but got cut up the arm. Monsoon, blind as a bat, grabbed the guy and threw him out of the ring without knowing that the guy cut anybody.”
But the news got worse from there. Not only had the culprit slashed Mulligan, but the attacker had also taken extra steps to make sure the damage from the injuries would be as nasty as possible.
“We took Mulligan to the hospital to get sewn up, but his cut became infected,” Heenan wrote. “The ‘fan’ had dipped his knife in pig fat. It took 100 stitches to close up that leg.”
Not to dispute Heenan’s account–he wasn’t in the territory at the time–but it was reportedly territory star Bulldog Brower who actually got Mulligan the medical aid he needed.
“It took 100 stitches to close up Blackjack Mulligan’s leg.”
From the blog Ring the Damn Bell:
“Fellow wrestler ‘Bulldog’ Brower took Mulligan to his hotel room to bandage him up. Mulligan recalled, Brower taking out his pistol ready to shoot at angry fans who were gathering at the hotel still thirsty for blood.
Brower managed to sneak Mulligan out of the hotel and drove all the way to New Jersey where at this point, Mulligan’s wounds had become infected and was in dire condition.
Thankfully, the doctors were able to clear out the infections and sealed up his wounds. Mulligan would recover and continue his feud with Morales across the eastern seaboard.”
Mulligan’s attacker was never caught, but the stabbing resulted in new security measures at the Boston Garden, with attendees–even children–being patted down before they were allowed into the building. It didn’t matter. The Boston fans were still wild about wrestling.
“The Boston fans would throw frozen hardboiled eggs in the ring,” Heenan wrote. “They could pick you off at 500 yards. The management put a plastic shield around the ring. The fans got more creative, with one of them throwing a trumpet in the ring. They put a screen net over the ring, but no one could outsmart the Boston fans. They started throwing big, 20-penny nails.”
Mulligan, for his part, was fairly stoic about the event.
“When the guy got me with the knife in Boston Garden, in 1970 or ’71, somewhere in there, that kind of shut me down for that period,” Mulligan said. “But I went on rehab, and did well with that.”
How Did Blackjack Mulligan Die Twice
Mulligan would go on to star in territories from the AWA to Georgia, Florida, and Mid-Atlantic. For a time, he owned Southeastern Championship Wrestling in Knoxville along with Ric Flair. Mulligan passed away in April 2016, at age 73.
