There have been many superstars over the years in the world of professional wrestling but none as special as Eddie Graham. Eddie Graham, whose real name was Eddie Gossett, began his professional wrestling career in 1947 at the age of 17. Eddie's first professional wrestling match was in Chattanooga Tennessee and was paid off with a 25-pound turkey. In the early years he teamed with Dr. Jerry Graham, and Crazy Luke Graham to form the Graham brothers tag team. These three wrestlers were not actually brothers but a group of very talented athletes thrown together for a good show. Whenever they were in the ring that is just what you got, a very good show!!
Eddie wrestled professionally for over 22 years, before stepping behind the scenes as a promoter in the Orlando and Tampa, Florida areas. He held numerous regional titles and his matches with The Great Malenko, Bob Orton, Sr., and others for the Southern Heavyweight Championship were top draws in Tampa.
Eddie teamed up with his son Mike to become professional wrestling's first father and son tag team champions in Georgia in the 1970's. While known as a "nasty" guy in the ring, in the real world he had a heart as big as Texas. In 1957 along with fellow wrestler C.P. "Cowboy" Luttrall and then Hillsborough County Sheriff Ed Blackburn, Eddie helped to spearhead a drive to establish the Florida Sheriff's Boys Ranch in Live Oak. A portion of the gate from all matches promoted in the state by Championship Wrestling from Florida went to the Boys Ranch and Girls Villa. In 1985, Gordon Solie, the Dean of Professional Wrestling, and television voice for Championship Wrestling from Florida stated that CWF had produced more than half a million dollars for those youth ranches. The Boys Ranch was patterned after the Texas Boys Ranch, which was started by professional wrestler Cal Farley, who hired wrestler Dory Funk, Sr. to operate it for him.
In the mid-50's Eddie became Cowboy Luttrall's proto�g�e and rose to become the North American Heavyweight Champion and one of wrestling's biggest draws at Madison Square Garden and around the country. After retiring from active wrestling, Eddie became president of the National Wrestling Alliance.
In addition to his work with the Boys Ranch, he also was a major supporter of amateur wrestling at both the high school and college levels. In 1978 Eddie donated approximately $10,000 to the University of Florida to outfit a wrestling room which came to be know as the Eddie Graham Wrestling Room. To Eddie's dismay, however, UF dropped the wrestling program a couple of years later. Additionally, Eddie established a $500 wrestling scholarship at the University of Tampa.
Eddie's benevolence brought him many honors from various organizations: A national wrestling publication proclaimed him as wrestler of the year in 1961.
The Police Athletic League gave him its achievement award in 1963.
The Boys clubs honored him with its Man-Boy Award in 1970.
The Tampa Sports Club made him it's sports citizen of the year for major contributions to amateur wrestling in 1978.
Senator Richard Stone awarded him an American flag, which flew over the Whitehouse in 1980.
The Florida Sheriff's Boys Ranch honored him in 1982.
Proceeds from an Eddie Graham Happy Birthday Roast went to the leukemia fund.
In 1967 Eddie entertained a group of orphaned boys at the Eddie Graham Youth Camp on Lake Leclair north of Tampa. "When I was a kid I peddled newspapers in Chattanooga." Graham said at the time. "You know you can get into trouble on the street. The newspaper gave all of us memberships to the YMCA. It was a gift to me, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go. That's the way I got to be an athlete and it is where I had my first encounter with wrestling. God gave me a decent enough body to be an athlete," he said. "That put me in the public eye, not only do I have obligations to my family, but I feel like I can influence young people."
Eddie Graham suffered from numerous injuries over his career as a professional wrestler. In 1968 an accident involving him at the Fort Hesterly Armory in Tampa, Florida gained widespread attention and took him out of wrestling for some 15 months. While putting on his shoes in the dressing room, a 75-pound steel window fell on his head. Already blind in one eye, he suffered torn retinas in both eyes and needed 300 stitches around his head and face. He was eventually awarded $23,399 in damages from the State Legislature.
On January 20, 1985, Eddie's wife Lucille returned home from visiting some relatives only to find Eddie in his bed with a gunshot wound to the head, an apparent suicide. He passed away the following day at a Tampa hospital. He was 55 years old. He is survived by his wife Lucille, his son Mike, two brothers Mitch and Don Gossett and two grandchildren Stephen and Nicole.
Now you may ask why I dedicated this page to Eddie Graham -- To say that I worshiped the ground that he walked on is a major understatement. I was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. Now back in those days you actually got to talk to the wrestlers, and they cared about the people who paid their hard-earned money to come to the matches. Wow, how times have changed. Anyway, every Thursday night at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum we had wrestling matches. Many times the wrestlers would come out and sit in the stands and watch the matches themselves. Since my family sometimes sat in this area we got to know some of the guys. Many times Eddie would come out to watch the matches and talk with my Mom and Dad, while he bounced me on his knee. He was one of the nicest people I've have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I believe that the world is a much better place because of him and I feel very lucky to have had that brief opportunity to share just a little of his time. He was a caring giving man whose candle was extinguished just a little to early. I guess the saying "Only the good die young" is very fitting when it comes to the Late Great Eddie Graham.
Eddie and Mike Graham
