Shag Thomas

James "Shag" Thomas was a talented grappler, who came on the scene in a time where wrestling was predominately segregated, both int he south and in the north.

"Let me see," he used to answer when asked about his wrestling schedule and opponents. "Tomorrow I fight Luther Lindsy. The night after I fight Luther Lindsy....the night after that...Luther Lindsy."

Thus the already established feud with Lindsy carried over it no Arizona in the 1950s, with both men arriving at the same time. They started to feud with each other in the Phoenix area, when to their surprise they learned this neck of the woods was far less uptight when it came to inter-racial wrestling. Both were matched not only against each other, but a number of white and Hispanic opponents.

Thomas ended up squaring off with Don Arnold, who was at the time the undisputed top draw in Arizona and has already cropped up in many other blogs. Though a fan favorite in most other areas, Arnold was a villain of the worst order in Arizona, flexing his ample muscles and spouting off mufti-word sentences about how he was intellectually, as well as physically superior to alt those around him.

Thomas had some pretty hectic matches with Arnold, though his wicked white opponent usually pulled some dirty trick in order to win.

Though Thomas had a successful Arizona run, his fame rested elsewhere. He traveled the USA, where he held a number of single and tag team titles. He ultimately retired to Oregon.

He died from a heart attack in Portland in 1982.