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- [00:00]
Jed Lipinski
I've noticed there's a point where healthcare stops feeling like just appointments and starts feeling like constant admin work. That's why I'm glad I came across Solace. It's a platform that connects you with a dedicated healthcare advocate who steps into that process with you. A Solace advocate can find the right doctors and schedule appointments, fight denied insurance claims to help get care approved and make sure your doctors are actually staying in sync so you're not repeating yourself everywhere you go. They can also join your appointments remotely, translate medical jargon into plain language, and break down test results and treatment plans so you actually understand your care. You connect with your advocate by phone, text, email or video call through the platform and instead of handing you more to manage, they take on the work patients usually end up doing alone. These are experienced healthcare professionals on often nurses with an average of 16 years in the field and they've already helped tens of thousands of patients. Go to Solishhealth.com to see if you qualify. It takes about two minutes and it's covered by insurance. That's Solishhealth.com must be 18 or older. Advocates do not provide medical or legal advice. You're probably not drinking enough water. I'm probably not either. We all mean to and then we don't. That's where ELLO comes in. They make the viral water bottles and tumblers you've seen all over Instagram and TikTok, but they're not just cute, they're designed to make daily routines easier. Their Oasis tumbler has a lid that twists to tuck the straw away so it stays clean and totally leak proof. And the pop and fill bottle has a push button lid so you can refill it without unscrewing the top. If you're into meal prepping or love leftovers, their leak proof glass containers are made for life on the go, not leaks in your bag. Elo's mission is replacing single use plastics with reusable products that look good, work well and last. Plus they're backed by a limited lifetime warranty. Visit eloproducts.com and use code TRYLO20 for 20% off your first purchase. That's E L L O products.com code TRYLO20 for 20 percent off your first Elo purchase. The topic for today's episode came from one of our previous guests, Patterson Hood, co founder of the band Drive By Truckers. Patterson was born in Alabama and he's written a lot of songs about the south, but he's also tried to write songs about various Southern Stories that just haven't come together yet. For instance, he's tried to write a song about Stringbean, the country music star who was shot and killed with his wife during a home invasion outside Nashville in 1973 after the two came home from the Grand Ole Opry. Patterson's also tried to write about Spade Cooley, a musician and TV personality known as the King of Western Swing back in the 40s and 50s. In 1961, Cooley, who was known for his violent temper, murdered his second wife, Ella Mae Evans, at their home in Willow Springs, California, and was sentenced to life in prison. These are interesting stories, but there's another one Patterson has tried to turn into a song that got my attention. It's about a guy named Sputnik Monroe. As Patterson told me, Sputnik was a pro wrestler who became famous in Memphis in the 1960s. He was friends with Elvis and Johnny Cash. He was repeatedly arrested for socializing in black nightclubs as a white man. And he played a key role in desegregating Memphis wrestling venues years before the major civil rights wins of the mid-60s. I'd never heard of Sputnik Monroe, but it seemed like a story worth pursuing. In my research, I met a guy who not only knew Sputnik as a kid, but but had Sputnik's voice preserved in archival interviews. So in this episode, you'll hear about this legendary wrestler and what he meant to Memphis, but you'll also hear from him. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South. Facts about Sputnik Monroe's early life are hard to come by, but here's what people seem to agree on. He was born Roscoe Munroe Brumbaugh in Dodge City, Kansas, the old Wild west cattle town famous for gunslingers and frontier lawmen. His father died in a plane crash while he was in his mother's womb, and he was raised mostly by his grandfather. Journalist Steve Johnson has written about Sputnik in several books on wrestling history. He said Sputnik had a rough upbringing and a tormented relationship with his stepdad.
- [05:12]
Steve Johnson
He joined the Navy the day he turned 17 years old to get away from that situation. So he was running from something and searching for something at the same time.
- [05:23]
Jerry Phillips
Throughout the world, throngs of people hailed
- [05:25]
Steve Johnson
the end of the war in Europe.
- [05:26]
Jed Lipinski
Sputnik enlisted just as World War II was ending. He served on a ship that dismantled Japanese submarines and hauled torpedoes back across the Pacific. But he wasn't cut out for the military. He left after a few years and joined the carnival circuit Wrestling local tough guys. For five bucks a pop, he'd open
- [05:46]
Steve Johnson
up with a big siren. And Sputnik, he was not Sputnik then. He was Roscoe, his given name. Would stand at the gate and find someone who looked like he might be able to fight, pop him in the nose and see if they could actually woo him into the ring for 5, 10, 15 minutes, whatever.
- [06:05]
Jed Lipinski
Sputnik beat most men straight up. When he couldn't, he resorted to tricks like dragging opponents across the ropes, which he dried in the sun, causing them to burn like sandpaper. Sputnik talked about this in an interview with filmmaker Morgan Neville as part of an A and E documentary about the Memphis music producer Sam Phillips.
- [06:26]
Sputnik Monroe
I used to dry the ropes every day when it was real sunshiny. Used a Howitzer rope about 2 inches. The ground you ever been rubbed down. One of those takes the hide off, changes anger and boisterousness into quiet fear.
- [06:42]
Jed Lipinski
The head of the carnival circuit had connections to the growing world of pro wrestling. He saw Sputnik's potential and hooked him up with a local promoter. By 1950, Sputnik was wrestling in towns across the Midwest as Pretty Boy Rocky, a knockoff of the famous wrestling villain Gorgeous George. At some point, he took a hard blow to the head in the ring, perhaps from a flying chair. The injury caused a streak of his hair to turn white as if he'd been struck by lightning. It gave him a strange and menacing look and became part of his visual identity. Today, pro wrestling is dominated by wwe, but back then the business was broken into dozens of regional territories, each run by its own promoter.
- [07:29]
Steve Johnson
So you'd work maybe three months in Kansas City and then go to the Minneapolis territory for three months, or to Utah for three months, or six months, as the case might be.
- [07:42]
Jed Lipinski
Sputnik was what's known in pro wrestling as a heel, the villain whose job is to rile up the crowd and make them root for his defeat. He spent much of the 1950s crisscrossing the country, experimenting with different gimmicks, seeing what worked. It was an itinerant and often hand to mouth existence, but it suited him.
- [08:03]
Steve Johnson
If you have any kind of character in you, any kind of desire to perform in front of an audience, how great is this? You can go to a different town every night and just get people mad as hell at you by the way you raise your eyebrow, you turn on your heel, the way you dress, or the way you call somebody out in the crowd. And if you are a born performer like Sputnik, a Real showman with a strong anti establishment streak. To begin with, wrestling is the perfect occupation.
- [08:37]
Jed Lipinski
In the late 50s, Elvis Presley was on the ascent. A promoter in Louisville pointed out that Sputnik bore a passing resemblance to him. A new personality was born.
- [08:49]
Sputnik Monroe
So I wrestled as Elvis Rock Monroe. And if you say Rock Monroe fast, it sounds like rock and roll anyway, and it's all rock and roll to me.
- [08:57]
Jed Lipinski
As Elvis Rock Monroe, Sputnik combed his hair into a pompadour and gyrated his hips. In the ring, he used a guitar as a prop.
- [09:05]
Steve Johnson
So he would bring the guitar into the ring, usually get bashed over the head with it. And he continued that for about a year and a half until he ended up going back down to the Deep south in Alabama, where he adopted the Sputnik personality.
- [09:21]
Jed Lipinski
As Sputnik tells it, he was driving from Washington state to start working a new territory in the Gulf Coast. By the time he got to Mississippi, he was exhausted and picked up a young black hitchhiker to help with the drive. When he pulled into Mobile, Alabama for a TV taping, a small group of fans were there to greet him. They were surprised to see him step out of the car with a black man.
- [09:43]
Sputnik Monroe
And we went in the station, we darn near had a riot. And a lady was badly cursing me and using the N word. And I would open the curtain and hug my little friend. And they said they were going to throw her out of the studio if she kept cursing me. And she said, well, what he really is is a damn Sputnik. And that wound up being my name, Sputnik. Monroe and I wrestled with that for 40 years.
- [10:11]
Jerry Phillips
The radio signal transmitted by the Soviet Sputnik, the first man made satellite as it passed over New York earlier today.
- [10:19]
Jed Lipinski
Sputnik, of course, was the Soviet satellite. Launched into orbit in 1957, it symbolized the panic of the Cold War. By calling him Sputnik, the woman was calling him dangerous and un American. It was the perfect name for a heel. Sputnik spent the next few years honing his new Persona at mid level wrestling venues in cities like Pensacola, Bogalusa and Biloxi. He called himself 235lbs of twisted steel and sex appeal with a body that women love and men fear. He would say, win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat, and also, I'll jump in the air and shit in your hair. His star began to rise. Promoters in struggling territories brought him into juice ticket sales. But it was in Memphis that he became famous.
- [11:10]
Jerry Phillips
You know, it was A thrill for me to meet him because he was like another Elvis Presley or something, you know. He was a very handsome guy.
- [11:17]
Jed Lipinski
Jerry Phillips met Sputnik in 1959, not long after he arrived in town. Jerry was 13 at the time, and he remembers Sputnik as larger than life.
- [11:27]
Jerry Phillips
He had a blonde streak in his hair, and he was an athlete, you know, and I was sort of an athlete, too, at the time. And he was very impressive to me. And, you know, he had so much charisma. Just like he's one of those guys when he walks into the room, you kind of knew something had changed. Like the molecular structure of the room changed, you know, the air.
- [11:47]
Jed Lipinski
Despite his age, Jerry had already met plenty of charismatic people. His dad was Sam Phillips, the legendary record producer who discovered Elvis and helped bring rock and roll to the mainstream. Jerry grew up around musicians like B.B. king, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, and Sputnik blended right in with them. He'd spend hours hanging around Sun Studio, Sam Phillips Record Company, and often stopped by the Phillips home for dinner. He became a kind of mentor to young Jerry and even got him into wrestling.
- [12:18]
Jerry Phillips
He would invite me out to his house in Memphis and show me some stuff, and we would lift weights together and that kind of stuff. And that kind of got me, you know, all fired up to wrestle.
- [12:28]
Jed Lipinski
Not long after Sputnik came to Memphis, Jerry and his friend Johnny formed the Sputnik Monroe Fan Club. They accompanied him to matches at the Ellis Auditorium, a cavernous downtown arena that hosted everything from wrestling and boxing to ice shows and political rallies.
- [12:44]
Jerry Phillips
The Ellis hall tour was completely kind of dark, except for there was these spotlights around the ring. So the ring was really lit up. And when Spudnik would get in there and take off his jacket, he would call one of us, me or Johnny up to come to the corner and get his jacket from him, you know, and that was a big deal, man, you know what I mean? To be called out in front of El Hoyl's auditorium to go down and get his jacket.
- [13:06]
Jed Lipinski
Then, as now, pro wrestling was fake. The matches were carefully choreographed, but it was still a contact sport. And it took a physical toll on Sputnik, as Jerry saw up close.
- [13:18]
Jerry Phillips
Listen, I went to a lot of Sputnik's matches, and I was sitting back in the dressing room with him after the match while they were sewing up his eyebrow, you know, from getting busted open. It was tough. Those early days of wrestling was tough and really had a hard time telling if it was real or not real, you know, it was just how good they were at it.
- [13:36]
Jed Lipinski
The Ellis Auditorium, where Sputnik performed, had opened in 1924. It was the city's biggest indoor arena. Promoters claimed it could seat roughly 12,000 people. But in the 1960s, as Sputnik Monroe's star was rising, the Ellis Auditorium was still segregated. Blacks and whites had separate ticket booths, separate entrances and separate seating. Here's Jerry Phillips at Ellis Auditorium.
- [14:04]
Jerry Phillips
They had a little area up in the balcony that held about, I don't know, maybe at the most 100 black people, probably more like 50. And this is a terrible thing to say, but they called it the crow's nest. But Sputnik would come out and get in the middle of the ring and he'd raise up his arm straight up to where all the black people were sitting, and they would all go crazy.
- [14:24]
Jed Lipinski
In black wrestling fans, Sputnik saw an opportunity not just to sell more tickets to wrestling matches, but to thumb his nose at authority and the Jim Crow system. The weather's finally warming up, which means grilling season is basically here. If you're like me, you're already thinking about your first backyard barbecue of the year. And for fortunately, I already know what's going on the grill. Good ranchers. I've been a subscriber for a while now, and it's made meal planning a lot easier. Everything's high quality, 100% American meat from local farms delivered straight to my door. And the new custom boxes are a game changer. I can build a box with exactly what my family loves. No guessing, no filler. What I really like is how it turns out dinner into an event. The flavors are better, the ingredients are clean. And honestly, it makes every backyard barbecue a little more worth showing up for. And with my code south, you'll get free meat for life and $25 off your first order. That's free meat with Every order and $25 off your first order with my code South. When you subscribe on goodranchers.com goodranchers.com American meat delivered as part of the gone south community. You know that reexamining stories we inherit can change the way we see both the past and the present. And the same is true for the stories passed down in our families. That's where the new podcast family lore begins. Each episode opens with a family legend. A grandfather who claimed to have flown before the Wright brothers. A great uncle tied to the killing of a Texas ranching heir. Stories passed down through generations, long believed, rarely questioned. Family lore gently pulls at the edges not to tear those stories apart, but to understand them and to uncover the histories that may have been lost along the way. Family Lore is available now wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're curious, stay with us. There's a preview waiting at the end of this episode. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how much easier life feels when your wardrobe just works. When you've got pieces that are comfortable, versatile and still make you feel pulled together without having to plan it out too much. That's where Quints has really been a game changer for me. Their spring staples make getting dressed feel simple again. I'm talking about 100% European linen shorts and shirts starting around $34. Their 100% Pima cotton tees are another favorite. Super soft, really clean and fit and just an instant upgrade from basic basics. And even their pants have that same feel. Relaxed comfort, but still tailored enough to wear out and about without thinking twice. What really surprised me is the quality. For the price, everything is typically 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they work directly with ethical factories and skip the middlemen. I recently added a linen shirt to my rotation and it's become one of those items I keep reaching for. It just looks good every time. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use. Head to Quince.com GoneSouth for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Quince.com for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com GoneSouth. Even though the Supreme Court had ruled school Segregation unconstitutional in 1954, Jim Crow still ruled Memphis for years afterward. As the cultural historian Robert Gordon writes in his book It Came From Memphis, the city didn't make a serious attempt at mass integration until court ordered school busing began in the 70s. When Sputnik Monroe showed up in 1959, the city was still rigidly segregated. Music was one of the few cracks in the wall at Sam Phillips Son's studio. Black and white musicians mingled freely. Elvis, meanwhile, was introducing white teenagers to the music of black artists like Gate Mouth Moore and Arthur Big Boy Crudup. Here's Robert Gordon.
- [19:04]
Robert Gordon
The parents hate Elvis. He doesn't sound like Frank Sinatra. He doesn't sound like Perry Como. He is respecting a culture that the dominant white culture is insisting is not worthy of respect. They treat it with contempt. So Elvis is going a long way to invite his followers, who are growing exponentially daily. He's inviting them to come explore black culture. And when Sputnik comes Along three years later, that audience is hungry for more.
- [19:38]
Jed Lipinski
Sputnik was a master of crowd psychology. He understood what audiences wanted and he gave it to them. He also seemed to genuinely like black people and Black culture. By 1960, he began hanging out on Beale Street. Since the early 1900s, Beale street had been Memphis's black commercial and entertainment district. It was a major stop on the blues and R and B circuit. And it was not a place where a lot of white people hung out. But Sputnik would go there night after night, drinking and shooting pool with his growing number of black fans. On a few occasions, he brought 14 year old Jerry Phillips to the nightclub.
- [20:17]
Jerry Phillips
He put a cigar in my mouth and he was a big star in Memphis. And they say, how old is that guy? He'd go 21. We'd just go prancing right in there, you know, and I wasn't anywhere near 21. But they weren't going to argue with Sputnik.
- [20:30]
Jed Lipinski
Monroe, I'll tell you that the city's white establishment didn't appreciate Sputnik patronizing Beale street clubs. He was arrested multiple times and charged with things like mopery and gawking.
- [20:42]
Jerry Phillips
Mopery, I guess, means hanging around, just moping around, you know what I mean? I think two cops came in the same car. I wasn't there, but the story I heard and Sputnik said, there's not enough of you to take me in yet. And so they got like six cops out there. And he said, okay, you got enough, I'll go.
- [21:01]
Jed Lipinski
Those arrests didn't stop Sputnik from going to Beale Street. If anything, it became part of his actual. He started pulling street theater stunts to create a scene. Once he laid down on a blanket at a downtown intersection and stopped traffic until the cops came. Another time he dyed a goose pink and walked it down Beale street on a leash. After one arrest on a vague mopery charge, Sputnik turned the courtroom into part of the performance. He hired a black attorney named Ralph Sugarman Jr. Knowing it would get a reaction. He told the story in his documentary interview.
- [21:38]
Sputnik Monroe
I don't know how many altercations with the police for being on Beale street, but I was arrested and I got hot. And I took Ralph Sugarman, a black attorney, to court with me. And Judge Boucher was very angry because I was down in the wrong part of town. I asked him if this was a communist run city or what it was that me, 235 pounds of twisted steel sex appeal couldn't go wherever in the hell I wanted to go. Sugarman grabbed my hand and squeezed it and said, man, you can't talk like that. We in a white man's coat. Ha. We got fined $25.
- [22:14]
Jed Lipinski
Anyway, Sputnik was fond of saying that any story worth telling is a story worth embellishing in the story of Sputnik's life. There are several versions of what happened next. One of them is that he procured discount tickets from a local promoter and handed them out to black people on Beale Street.
- [22:33]
Steve Johnson
But the first time Sputnik handed out discount tickets on Beale street, you know, he figured he had 50, 100 people
- [22:39]
Jed Lipinski
that he gave tickets to journalist Steve Johnson.
- [22:42]
Steve Johnson
The second time he did it, it was more like 500. The third time he did it, it was close to 1,000. So you had all these black friends of Sputnik with discount tickets, but you had no place to seat them.
- [22:59]
Jed Lipinski
Remember, the section for black people at Ellis Auditorium only held about 100 people. When Sputnik saw hundreds of black ticket holders lined up outside, he went straight to the auditorium's manager and insisted he let them in.
- [23:12]
Steve Johnson
And they opened up a few seats, put up a piece of canvas, I think, or a piece of cloth, and made room for a couple hundred more. At the time, though, they had another area in Ellis auto term that was not even being used, and he had a fit, said, if you don't let my friends come in, I'm out of here.
- [23:31]
Jed Lipinski
The promoters weren't blind. They saw the profits in opening the doors to more black fans. Sputnik must have, too. The more tickets they sold, the more money he made. But what but whatever the motives were, the effect was real. The auditorium's director finally opened the south hall, and Sputnik refused to wrestle unless fans, regardless of their race, were allowed to sit in any open seat. Suddenly, black and white wrestling fans, previously confined to separate sections, were sitting side by side. The Ellis Auditorium became one of the first public facilities to be desegregated in Memphis, ahead of many schools and restaurants in the South. It was about as close as you could get to integrated seating at a sporting event. It was a major achievement. For years, the press had been referring to Sputnik as the first rock and roll wrestler. And it fit. His biggest fans were young and working class, the same audience that drove early rock and roll. And he projected a kind of rebellion that made authority figures nervous. Here's historian Robert Gordon.
- [24:39]
Robert Gordon
He was breaking the taboos. He described himself as a rebel, and it was completely accurate because, you know, like Elvis kind of breaking the taboos in music. Sputnik tapped into that same thing. He said, the black culture here deserves respect.
- [24:58]
Jed Lipinski
By 1961, Sputnik had become a local celebrity right up there with Elvis. And he used his stardom to effect change. After helping integrate the Ellis Auditorium, he learned that black leaders in Memphis were planning to protest a segregated car show in town. According to Robert Gordon, Sputnik called the sponsoring dealership and threatened to open his own blacks only car lot unless they changed the admissions policy. That night's evening news announced that blacks would be allowed to attend the show.
- [25:28]
Steve Johnson
After all, the wrestling term when somebody's really popular is that he's over. He's over with the fans.
- [25:36]
Jed Lipinski
Journalist Steve Johnson again, Sputnik was over
- [25:39]
Steve Johnson
to a degree that no one had ever been over in Memphis. It wasn't just his wrestling ability, but it was his personality. When you have that in wrestling, when you've got the connection with the audience, then you're in business.
- [25:54]
Jed Lipinski
And yet, despite his popularity, Sputnik knew he couldn't stay in Memphis forever. Like musicians, wrestlers have to keep moving or risk their act going stale. In his interview with Morgan Neville, Sputnik talked about his decision to leave.
- [26:09]
Sputnik Monroe
Well, I'd done all I could do. I had to come up with something bigger and better run for mayor or something. You know, I didn't have the expertise for that that I thought I should have. So when to Texas and raised hell down there.
- [26:32]
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- [27:28]
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- [27:45]
Jed Lipinski
After his stint in Tennessee, Sputnik Monroe continued traveling the South. He spent six months in Texas rejuvenating struggling wrestling promotions there before moving on to Georgia, Florida and Alabama. He traveled with his wife and son Bubba, who would later have his own pro wrestling career as Bubba the Brawler. They drove a trailer with the words the Magnificent Monroes painted on the side in looping script. But Sputnik could never quite recapture the magic he'd found in Memphis. As the 60s wore on, his star faded. He suffered some personal setbacks. His wife divorced him and reported him to the IRS for tax evasion. He started drinking too much. Jerry Mitchell, who stayed in touch with Sputnik during those years, remembers feeling sorry for him.
- [28:35]
Jerry Phillips
The IRS garnished his wages and all that kind of stuff, and he was, didn't have much money for a while. I would drive him to the matches out of town, somewhere like Jackson, Tennessee or somewhere, and he might drink a six pack of beer on the way over there, you know.
- [28:51]
Jed Lipinski
As a heel, Sputnik depended on the hatred of the crowd. But rock and roll wrestlers no longer inspired the disgust they once had. He needed a new gimmick to keep his spirits up. Sputnik came back to Memphis a few times a year. On one trip in the late 60s, he stopped by Sun's studio, slumped into a chair and complained that audiences didn't hate him anymore. According to Robert Gordon, a local garage rock band called Randy and the Radiance were recording an album in the studio. They threw out some ideas.
- [29:25]
Robert Gordon
So Randy says, I bet if you talked about love, they would hate you. They hate hippies, so why don't you talk about love? And one of the black guys in Randy's band says, man, you need to do a tag team and get yourself a black partner.
- [29:41]
Jed Lipinski
Sputnik loved the second idea. A few weeks later, he recruited a rising young black wrestler named Norville Austin to be his tag team partner. They became one of the first interracial tag teams in the south, and they made sure people knew it.
- [29:57]
Steve Johnson
Sputnik, the white guy, is proclaiming in TV interviews. Black is beautiful.
- [30:03]
Jed Lipinski
Journalist Steve Johnson. Again.
- [30:05]
Steve Johnson
Norvell, the black guy, is proclaiming in TV interviews. White is wonderful. Boy, what better way to rile up fans in the Deep south than not just an interracial tag team, but an interracial bad guy tag team that would cheat and punch you in the mouth and swindle you behind your back?
- [30:28]
Jed Lipinski
This is an important point. Prior to the 1970s, black heels were practically unheard of in pro wrestling. Black wrestlers were almost always good guys, with the exception of racially enlightened places like the Pacific Northwest. As Steve Johnson put it, to be a black heel in the Deep south was to take your life in your hands.
- [30:49]
Steve Johnson
Fans of Southern wrestling have always been considered more raucous and more likely to start riots or to attack wrestlers than any other place in the country. So you add that sort of tinderbox atmosphere to a black guy who's being a bad guy and beating up a white guy. It was very dangerous to be a black heel wrestler for decades in the south. And it was even more dangerous to be a black heel wrestler paired with a white guy who considered integration to be a really, really good thing.
- [31:24]
Jed Lipinski
Though they mostly confined themselves to the South, Sputnik and Austin's tag team made national news. They went out of their way to antagonize audiences. Steve Johnson said they were chased out of arenas on a routine basis.
- [31:38]
Steve Johnson
And probably the biggest reaction they got was when they wrestled an opponent named Robert Fuller, beat him to the ground and painted him black. Yeah, we can pause there for a second. That got a hell of a reaction.
- [31:55]
Jed Lipinski
Sputnik said Austin helped him recover from his divorce and his financial struggles.
- [32:00]
Sputnik Monroe
He was my main man, my crying post or whatever, and he was like his son to me. We had great success. It was Daddy Rock or Mr. Monroe. In front of certain people, he called me Mr. Monroe. But when he started having them thousand dollar weeks, it was hey, Sputsy baby, money to extreme change, don't it?
- [32:22]
Jed Lipinski
After three successful years as a tag team, Austin decided to go solo. Sputnik was on his own again. He was now in his mid-50s, well past his wrestling prime. And while he continued traveling and making appearances, he dabbled in other things. He ran a string of bars and restaurants. He owned a wrecker service and a transmission shop and taught at local wrestling schools. For a while, he sold turquoise jewelry. When Robert Gordon tracked him down in the early 90s, Sputnik was living in Houston and working as a security guard. Robert wound up interviewing him in his hotel room.
- [33:00]
Robert Gordon
And Sputnik and I sat for about six hours head to head, just reviewing his history and all this stuff. I was fascinated. And he was game. Oh, my God, the visual of it, too. Huge guy, cauliflower ears, you know, he'd been pummeled so many times on the side of his head that his ears looked like cauliflower. And he picked his ears with a toothpick every time he did it. I would cringe and then he would pick his ears with a toothpick and then he would chew on the toothpick.
- [33:29]
Jed Lipinski
Still, Sputnik never stopped going back to Memphis, and Memphis never forgot him. In 1994, he was inducted into the Memphis Wrestling hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class. The Memphis Rock and Soul Museum has some of his wrestling gear on display, including his gold entrance jacket, his boots and a pair of lime green tights. In his interview for the Sam Phillips doc, Sputnik talked about going back to Beale street, where he'd been arrested for hanging out at black nightclubs in the early 60s.
- [34:02]
Sputnik Monroe
I walked down Beale street last night and got hugged and kissed and I haven't been on beale street in 40 years.
- [34:10]
Jed Lipinski
But they remember a few years after the interview. In 2006, Sputnik died after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 77. It was one of the last interviews he gave. Before signing off, he quoted some lyrics from a song I'd never heard before. Apparently they were written by the playwright W.S. gilbert, 1/2 of the comic duo Gilbert and Sullivan. The song, titled My Boy, you, May Take it From Me, is about the idea that talent alone is not enough. If you want to get ahead, you have to promote yourself. Jerry Phillips told me Sputnik used to sing them all the time. It seemed like a fitting motto for an unashamed self promoter who'd also figured out how to use the spotlight to do some good.
- [35:03]
Steve Johnson
That's it.
- [35:03]
Sputnik Monroe
That's how we gotta end with the poem. Oh, if you wish in the world to advance and your merits you wish to enhance, you gotta strew it and strump it and blow your own trumpet. Believe me, you don't have a chance. Patrick munroe cried out. 1957. See ya. Watch out for flying chairs.
- [35:23]
Jerry Phillips
Thank you. Yay.
- [35:27]
Robert Gordon
Foreign.
- [35:35]
Jed Lipinski
If you have information, story tips or feedback you'd like to share with the Gone south team, please email us@gonesouthpodcastmail.com that's gone southpodcastmail.com for bonus content. You can follow us on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram at Gone South Podcast. You can also sign up for our newsletter on substack at Gone south with Jed Lipinski Gone south is an Odyssey original podcast. It's created, written and narrated by me, Jed Lipinski. Our executive producers are Leah Rees Dennis, Maddie Sprung Keyser and Lloyd Lockridge. Our story editor is Katie Mingle. Gone south is edited, mixed and mastered by Chris Basil. Production support from Ian Mont and Sean Cherry. Special thanks to Maura Curran, Josefina Francis, Kurt Courtney and Hilary Schuff. Thank you for listening to Gone South. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
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