Overlooked Pullins was a Prince and a Soul Man

No, Calvin Pullins was not actually a “Prince.” But he did hold lots of crowns in pro wrestling, and was an early influence as far as jacked weightlifters and body builders in the sport go.

Also known as Roscoe “Soul Man” Stagg, he may not have been a main eventer on a consistent basis, but he was one of those memorable names that made up cards, primarily in the Midwest territories during the 1960s and 1970s.

His story has mainly been overlooked, but thanks to his surviving family, it’s being told here in full at SlamWrestling.net, right to the end, with his ultimately doomed fight against diabetes.

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State of Kentucky birth records indicated that Calvin Coolidge Pullins was born on June 3, 1933, in Madison County. Madison County is famous as a home of pioneer Daniel Boone. The nearest major city was Lexington. Calvin’s parents were Morris Pullins (1893-1980) and Ida Campbell Pullins (1908-1966), who had four other children named Stella, Minnie, Vernice, and Leonard. There was also an older half-brother named Eugene Beasley, who was the son of Ida from a previous relationship.

Legal documents from the 1930s indicate Calvin grew up under very poor economic circumstances. The entire family lived in a small three-room house with the only source of heat being an open fireplace.

Tony Pullins, who was Calvin’s son from his first marriage, said that eventually “the children were taken away and put in foster homes.”

Suzanne Johnson, a daughter of Pullins from his second marriage, indicated that her father completed eight years of grammar school at Virginia Avenue Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky.

“Calvin never completed high school,” confirmed Johnson. Instead, he spent several years as a farmhand, said his son, Tony.

Right around the start of the Korean War, Pullins joined the ranks of the U.S. Army. He served as a driver for officers, attaining the rank of private second class.

“He really didn’t get into war stories or combat, but he did earn an honorable discharge,” said Tony Pullins.

After his stint in the army, Pullins worked in various automotive establishments in Indianapolis such as Goodyear and Firestone, developing a life-long “infatuation with cars,” according to Tony Pullins.

There was a legendary workout facility in Indianapolis called Hofmeister’s, whose clients included people who became noted celebrities back in the day such as Peter Lupus (TV’s Mission Impossible) and Mickey Hargitay (husband of sexpot Jayne Mansfield).

Pullins began working out at Hofmeister’s Gym, and evidently took his new interest very seriously as he entered amateur competitions and sometimes won. By 1961, Pullins had won weightlifting titles in the 190-pound class for bench press and knee bends in an AAU sponsored event in Indianapolis. Winning the heavyweight division was Harold Poole, a local high school standout who later became a legend in bodybuilding and a life-long friend of Pullins.

A year later, in 1962, Pullins won another weightlifting competition in the 198-pound class held in Richmond, Indiana, sharing the winner’s platform with Thomas Lentych of South Bend, Indiana, of the 181-pound class; Lentych would later cross paths with Pullins in the wrestling world when Lentych wrestled under the ring name Tom Lynch.

It was at Hofmeister’s that Pullins met the man who would change his professional life forever: William Franklin Afflis, better known as Dick the Bruiser.

“Bruiser encouraged Calvin to get into professional wrestling,” said Tony Pullins, adding that his uncle told him that “my father liked to wrestle way before he got into the wrestling (business)—getting into trouble beating other kids up.” Bobo Brazil was often credited for training Pullins, and there’s no doubt he had a hand, at least.

A WRESTLING CAREER BEGINS

According to www.cagematch.net, Calvin Pullins made his wrestling debut in Indianapolis working for promoter Jim Barnett and booker Balk Estes. On Tuesday March 17, 1964, at the Northside Armory in Indianapolis, “Cal” Pullins was part of a tag team tournament with major political significance in Indianapolis wrestling history.

The tournament was staged to fill a vacancy in the tag team championship as the existing champions, Dick the Bruiser and Wilbur Snyder, were stripped of the titles. Why did this happen? By that time, Bruiser and Snyder had let it be known that they were going to start their own promotion in Indianapolis, opposite Barnett and Estes.

Pullins teamed with Bobby Clark in the tournament (not the hockey player!), losing in the first round against Felix and Marcus Godo; however, Pullins now had a foot in the door and started working regularly for Barnett and Estes.

Eventually, a wrestling promotional war erupted in Indianapolis between incumbent Barnett and Estes and outlaws Bruiser and Snyder, a duo who had been a top draw for Barnett and Estes in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Detroit since 1959. Their popularity and ring reputation resulted in them winning the promotional war by the end of September 1964.

Pullins actually wrestled on the final Barnett / Estes card at the Northside Armory on September 11, 1964, headlined by Johnny Valentine versus Tex McKenzie.

On the new World Wrestling Alliance (WWA) shows, Pullins soon became a steady wrestler, with a slightly different name and origin story.

Pullins now used the first name “Prince” and was introduced from Kingston, Jamaica. By April 1965, the Indianapolis Recorder newspaper described Pullins as “Indianapolis’ Top Negro Wrestler.”

Around this time, Pullins also started working from time to time for Big Time Wrestling, the wrestling promotion recently acquired by Ed Farhat, aka, the Original Sheik, in the cities of Detroit, and Cincinnati.

Then, in mid-1965, Bruiser and Snyder made a play for Detroit, running opposition to The Sheik. Demonstrating his loyalty to his original mentor, Pullins worked for the WWA during the brief, failed effort to gain territory.

On July 17, 1965, Pullins was booked on the undercard of a major WWA ballpark card at Victory Field in Indianapolis against Moose Cholak. The main events were a world title showdown between NWA’s Lou Thesz versus WWA’s Dick the Bruiser while Wilbur Snyder battled Gene Kiniski in the other main event. In little over a year, Pullins was now appearing on cards with the cream of the crop of 1960s wrestlers.

While working on a WWA television taping session on September 3, 1965, Pullins would team with Ricky Montero to challenge for the WWA tag team championship against the Assassins (Joe Tomasso and John Steele Hill [who was later Jerry Valiant]). Over 17 minutes of video survives today on YouTube. Pullins wore a cape to the ring and looked lean and muscular for a newcomer. Announcer Chuck Marlowe commented that Pullins “has highs and lows in the profession – some days he looks very good and other days he just can’t put together anything.” Pullins dutifully performed his role as an enhancement wrestler and did a lot of good selling to the Assassins, much of it in the form of being double teamed. The contest was definitely not a squash match as Pullins and Montero used the train crash maneuver against the Assassins. Several times Pullins utilized his favorite offensive weapon, the head butt, to gain a short advantage. The Assassins won both falls but Pullins adequately did his job putting them over on television.

Also in November 1965, Pullins began making appearances in the Tennessee territory controlled by promoter Nick Gulas, teaming up with Sailor Art Thomas in several matches in Memphis and Chattanooga. They posted a few victories against Eric and Karl von Brauner as well as Alex Perez and Tojo Yamamoto.

“Sailor Art Thomas and my father were tag team partners around the wrestling circuit from time to time,” recalled Tony Pullins. “Where Sailor’s style of wrestling was more grounded to the mat, my father was more acrobatic with moves like the Coco Butt, the Drop Kick, and the Flying Head Scissors. The combination of the two made for much more exciting match for the audience.”

FURTHER AFIELD

To start 1966, Pullins was part of the debut card of the Chicago Wrestling Club, Inc., a newly formed organization bringing together the forces of the WWA under the ownership of Bruiser and Snyder with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) under long-time wrestling star Verne Gagne of Minneapolis. Prince Pullins did not have an enviable slot on this card as he faced The Crusher, an icon who had been absent from Chicago rings for four years. For the next 17 years, the Chicago Wrestling Club controlled wrestling in Chicago and turned the International Amphitheatre into one of the rowdiest arenas in the country. Pullins was a fixture in Chicago for years to come. Pullins remained primarily in the WWA during 1966 and 1967, and also appeared in the circuit towns of Fort Wayne, Elkhart, Terre Haute, and Louisville, Kentucky. Pullins faced quality veteran opposition during the year including Mitsu Arakawa, the Destroyer, Angelo Poffo, Igor Vodik (the future Mighty Igor), and Bobby Managoff.

The most historically significant match Pullins had this year took place at the Northside Armory in Indianapolis on August 6, 1966, where he lost to “Pretty Boy” Bobby Heenan in Heenan’s first match as a professional wrestler. Heenan was previously an employee of the Indianapolis Coliseum using his real first name Raymond Louis Heenan, when Bruiser recruited him to manage the Assassins. In Heenan’s first book, Bobby the Brain: Wrestling’s Bad Boy Tells All, Bobby recalled this experience:

The first guy I wrestled was an African American named Calvin ‘Prince’ Pullins, who happened to be a bouncer at Bruiser’s bar called the Harem. He also worked at a local pawn shop. He was about 210 pounds and muscular, but not too big. At that time, I weighed in about 180 pounds.

By this time in his personal life, Calvin Pullins was a married man, with a wife named Virginia Darnell Pullins. They married around 1957, and had four children: Tony, Kathy, Kevin, and Lynda. They all stayed in Indianapolis while their dad ventured out to the various territories early in his career, with the exception of a short-term family move to Quebec in 1967.

“My mom would always be nervous as other wrestlers would try to get the best of him,” said Tony Pullins.

When his schedule allowed, Pullins ventured back up to Big Time Wrestling, working the Sheik’s circuit. Among the most interesting matches were tag events where Pullins was teamed with a relative newcomer at the time named Bobby Shane. Shane would later become a big star in the 1970s in the NWA promotions in Georgia and Florida before being killed in an infamous airplane crash on February 25, 1975, at age 29. Pullins was gainfully employed by the Sheik but did not advance that far in the company.

“He was great enhancement talent for the Sheik, mainly on television,” said Detroit wrestling photographer and historian Dave Burzynski, who became manager “Supermouth” Dave Drason.

Pullins “wasn’t used to the level of his talent and potential to be a great talent for any promotion,” added Burzynski. “They missed out having a great mid-card ethnic behind Bobo (Brazil).”

Another territory that Pullins appeared in was the coveted St. Louis Wrestling Club, owned by then NWA President Sam Muchnick. Muchnick would promote big cards every two to three weeks mainly at Kiel Auditorium, and sometimes at the bigger St. Louis Arena. Wrestling talent would come in from across the country to appear on these cards and then stay over a day or two for the television tapings for the legendary program Wrestling at the Chase. Muchnick would then video tape multiple programs that would be shown weekly leading up to the next big live show. Pullins did this several times in 1967 and more later on, but records show he used the name “Calvin” and not “Prince.” This seems to be similar to what Baron Von Raschke had to do in St. Louis, which is not use the first name “Baron” but go by just “Von Raschke”. Pullins made his St. Louis debut at Kiel Auditorium on September 15, 1967, getting a victory against Joe Tomasso, whom Pullins had faced multiple time earlier in Indianapolis when Tomasso wore a mask as Assassin #1. Pullins would wrestle from time to time in later years in St. Louis as a reliable hand but never pushed to a major role.

In November 1967, Pullins temporarily moved to the NWA Texas territory, which ran weekly shows in the major cities – Monday in Fort Worth, Tuesday in Dallas, Wednesday in San Antonio, and Friday in Houston. Pullins used the ring name of Roscoe “Soul Man” Stagg during this series of appearances. The site www.cagematch.net documents 12 matches that Roscoe had in that territory for the few weeks he appeared there, with an impressive record of 10 wins, one loss, and one draw. The only loss was as part of a so-called “Russian Roulette” Battle Royal won by The Spoiler (Don Jardine). Stagg scored individual victories over people like veterans Danny Plechas, Mike Paidousis, and Brute Bernard. He also had two victories teaming up with Joe Blanchard, who was highly involved in ownership in San Antonio by this time — and someone Pullins would have befriended in the Indianapolis territory a couple of years earlier. It is not formally documented why Pullins had such a short engagement in Texas, especially with all the favorable results.

As WWA wrestler and historian Chris Parsons understood it, Pullins simply got homesick for his family as a result of being away for extended periods.

MORE THAN PULLINS HIS WEIGHT

For the remainder of Pullins’ mat career, he wrestled primarily in preliminary and some mid-card slots in the WWA with standard trips to Chicago for the combined WWA/AWA cards. There were a few short stints back to Detroit in 1969 and some television and arena shots in St. Louis over several years.

In Indianapolis, Pullins had a reunion around 1970 with one of his old weightlifting associates from ten years earlier. WWA wrestler Tom Lynch was a competitive weightlifter during the same meets as Pullins, although in lighter weight categories.

“Pullins had a great body and was strong,” Lynch recalled, now 85 years old and still operating his workout facility in South Bend, Indiana.

They were just two guys who would reminisce about their weightlifting days, said Lynch, and they faced each other in WWA rings in the early 1970s as two clean babyfaces.

For one match at the Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Bruiser instructed Lynch to exit the bad guy dressing room before his match with Pullins to create some conflict in the eyes of the fans. This match was likely March 9, 1972, which was won by Pullins. and Lynch remembered it as standard match of “holds and counter holds.”

In the late 1960s, a young black woman named Cynthia Peretti attended wrestling matches and caught the attention of Bruiser, who saw potential in her as a wrestler. Bruiser assigned Prince Pullins to be Peretti’s trainer, which Pullins did for about three months.

In a 2009 interview with SlamWrestling, Jamie Hemmings interviewed Peretti who always appreciated the break she got from Dick the Bruiser. Peretti adopted the ring name of Princess Jasmine and wrestled steadily in the WWA starting in 1970 and going into 1976. Prince Pullins wrestled on many of the same cards as Jasmine appeared on.

“Princess Jasmine was trained by my father and they traveled a little while together on the wrestling circuit,” remembered Tony Pullins. He added, “after about a year or so, they moved in together and trained a couple more wrestlers.”

Princess Jasmine went on to wrestle into the 1980s and was honored by the Cauliflower Alley Club for her contributions to women’s wrestling in 2009, the year of her death from cancer.

From August to December 1971, Pullins worked in the Gulf Coast territory which was owned by Lee Fields and incorporated parts of Alabama and Florida. Gulf Coast historian Michael Norris documented his memories on the pages of www.wrestlingclassics.com. In 2006, Norris noted that “Pullins had a very good run in the Gulf Coast.” Pullins and tag team partner, Mike “The Hippie” Boyette, were the U.S. tag team champions twice during his visit.

“Prince also had a feud with Donnie Fargo and swapped the Gulf Coast title with him several times,” wrote Norris. In addition, Pullins and Boyette lost their tag belts to the Alaskans (Mike York and Frank Monte) but several months later won them back.

“He was the first black wrestler to be in the main event and was a major hero to the black fans,” noted Norris. Pullins did eventually turn heel and reunited with his old Detroit tag partner Bobby Shane; Norris concluded that “his heel turn was absolutely shocking to his legion of fans.” Pullins then left the territory and never returned—another push near the top of the card abandoned.

SETTLING BACK IN THE WWA

As Pullins returned to the WWA territory for most of his remaining wrestling years, he was observed by John Lawson, who produced a wrestling newsletter, based out of his Terre Haute, Indiana, home. Lawson had more connections than most writers, as his father was the Chairman of the Indiana State Athletic Commission for many years. On the Kayfabe Memories site, Lawson wrote that “Pullins was usually a first or second match guy that was always in tip top condition.”

“As a very young kid my old man would take me into the dressing rooms and I recall that Pullins was usually the only guy that would be warming up and exercising like mad before a match,” wrote Lawson. The others were usually sitting around talking or playing cards (until the Athletic Commission put a stop to that).”

Parsons, on the Rasslin’ Relics page on Facebook, noted that Pullins did get a “push of sorts” in 1972. Pullins “looked impressive in a close losing effort” by escaping the claw hold against Baron Von Raschke. In a bout against The Professor (Doug Gilbert), Pullins utilized “three rapid fire dropkicks” to defeat the Professor. After that, Pullins defeated Jim Dillinger of the New Chain Gang “with a sunset flip in an exciting bout.” The end of this push came with a television bout where Bruiser picked Pullins as a tag team partner against Blackjacks Lanza and Mulligan, which ended with Pullins submitting to a half Boston crab by Lanza.

Perhaps Pullins’ greatest personal achievement in professional wrestling took place from late September 1975 to the end of October 1975, as he was selected to be part of an All Japan Pro Wrestling tour. It was likely that Dick the Bruiser had a big influence in getting Pullins this gig, as he was a regular for All Japan. There were 29 events booked over 35 days, with the opening at the famed wrestling and boxing venue Korakuen Hall and closing at Kuramae Kokugikan, who was known for sumo, both located in Tokyo. Other noteworthy Americans participating on this tour were The Destroyer and Bobby Jaggers. The most typical match that Pullins had was being the tag team partner of the notorious Abdullah the Butcher. This type of non-stop action over almost five weeks was nothing like any other booking experience in Pullins’ life. While Pullins was mainly on the losing end of the results, which was common for new gaijin on tours, it was an appropriate reward for somebody who took a lot bumps and thumps over an 11-year period in all a variety of wrestling territories.

POST-WRESTLING YEARS

The end in the ring for Prince Pullins was unexpected. In 1984, Pullins “broke his leg and never wrestled again,” said Tony Pullins.

The broken leg was only one health challenge. He already had high blood pressure, but Pullins also developed diabetes. Later, he would lose five toes on one foot due to complications from the disease.

For employment, Pullins worked as a security guard at a bar on West 16^th Street in Indianapolis, where he made the local newspaper. Pullins tossed a customer, Jerome Taylor, from The Pub for unruly behavior, and the customer returned, threw a brick through a window and hit a woman. Pullins gave chase, Taylor got into his car, at which point, Pullins brought out his gun—for which he had a permit—and shot into the car, missing Taylor, and then spraying him with an unnamed substance. Police contemplated charging Pullins for the use of the firearm, but it does not appear he was charged.

As well, Pullins exploited his local fame and love of cars by appearing in print ads for Indianapolis’ J.D. Byrider Auto Sales in the late 1990s.

Pullins’ second marriage, to Marion Majors, happened in July 1991, but the union did not last long, said his daughter Suzanne Johnson. She was told her father worked at Dock Brothers Jewelry as a security guard on North Meridian Street in Indianapolis around that period.

In 2005, Calvin moved to Marietta, Georgia, to be under the care of daughter, Suzanne.

He died due to sepsis on June 1, 2006. Funeral services were held on June 9, 2006, at Williams & Bluitt Funeral Home in Indianapolis. The final resting place for Prince Pullins is Marion National Cemetery, Marion, Indiana, located 85 miles north of Indianapolis.

It was a quiet ending for a Prince.

Wherever he worked, wherever they went as a family, Pullins was recognized. “We couldn’t go anywhere without someone knowing Dad,” Tony Pullins told the Indianapolis Star after his father’s death.