Otis Sistrunk (born September 18, 1946 in
Columbus, GeorgiaColumbus is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia. The city is the county seat of Muscogee County. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2008, had an estimated population of 287,653...
) is a former professional
footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
player who played seven seasons as a defensive lineman, from 1972 to 1978. He played his entire
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
(NFL) career with the
Oakland RaidersThe Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team in the NFL based in the city of Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Sistrunk later became a professional wrestler in the
National Wrestling AllianceThe National Wrestling Alliance is a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
(NWA). He is a distant cousin to former NFL player
Manny SistrunkManuel Sistrunk is a former American football defensive lineman who played ten seasons in the National Football League. He played college football for Arkansas AM&N and was drafted in the fifth round of the 1970 NFL Draft....
.
Sistrunk was one of the few NFL players of his day to not play college football, going directly from high school to the semi-pro
Continental Football LeagueThe Continental Football League was an American football league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established as a minor league. It had hoped to be the "major force" in professional football outside of the National Football League and the American Football League...
in 1969 after having served in the U.S.
Otis Sistrunk (born September 18, 1946 in
Columbus, GeorgiaColumbus is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia. The city is the county seat of Muscogee County. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2008, had an estimated population of 287,653...
) is a former professional
footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
player who played seven seasons as a defensive lineman, from 1972 to 1978. He played his entire
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
(NFL) career with the
Oakland RaidersThe Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team in the NFL based in the city of Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Sistrunk later became a professional wrestler in the
National Wrestling AllianceThe National Wrestling Alliance is a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
(NWA). He is a distant cousin to former NFL player
Manny SistrunkManuel Sistrunk is a former American football defensive lineman who played ten seasons in the National Football League. He played college football for Arkansas AM&N and was drafted in the fifth round of the 1970 NFL Draft....
.
Sistrunk was one of the few NFL players of his day to not play college football, going directly from high school to the semi-pro
Continental Football LeagueThe Continental Football League was an American football league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established as a minor league. It had hoped to be the "major force" in professional football outside of the National Football League and the American Football League...
in 1969 after having served in the U.S. Marines. While there, he played for the Norfolk Neptunes. After three years in the league, a
Los Angeles RamsThe St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team has won three NFL Championships, including one Super Bowl.The Rams began...
scout spotted Sistrunk and believed the 22-year-old could play in the NFL. During a team practice, he was observed by representatives of the
Oakland RaidersThe Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team in the NFL based in the city of Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, who successfully worked to bring Sistrunk to their team.
During a Monday Night Football telecast, a television camera beamed a sideline shot of Sistrunk's steaming bald head to the nation. That, along with his lack of a college education resulting in the team program listing Sistrunk's academic background as "U.S. Mars" (short for U.S. Marines), prompted
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
commentator and ex-NFL player
Alex KarrasAlexander George "Alex" Karras , nicknamed "The Mad Duck", is a former football player, professional wrestler, and actor who is best known for playing with the Detroit Lions from 1958-1962 and 1964-1970...
to suggest that Sistrunk's alma mater was the "
University of Mars." Sistrunk was named to the
Pro BowlIn professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
in
1974The 1974 NFL season was the 55th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl IX when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings.-Major rule changes:...
.
In 1976, playing under coach
John MaddenJohn Earl Madden is a former American Professional Football player in the National Football League, a former head coach with the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League and later the NFL, and a former color commentator for NFL telecasts. In 2006, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall...
, Sistrunk was part of the Raiders team that won the January 1977
Super Bowl XISuper Bowl XI was an American football game played on January 9, 1977 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1976 regular season...
against the
Minnesota VikingsThe Minnesota Vikings are a professional football team based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings compete in the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . Prior to divisional realignment in 2002, they had been a member of the Central Division, also...
. He retired after the 1978 season, finishing his career with seven fumbles recovered and three interceptions in 98 games played.
He also had a brief movie career, appearing in Car Wash (1976) and as a police officer in
Alex de RenzyAlex de Renzy was an American director and producer of pornographic movies.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Alex de Renzy served in the United States Air Force, serving as a Survival Instructor. Back in the United States, he began making documentary films in San Francisco...
's "Babyface" (1977).
Sistrunk had a brief wrestling career in the
National Wrestling AllianceThe National Wrestling Alliance is a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
. Following the breakup of the
Fabulous FreebirdsThe Fabulous Freebirds were a groundbreaking professional wrestling tag team that attained fame in the 1980s, performing into the 1990s. The team usually consisted of three wrestlers, although in different situations and points in its history, just two performed under the Freebirds...
,
Michael HayesMichael Seitz is a retired American professional wrestler and former musician. Seitz is best known for leading The Fabulous Freebirds under the ring name Michael "P.S." Hayes and for his role as the announcer Dok Hendrix in the World Wrestling Federation...
was in need of a partner and teamed up with Sistrunk. Together, they defeated
Jimmy SnukaJames William Reiher is a semi-retired Fijian professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Originally from the Fiji Islands, Snuka wrestled for several wrestling promotions in the 1970s and 1980s...
and Hayes' former
tag teamIn professional wrestling, a tag team consists of two wrestlers who are working together as a team . Often, they are close partners and backstage friends who team with each other almost exclusively, while other times they are singles competitors who are booked together for just one match...
partner
Terry GordyTerry Ray 'Bam Bam' Gordy, Sr. was a professional wrestler who was best known in North America for being a member of the Fabulous Freebirds.-Career:...
to win the
NWA National Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA National Tag Team Championship was the major tag team title in the NWA-affiliated Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1980 until 1986.The championship was introduced in November 1980 when Georgia Tag Team Champions the Fabulous Freebirds won a tournament to determine the first champions,...
on September 27 1981. Sistrunk soon retired after deciding that he did not enjoy wrestling, however, and the title was vacated in late 1981.
After leaving football, Sistrunk spent two years as a
beerBeer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely...
salesman. He was then approached about working with the
ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
as a civilian employee. He spent twelve years working at
Fort BenningFort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
. Sistrunk now manages Cowan & Memorial Stadium at
Fort LewisFort Lewis is a census-designated place and United States Army post in Pierce County and Thurston County, Washington, United States. The territory of Fort Lewis is not conterminous with the CDP, and is in fact much larger. As of the 2000 census, the CDP, which includes the most densely populated...
,
WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...
and helps with athletic training programs.
Championships and accomplishments
- National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
- NWA National Tag Team Championship
The NWA National Tag Team Championship was the major tag team title in the NWA-affiliated Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1980 until 1986.The championship was introduced in November 1980 when Georgia Tag Team Champions the Fabulous Freebirds won a tournament to determine the first champions,...
(1 time) - with Michael HayesMichael Seitz is a retired American professional wrestler and former musician. Seitz is best known for leading The Fabulous Freebirds under the ring name Michael "P.S." Hayes and for his role as the announcer Dok Hendrix in the World Wrestling Federation...
External links