Amarillo

Amarillo in Western Texas had been a smaller market since the 1920s. Cal Farley was a local jack-of-all-trades, he ran a tire shop, a department store, hosted a radio show, worked as a part-time wrestler and had a famous boys' ranch. He began promoting pro-wrestling in Amarillo with European grappler Dutch Mantell, but it was only a small deal. There were other small promotions in West Texas during this time: John McIntosh is El Paso, Jim Wakefield in Abilene and Sled Allen in Lubbock. By the 1940s, Dory Detton was running Amarillo, but his operation was minor compared to Houston and even to Dallas. In 1950, Dory Funk Sr. came to town and established his local fame as a superintendent for Cal Farley's Boys Ranch and he did some pro-wrestling on the side. Funk left with his family in 1953, but Karl "Doc" Sarpolis invited him back to begin seriously promoting Amarillo in the mid-1950s when pro-wrestling was growing from the TV boom. The two took the city to a new level of success in this age of television and NWA affiliates. The territory developed into a solid operation with the towns being run by local promoters and talent flowing around the region. The established cities were passed down: Gory Guerrero in El Paso, Don Slatton in Abilene, Nick Roberts in Lubbock as well as Pat O'Dowdy in Odessa and Jerry Kozak promoted Amarillo itself, where the central booking office was located. They also expanded out into Albuquerque, New Mexico with Mike London and Colorado Springs, Colorado. This region was built with a television show that featured studio wrestling from Amarillo, which featured some rough and tough matches. In 1966, Sarpolis passed away and Funk's two sons, Dory Jr. and Terry, bought his shares. The Funk trio worked hard to improve the territory in the late 1960s and Dory Jr. was eventually made NWA World Heavyweight champion. Though he was not in the territory regularly after that, the win elevated Amarillo and allowed Terry Funk to get himself into a top slot as well. In 1973, Dory Sr. died and his sons continued to run the company through the end of the decade. The company was sold to Blackjack Mulligan and Dick Murdoch and ran for a short time longer before the crush of national wrestling forced its doors to close.