Thunderbolt Patterson still 'on top'

In 44 years of wrestling, Thunderbolt Patterson has seen his share of peaks and valleys. But right now, he's on top of the mountain.

...His career really took off in the 1970s in several Southern promotions when he invented the shuckin' and jivin' style of speaking and wrestling that's long since been expropriated by Dusty Rhodes and Brian "Road Dogg" James, among others. A feud with Jose Lothario, a good friend, landed him the Brass Knuckles title in 1970 in Florida, where he won the state championship six years later from Frank Goodish, aka Bruiser Brody. Kenneth Noble of The New York Times dubbed him "a folk hero to many working-class sports fans, a black gladiator."...More?

source: slam.canoe.ca

Gerry Brisco and Thunderbolt Patterson faced Ole and Gene Anderson in the first main event at the Scope in Norfolk, VA in the early 70's.