The wrestling world is still reeling from the unfortunate passing of former promoter and businessman Jerry Jarrett. As noted, Jarrett passed away on Tuesday at the age of 80 after a long battle with esophageal cancer. Major news outlets including TMZ, Fox News, WKBN News in Ohio, and many others covered the legendary wrestling promoter’s passing.
Additionally, Memphis historian and co-author of Jarrett’s autobiography, Mark James, shared some thoughts on his friend via the Memphis Wrestling History Facebook group. He wrote,
“Where do you start? Jerry Jarrett’s Wrestling territory was my world when I was a kid and teenager (1970s & 1980s Memphis). Such great memories.
In the early 2000s, I decided to start trying to document the glory days of Memphis Wrestling. One of the first people I contacted was Jerry Jarrett. Jerry was completely open to it and gave me a wealth of information. The inner workings of how Memphis Wrestling ran.
When my books started to come out, Jerry couldn’t have been happier, and by 2012 or so, he asked me to help with his autobiography, which I was honored to do.
The past decade we would always catch up at shows, thru messages or i would make a quick trip up to Franklin to see him. It was always a great time.
I believe the last visit I had with Jerry happened back in Dec 2021. Me and my buddy Brian Webb made a quick trip to see Jerry at his home. While it was only 2 to 3 hours, we told stories, laughed and carried on.
A little over a month ago, Jerry had posted on his Facebook page about walking his dogs in the snow and meeting a man who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Knowing Jerry’s love of literature, I read thru the lines of this allegory and knew he was the one with cancer. I dropped him a quick message about it, but didn’t hear back. Not wanting to bug him, I left it there.
Last Tue Night, I got a call from Jerry, we ended up talking about 30 to 45 minutes. It was a good call. He told me I had been the only one to figure out his post/story and that he was the one with cancer. We had a good laugh. He told me he had made it through the chemo and radiation. While it hadn’t been easy, he was OK, just very fatigued, and while he sounded good, you could tell he was tired. It was good to talk to him.
As I heard of Jerry’s passing, I realized that just like Jerry had used that Facebook message a month earlier as a round about way of talking about his cancer fight, he had used this casual phone call as a way to say bye to me.
Jerry Jarrett was only ever a friend to me. He helped me when he didn’t have to. All the times I spent with him in person, on the phone, messaging, etc, I will always cherish. Thank you for your friendship. I hope you know how much it meant to me and how much I respected you. RIP Jerry. My sincerest prayers and deepest condolences go to Jerry W. Jarrett ‘s family in this difficult time.
Photo, first time I met Jerry Jarrett in person. After talking for like 5 years, lol, we finally met up at Charlotte Fanfest 2009. My brother took this photo… on the wall is Dave & Joe Millican, followed by Dave Brown & Lance Russell. At the table is myself along with Jerry Jarrett and Scott Bowden. Great memories of that day.”
