Meeting Location: Meeting Dates: Officers: President: Sam Muchnick 1st Vice President: Frank Tunney 2nd Vice President: Salvador Lutteroth Honorary Vice President: Leroy McGuirk Treasurer: Sam Avey Secretary: Sam Muchnick Membership Roster: Board of Directors: Orville Brown Fred Kohler Joe Malcewicz Sam Muchnick Morris Sigel Dennis Stecher Frank Tunney Stu Hart *Sam Avey, Don George, and Al Haft were recently removed from the NWA BOD. During the 1958 convention, the members of the NWA Board of Directors met and agreed to keep the Alliance going. Some members felt it was still a "good cooperative organization." There was discussion about helping the United States Olympic wrestling team going into the 1960 Games, and promoters staging fund-raisers, where portions would be donated to the squad. Another major point of the 1958 convention was the discussion of creating an official National Wrestling Alliance championship belt for the World Heavyweight Titleholder. Lou Thesz, during his reign, used his privately owned strap, and the NWA wanted to actually own a belt to present to Dick Hutton or his successor. A three person "belt committee" was formed consisting of Mike London, Roy Welch, and Pedro Martinez. Beginning on November 15, 1958, Akron promoter Walter Moore began obtaining wrestling talent from Martinez's Buffalo office, dropping his longtime affiliation with NWA booker Al Haft in Columbus. This had to cause some sort of rift between Haft and Martinez. In a letter to Victor R. Hansen of the Department of Justice in March 1959, Sam Muchnick stated that the NWA membership had dropped from 38 to 26 members. Where there had usually been a flood of promoters/bookers trying to get into the organization, they had only received one application to join the Alliance since they signed the Consent Decree. Championship Belt Committee: Pedro Martinez Roy Welch Mike London Research by Tim Hornbaker, Don Luce February 9, 2011 |
National Wrestling Alliance Convention - 1958 |