In mathematics, an embedding (or imbedding) is one instance of some mathematical structure contained within another instance, such as a group that is a subgroup.

When some object X is said to be embedded in another object Y, the embedding is given by some injective and structure-preserving map f : X → Y. The precise meaning of "structure-preserving" depends on the kind of mathematical structure of which X and Y are instances. In the terminology of category theory, a structure-preserving map is called a morphism.

The fact that a map f : X → Y is an embedding is often indicated by the use of a "hooked arrow", thus: Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f : X \hookrightarrow Y.

 On the other hand, this notation is sometimes reserved for inclusion maps.

Given X and Y, several different embeddings of X in Y may be possible. In many cases of interest there is a standard (or "canonical") embedding, like those of the natural numbers in the integers, the integers in the rational numbers, the rational numbers in the real numbers, and the real numbers in the complex numbers. In such cases it is common to identify the domain X with its image f(X) contained in Y, so that then X ⊆ Y.

Topology and geometry[link]

General topology[link]

In general topology, an embedding is a one-to-one function (i.e., an injection) that is a homeomorphism onto its image.^[1] More explicitly, an injective continuous map f : X → Y between topological spaces X and Y is a topological embedding if f yields a homeomorphism between X and f(X) (where f(X) carries the subspace topology inherited from Y). Intuitively then, the embedding f : X → Y lets us treat X as a subspace of Y. Every embedding is injective and continuous. Every map that is injective, continuous and either open or closed is an embedding; however there are also embeddings which are neither open nor closed. The latter happens if the image f(X) is neither an open set nor a closed set in Y.

For a given space X, the existence of an embedding X → Y is a topological invariant of X. This allows two spaces to be distinguished if one is able to be embedded into a space while the other is not.

Differential topology[link]

In differential topology: Let M and N be smooth manifolds and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f:M\to N

be a smooth map. Then f is called an immersion if its derivative is everywhere injective. An embedding, or a smooth embedding, is defined to be an injective immersion which is an embedding in the topological sense mentioned above (i.e. homeomorphism onto its image).[2] 

In other words, an embedding is diffeomorphic to its image, and in particular the image of an embedding must be a submanifold. An immersion is a local embedding (i.e. for any point Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): x\in M

there is a neighborhood Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): x\in U\subset M
such that Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f:U\to N
is an embedding.)

When the domain manifold is compact, the notion of a smooth embedding is equivalent to that of an injective immersion.

An important case is N=Rⁿ. The interest here is in how large n must be, in terms of the dimension m of M. The Whitney embedding theorem ^[3] states that n = 2m is enough. For example the real projective plane of dimension 2 requires n = 4 for an embedding. An immersion of this surface is, however, possible in R³, and one example is Boy's surface—which has self-intersections. The Roman surface fails to be an immersion as it contains cross-caps.

An embedding is proper if it behaves well w.r.t. boundaries: one requires the map Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f: X \rightarrow Y

to be such that

• Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f(\partial X) = f(X) \cap \partial Y

, and

• Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f(X)

is transversal to Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \partial Y
in any point of Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f(\partial X)

.

The first condition is equivalent to having Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f(\partial X) \subseteq \partial Y

and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f(X \setminus \partial X) \subseteq Y \setminus \partial Y

. The second condition, roughly speaking, says that f(X) is not tangent to the boundary of Y.

Riemannian geometry[link]

In Riemannian geometry: Let (M,g) and (N,h) be Riemannian manifolds. An isometric embedding is a smooth embedding f : M → N which preserves the metric in the sense that g is equal to the pullback of h by f, i.e. g = f*h. Explicitly, for any two tangent vectors

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): v,w\in T_x(M)

we have

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): g(v,w)=h(df(v),df(w)).\,

Analogously, isometric immersion is an immersion between Riemannian manifolds which preserves the Riemannian metrics.

Equivalently, an isometric embedding (immersion) is a smooth embedding (immersion) which preserves length of curves (cf. Nash embedding theorem).^[4]

Algebra[link]

In general, for an algebraic category C, an embedding between two C-algebraic structures X and Y is a C-morphism e:X→Y which is injective.

Field theory[link]

In field theory, an embedding of a field E in a field F is a ring homomorphism σ : E → F.

The kernel of σ is an ideal of E which cannot be the whole field E, because of the condition σ(1)=1. Furthermore, it is a well-known property of fields that their only ideals are the zero ideal and the whole field itself. Therefore, the kernel is 0, so any embedding of fields is a monomorphism. Hence, E is isomorphic to the subfield σ(E) of F. This justifies the name embedding for an arbitrary homomorphism of fields.

Universal algebra and model theory[link]

If σ is a signature and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): A,B

are σ-structures (also called σ-algebras in universal algebra or models in model theory), then a map Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): h:A \to B
is a σ-embedding iff all the following holds:

• Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): h

is injective,

• for every Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): n

-ary function symbol Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): f \in\sigma

and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): a_1,\ldots,a_n \in A^n,
we have Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): h(f^A(a_1,\ldots,a_n))=f^B(h(a_1),\ldots,h(a_n))

,

• for every Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): n

-ary relation symbol Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): R \in\sigma

and Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): a_1,\ldots,a_n \in A^n,
we have Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): A \models R(a_1,\ldots,a_n)
iff Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): B \models R(h(a_1),\ldots,h(a_n)).

Here Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): A\models R (a_1,\ldots,a_n)

is a model theoretical notation equivalent to Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): (a_1,\ldots,a_n)\in R^A

. In model theory there is also a stronger notion of elementary embedding.

Order theory and domain theory[link]

In order theory, an embedding of partial orders is a function F from X to Y such that:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \forall x_1,x_2\in X: x_1\leq x_2\Leftrightarrow F(x_1)\leq F(x_2)

.

In domain theory, an additional requirement is:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \forall y\in Y:\{x: F(x)\leq y\}

is directed.

Metric spaces[link]

A mapping Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \phi: X \to Y

of metric spaces is called an embedding

(with distortion Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): C>0 ) if

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L d_X(x, y) \leq d_Y(\phi(x), \phi(y)) \leq CLd_X(x,y)

for some constant Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): L>0 .

Normed spaces[link]

An important special case is that of normed spaces; in this case it is natural to consider linear embeddings.

One of the basic questions that can be asked about a finite-dimensional normed space Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): (X, \| \cdot \|)

is, what is the maximal dimension Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): k
such that the Hilbert space Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \ell_2^k
can be linearly embedded into Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): X
with constant distortion?

The answer is given by Dvoretzky's theorem.

Category theory[link]

In category theory, there is no satisfactory and generally accepted definition of embeddings that is applicable in all categories. One would expect that all isomorphisms and all compositions of embeddings are embeddings, and that all embeddings are monomorphisms. Other typical requirements are: any extremal monomorphism is an embedding and embeddings are stable under pullbacks.

Ideally the class of all embedded subobjects of a given object, up to isomorphism, should also be small, and thus an ordered set. In this case, the category is said to be well powered with respect to the class of embeddings. This allows to define new local structures on the category (such as a closure operator).

In a concrete category, an embedding is a morphism ƒ: A → B which is an injective function from the underlying set of A to the underlying set of B and is also an initial morphism in the following sense: If g is a function from the underlying set of an object C to the underlying set of A, and if its composition with ƒ is a morphism ƒg: C → B, then g itself is a morphism.

A factorization system for a category also gives rise to a notion of embedding. If (E, M) is a factorization system, then the morphisms in M may be regarded as the embeddings, especially when the category is well powered with respect to M. Concrete theories often have a factorization system in which M consists of the embeddings in the previous sense. This is the case of the majority of the examples given in this article.

As usual in category theory, there is a dual concept, known as quotient. All the preceding properties can be dualized.

An embedding can also refer to an embedding functor.

See also[link]

• Cover
• Immersion
• Submanifold
• Subspace

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Sharpe, R.W. (1997), Differential Geometry: Cartan's Generalization of Klein's Erlangen Program, Springer-Verlag, New York, ISBN 0-387-94732-9 .
• Warner, F.W. (1983), Foundations of Differentiable Manifolds and Lie Groups, Springer-Verlag, New York, ISBN 0-387-90894-3 .

External links[link]

• Adámek, Jiří; Horst Herrlich, George Strecker (2006). Abstract and Concrete Categories (The Joy of Cats). http://katmat.math.uni-bremen.de/acc/. 

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2008)

Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz^[2] (Born Lajos Tiza^[3] April 24, 1916 - April 28, 2002) was an American professional wrestler and 6-time^[4] world champion, most notably holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times. Combined, he held the NWA Championship for 10 years, three months and nine days (3,749 days total), longer than anyone else in history. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited with inventing a number of professional wrestling techniques such as the belly to back waistlock suplex (later known as the German suplex due to its association with Karl Gotch), the Lou Thesz press, STF and the original powerbomb.

He is generally considered to be among the greatest professional wrestlers of the 20th century.

Wrestling career[link]

Born in Banat, Michigan, Thesz's family moved to St. Louis when he was a young boy.^[2] His working-class immigrant parents hailed from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Beginning in Thesz's early youth, his father personally gave him a tough and thorough education in Greco-Roman wrestling, which provided the fundamentals for his later success. While in high school he was a successful freestyle wrestling competitor on his school team; as he recalled many years later, he and a friend once "worked" a dramatic match against each other at a tournament, and were amused when nobody could see how much they were faking. As a teenager, he also trained in amateur wrestling with legendary wrestler Ad Santel. Thesz made his professional wrestling debut in 1932, at the age of 16. He soon met Ed "Strangler" Lewis, the biggest wrestling star of the 1920s, who taught a young Lou the art of "hooking" (the ability to stretch your opponent with painful holds). The two formed a lasting friendship. By 1937, Thesz had become one of the biggest stars in the St. Louis territory, and on December 29 he defeated Everett Marshall for the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title, the first of many World Heavyweight Championships. Thesz became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history, at the age of 21.^[1] Thesz dropped the title to Steve "Crusher" Casey in Boston six weeks later. He won the title again in 1939, once again defeating Marshall, and again in 1948, defeating Bill Longson.

In 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was formed, the purpose being to create one World Champion for all the various wrestling territories throughout North America. Orville Brown, the reigning Midwest World Heavyweight Title holder, was named the first champion. Thesz, at the time, was head of a promotional combine that included fellow wrestling champions Longson, Bobby Managoff, Canadian promoter Frank Tunney and Eddie Quinn, who promoted in the St. Louis territory where NWA promoter Sam Muchnick was running opposition. Quinn and Muchnick ended their promotional war, and Thesz' promotion was absorbed into the NWA. Part of the deal was a title unification match between Brown and Thesz, who held the National Wrestling Association's World Title. Unfortunately, just weeks before the scheduled bout, Brown was involved in an automobile accident that ended his career. He was forced to vacate the championship and the NWA awarded the title to the #1 contender, Thesz. Thesz was chosen for his skill as a "hooker" to prevent double crosses by would-be shooters who would deviate from the planned finish for personal glory.

Between 1949 and 1956, Thesz set out to unify all the existing World Titles into the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In 1952 he defeated Baron Michele Leone in Los Angeles for the California World Heavyweight title and became the first undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion since the days of Frank Gotch and Georg Hackenschmidt. Thesz finally dropped the Title to Whipper Billy Watson in 1956, and took several months off to recuperate from an ankle injury. He regained the title from Watson seven months later.

1957 was an important year for Thesz; on June 14, the first taint to Thesz' claim of undisputed Champion occurred in a match with gymnast-turned-wrestling star, Edouard Carpentier. The match was tied at two falls apiece when Thesz claimed a back injury and forfeit the last fall. Carpentier was declared the winner, but the NWA chose not to recognize the title change, deciding a championship could not change hands due to injury. Despite the NWA's decision, there were some promotions who continued to recognize Carpentier's claim to the World Heavyweight title. That same year, Thesz became the first wrestler to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Japan, wrestling Rikidōzan in a series of 60 minute draws. Their bouts popularized pro wrestling in Japan, gaining the sport mainstream acceptance. Realizing he could make more money in the land of the rising sun, Thesz petitioned to the NWA promoters to regularly defend the belt in Japan. His request was turned down, and Thesz asked to drop the title to his own hand picked champion, Dick Hutton, rather than Thesz's real-life rival and the more popular choice, Buddy Rogers. Thesz would embark on a tour of Europe and Japan, billing himself as the NWA International Champion; this title is still recognized as a part of All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Championship.

In 1963, Thesz came out of semi-retirement to win his sixth World Heavyweight Championship from Buddy Rogers at the age of 46. Legend has it that Rogers was having second thoughts about dropping the title, and Thesz responded by saying, "we could do this the easy way or the hard way". He would hold the title until 1966 when, at the age of 49, he was dethroned by Gene Kiniski.

Thesz wrestled on a part-time basis over the next 13 years, winning his last major Title in 1978, in Mexico, becoming the inaugural Universal Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion at the age of 62, before dropping the championship to El Canek a year later. Thesz officially retired in 1979, after a match with Luke Graham. He remained retired for the most part, before wrestling his last match on December 26, 1990 in Hamamatsu, Japan at the age of 74, against his protégé, Masahiro Chono.^[1] This made him the only male wrestler to wrestle in seven different decades.^[1]

Post-wrestling career[link]

After retiring, Thesz became a promoter, manager, color commentator, trainer and occasionally, a referee for important matches. Some famous matches he refereed include:

• Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami at Tokyo Gym, 09/19/85
• Big Van Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto in the IWGP Championship Tournament Finals at Tokyo Dome, 4/24/89,
• Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Heavyweight Championship, 9/17/81 ^[5]

Thesz became the president of the Cauliflower Alley Club in 1992, an organization for retired pro wrestlers; a position he held until 2000. He became a trainer for the Union of Wrestling Force International, and lent the promotion one of his old NWA Title belts, which they recognized as their own World Title. As an announcer, Thesz was the color commentator for International World Class Championship Wrestling's weekly television show. In 1999, his name was given to the Lou Thesz/George Tragos Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame for professional wrestling stars with a successful amateur background at the International Wrestling Institute & Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, where he was an inaugural inductee. Thesz was honored by a ceremony at WWF's Badd Blood 1997^[1] as being both the youngest and oldest World Heavyweight Champion at ages 21 and 50, respectively (technically, Verne Gagne holds the record for oldest champ, when he held the AWA Championship in 1980 at age 54).

Thesz wrote an autobiography, Hooker. He underwent a triple bypass surgery for an aortic valve replacement on April 9, 2002, but died due to complications on April 28, 2002 in Orlando, Florida.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Thesz was married three times. His first marriage to Evelyn Katherine Ernst in March 22, 1937.^[7] Thesz was convalescing from a severe knee injury suffered in 1939 and from 1941 to 1944 and worked as a dog breeder and trainer for Dogs for Defense and later as a supervisor for the Todd Houston Shipyard.^[7] He divorced his first wife in 1944 and at the shipyard, Thesz met his second wife, Fredda Huddleston Winter with whom he fathered three children, Jeff Thesz, Robert Thesz and Patrick Thesz.^[7] Thesz was drafted into the army in 1944 despite a legitimate injury to his knee and multiple medical deferments. He was placed into medic training and eventually teaching hand to hand combat defense for medics and was discharged in 1946.^[7] Thesz's 2nd marriage came to an end in 1975.^[7] He married Charlie Catherine Thesz and remained with her for the rest of his life.

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • Bridging belly to back suplex
  • STF – innovated

• Signature moves
  • Backbreaker submission
  • Belly to back waist-lock suplex – innovated
  • Double wrist-lock
  • Headlock
  • Lou Thesz Press^[8] – innovated
  • Powerbomb – innovated

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• American Wrestling Association

• AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version) (1 time)
• AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Ohio version) (1 time)

• Cauliflower Alley Club

• Iron Mike Mazurki Award (1998)

• International Wrestling Enterprise

• TWWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• International Wrestling Institute and Museum

• George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame (1999)

• Japan Wrestling Association

• NWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Montreal Athletic Commission

• World Heavyweight Championship (Montreal version) (4 times)

• National Wrestling Alliance

• NWA World Heavyweight Championship (4 times)¹
• NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)

• NWA All-Star Wrestling

• NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (1 time) – with The Outlaw

• NWA Mid-America

• NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (1 time) – with Jackie Fargo

• National Wrestling Association

• NWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)²

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Stanley Weston Award (1982)

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame

• Pioneer Era (Class of 2002)

• Southwest Sports, Inc.

• Texas Heavyweight Championship (3 times)³

• Stampede Wrestling

• Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame^[9]

• St. Louis Wrestling Club

• NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• St. Louis Wrestling Hall Of Fame

• Class of 2007

• Universal Wrestling Association

• UWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• World Championship Wrestling

• WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1993)

• World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)

• WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

• Other titles

• World Heavyweight Championship (original version) (2 times)⁴
• World Heavyweight Championship (Los Angeles) (1 time)

Notes[link]

¹Records are unclear as to where Thesz first won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and which promotion he was wrestling in when he won it. ^[10]
2The World Heavyweight Championship of the National Wrestling Association is not the same championship nor does it have any connection to the world championship recognized and used by the National Wrestling Alliance.
³Thesz reigns with the title occurred prior to the NWA assuming control of it. In fact, he won the title before the NWA was created.
⁴Thesz also has two reigns with the title before the formation of the NWA and the title being renamed the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Dave Meltzer & John F. Molinaro (2002). Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of all Time. Winding Stair Press. ISBN 1-55366-305-5. 

External links[link]

• Lou Thesz forum
• Lou Thesz Profile - Online World of Wrestling
• Lou Thesz on IMDB.com
• Puroresu.com: Lou Thesz

Laverne Clarence "Verne" Gagne^[2] (born February 26, 1926), is a retired American professional wrestler, football player, and professional wrestling trainer and promoter. He was the former owner/promoter of the American Wrestling Association (AWA), based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was the predominant promotion throughout the Midwest and Manitoba for many years. He remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded.

Gagne is a 16-time world heavyweight champion, having held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship 10-times, the World Heavyweight Championship (Omaha version) 5-times, and the IWA World Heavyweight Championship once. Gagne holds the record for the most combined days as a world champion and is third behind Bruno Sammartino and Lou Thesz for the longest single world title reign. He is one of six men inducted into each of the WWE Hall of Fame, the WCW Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

Early life[link]

Verne Clarence Gagne grew up on a farm in Corcoran, Minnesota. He left home at the age of 14 after his mother died. Verne went to Robbinsdale High School and excelled in football, baseball and wrestling, winning district, regional and state championships in high school wrestling, as well as being named to the All-State Football Team. In 1943, Gagne was recruited to play football at the University of Minnesota, where he was named to the All-Conference Team. After one year of college, he enlisted with the United States Marine Corps.^[2] Gagne chose to return to the University of Minnesota, where, as an amateur wrestler, he captured two NCAA titles. He was also an alternate for the U.S freestyle wrestling team at the 1948 Olympic Games; he later said that he might have wrestled in the Olympics, but his coaches had discovered that he had earned money winning a wrestling match at a carnival, thus putting his amateur standing in question.^{[citation needed]}

National Football League[link]

Gagne joined the National Football League (NFL) soon after by being drafted in the 16th round (145th pick) of the 1947 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.^[4] Bears owner George Halas prevented Gagne from pursuing both football and wrestling (likely due to former Bear Bronko Nagurski having moonlighted as a professional wrestler during the height of his NFL career), and forced Gagne to make a choice. In a 2006 interview for WWE, Verne's son Greg Gagne mentioned that wrestling was a much better paying job at the time than playing football (as recent as the 1970's, it was not uncommon for NFL players to have a second job during the NFL offseason to help make ends meet), and as a result Verne chose wrestling over football.^[5]

Professional wrestling career[link]

National Wrestling Alliance[link]

In 1949, Gagne decided to wrestle professionally, starting his career in Texas. In his debut, he defeated Abe Kashey, with former World Heavyweight boxing Champion Jack Dempsey as the referee. On November 13, 1950, Gagne captured the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Junior Heavyweight title in a tournament for the vacant championship.^[2]

In September 1953, Gagne won the Chicago version of the NWA United States Championship.^[2] Gagne became one of the most well-known stars in wrestling during the golden age of television, thanks to his exposure on the Dumont Network, where he wowed audiences with his technical prowess. He was rumored to be one of the highest paid wrestlers during the 1950s, reportedly earning a hundred thousand dollars a year.^{[citation needed]}

Gagne and his supporters lobbied for him to become NWA World Champion in the 1950s but this did not happen for various reasons due to the politics of the NWA. Gagne was eventually recognized as NWA Champion by some NWA territories through a series of events that occurred in the late 1950s.^{[citation needed]}

On June 14, 1957, Edouard Carpentier defeated NWA Champion Lou Thesz in Chicago. The NWA later overruled the decision of the referee in Chicago and gave the title back to Thesz. However, certain wrestling territories of the NWA including Nebraska refused to go along with the decision and continued to recognize Carpentier. Carpentier lost his title to Gagne in Omaha on August 9, 1958,^[2] making him the recognized NWA World champion in the NWA territories that had recognized Carpentier. Gagne held this disputed version of the NWA World title until the formation of the AWA in 1960.^{[citation needed]}

American Wrestling Association[link]

In 1960, Gagne formed his own promotion, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), instantly becoming its top star. That same year, Gagne was awarded the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, after Pat O'Connor failed to defend the title against the number one contender, Gagne. O'Connor had been the reigning NWA World champion and was given the AWA World Title by Gagne (although O'Connor and the NWA refused to acknowledge it) and was advised by the new AWA to grant Gagne a title match within 90 days or else the AWA would declare Gagne the new AWA World champion. Gagne would go on to become a nine-time AWA World Champion (some sources say ten), a record for the promotion. He also had one of the longest World Title reigns in wrestling history, holding the AWA Title from August 31, 1968 until November 8, 1975, a total of 7 years 3 months, when he finally lost the belt to Nick Bockwinkel, this reign was the third longest world title reign in history.^{[citation needed]} As well as being the company's owner, Gagne would also train wrestlers from his farm in Chanhassen as well.

Some of Gagne's biggest feuds were against Gene Kiniski, Dr. Bill Miller (under a mask both as Dr. X and then Mr. M), Fritz Von Erich, Dr. X (Dick Beyer), The Crusher (Reggie Lisowski), Ray Stevens, Mad Dog Vachon, Larry "The Ax" Hennig, and Nick Bockwinkel. He always wrestled as a face, and utilized the sleeper hold as his finisher.

As promoter of the AWA, Gagne was known for putting on an "old school" show. He sought out wrestlers with amateur backgrounds over the hulking brutes who dominated wrestling in the 1980s. This led to a problem with his biggest draw, Hulk Hogan, whom Gagne had acquired after Hogan had been let go by the World Wrestling Federation and who Gagne also felt was not championship material, due to the fact that Hogan was a powerhouse wrestler and not a technical wrestler. Seeing Hogan as the company's top draw, Gagne did, however, let Hogan feud with Bockwinkel. Eventually, as noted on the 2006 Spectacular Legacy of AWA DVD, Gagne settled with making Hogan his champion after Hogan's feud with Bockwinkel ran its course in April 1983, but only under the condition that he would receive the bulk of the revenue Hogan made from both merchandise sales and his matches in Japan. Hogan refused. In late 1983, Hogan accepted an offer from Vincent K. McMahon to return to the WWF. The Iron Sheik, who Gagne trained, has alleged that he was offered a cash bribe by the AWA's owner to inflict career threatening damage on Hogans knee after it became apparent that he was going to go to the WWF. This allegation was supported by Hogan during an interview for A&E's Biography.

What followed was a purge of stars from various territories and promotions, including Gagne's AWA, by Vince McMahon, who wished to take his WWF "national" and do away with the traditional territorial system that dominated the North American Pro Wrestling landscape for years. The AWA suffered perhaps the most damage, losing nearly every one of its top stars in the mid to late 1980s. By 1991, the damage had been done, and the AWA shut down, after 30 years. Gagne would eventually end up in bankruptcy court.^[6]

Hall of Fame[link]

In April 2006, Gagne was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his son, Greg Gagne. He is one of the few wrestlers to be in the WWE Hall of Fame, WCW Hall of Fame, Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, and Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame.

Later life[link]

Gagne was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease^[7] (or possibly chronic traumatic encephalopathy caused by a lifetime of head injuries.^[8]), and has been living in the memory-loss section of a Bloomington, Minnesota health care facility.^[7]

2009 altercation[link]

On January 26, 2009, Gagne got into an altercation with Helmut Gutmann, a 97-year old resident of the facility, who fell and broke his hip. According to Gutmann's widow, Gagne picked him up and hurled him violently to the floor, then pulling back on his body, thus breaking his hip. She was not present during the altercation, however, and Bloomington, Minnesota police chief Jeff Potts said "The attack -- which was not a wrestling body slam -- happened quickly while the men were at a table, Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts said. It was more like "a push and a shove" and it caused Gutmann to fall."^[9]

Neither man had any recollection of the incident.^[10] Gutmann was admitted to the hospital, and died on February 14 from complications from the injury.^[11] On February 25, 2009, the man's death was officially ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County medical examiner's office.^[10] On March 12, 2009, the Hennepin County Prosecutor's office officially announced that Gagne will not be criminally charged as a result of the death. Because of Gagne's dementia, he lacked the mental capacity necessary to have intended to harm Gutmann.^[9]

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • Sleeper hold

• Signature moves
  • Dropkick
  • Flying Headscissor^[12]

Championships and accomplishments[link]

Amateur wrestling[link]

• Amateur Athletic Union
  • Northwestern AAU Championship (1942)
  • National AAU Championship (1948, 1949)

• Big Ten Conference
  • Big Ten Conference Championship (1944, 1947, 1948)

• Minnesota State High School League
  • Minnesota State Championship (1943)

• National Collegiate Athletic Association
  • NCAA Championship (1948, 1949)

• Olympic Games
  • Member of 1948 United States Olympic Team^[3]

Professional wrestling[link]

• Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Lou Thesz Award (2006)

• International Pro Wrestling
  • IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• NWA Chicago
  • NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Chicago version) (2 time)^[13]
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (Chicago version) (1 time) – with Edouard Carpentier^[14]

• NWA Minneapolis Wrestling and Boxing Club / American Wrestling Association
  • AWA World Heavyweight Championship (10 times)^[15]
  • AWA World Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Moose Evans (1), The Crusher (1), Billy Robinson (1), and Mad Dog Vachon (1)^[16]
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (Minneapolis version) (4 times) – with Bronko Nagurski (1), Leo Nomellini (2), and Butch Levy (1)^[17]
  • World Heavyweight Championship (Omaha version) (1 time)
• NWA Tri-State
  • NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[18]

• Omaha, Nebraska
  • World Heavyweight Championship (Omaha version) (4 times)^[19]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Stanley Weston Award (1986)
  • PWI ranked him #158 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
  • Class of 2004^[20]

• Southwest Sports, Inc.
  • NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (2 times)^[21]
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) – with Wilbur Snyder^[22]

• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1993)^[23]

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)^[24]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

Training career[link]

Verne trained or helped train 93 wrestlers, including:^{[citation needed]}

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Dave Meltzer & John F. Molinaro (2002). Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of all Time. Winding Stair Press. ISBN 1-55366-305-5. 

External links[link]

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Profile of Verne Gagne
• WWE Hall of Fame Profile of Verne Gagne

Professional wrestling portal

Johnny Cash
Cash in 1969.
Background information
Birth name	John R. Cash
Born	(1932-02-26)February 26, 1932 Kingsland, Arkansas, United States
Origin	Kingsland, Arkansas, United States
Died	September 12, 2003(2003-09-12) (aged 71) Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Country, rock and roll, folk, americana, gospel, blues, rockabilly
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin
Years active	1955–2003
Labels	Sun, Columbia, Mercury, American, House of Cash, Legacy Recordings
Associated acts	The Tennessee Three, The Highwaymen, June Carter Cash, The Statler Brothers, The Carter Family, The Oak Ridge Boys, Area Code 615, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Website	johnnycash.com
Notable instruments
Martin Acoustic Guitars[1]

John R. "Johnny" Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003), was an American singer-songwriter, actor,^[2] and author,^[2] who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.^[3] Although he is primarily remembered as a country music icon, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll—especially early in his career—as well as blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal led to Cash being inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Cash was known for his deep, distinctive bass-baritone voice;^[4][5][6] for the "boom-chicka-boom" sound of his Tennessee Three backing band; for his rebelliousness,^[7][8] coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor;^[4] for providing free concerts inside prison walls;^[9][10] and for his dark performance clothing, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black".^[11] He traditionally started his concerts by saying, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."^[12][13] and usually following it up with his standard "Folsom Prison Blues".

Much of Cash's music, especially that of his later career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption.^[4][14] His signature songs include "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm" and "Man in Black". He also recorded humorous numbers, including "One Piece at a Time" and "A Boy Named Sue"; a duet with his future wife, June Carter, called "Jackson"; as well as railroad songs including "Hey, Porter" and "Rock Island Line".^[15] Late in his career, Cash covered songs by several rock artists, most notably "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails - the resulting music video was voted one of the best of all time and is sometimes seen as Cash's epitaph.

Cash, a troubled but devout Christian,^[16][17] has been characterized as a "lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges."^[18][19][20] A Biblical scholar,^[2][21][22] he penned a Christian novel titled Man in White,^[23][24] and he made a spoken word recording of the entire New King James Version of the New Testament.^[25][26] Even so, Cash declared that he was "the biggest sinner of them all", and viewed himself overall as a complicated and contradictory man.^[27][28] Accordingly,^[29] Cash is said to have "contained multitudes", and has been deemed "the philosopher-prince of American country music".^[30][31]

Personal life[link]

Early life[link]

Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas,^[32] the fourth of seven children to Ray Cash (May 13, 1897, Kingsland, Arkansas – December 23, 1985, Hendersonville, Tennessee)^[33] and Carrie Cloveree Rivers (March 13, 1904, Rison, Arkansas – March 11, 1991, Hendersonville, Tennessee).^[34][35] Cash was named John R. Cash because his parents couldn't think of a name, but he went by J. R. all throughout his childhood as a shortened version of his real name. When Cash enlisted in the Air Force, they wouldn't let him use initials as his name, so he began to use his legal name of John R. Cash. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name.^[36]

The Cash children were, in order: Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R., Reba, Joanne and Tommy.^[37][38] His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.

In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas. He started working in cotton fields at age five, singing along with his family simultaneously while working. The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which later inspired him to write the song "Five Feet High and Rising".^[39] His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.

Cash was very close to his older brother, Jack.^[40] In May 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling head saw in the mill where he worked and was almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died on May 20, 1944, at age 15.^[39] Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident. According to Cash: The Autobiography, his father was away that morning, but he and his mother, and Jack himself, all had premonitions or a sense of foreboding about that day, causing his mother to urge Jack to skip work and go fishing with his brother. Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in heaven.

Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. In high school he sang on a local radio station; decades later he released an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also significantly influenced by traditional Irish music that he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.^[41]

Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force on July 7, 1950.^[42] After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a Morse Code Intercept Operator for Soviet Army transmissions at Landsberg, Germany "where he created his first band named The Landsberg Barbarians."^[43] He was the first radio operator to pick up the news of the death of Joseph Stalin.^[44] After he was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant on July 3, 1954, he returned to Texas.^[45]

Marriages and family[link]

On July 18, 1951, while in Air Force training, Cash met 17-year-old Vivian Liberto at a roller skating rink in her native San Antonio. They dated for three weeks, until Cash was deployed to Germany for a three year tour. During that time, the couple exchanged hundreds of pages of love letters.^[46] On August 7, 1954, one month after his discharge, they were married at St. Anne's Catholic church in San Antonio. The ceremony was performed by her uncle, Father Vincent Liberto. They had four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy and Tara. Cash's drug and alcohol abuse, constant touring, and affairs with other women, and his close relationship with future wife June Carter, led Liberto to file for divorce in 1966.^[47]

In 1968, 13 years after they first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Cash proposed to June Carter, an established country singer, during a live performance in London, Ontario,^[48] marrying on March 1, 1968, in Franklin, Kentucky. They had one child together, John Carter Cash (born March 3, 1970). They continued to work together and tour for 35 years, until June Carter died in 2003. Cash died just four months later. Carter co-wrote one of Cash's biggest hits, "Ring of Fire," with singer Merle Kilgore. She and Cash won two Grammy awards for their duets.

Vivian Liberto claims a different version of the origins of "Ring of Fire" in I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, stating that Cash gave Carter the credit for monetary reasons.^[49]

Heritage[link]

Cash's heritage was a British Isles mix. He learned upon researching his heritage that he was of Scottish royal descent on his father's side, traced back to Malcolm I of Scotland.^[50][51][52] After meeting with now-dead laird Major Michael Crichton-Stuart of Falkland, Fife, Scotland, Johnny traced the Cash family tree to eleventh-century Fife;^[53][54][55] Cash Loch and other locations in Fife bear the name of his family.^[53]

Cash also had English and Scots-Irish ancestry. Though he did not have American Indian ancestry, his empathy and compassion for Native American Indians were unabated. These feelings were expressed in several of his songs, including "Apache Tears" and "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", and on his album, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian. Through his maternal grandmother, Rosanna Lee (Hurst) Rivers, Cash is distantly related to millionaire William Randolph Hearst and socialite Patty Hearst.^{[citation needed]}

Friends[link]

Cash was a long time friend of Woody Hayes (ex Ohio State Buckeyes football coach). The lyrics "I braided Twigs of Willows Made a String of Buckeye Beads" from the song Flesh and Blood was for Woody.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Early career[link]

In 1954, Cash and Vivian moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he sold appliances while studying to be a radio announcer. At night he played with guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. Perkins and Grant were known as the Tennessee Two. Cash worked up the courage to visit the Sun Records studio, hoping to get a recording contract. After auditioning for Sam Phillips, singing mostly gospel songs, Phillips told him that he didn't record gospel music any longer. It was once rumored that Phillips told Cash to "go home and sin, then come back with a song I can sell," though in a 2002 interview Cash denied that Phillips made any such comment.^[56] Cash eventually won over the producer with new songs delivered in his early rock'a'billy style. In 1955 Cash made his first recordings at Sun, "Hey Porter" and "Cry! Cry! Cry!", which were released in late June and met with reasonable success on the country hit parade.

On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on studio owner Sam Phillips to pay a social visit while Carl Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks, with Jerry Lee Lewis backing him on piano. Cash was also in the studio and the four started an impromptu jam session. Phillips left the tapes running and the recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived and have since been released under the title Million Dollar Quartet.

Cash's next record, "Folsom Prison Blues", made the country Top 5, and "I Walk the Line" became No. 1 on the country charts and entered the pop charts Top 20. "Home of the Blues" followed, recorded in July 1957. That same year Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing album. Although he was Sun's most consistently selling and prolific artist at that time, Cash felt constrained by his contract with the small label partly due to the fact that Phillips wasn't keen on Johnny recording gospel, and he was only getting a 3% royalty as opposed to the standard rate of 5%. Presley had already left Sun, and Phillips was focusing most of his attention and promotion on Lewis. The following year Cash left the label to sign a lucrative offer with Columbia Records, where his single "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" became one of his biggest hits.

In the early 1960s, Cash toured with the Carter Family, which by this time regularly included Mother Maybelle's daughters, Anita, June and Helen. June, whom Cash would eventually marry, later recalled admiring him from afar during these tours. In the 1960s he appeared on Pete Seeger's short lived Rainbow Quest.^[57]

He also acted in a 1961 film entitled Five Minutes to Live, later re-released as Door-to-door Maniac. He also wrote and sang the opening theme.

Outlaw image[link]

As his career was taking off in the late 1950s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. For a brief time, he shared an apartment in Nashville with Waylon Jennings, who was heavily addicted to amphetamines. Cash used the uppers to stay awake during tours. Friends joked about his "nervousness" and erratic behavior, many ignoring the warning signs of his worsening drug addiction. In a behind-the-scenes look at The Johnny Cash Show, Cash claims to have "tried every drug there was to try."

Although in many ways spiraling out of control, Cash's frenetic creativity was still delivering hits. His rendition of "Ring of Fire" was a crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on the country charts and entering the Top 20 on the pop charts. The song was written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore. The song was originally performed by June's sister, but the signature mariachi-style horn arrangement was provided by Cash, who said that it had come to him in a dream.

In June 1965, his truck caught fire due to an overheated wheel bearing, triggering a forest fire that burnt several hundred acres in Los Padres National Forest in California.^[58][59] When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead, so you can't question it."^[39] The fire destroyed 508 acres (206 ha), burning the foliage off three mountains and killing 49 of the refuge's 53 endangered condors. Cash was unrepentant: "I don't care about your damn yellow buzzards." The federal government sued him and was awarded $125,172 ($923,127 today). Cash eventually settled the case and paid $82,001.^[60] He said he was the only person ever sued by the government for starting a forest fire.^[39]

Although Cash carefully cultivated a romantic outlaw image, he never served a prison sentence. Despite landing in jail seven times for misdemeanors, each stay lasted only a single night. His most infamous run-in with the law occurred while on tour in 1965, when he was arrested October 4 by a narcotics squad in El Paso, Texas. The officers suspected that he was smuggling heroin from Mexico, but it was 688 Dexedrine capsules and 475 Equanil tablets that the singer had hidden inside his guitar case. Because they were prescription drugs rather than illegal narcotics, he received a suspended sentence.

Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter

Cash was later arrested on May 11, 1965, in Starkville, Mississippi, for trespassing late at night onto private property to pick flowers. (This incident gave the spark for the song "Starkville City Jail", which he spoke about on his live At San Quentin prison album.)

In the mid 1960s, Cash released a number of concept albums, including Ballads Of the True West (1965), an experimental double record mixing authentic frontier songs with Cash's spoken narration, and Bitter Tears (1964), with songs highlighting the plight of the Native Americans. His drug addiction was at its worst at this point, and his destructive behavior led to a divorce from his first wife and canceled performances.

In 1967, Cash's duet with June Carter, "Jackson", won a Grammy Award.

Johnny Cash's final arrest was in Walker County, Georgia where he was taken in after being involved in a car accident while carrying a bag of prescription pills. Cash attempted to bribe a local deputy, who turned the money down, and then spent the night in a LaFayette, Georgia jail. The singer was released after a long talk with Sheriff Ralph Jones, who warned him of his dangerous behavior and wasted potential. Johnny credited that experience for saving his life, and he later came back to LaFayette to play a benefit concert that attracted 12,000 people (the city population was less than 9,000 at the time) and raised $75,000 for the high school.^[61]

Cash curtailed his use of drugs for several years in 1968, after a spiritual epiphany in the Nickajack Cave, when he attempted to commit suicide while under the heavy influence of drugs. He descended deeper into the cave, trying to lose himself and "just die", when he passed out on the floor. He reported to be exhausted and feeling at the end of his rope when he felt God's presence in his heart and managed to struggle out of the cave (despite the exhaustion) by following a faint light and slight breeze. To him, it was his own rebirth. June, Maybelle, and Ezra Carter moved into Cash's mansion for a month to help him conquer his addiction. Cash proposed onstage to June at a concert at the London Gardens in London, Ontario on February 22, 1968; the couple married a week later (on March 1) in Franklin, Kentucky. June had agreed to marry Cash after he had "cleaned up".^[62] He rediscovered his Christian faith, taking an "altar call" in Evangel Temple, a small church in the Nashville area, pastored by Rev. Jimmie Rodgers Snow, son of country music legend Hank Snow.

According to longtime friend Marshall Grant, Cash's 1968 rebirth experience did not result in his completely stopping use of amphetamines. However, in 1970, Cash ended all drug use for a period of seven years. Grant claims that the birth of Cash's son, John Carter Cash, inspired Cash to end his dependence. Cash began using amphetamines again in 1977. By 1983, he was once again addicted, and entered the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, California for rehabilitation. Cash managed to stay off drugs for several years, but by 1989, he was dependent again and entered Nashville's Cumberland Heights Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center. In 1992, he entered the Loma Linda Behavioural Medicine Centre in Loma Linda, California for his final rehabilitation (several months later, his son followed him into this facility for treatment).^[63][64][65]

Folsom Prison Blues[link]

Cash felt great compassion for prisoners. He began performing concerts at various prisons starting in the late 1950s. His first ever prison concert was held on January 1, 1958 at San Quentin State Prison.^[66] These performances led to a pair of highly successful live albums, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969).

The Folsom Prison record was introduced by a rendition of his classic "Folsom Prison Blues", while the San Quentin record included the crossover hit single "A Boy Named Sue", a Shel Silverstein-penned novelty song that reached No. 1 on the country charts and No. 2 on the U.S. Top Ten pop charts. The AM versions of the latter contained a couple of profanities which were edited out. The modern CD versions are unedited and uncensored and thus also longer than the original vinyl albums, though they still retain the audience reaction overdubs of the originals.

In addition to his performances at U.S. prisons, Cash also performed at the Österåker Prison in Sweden in 1972. The live album På Österåker ("At Österåker") was released in 1973. Between the songs, Cash can be heard speaking Swedish, which was greatly appreciated by the inmates.

"The Man in Black"[link]

Cash advocated prison reform at his July 1972 meeting with United States President Richard Nixon.

From 1969 to 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network. The Statler Brothers opened up for him in every episode; the Carter Family and rockabilly legend Carl Perkins were also part of the regular show entourage. However, Cash also enjoyed booking more mainstream performers as guests; such notables included Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (who appeared a record four times on his show), James Taylor, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton (then leading Derek and the Dominos), and Bob Dylan. During the same period, he contributed the title song and other songs to the film Little Fauss and Big Halsey, which starred Robert Redford, Michael J. Pollard, and Lauren Hutton. The title song, The Ballad of Little Fauss and Big Halsey, written by Carl Perkins, was nominated for a Golden Globe award.

Cash had met with Dylan in the mid 1960s and became closer friends when they were neighbors in the late 1960s in Woodstock, New York. Cash was enthusiastic about reintroducing the reclusive Dylan to his audience. Cash sang a duet with Dylan on Dylan's country album Nashville Skyline and also wrote the album's Grammy-winning liner notes.

Another artist who received a major career boost from The Johnny Cash Show was songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who was beginning to make a name for himself as a singer/songwriter. During a live performance of Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Cash refused to change the lyrics to suit network executives, singing the song with its references to marijuana intact: "On a Sunday morning sidewalk / I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned."^[67]

By the early 1970s, he had crystallized his public image as "The Man in Black". He regularly performed dressed all in black, wearing a long black knee-length coat. This outfit stood in contrast to the costumes worn by most of the major country acts in his day: rhinestone suit and cowboy boots. In 1971, Cash wrote the song "Man in Black", to help explain his dress code: "We're doing mighty fine I do suppose / In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes / But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back / Up front there ought to be a man in black."

Cash attired in black performing in Bremen, Northern Germany, in September 1972

He wore black on behalf of the poor and hungry, on behalf of "the prisoner who has long paid for his crime",^[68] and on behalf of those who have been betrayed by age or drugs.^[68] "And," Cash added, "with the Vietnam War as painful in my mind as it was in most other Americans', I wore it 'in mournin' for the lives that could have been.' ... Apart from the Vietnam War being over, I don't see much reason to change my position ... The old are still neglected, the poor are still poor, the young are still dying before their time, and we're not making many moves to make things right. There's still plenty of darkness to carry off."^[68]

He and his band had initially worn black shirts because that was the only matching color they had among their various outfits.^[39] He wore other colors on stage early in his career, but he claimed to like wearing black both on and off stage. He stated that, political reasons aside, he simply liked black as his on-stage color.^[39] To this day, the US Navy's winter blue uniform is referred to by sailors as "Johnny Cashes", as the uniform's shirt, tie, and trousers are solid black.^[69]

In the mid 1970s, Cash's popularity and number of hit songs began to decline. He made commercials for Amoco, an unpopular enterprise in an era in which oil companies made high profits while consumers suffered through high gasoline prices and shortages. However, his autobiography (the first of two), titled Man in Black, was published in 1975 and sold 1.3 million copies. A second, Cash: The Autobiography, appeared in 1997. His friendship with Billy Graham led to the production of a film about the life of Jesus, The Gospel Road, which Cash co-wrote and narrated.

He also continued to appear on television, hosting an annual Christmas special on CBS throughout the 1970s. Later television appearances included a role in an episode of Columbo (Swan Song). He also appeared with his wife on an episode of Little House on the Prairie entitled "The Collection" and gave a performance as John Brown in the 1985 American Civil War television mini-series North and South. Johnny and June also appeared in Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman (TV series) as a recurring couple. Cash also had a starring role in a Columbo film.

He was friendly with every US President starting with Richard Nixon. He was closest to Jimmy Carter, with whom he became close friends.^[39] He stated that he found all of them personally charming, noting that this was probably essential to getting oneself elected.^[39]

When invited to perform at the White House for the first time in 1970,^[70] Richard Nixon's office requested that he play "Okie from Muskogee" (a satirical Merle Haggard song about people who despised youthful drug users and war protesters) and "Welfare Cadillac" (a Guy Drake song which denies the integrity of welfare recipients). Cash declined to play either and instead selected other songs, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" (about a brave Native American World War II veteran who was mistreated upon his return to Arizona), and his own compositions, "What Is Truth" and "Man in Black". Cash wrote that the reasons for denying Nixon's song choices were not knowing them and having fairly short notice to rehearse them, rather than any political reason.^[39] However, Cash added, even if Nixon's office had given Cash enough time to learn and rehearse the songs, their choice of pieces that conveyed "antihippie and antiblack" sentiments might have backfired.^[71]

Highwaymen[link]

In 1980, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee at age 48, but during the 1980s his records failed to make a major impact on the country charts, although he continued to tour successfully. In the mid 1980s, he recorded and toured with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson as The Highwaymen, making three hit albums which were released beginning with the originally titled "Highwaymen" in 1985, followed by "Highwaymen 2" in 1990, and concluding with "Highwaymen - The Road Goes on forever" in 1995.

During that period, Cash appeared in a number of television films. In 1981, he starred in The Pride of Jesse Hallam, winning fine reviews for a film that called attention to adult illiteracy. In the same year, Cash appeared as a "very special guest star" in an episode of the Muppet Show. In 1983, he appeared as a heroic sheriff in Murder in Coweta County, based on a real-life Georgia murder case, which co-starred Andy Griffith as his nemesis. Cash had tried for years to make the film, for which he won acclaim.

Cash relapsed into addiction after being administered painkillers for a serious abdominal injury in 1983 caused by an unusual incident in which he was kicked and wounded by an ostrich he kept on his farm.^[72]

At a hospital visit in 1988, this time to watch over Waylon Jennings (who was recovering from a heart attack), Jennings suggested that Cash have himself checked into the hospital for his own heart condition. Doctors recommended preventive heart surgery, and Cash underwent double bypass surgery in the same hospital. Both recovered, although Cash refused to use any prescription painkillers, fearing a relapse into dependency. Cash later claimed that during his operation, he had what is called a "near death experience". He said he had visions of Heaven that were so beautiful that he was angry when he woke up alive.^{[citation needed]}

Cash's recording career and his general relationship with the Nashville establishment were at an all-time low in the 1980s. He realized that his record label of nearly 30 years, Columbia, was growing indifferent to him and was not properly marketing him (he was "invisible" during that time, as he said in his autobiography). Cash recorded an intentionally awful song to protest, a self-parody.^{[citation needed]} "Chicken in Black" was about Cash's brain being transplanted into a chicken. Ironically, the song turned out to be a larger commercial success than any of his other recent material. Nevertheless, he was hoping to kill the relationship with the label before they did, and it was not long after "Chicken in Black" that Columbia and Cash parted ways.

In 1986, Cash returned to Sun Studios in Memphis to team up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55. Also in 1986, Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a book about Saul and his conversion to become the Apostle Paul. He also recorded Johnny Cash Reads The Complete New Testament in 1990.

American Recordings[link]

Johnny Cash sings a duet with a Navy lieutenant c.1987.

After Columbia Records dropped Cash from his recording contract, he had a short and unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records from 1987 to 1991 (see Johnny Cash discography).

His career was rejuvenated in the 1990s, leading to popularity with an audience not traditionally interested in country music. In 1991, he sang a version of "Man in Black" for the Christian punk band One Bad Pig's album I Scream Sunday. In 1993, he sang "The Wanderer" on U2's album Zooropa. Although no longer sought after by major labels, he was offered a contract with producer Rick Rubin's American Recordings label, better known for rap and hard rock.

Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded American Recordings (1994) in his living room, accompanied only by his Martin Dreadnought guitar – one of many Cash played throughout his career.^[73] The album featured covers of contemporary artists selected by Rubin and had much critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Cash wrote that his reception at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival was one of the highlights of his career. This was the beginning of a decade of music industry accolades and commercial success. Cash teamed up with Brooks & Dunn to contribute "Folsom Prison Blues" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. On the same album, he performed the Bob Dylan favorite "Forever Young".

Cash and his wife appeared on a number of episodes of the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman starring Jane Seymour. The actress thought so highly of Cash that she later named one of her twin sons after him. He lent his voice for a cameo role in The Simpsons episode "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)," as the "Space Coyote" that guides Homer Simpson on a spiritual quest. In 1996, Cash enlisted the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and released Unchained, which won the Best Country Album Grammy. Believing he did not explain enough of himself in his 1975 autobiography Man in Black, he wrote Cash: The Autobiography in 1997.

Last years[link]

In 1997, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy-Drager syndrome, a form of multiple system atrophy. The diagnosis was later altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes. This illness forced Cash to curtail his touring. He was hospitalized in 1998 with severe pneumonia, which damaged his lungs. The albums American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002) contained Cash's response to his illness in the form of songs of a slightly more somber tone than the first two American albums. The video that was released for "Hurt", a cover of the song by Nine Inch Nails, fits Cash's view of his past and feelings of regret. The video for the song, from American IV, is now generally recognized as "his epitaph,"^[74] and received particular critical and popular acclaim.

Cash's grave (top) and the Cash/Carter memorial (bottom)

June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, at the age of 73. June had told Cash to keep working, so he continued to record, completing 60 more songs in the last four months of his life, and even performed a couple of surprise shows at the Carter Family Fold outside Bristol, Virginia. At the July 5, 2003, concert (his last public performance), before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage:

The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has.

Death[link]

Cash died of complications from diabetes at approximately 2:00 a.m. CT on September 12, 2003, while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville - less than four months after his wife. It was suggested that Johnny's health worsened due to a broken heart over June's death.^[75][76] He was buried next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

On May 24, 2005, Vivian Liberto, Cash's first wife and the mother of Rosanne Cash and three other daughters, died from surgery to remove lung cancer at the age of 71. It was her daughter Rosanne's 50th birthday.^[77]

In June 2005, Cash's lakeside home on Caudill Drive in Hendersonville was put up for sale by his estate. In January 2006, the house was sold to Bee Gees vocalist Barry Gibb and wife Linda and titled in their Florida limited liability company for $2.3 million. The listing agent was Cash's younger brother, Tommy Cash. During a major restoration of the property by the new owner, Cash's home was accidentally destroyed by workers using linseed oil products in a spontaneous combustion-ignited fire on April 10, 2007.^[78]

One of Cash's final collaborations with producer Rick Rubin, entitled American V: A Hundred Highways, was released posthumously on July 4, 2006. The album debuted in the No.1 position on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for the week ending July 22, 2006.

On February 23, 2010, three days before what would have been Cash's 78th birthday, the Cash Family, Rick Rubin, and Lost Highway Records released his second posthumous record, titled American VI: Ain't No Grave.

Legacy[link]

From his early days as a pioneer of rockabilly and rock and roll in the 1950s, to his decades as an international representative of country music, to his resurgence to fame in the 1990s as a living legend and an alternative country icon, Cash influenced countless artists and left a large body of work. Upon his death, Cash was revered by the greatest popular musicians of his time. His rebellious image and often anti-authoritarian stance influenced punk rock.^[79][80]

Among Cash's children, his daughter Rosanne Cash (by first wife Vivian Liberto) and his son John Carter Cash (by June Carter Cash) are notable country-music musicians in their own right.

Cash nurtured and defended artists on the fringes of what was acceptable in country music even while serving as the country music establishment's most visible symbol. At an all-star concert which aired in 1999 on TNT, a diverse group of artists paid him tribute, including Bob Dylan, Chris Isaak, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Dom DeLuise and U2. Cash himself appeared at the end and performed for the first time in more than a year. Two tribute albums were released shortly before his death; Kindred Spirits contains works from established artists, while Dressed in Black contains works from many lesser-known artists.

In total, he wrote over 1,000 songs and released dozens of albums. A box set titled Unearthed was issued posthumously. It included four CDs of unreleased material recorded with Rubin as well as a Best of Cash on American retrospective CD.

In recognition of his lifelong support of SOS Children's Villages, his family invited friends and fans to donate to that charity in his memory. He had a personal link with the SOS village in Diessen, at the Ammersee Lake in Southern Germany, near where he was stationed as a GI, and also with the SOS village in Barrett Town, by Montego Bay, near his holiday home in Jamaica.^[81] The Johnny Cash Memorial Fund was founded.^[82]

In 1999, Cash received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Cash^[83] No.31 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.^[84]

In a tribute to Cash after his death, country music singer Gary Allan included the song "Nickajack Cave (Johnny Cash's Redemption)" on his 2005 album entitled Tough All Over. The song chronicles Cash hitting rock bottom and subsequently resurrecting his life and career.

The main street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Highway 31E, is known as "Johnny Cash Parkway"; the Johnny Cash Museum is located in the town.

On November 2–4, 2007, the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival was held in Starkville, Mississippi. Starkville, where Cash was arrested over 40 years earlier and held overnight at the city jail on May 11, 1965, inspired Cash to write the song "Starkville City Jail". The festival, where he was offered a symbolic posthumous pardon, honored Cash's life and music, and was expected to become an annual event.^[85]

JC Unit One, Johnny Cash's private tour bus from 1980 until 2003, was put on exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in 2007. The Cleveland, Ohio museum offers public tours of the bus on a seasonal basis (it is stored during the winter months and not exhibited during those times).

WWE Superstar The Undertaker used Cash's song "Aint No Grave" (from American VI: Ain't No Grave) to announce his return following an absence in February, 2011, and as his entrance music for Wrestlemania XXVII. Independent circuit wrestlers Tyson Dux and Brodie Lee also use "God's Gonna Cut You Down" (from American V: A Hundred Highways) as entrance music. Other professional wrestlers who have used Cash's songs as entrance music include Austin Aries, who used his cover of the Depeche Mode's song "Personal Jesus" (from American IV: The Man Comes Around), and Necro Butcher, who used both "The Man Comes Around" and "Hurt". WWE also used "Hurt" in a special video package that was aired on Monday Night RAW in November 2005 as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero, a popular WWE Superstar who had died of heart failure while he was still contracted with the company. It is also noted that current WWE Superstar Ted DiBiase, Jr. is a huge fan of Cash, as is former WWE Diva and current TNA Knockout Mickie James.

The television show "The Deadliest Catch" is using the song "Ain't No Grave" as the theme song in many of their commercials.

One of Cash's greatest hits, "Hurt", was also used to advertise Prototype 2 in the trailer called "The Power Of Revenge".

Portrayals[link]

The Canada Trust company used his name and images for their Johnny Cash automatic bank machines during the late 80s and early 90s.

In 1998, country singer Mark Collie was the first to portray Cash, in the short film, I Still Miss Someone.

In November of 2005, Walk the Line, an Academy Award-winning biopic about Cash's life starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny (for which he was nominated for the 2005 Best Actor Oscar) and Reese Witherspoon as June (for which she won the 2005 Best Actress Oscar), was released in the United States on to considerable commercial success and critical acclaim. Both Phoenix and Witherspoon have won various other awards for their roles, including the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, respectively. They both performed their own vocals in the film, and Phoenix learned to play guitar for his role as Cash. Phoenix received the Grammy Award for his contributions to the soundtrack. John Carter Cash, the first child of Johnny and June, served as an executive producer on the film.

On March 12, 2006 Ring of Fire, a jukebox musical of the Cash oeuvre, debuted on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, but closed due to harsh reviews and disappointing sales on April 30, 2006.

On April 11, 2010, Million Dollar Quartet, a musical portraying the early Sun recording sessions involving Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, debuted on Broadway. Actor Lance Guest portrayed Cash. The musical was nominated for three awards at the 2010 Tony Awards, and won one.

Discography[link]

See Johnny Cash discography, and Johnny Cash Sun Records discography.

Awards and honors[link]

For detailed lists of music awards, see List of Johnny Cash awards.

Cash received multiple Country Music Association Awards, Grammys, and other awards, in categories ranging from vocal and spoken performances to album notes and videos.

In a career that spanned almost five decades during which he rose to recording industry icon status, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world. Cash was a musician who was not tied to a single genre. He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk, and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres. Moreover, he had the unique distinction among country artists of having "crossed over" late in his career to become popular with an unexpected audience, young indie and alternative rock fans. His diversity was evidenced by his presence in three major music halls of fame: the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1980), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1992). Only thirteen performers are in both of the last two, and only Hank Williams Sr., Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, and Bill Monroe share the honor with Cash of being in all three. However, only Cash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the regular manner, unlike the other country members, who were inducted as "early influences." His pioneering contribution to the genre has also been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.^[86] He received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996. Cash stated that his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, in 1980, was his greatest professional achievement. In 2001, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.^[87] He was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography for "Hurt" and was supposed to appear, but died during the night.

In 2007, Cash was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.^[88]

Further reading[link]

• Graeme Thomson The Resurrection of Johnny Cash: Hurt, Redemption, and American Recordings Jawbone Press ISBN 978-1-906002-36-7

Sources[link]

Notes[link]