Don “The Lawman” Slatton Biography!

Don “The Lawman” Slatton, a colorful local promoter and home town wrestling star during the 60s and 70s for matches every week at the Taylor County Coliseum in Abilene, TX, passed away on 8/23, at the age of 77.

He had been in bad shape from a recent stroke and had also been suffering from Alzheimer’s, which one close friend said was likely due to all the hard way shots with chairs, as his reputation was to take brutal shots to the head with weapons in his role as the tough street fighter who was regularly featured in some of the bloodiest gimmick matches in West Texas history. At least six times between 1967 and 1978 he held the area’s Brass Knux title, which would be taped fist matches, and later in his career he was known as the King of the Russian chain matches as well as a specialist in Texas death matches.

In wrestling folklore, Slatton is best known for a May 10, 1978, match, on a show he promoted in Abilene, where he faced Harley Race for the NWA title in a chain match.

Slatton, better known as The Lawman, was billed locally as never having lost a chain match, and because he was facing Race under his rules, there was a big push that the hometown star was going to win the world title, and the crowd was way up from usual.

Race’s version of the story is that he got a phone call earlier in the day from Bob Geigel, the promoter in Kansas City, Race’s home territory and Race’s business partner at the time, asking if he was working with Slatton that night. When Race told him he was, Geigel told Race not to show up, saying he had been tipped off that Slatton was going to use the chain match rules of touching all four corners to try and steal the title. Race told Geigel not to worry because he was Harley Race. Some wrestlers might get double-crossed, but Race was one of the most feared real street fighters in the game, as opposed to Slatton, who was a tough guy in his youth, but was in his mid-40s by that time and nobody messed in those days with Race.

Race joked to Geigel that surely Slatton wouldn’t be that stupid to try something like that on him.

Race’s version of the story is that the finish he got in the dressing room from the runners (usually the officials, who would go between the face and heel dressing room as in those days everyone was kept separate) was that Slatton would drag him to three corners, and be on the verge of winning, struggling to hit the fourth corner, when a heel would come out and distract Slatton, who would cost Slatton the match and the title, and lead to his next program. Terry Funk would then come out for the save, but in the commotion Race would knock Slatton out with the chain and touch all four corners to win.

Everything was going as planned. The heel came out. Nobody involved seem to be able to remember who it was. Given who was on the card, it would have been Roger Kirby, Mr. Pogo, Lord Jonathan Boyd, who for some reason that name rings a bell with this story, or Rip Hawk, who had been one of Slatton’s biggest career rivals a few years earlier. Anyway, whoever it was came out, and Funk came out as well, but Slatton made sure there was slack in the chain and Race was unaware, and Slatton, instead of being distracted, touched the fourth corner. The place exploded. Slatton had just won the world heavyweight championship.

He quickly took the chain off and rushed off to the dressing room, not even taking the belt with him, figuring being in the ring with Race in that situation in his home town, where he was the local hero and had a reputation to uphold as a tough guy, was not the best idea. The fans were still celebrating and shocked, because Slatton was hardly a guy anyone expected to win the world heavyweight championship, even if this was his specialty match and it was noted he had beaten Race under chain match rules several times when both were younger in the late 60s.

The referee, a young Tongan former sumo wrestler just getting started and being trained for All Japan, using the name Tonga Fifita (who later became a star as Haku and Meng) was smart enough to know that the title wasn’t changing hands that night and even though Slatton was the guy paying him that night, never signaled for the bell. Slatton was gone and Race, first making sure the inexperienced ref wasn’t going to call the match, took off after him.

Race’s version of the story as told to people over the years is that he ran through the crowd, not even stopping to take the chain off, went to the babyface dressing room and found Slatton hiding in the shower. Race said he slapped him twice, dragged him to the ring and punched him a few times, and then dragged him around the ring, even though he no longer had the chain on, touching all four corners. Fifita then ordered for the bell, and told the ring announcer to announce that Race, and not Slatton was the winner, and still world champion. Some of the fans had left. The ones who hadn’t couldn’t figure out what they were just seeing. There had been no actual announcement made about Slatton winning since he and Race were both in the dressing room before the announcement could be made and Fifita never made the call.

In Race’s book, “King of the Ring,” the story differed slightly, with Race saying that he got to Slatton before Slatton left the ring, that he started throwing real slaps and punches, and then dragged him around the ring and Fifita called for the bell.

Race in his book claimed he then went to the babyface dressing room, where he heard Slatton and Funk laughing, opened the door and started swinging the chain, smashed lockers and chairs while Slatton curled into a ball saying, “Please, Harley, don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

He claimed Funk then yelled at Slatton for trying to double-cross Race, but Race suggested that Funk may have been behind it from the beginning.

In other versions, Race said that he went back to his own dressing room, but ended up so mad, that he went back to the other side of the building. This time Slatton had locked the door, so Race kicked in the door. But Slatton was already gone, and he threw a few chairs against the wall, went back to his side of the building, then took his shower and went to the next town.

Funk said he remembered the story, but what he remembered is that after Slatton double-crossed Race, that Race went to the dressing room, knocked down the door, and Slatton was pleading with Race not to punch him, saying he lost count and thought he was touching the third turnbuckle and it was all a mistake. Race’s version was also similar, saying, “Slatton lied through his teeth, claiming it was an accident. After screaming a steam of profanities at Slatton and kicking him a couple of times, I let the poor bastard go.”

Funk said that Slatton always stuck to the story to him it was an accident, although what happened next would suggest otherwise.

Slatton had to know that he wasn’t going to be declared world champion, no matter how well the double-cross went.

The next day, the local Abilene Reporter story, likely coming from Slatton, reported that The Lawman had beaten the world champion, Race, but it had been changed to a non-title chain match.

Slatton then purchased himself a belt and billed himself locally as the world chain match champion, and started defending it on his cards. On his biggest show of the year a few months later, with a triple main event of Andre the Giant vs. The Sheik, Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk vs. David & Kevin Von Erich for the Texas tag team titles, Lawman defended his chain match championship against Abdullah the Butcher.

In 1979, Race was back in the territory on a card with Slatton and saw a belt on the bench in the dressing room which read, “World champion chain wrestler.” He said Slatton walked in and Race took the belt and told Slatton, “You won’t be needing this,” and left with it.

He said Slatton begged him not to take it because he spent a lot of money on it. By NWA bylaws, which could be ignored when convenient, no NWA promoter could bill someone as world champion who wasn’t the recognized NWA champion.

“There’s no earthly reason for you to have this, and I’m not leaving here without it,” Race claimed that he said to Slatton while taking the belt.

“To this day, I don’t remember what I did with the stupid belt. I just know Slatton never got it back.”

At about the same time, Abilene dried up as a wrestling city and stopped being run weekly, and instead became an every-so-often stop on the Dallas territory, with the Von Erichs replacing The Lawman and The Funks as the big stars.

By that point, The Funk Brothers, ahead of the curve of what wrestling was turning into, had sold the territory to Bob Windham (Blackjack Mulligan), Dick Murdoch and Mario Savoldi, and it died in 1981, after the new owners had suffered heavy financial losses.

Known as The Lawman, because he was a local law enforcement officer during the early part of his wrestling career, Slatton was a longtime regular in the Funk family’s Amarillo territory.

During the heyday of the promotion, they would run Abilene and El Paso, which was run by Gori Guerrero (the father of Chavo Sr., Mando, Hector and Eddy Guerrero) on Mondays. El Paso was one of the best drawing cities on the circuit, but it was a 440-mile drive each away. But it had the advantage of being a border town so the wrestlers could raise hell in Mexico after the matches. Abilene was a 287-mile drive each way, but didn’t pay nearly as well. So Slatton was usually left with a secondary crew, although talent traded where they worked to keep things fresh and every major territorial star appeared frequently in Abilene.

Slatton wasn’t always the headliner or the top babyface, but he headlined frequently and at one time or another worked on top with every top heel in the territory. At times he worked the entire circuit, doing angles on Amarillo television, and at other times he just worked Abilene and cities in the area. While he was protected on TV, in Amarillo and many of the other cities, he often worked in prelims, although he had his secondary title matches at times. For all the time he was there, and all the headline matches he had, what is notable is that the famous Race match is the only one I could find a record of, in the West Texas territory, he ever had for the NWA title.

Terry Funk once categorized The Lawman as one of the original of what would later be called hardcore wrestlers. He was 6-foot-5, and both tall and lean for a wrestler of that era.

His reputation was that he could have heated brawls, had great hands from having a Golden Gloves boxing background (whether that was legitimate or not, who knows) but wasn’t particularly skilled as a wrestler. He was considered an excellent promo. Outside of Abilene, he wasn’t pushed as much of a star in the territory after the mid-70s, because he was older, and his role as the local cowboy street fighter was being used by Dick Murdoch, who was younger and a far superior performer.

He had a reputation from his youth in town of being a tough street fighter. He started wrestling in 1961 as a part-timer while working in law enforcement.

He got his photo in newspapers around the country shortly after his pro wrestling debut, as the tall, thin Slatton, arresting Billie Sol Estes, who became a national figure in a series of embezzling scandals who also had close business ties to future president Lyndon Johnson. There was belief that President John F. Kennedy was considering dropping Johnson from the Democratic ticket in 1964 because of his ties with Estes, before Kennedy was murdered on November 22, 1963. Years later, after Johnson died, Estes claimed that he had inside knowledge that Johnson had ties to the assassination of Kennedy, as well as seven other murders, but would not reveal the information unless he was given immunity from prosecution. The government refused, and few took seriously his allegation.

How much, if anything, Slatton may have had to do with the investigation that brought Estes down is unknown. A lot of the investigative work came from Oscar Griffin Jr., a reporter in Pecos, TX, who won the Pulitzer Prize. Slatton brought him in and Estes was convicted on charges related to fraudulent ammonia tank mortgages and sentenced to 24 years in prison. Some of his charges were overturned by the Supreme Court in 1965, on a 5-4 vote, by which time Johnson was president. As far as the other charges went, he was released from prison in 1971 on parole.

As Slatton became a full-time wrestler, he was known mostly as The Lawman.

He was a notorious ribber.

One of the most famous involved talking local star Jerry Kozak into driving from Amarillo into Abilene all night (a four-and-a-half hour trip although in those days wrestlers, who drove about 100 MPH could make it in three hours) for a 6 a.m. (some versions have it 5:30 a.m.) deer hunt. Kozak had all kinds of state of the art hunting equipment, but was never much of a hunter, almost never being able to shoot anything. He was also nicknamed Mr. Neat by the wrestlers, because he was always nice and clean in public to the point of almost ridicule.

Slatton had called him in the middle of the night, telling him to hurry to Abilene as he found a place crawling with deer. Slatton as part of the rib, had taken a stuffed dead deer and placed it on the top of a hill and tied it upright to a tree. Kozak was crawling on his belly in the mud and brush around the deer. Slatton figured Kozak would find the deer on his own, but he never did, even though he walked Kozak into the area time after time. Finally Slatton had to discover it for him but let Kozak take the shot.

“He (Kozak) had never killed a deer before in his life,” said Dory Funk Jr. “Kozak brought his gun up to eye level and fired the first shot.”

The deer never went down, nor moved, nor appeared was hurt. He shot the deer again, and again, the deer didn’t even move. Kozak freaked out.

Slatton told him that he must have missed him, and needed to get closer. Kozak, trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to scare the deer, crawled on his belly in the bed and brush, ruining his Mr. Neat look. He ended firing two more shots. With each shot, Kozak was getting more freaked out that the deer never went moved or went down. After three more shots, Kozak was out of ammunition. Kozak asked Slatton to go back to the truck and get more ammunition. Slatton returned with a new box of shells and Kozak put them in his rifle.

He was back crawling, now within 50 feet, thinking he was close enough that it was a can’t miss shot. He fired three more shots. Again nothing happened. He freaked out, lost his cool, ran at the deer and fired a perfect shot. Nothing happened.

Slatton was rolling on the ground laughing by this point and Kozak realized he was set up. He then looked at Slatton and said, “Don, please don’t tell the wrestlers about this.”

Slatton wasn’t about to let one of his finest moments be kept a secret. Within hours, wrestlers as far away as Tokyo were laughing about the story.

But his all-time classic was in 1973, involving then world champion Jack Brisco. At that point, Abilene had moved from Mondays to Fridays so it would have its own night and not have to share talent with El Paso. Dory Funk Jr. had been NWA world champion from 1969 to 1973. From 1971 on, Jack Brisco was the perennial top contender and was supposed to win the title on March 2, 1973, in Houston. However, Dory Funk Jr. suffered a separated shoulder in a ranch accident when a jeep overturned a few days before the title was to change hands. To this day. people debate whether or not Funk Jr.’s injury was legit. The Funks have always maintained it was legit, and Sam Muchnick, the NWA President, did get full documentation of the accident and the injury.

Still, Muchnick was skeptical. Houston promoter Paul Boesch was livid and never believed the story, nor did Eddie Graham, the Florida promoter and Brisco’s sponsor, or Brisco himself.

Funk Jr. returned from his injury and in his second week back, on May 24, 1973, he was ordered to drop the title to Race, in Kansas City, with Race picked partially due to his reputation as a street fighter. Race was to be a short-term champion, and Boesch got his promised title change when Brisco beat Race on July 20, 1973, at the Sam Houston Coliseum.

Whether this was planned by the Funks or just a silver lining from the dark cloud of the serious injury, Jack Brisco never beat Dory Funk Jr. in a world championship match. This made them natural opponents all over the country, but in West Texas, where the Funk family owned the promotion and were the top babyfaces, it was the strongest match possible. Dory Funk Jr. had been groomed from the start of his career to be a headliner, working on top against the biggest names in the business from early in his career.

A former college football star at West Texas State in Amarillo, who starred in the Sun Bowl, he was positioned in the area as the most skilled pro wrestler in the world. From the start of Funk Jr.’s career, his father would bring in wrestlers with legitimate backgrounds and Dory Jr. would hang with them in long technical matches. As the years went by, fans in Amarillo saw Funk Jr. outwrestle the biggest stars in the game. Dory Funk Sr. was positioned as the toughest old guy alive, the King of the Texas death matches.

With more than four straight years as world champion, Dory Jr. was the Texas native who made it good, only losing based on a disputed referee decision in Race’s home town. Everyone knew Brisco had faced Funk Jr. countless times, both in that territory and all over the country, since it was the most famous wrestling program of its era. And Brisco had never beaten Funk Jr. in a title match, meaning that for Texas fans, they believed, as good as Brisco was, Funk Jr. had proved for years he was superior.

Brisco wasn’t scheduled to come to West Texas until late September for a week stay. But Terry Funk and Slatton had an idea to convince Brisco and Sam Muchnick to get him in early, because of the feeling Brisco vs. Dory in their territory would do the biggest business possible with the dynamic at the time.

Brisco had moved from Tampa to Atlanta when he won the title. It was a more convenient airport to fly out of and he would be constantly traveling. Plus, Atlanta was in the middle of a nasty wrestling war. Brisco was given a percentage of ownership (which later played a part in 1984 when the Briscos got other owners to sell their stock to Vince McMahon) of Georgia Championship Wrestling to ensure he’d want to work the territory as much as possible, because he’d get a cut of the profits as well as a world champion payoff.

That week, Brisco was scheduled to work Georgia all week, with Atlanta, the state’s major city, on Friday, as well as a show with jacked up prices that Saturday night at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg against Funk Jr.

The idea Slatton had concocted was that the Texas Governor at the time, Dolph Briscoe Jr., wanted to meet Jack Brisco, his namesake, and there was some conjecture that the two were actually related. The idea is Slatton, with all his connections, would be able to set up a public meeting that would garner Brisco and the NWA all kinds of mainstream publicity.

So Muchnick, who booked Brisco, agreed for publicity that Brisco would be pulled from his home town and go from Georgia to Abilene, TX, early Friday morning, on August 31, 1973, for his afternoon meeting with the Governor, wrestle Funk Jr. in Abilene, and then the next morning, the two would fly to St. Petersburg.

The deal was made six weeks in advance, and with Slatton having that much time to promote the Brisco vs. Funk Jr. title match, billed as Funk Jr.’s first shot at Brisco (it actually was Funk Jr.’s first shot we can find a record of since Brisco had won the belt six weeks earlier), they sold out the 5,000 seat arena, impressive considering the population in the area was only 127,000 at the time and Abilene really wasn’t that strong of a city for wrestling for the most part. The big blow-off stip matches or world title matches only on rare occasions would hit 2,000 to 3,000 fans. Often, the Coliseum, was fairly empty.

The idea was they would do a 60-minute draw, which would build up a return match three weeks later, when Brisco was scheduled for his first full week in the territory, where they would do a 90-minute draw in the rematch, and keep the program going as long as they could in the city.

As the story goes, as told by Dory Funk Jr., Slatton thought Terry would contact the Governor’s office. Terry figured Slatton would. A few days before the show, Muchnick’s office called and they wanted publicity photos of Brisco with the governor. Muchnick also confirmed to the Amarillo office that Brisco asked if he could make a speech, and present the Governor with an honorary Brisco Brothers Body Shop T-shirt.

Slatton contacted Martin Pryor, a Ford car salesman in Abilene, for a favor. Pryor would masquerade as Governor Briscoe, provide a Red Lincoln Continental limousine as the Governor’s car, and one of Slatton’s ring attendants would dress up as the Governor’s Chauffeur.

All the wrestlers in the territory were told to keep quiet. They were also told to make sure Brisco was kept away from any fans or people in the city, for fear he’d find out the Governor wasn’t in Abilene for a big ceremony with Brisco. The fly in the ointment was that Ivan Putski was flying in for the show from Dallas, on the same connecting flight Brisco was on, and it was possible the two may talk on the flight and if Brisco brought up Gov. Briscoe, Putski may describe what he looked like, which was nothing close to what Pryor looked like.

Luckily, that didn’t happen, and when Putski got off the plane, Slatton grabbed him and told him the rib they were playing on Brisco to draw the full house.

Brisco came off the plane in a suit and tie. While Funk Jr. always dressed like that as champion on the road, learning from mentor Gene Kiniski, who learned how a champion should look from Lou Thesz, that wasn’t Brisco’s style.

As he got off the plane, Slatton grabbed him and told him, “Jack, I’m sorry to have to tell you that Gov. Briscoe isn’t going to be able to meet you today. He had to go to Mexico, you know, where they had that earthquake.”

But as they were leaving, there was a twin engine plane with propellers turning, and Slatton told Brisco, “Jack, I believe that’s the governer’s plane over there warming up.”

Brisco was in a bad mood. He hardly wanted to fly from Georgia to Abilene for one shot, since he’d make more money staying home, and then do a grueling 60-minute match and have to fly back to Florida the next morning. Brisco, Putski, Slatton and Slatton’s son, who drove the car, took them in Slatton’s Ford station wagon from the airport into town.

As they got into town, Pryor and the ring attendant as his chauffeur were in the Red Lincoln, and Slatton said, “That’s the governor’s car.” He waved down the limo, which slammed on the breaks.

Slatton got out of the car and said, “My gosh, Governor,” acting like he knew him personally, “We thought for sure we were going to miss you.” Slatton told Brisco to get out of the car and introduced him to Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr.

Pryor got out of the car. Brisco, all nervous, tried to give his memorized speech and gave him a Brisco Brothers T-Shirt while on the side of a dusty road, just outside Abilene. In his excitement, Brisco at first left the shirt in Slatton’s car, and then was so nervous, he was fumbling with the car door that jammed trying to open it and get the shirt.

Brisco talked about how their respective families were from Oklahoma, had split, and one side spelled it Brisco and the other spelled it Briscoe, believing they were related. Then he got so nervous he forgot what he was going to say. While Jack lost his train of thought, Pryor, impromptu, said he knew who Jack was and was proud of him for just winning the world championship, and that in fact, they were family. Then he warned Jack that being from Texas, those Funk Brothers were two of the baddest hombres around and wished him luck with those two chasing his title.

While some of this sounds like a tall tale, apparently Slatton’s son recorded everything on 8 mm movie film, and for years, wrestlers in West Texas watched Brisco and Pryor speaking, Brisco giving him the T-shirt, while in the background, Putski was shooting photos with a Polaroid camera.

Pryor apologized for having to rush out of there, noting that his plane was warming up at the airport.

“You know, Jack, I have just got to get down to Mexico to help those people,” and he got in the limo and drove in the direction of the airport.

Brisco, Putski, Slatton and his son got into the car. As they were driving, Brisco was so happy that the Governor told him that they were family and that the Governor of Texas was so proud of him winning the world title.

Then he said, “Lawman, I just gotta tell you, that rib that you pulled on Jerry Kozak, where he shot that old dead deer over and over, was one of the funniest ribs I’ve heard. I’ve really got to hand it to you.”

At that point Brisco, Putski and the Slattons were laughing hysterically in the car, but for different reasons.

For the next few months, Muchnick’s office kept calling for the photos of Brisco meeting Gov. Briscoe, and had to be staved off. Brisco had talked about how he was tight, and family, with the Governor of Texas, for months. The story had gone around wrestling to a degree, particularly to just about anyone who had worked West Texas or worked with someone who had left West Texas about it being a rib, but nobody wanted to be the person to tell either Muchnick or Brisco.

Eventually, in early 1974, Race told Muchnick and Brisco the truth.

“Jack, I don’t want to have to tell you this (I did, of course, I couldn’t wait to see the reaction on his face),” Race wrote in his autobiography, “But Funk and Slatton were jerking you around. That wasn’t the Governor.”

Brisco was furious, and after that, it became known as the subject that you never bring up to him.

A few years later, when The Lawman was in the middle of his feud with Rip Hawk & Swede Hanson, he was supposed to have surgery on his nose and elbow at Hendrick Memorial Hospital. He snuck out of the hospital, headed to the Coliseum for his show, had a bloodbath brawl with Hanson, and snuck back into his room. After nurses noticed he was gone from the room, and then a few hours later, saw his face covered with blood, the nurses asked what happened, and he said that the medication made him disoriented and he got lost roaming the halls and fell down the stairs. He did eventually tell them the truth.

In 1965, Slatton, having a hard time making it as a wrestler, took out a loan for $1,500 from the Amarillo National Bank, co-signed by Dory Funk Sr., to buy rights to promote in the city from Benny Wilson. He was able to get a local clearance for the Amarillo television show, on a strong station that broadcast into San Angelo, Sweetwater, Brownswood and Fort Stockton.

In the 60s, his specialties were the boxing match, taped fist match and Texas death match, with his biggest local rival being Mike DiBiase, who he also debuted the chain match with in 1966. His shows were heavy on blood and stipulation matches.

Slatton himself was an expert deer hunter, Dory Funk Jr. remembered often going to the Coliseum in Abilene where Slatton brought fresh deer meat for the wrestlers for dinner.

Once, when he went in for knee surgery years after their feud was over, while being sedated, he started hallucinating he was in a brawl with DiBiase and it took several nurses and orderlies to calm him down.

In 1967, he had two quick runs as North American heavyweight champion. He beat Dick Steinborn for the title on February 20 of that year in Abilene, and lost it back two weeks later on March 6. The next week, he won it back in a title vs. title match where he put up his Brass Knux title, before Steinborn took it back a second time.

Over the years he headlined his home city against every major heel that came through the territory, with the programs usually culminating in Texas death, taped fist or Russian chain matches. His most frequent tag team partner in the gimmick matches was Terry Funk. He headlined against Wahoo McDaniel, Don Jardine (and years later The Masked Spoiler), Dory Funk Sr., Magnificent Maurice, Killer Karl Kox (who feuded with him year after year, particularly hot in 1971), Brute Bernard, Thunderbolt Patterson (which is the feud that put the Brass Knux title on the map), Kinji Shibuya, The Von Brauners, Gorgeous George Jr., The Infernos and J.C. Dykes, Gypsy Joe Rosario, Buddy Colt, Race (a frequent rival before he was world champion), Rufus Jones (who was a heel at the time battling in a series of African death matches), The LeDuc Brothers, Dick Murdoch, Dusty Rhodes, Apache Bull Ramos, The Beast, Pak Song, Kintaro Oki, Bobby Duncum, Lorenzo Parente & Bobby Hart, Buck Robley (whose first successful run as a booker was picking the city up for his feud with Lawman), Masio Koma & Motoshi Okuma, Ciclon Negro, Hank James, Karl Von Steiger, The Fabulous Fargos (Don & John, John later became Greg Valentine), The Patriots, J.J. Dillon, Mike DuBois (Alexis Smirnoff), Black Gordman & Great Goliath, The Masked Interns, Ray Stevens and Frank Goodish (Bruiser Brody).

Dillon recalled a program he worked with Lawman in Abilene. At the time, the city wasn’t doing well and then-booker Art Nelson was furious with Slatton. The Amarillo office would send promotional posters to hang up in shops around town, and they found all the posters laying in the back of Slatton’s pick-up truck, with Nelson blaming Slatton’s “laxy” promoting for why the city wasn’t drawing well.

For his and Nelson’s entertainment, Dillon cut a promo for Abilene talking about the Lawman’s wife, an avid doll collector, who liked to dress them up. He recounted it in his book, “Wrestlers Are Like Seagulls,” saying, “Do you people think the Lawman’s tough? I went by his house the other night to call him out. I yelled and yelled, but nobody would come out, so I went up to the house to see if anybody was home. When I looked in the window, there was a room full of dolls. There were dolls everywhere. Every size. Every shape. And there’s The Lawman, Don Slatton wearing a frilly apron. His wife was standing there saying, `Now, Donald, I want you to take the dress off this one and put it on this one,’” and it went on from there. Dillon admitted he was doing the promo more to entertain himself than to draw at that week’s show.

Slatton was furious when the promo aired on television. His wife was even madder, afraid that if people found out about their valuable doll collection that someone would try to break into their home.

During the match, a woman in the front row dumped a big bucket of water all over Dillon, getting him so mad he nearly punched her. He didn’t, and later found out it was Slatton’s wife.

Slatton wrestled less frequently after the Funks sold the territory, and Abilene dried up. Years later, when the Von Erichs were on fire, even then Abilene was one of the weakest cities on the circuit. Slatton worked part-time on shows in his area until the territory folded in 1981, as well as for Southwest Championship Wrestling, which was at the time the most successful regular promotion running in the state before Dallas took off with the rise of the Von Erich Brothers.

He worked very little outside Texas. Before he became the promoter in Abilene in 1965, he spent much of 1964 working elsewhere. He worked in Detroit for The Sheik and Indianapolis for Dick the Bruiser and Wilbur Snyder in the early part of the year, as well as did a few dates in St. Louis, all in prelims.

He worked a lot of main events later in the year for Gust Karras’ Central States promotion, including getting a shot at Lou Thesz for the NWA world title on October 1, 1964 at Memorial Hall, which he lost. He beat Bob Orton Sr. on October 31, 1964, in Waterloo, IA to become the area’s United States heavyweight champion, but he lost it November 21, 1964, in Waterloo, to Rocky Hamilton, who later became the Missouri Mauler. He also held the North American tag team title that year, teaming with Moose Evans.

Slatton worked some for Florida Championship Wrestling in 1981, and for Southwest Championship Wrestling, all underneath without any kind of a push, with his final matches coming in 1982 or 1983.

Toward the end of his career, and long after his career was over, he remained well known in Abilene for running a bail bonds business that advertised heavily on television with him in the ads. The business was apparently very successful for him and he had continued it until Alzheimer’s got the better of him in recent years. Still, in a 2002 news story in the Abilene Reporter-News that called him a genuine West Texas celebrity due to his fame from wrestling, he said there was nothing he enjoyed more than talking with fans about the old days of wrestling.

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THE LAWMAN CAREER TITLE HISTORY

NWA NORTH AMERICAN HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Dick Steinborn February 20, 1967 Abilene; lost to Dick Steinborn March 6, 1967 Abilene; def. Dick Steinborn March 13, 1967 Abilene; lost to Dick Steinborn April 1967

NWA UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT (Central States version) def. Bob Orton Sr. October 31, 1964 Waterloo; lost to Rocky Hamilton (Missouri Mauler) November 21, 1964 Waterloo

NWA NORTH AMERICAN TAG TEAM: w/Moose Evans def. Pat O’Connor & Sonny Myers June 1964; Title vacated when Lawman left the territory

NWA TEXAS BRASS KNUX: First billed as champion March 13, 1967; Title held up September 14, 1967 Amarillo; def. Thunderbolt Patterson September 28, 1967 Amarillo; lost to Thunderbolt Patterson October 5, 1967 Amarillo; Announced as champion late 1969; lost to Dick Murdoch January 1, 1970 Amarillo; def. Dick Murdoch January 30, 1970 Abilene; lost to Apache Bull Ramos June 1970; def. Ray Stevens August 28, 1975 Amarillo; lost to Ray Stevens September 18, 1975 Amarillo; Held title August 1978; lost to Killer Karl Krupp August 23, 1978 Abilene

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