Beauregarde

Beauregarde
Birth name Larry Pitchford
Born 1936
Portland, Oregon
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Eric the Golden Boy
Beautiful Beauregarde
Billed weight 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st)
Billed from The Sensation of the Nation
Trained by Dean Ho
Mr. Fuji
Debut 1963

Beauregarde (off-stage name Larry Pitchford,[1] born April 1936)[2] is a former pro wrestler and musician from Portland, Oregon in the United States.

Career

His wrestling career began in 1963, touring the Philippines as "Eric the Golden Boy".[3] Given the name Beauregarde by fellow wrestler Ripper Collins,[1] he next debuted as a heel in Hawaii before returning to Portland.[3] By 1970, he had become one of the biggest names on the NWA's Pacific Northwest Wrestling circuit, and won the PNW tag team championship in 1968 (teamed with Moondog Mayne), 1969 (with Roger Kirby), 1970 (with The Claw) and 1971 (with Dutch Savage).[3][1]

Beauregarde was renowned for his unique wrestling moves (and finishing move "The Thumb") and crazy characters he created for himself. On match days, he would find a historic figure whose date of birth fell on that day and pretend to be them during the match and in interviews.[4]

In 1971, he released an album bearing his stage name, Beauregarde, featuring Greg Sage of the Wipers on guitar. Beauregarde enlisted Sage (then 17) after overhearing him playing guitar for a friend's band at Sound Productions studio in Portland.[4]

In 1973, he managed the tag team of Brute Bernard and Jay York in Jim Crockett's Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling promotion.[1]

After retiring from wrestling, he bought a sheet-rock company in Florida where he lived and spent most of his time fishing.[5]

On February 4, 2006, Beauregarde made his first wrestling-related appearance in many years at Hardkore Championship Wrestling's Incredible 8 Tournament in South Florida, where he was one of the first "HCW Honorable Contribution to Wrestling Award" recipients along with wrestlers Rusty Brooks, Stephen "Big Daddy" DiBlasio and "Outlaw" JR James.[3]

References


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