Hoyt Richard "Dick" Murdoch (August 16, 1946 - June 15, 1996) was an American professional wrestler.

 

Murdoch was born in Waxahachie, Texas. A second-generation wrestler, the stepson of 1950s Texas wrestler Frankie Hill Murdoch, Dick Murdoch grew up with fellow second-generation wrestlers Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk, watching their fathers wrestle all around Texas. Frank Murdoch held the NWA Southwest Junior Heavyweight Championship three times in his career. Murdoch attended Caprock High School, where he took part in amateur wrestling. After graduating, Murdoch attended West Texas State University.

 

Dick Murdoch started wrestling in 1965 as "Ron Carson" in a tag team with Don Carson. He soon started wrestling under his real name. In 1968, he formed a tag team that would continue throughout the early 1970s with Dusty Rhodes called The Texas Outlaws. After splitting with Rhodes, he wrestled for Florida Championship Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance, and Mid-South Wrestling.

 

His most noted work as a wrestler came in Mid-South Wrestling in the early 1980s, where he teamed with Junkyard Dog. The pair was the most popular champions in the region, attracting the hardcore, working class white fans with his "Captain Redneck" persona and JYD drawing the support of the black fan base. Their feud with the Fabulous Freebirds was perhaps Mid-South's most compelling storyline.

 

In 1984, he went to the World Wrestling Federation and formed a tag team with Adrian Adonis that captured the World Tag Team Titles. He left the WWF in 1985 after dropping the tag-team title to The U.S. Express and wrestled in Mid-South Wrestling briefly before turning up in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1986. He feuded with Ric Flair and attempted to win Flair's NWA World Title.

 

In early 1987, Murdoch joined Ivan Koloff and Vladimir Petrov in their attempt to get Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes. Murdoch, who at the time held the NWA United States Tag Team Championship with Ivan, injured Nikita's neck after a brain-buster suplex on the floor that summer, resulting in Murdoch being (kayfabe) suspended for 30 days and the team being stripped of the tag team title. Murdoch left the NWA and wrestled in the World Wrestling Council before appearing in World Championship Wrestling as one half of the "Hardliners," or "Hardline Collection Agency," with Dick Slater in 1991. They feuded with Rick and Scott Steiner but could not win their title.

 

Murdoch was the twenty-seventh entrant in the 1995 WWF Royal Rumble. He was eliminated by Henry O. Godwinn. Following his WWF appearances, he spent the rest of his career wrestling on the independent circuit.

 

Murdoch was married on September 21, 1966 in Potter County, Texas to Janice Hix. Together, they had one child before divorcing on October 1, 1973.

 

Murdoch is the cousin of wrestler Killer Tim Brooks.

 

Over the years, many within professional wrestling who knew Murdoch have stated Murdoch was racist and was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. In a shoot interview, Bad News Brown accused Dick Murdoch of being a member of the Klan. This was also mentioned by Tito Santana in his autobiography, Tales From The Ring. Former WWE SmackDown head writer Alex Greenfield also related a story told to him by Dusty Rhodes about Murdoch driving them to a Klan party without telling him it was a KKK party beforehand.[9][10] Most recently, former wrestling star Rocky Johnson, father of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, claims that Murdoch was a member of the Klan and that he once knocked him unconscious during a match stating during an interview, "Because he was KKK and didn't like blacks, he kept kicking me hard and punching me. I said, 'you hit me one more time, I'm hitting you back.' He hit me, and I knocked him out."

 

Murdoch appeared in 4 movies: The Wrestler (1974), Paradise Alley (1978), Grunt! The Wrestling Movie (1985), and Manhattan Merengue! (1995). He also appeared on an episode of Learning The Ropes and an episode of The Jerry Springer Show.

 

Murdoch died of a heart attack on June 15, 1996 at the age of 49.