and high school.  At age 12 he added amateur wrestling when he joined a program offered at the local YMCA.  The fire of competition burned deep in the young Irishman's heart.  As he got into his teens he became involved in drag racing.  At the age of 15, still a year from getting his drivers license, he won the first of many racing trophies.

Les' first exposure to the sport that would consume the rest of his life was at age 8, while watching wrestling on a friend’s TV set.  It was 1949, television was in its infancy, and TV wrestling was a major staple of the programming. "The action on that little 10-inch black and white screen just reached out and grabbed me," recalls Thatcher.

In 1959 Les learned of a pro wrestling school (probably the first in the United States) in New England.  It was run by promoter Tony Santos.   On a cold winter day in February of 1960, Les boarded a Greyhound bound for Boston and the start of his life in the pro wrestling ring.  6 months later, on July 4^th, Les had his first pro match against "Cowboy" Ronnie Hill.  The match took place in Blue Hills, Maine.  (Les was thrilled, over 40 years later, to run into Hill at his very first CAC reunion.)

Les' career in the ring spanned 20 years, with numerous titles and experience against a wide range of opponents. He held over a dozen different tag titles with several different partners including Dennis Hall and former NWA Junior Heavyweight champs Nelson Royal and Roger Kirby.  As a single wrestler, Les was always a highly ranked junior heavyweight, and he held the Southern Junior title on more than one occasion.   "One of the real highlights of my career was being presented my ‘rookie of the year’ trophy by Gordon Solie. It was while I was in Florida in 1967. The three finalists were Bobby Shane, Terry Funk and myself. Some pretty big names to be compared to," chuckles Les.

Terry Funk said, "I met Les Thatcher in Florida early in both our careers.  People say I am crazy.  Well, let me tell you, Thatcher is just as crazy -- he just hides it better," laughs former the NWA World Heavyweight champ. "Back then who would have thought that almost 40 years later we would both be getting honored like this by our peers?"  (Funk is the recipient of this year’s Iron Mike Mazurki Award.)

As proficient as he was in the ring, Les couldn’t shake his interest in other aspects of the business.  Soon, this became his career direction.  "Thatcher always was a good worker but he wasn't satisfied just to wrestle,” Roger Kirby remembers.   He was always interested in the other side of the business.  The TV production side and all of that." 

Les first appeared as a color commentator in 1970 working for promoter and former partner Rudy Kay in the Maritimes.  In 1972 he worked for Jim Crockett in Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas.   Then in 1973, on Georgia Championship Wrestling, he was sharing the microphone with the legendary Gordon Solie.

By 1974 he was both producing and hosting Southeastern Championship Wrestling. Throughout the 1970s his in-ring time was cut back to make room for his duties as interviewer and commentator, as well as producer and editor of various promotions weekly programs.  He designed, edited, wrote and even photographed the action for the Mid-Atlantic Magazine.   

"Thatcher was classy looking and knew every move in the book as a babyface in his era,"  former 8-time NWA World Heavyweight champ Harley Race muses.  "He had a good career in wrestling and the knowledge he carried with him on to the television part of it, that’s where I think he really excelled." 

The 1980s and early 1990s saw Les in many different roles around the wrestling world, serving as a road agent, doing TV production and commentating for various organizations including the Savoldi-run ICW, Polynesian Championship Wrestling and Smokey Mountain Wrestling.  In 1995 he opened his own training center, Les Thatcher’s Main Event Wrestling Camp.  In conjunction with the school he formed the Heartland Wrestling Association. Through the late 90s and into the start of the next decade,  the HWA was one of the hottest indy promotions in the country and it served as a developmental territory for both the WCW and WWF/E. 

From 1998 to 2001 Les promoted the highly successful Brian Pillman Memorial events.  The shows were unique in that they were the first events ever to include talent from all three of the major wrestling groups of the time.  The WWE, WCW and ECW all supplied talent to make the fund raiser a success.  If you ignore all of Thatcher's accomplishments except the Pillman event, it alone speaks of his talent.  To get the "Big 3"  to all work together was nothing short of amazing. 

Today (after selling the school and HWA) Les travels the country along with partners Harley Race and Ricky Steamboat doing wrestling seminars.  The 3 have formed Elite Pro Wrestling Training, which thus far has been quite busy all over the US.  (Now Tom Prichard is on board, too.)  Les and Harley are currently finishing up a wrestling training book and DVD to be released by Sports Publishing, LLC.

Thatcher said with pride, "When I heard about receiving the Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award I was blown away, quite frankly -- humbled and honored all at the same time.  Over the last 45 years I have received a few awards but, to me, this award and being recognized by my peers is the most important.  To be honored along with guys like Terry Funk, Jack Brisco and Ernie Ladd is a huge compliment.   Danny Hodge was last year’s recipient, and to have my name just mentioned in the same sentence as his is exciting and I am extremely honored by that. I am very proud to be a part of the ‘class of 05’."