Joe Blanchard, the father of Four Horseman Tully Blanchard, passed away Thursday at the age of 83.

Blanchard was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma a little more than a year ago and passed away in hospice.

The Oklahoma native played football at Kansas State where he won the Big 7 wrestling championship in 1950. After playing three seasons for the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos, where he played alongside future mat stars Gene Kiniski and Wilbur Snyder, he began his professional wrestling career in 1953 and moved to San Antonio in 1964 to get into the promotional end of the business.

Blanchard founded Southwest Championship Wrestling and promoted in San Antonio for many years.