Professional Wrestler. He wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He was a nine-time world champion, having won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship eight times and he was the first NWA United States Heavyweight Champion. He was one of six men to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the NWA Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. He started training as a teenager under former world champions Stanislaus and Wladek Zbyszko. While in high school, at 6 feet 1 in and 225 pounds, he decided to get his start in professional wrestling. He was recruited by St. Joseph wrestling promoter eventually wrestling on some of his shows and received training from some veteran wrestlers. He moved to Nashville at the age of 18, began wrestling under the ring name of Jack Long and formed a tag team with storyline brother John Long. The duo quickly captured the Southern Tag Team Championship. He was seen as a rising star in the business until a car accident put him out of action, with his leg coming close to being amputated. Married just over a month, his first wife, who was pregnant, died instantly. His employer rushed to the hospital and stopped the planned amputation, declaring it "over my dead body." In doing so, he saved Race's leg. Although he recovered, doctors told him that he might never walk again, and that his wrestling career was over. Undaunted, he endured grueling physical therapy for several months and made a full recovery. He returned to the ring two years later as the Great Mortimer in 1963. He then started wrestling in Texas in 1964 as Harley Race after his father told him that he should not work to make anyone else's name famous. Race never again used a different ring name. During a house show match in St. Joseph, Missouri on December 7, 1990, he received a shoulder injury and would retire from active competition. He would go on to be a promoter and trainer for names like Lex Luger, Big Van Vader, Super Invader and Vinnie Vegas. He did return to the ring a final time on a trio of Florida house shows (November 26, 27 and 28, 1993), when he substituted for an injured Vader to face Ric Flair. His former rival would come out victorious on each occasion. These would be the last wrestling matches of his career. As his early wrestling career had been nearly derailed due to a car accident, another car accident in January 1995 forced Race out of the wrestling business altogether. He required hip replacement surgery, which, along with injuries accumulated after years in the ring, prevented him from even being a manager. He would make a few independent appearances against Flair but his inability to work was just too great. Race would make one last return to WCW television in October 1999 as the ring announcer for the Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit tribute to Owen Hart match in his hometown of Kansas City. On March 1, 2019, Race's close friend Ric Flair announced that Race was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. On August 1, 2019, it was revealed by long-time friend Dustin Rhodes that Race had died from lung cancer. He was 76 years old.
Professional Wrestler. He wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He was a nine-time world champion, having won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship once and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship eight times and he was the first NWA United States Heavyweight Champion. He was one of six men to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the NWA Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. He started training as a teenager under former world champions Stanislaus and Wladek Zbyszko. While in high school, at 6 feet 1 in and 225 pounds, he decided to get his start in professional wrestling. He was recruited by St. Joseph wrestling promoter eventually wrestling on some of his shows and received training from some veteran wrestlers. He moved to Nashville at the age of 18, began wrestling under the ring name of Jack Long and formed a tag team with storyline brother John Long. The duo quickly captured the Southern Tag Team Championship. He was seen as a rising star in the business until a car accident put him out of action, with his leg coming close to being amputated. Married just over a month, his first wife, who was pregnant, died instantly. His employer rushed to the hospital and stopped the planned amputation, declaring it "over my dead body." In doing so, he saved Race's leg. Although he recovered, doctors told him that he might never walk again, and that his wrestling career was over. Undaunted, he endured grueling physical therapy for several months and made a full recovery. He returned to the ring two years later as the Great Mortimer in 1963. He then started wrestling in Texas in 1964 as Harley Race after his father told him that he should not work to make anyone else's name famous. Race never again used a different ring name. During a house show match in St. Joseph, Missouri on December 7, 1990, he received a shoulder injury and would retire from active competition. He would go on to be a promoter and trainer for names like Lex Luger, Big Van Vader, Super Invader and Vinnie Vegas. He did return to the ring a final time on a trio of Florida house shows (November 26, 27 and 28, 1993), when he substituted for an injured Vader to face Ric Flair. His former rival would come out victorious on each occasion. These would be the last wrestling matches of his career. As his early wrestling career had been nearly derailed due to a car accident, another car accident in January 1995 forced Race out of the wrestling business altogether. He required hip replacement surgery, which, along with injuries accumulated after years in the ring, prevented him from even being a manager. He would make a few independent appearances against Flair but his inability to work was just too great. Race would make one last return to WCW television in October 1999 as the ring announcer for the Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit tribute to Owen Hart match in his hometown of Kansas City. On March 1, 2019, Race's close friend Ric Flair announced that Race was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. On August 1, 2019, it was revealed by long-time friend Dustin Rhodes that Race had died from lung cancer. He was 76 years old.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/201249302/harley_leland-race: accessed
), memorial page for Harley Leland Race (11 Apr 1943–1 Aug 2019), Find a Grave Memorial ID 201249302, citing Quitman Cemetery, Quitman,
Nodaway County,
Missouri,
USA;
Maintained by Find a Grave.
Add Photos for Harley Leland Race
Fulfill Photo Request for Harley Leland Race
Photo Request Fulfilled
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
This memorial already has a grave photo. Please indicate why you think it needs another.
There is no plot information for this memorial. Your photo request is more likely to be fulfilled if you contact the cemetery to get the plot information and include it with your request.
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.