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Earlier today, Jim Ross tweeted that his good friend, 65-year-old WWE talent scout Gerald Brisco, had suffered a minor stroke:
We at Cageside Seats would also like to wish Gerald a speedy recovery from this medical emergency.
Gerald is the younger brother of the late Jack Brisco, who won the NCAA amateur wrestling championship in his weight class in 1965 and was the top wrestler in the world from July 20, 1973 to December 10, 1975 by virtue of his being the NWA World Heavyweight Champion for the whole of this time period, outside of a short unsanctioned one week run for Japanese wrestling legend Giant Baba in early December 1974.
Gerald followed in his brother's footsteps, also wrestling for Oklahoma State in the amateur ranks, before turning pro in 1969 and becoming best known for being his brother's on and off tag team partner for the whole of his career.
The Brisco Brothers joined the WWF in September 1984 after selling their stock in Georgia Championship Wrestling to Vince McMahon, allowing him to become the majority shareholder and capture GCW's national cable television time slot on TBS. When Jack quit the promotion in February 1985 while he and his brother were in the middle of a feud with then WWF tag team champions Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch, Gerald was given a position behind the scenes as a road agent, a position he held until June 2009 when he suffered a stroke.
Realising that he shouldn't be on the road full time anymore, WWE made him a talent scout once he had recovered enough to return to work where his job was to go to amateur wrestling meets and entice those who had the most marketable look to consider a career in professional wrestling.
To modern day fans, Gerald would be most fondly remembered for his on screen role from 1998-2000 where he was one of Mr. McMahon's stooges alongside Pat Patterson, a role very similar to the one now played by current Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis.
Gerald was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame with his brother Jack in 2008.