Jackie Crockett, Stalwart Cameraman For JCP & WCW, Passes Away
Jackie Crockett, the former lead cameraman for his family's promotion, Jim Crockett Promotions, has passed away, PWInsider reports.
Charles J. "Jackie" Crockett had been hospitalized for a month before passing away on the evening of March 13. Jackie's brother, David made the following comment regarding his passing:
“It has been a long journey for Jackie and he went out his way. Tonight Jackie’s breathing was very labored and when we thought he was gone, he would come back like a wrestling false finish.”
Jackie was one of the three brothers of the very popular promotion in the southeast and stayed on as a cameraman after JCP was bought out by Turner Broadcasting all the way up until the final WCW Monday Nitro.
Jackie will be buried alongside his older brother, Jim Crockett Jr. and their parents in Bristol, VA..
Jackie got later notoriety for being a major help in getting Ron Killings, aka R-Truth, on the straight and narrow by introducing him to pro wrestling. Truth went in-depth about Jackie Crockett's influence back in 2020 on the Feel The Power podcast with New Day.
“I met Jack Crockett in a halfway house. Messing around with dudes in the street, man. Doing stuff I shouldn’t be doing, man. Back and forth to jail, back and forth to jail. Now you talking about a R-Truth that was street, just straight. All I knew is that I had one job in my life, man. That was it. So met Jack Crockett at a halfway house and he saw me being me…
“He saw all of that man and he said, ‘You don’t belong here. I think this is just one of your pit stops in life.’ And then again, I had somebody else instilling that knowledge in me, man. God has always put what I call ‘rams in the bush’ around me, you know what I’m saying? To protect me, to give me that whisper in my ear what I need to do."
At the time, Truth still had aspirations to be a rapper and it took two years for him to let Jackie help point him in the right direction.
“He took me to three WCW shows and the first person to come out was Ric Flair and when Ric Flair’s music hit and that crowd man came up. Bro, it was my first time being at a wrestling show and Crockett was beside me and he said, ‘You see Ric Flair?’ He said, ‘That’s you. You could be there rapping. Rapping all those raps you’ve rapping in jail and dancing and you get in the ring. You can fight, you can fight and you can dance and you mix it all together and you create this character, but be yourself because people like you as you. Be original, be authentic, just be yourself.”
