Bobby Duncum

Robert Eldon Duncum (August 14, 1944 - January 21, 2026) was an American professional wrestler and football player. He is best known for his appearances for the World Wide Wrestling Federation, the National Wrestling Alliance and the American Wrestling Association from the late-1960s to the late-1980s. He was the father of the professional wrestler Bobby Duncum Jr. Duncum was a three-year letterman with the West Texas A&M Buffaloes football team from 1964 to 1966. He was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the thirteenth round (331st overall) of the 1967 NFL/AFL draft. He appeared in four games with the Cardinals in 1968. His wrestling persona was that of a heel cowboy and he wrestled some of the top babyface stars of the era such as Bob Backlund and Bruno Sammartino in the WWWF/WWF. In the AWA, along with Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens, and Blackjack Lanza, he was a member of the famous wrestling stable, managed by Bobby Heenan, known as "The Heenan Family". His famous catch phrase during interviews (and written phonetically) was "You unnastan?" ("you understand?"). His final match was on November 16, 1986, in Clarksburg, West Virginia, teaming with Lord Zoltan to defeat Troy Orndorff and Kurt Kaufman. Duncum died on January 21, 2026, at the age of 81.