Tab Thacker was a three-time All-American and an NCAA champion for North Carolina State University.

We display one of Tab’s singlets in our museum, on a wall featuring photographs of Tab and Chris Taylor, who stood 6-foot-5 and weighed over 400 pounds throughout much of his wrestling career.

One of the biggest heavyweights of all time, who once tipped the scales at almost 450 pounds, Tab was a four-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion. Tab had a career record of 92-11-1 from 1981-84 and ranks third in NC State history with 54 pins and a 31-match winning streak in 1983-84.

Clint Eastwood cast the 6-foot-4 wrestler as a bouncer in “City Heat” with Burt Reynolds and Eastwood. Tab later appeared in “Wildcats” with Goldie Hawn, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, and in two “Police Academy” films.

He returned to Raleigh, North Carolina, and opened several night clubs and later became a bail bondsman. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 45 from complications caused by diabetes.