Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Who knew that the legendary Funk family from Amarillo, Texas had a another family member? Jimmy Jack Funk was Dory Funk Sr’s dirty little secret. A third brother to compliment Terry and Hoss (Dory Jr.) Funk. In actuality, Jimmy Jack Funk wasn’t a Funk at all. That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t a part of his own wrestling legacy and today we ask Whatever Happened to Jimmy Jack Funk?
You see, Jimmy Jack was born Ferrin Barr Jr. The son of wrestler/promoter Sandy Barr and brother to the late, great wrestler Art Barr. Ferrin Jr wrestled in the territorial sytem for most of his career under the name of Jesse Barr. He won several regional titles mostly in the Pacific Northwest and Florida.
In 1986, Vince McMahon brought Barr into the WWF and instead of keeping him under his real name…gave him the gimmick of the mysterious third Funk brother Jimmy Jack . He was essentially Kane before Kane was a glimmer in McMahon’s eye. Jimmy Jack Funk was the Funk’s dark secret. He was the unstable, crazier brother who was locked up in the Funk’s basement for years because he was so crazy. Jimmy Jack wore a mask (in real life to hide his identity from fans) and carried around a noose with a cow bell on it.
He began immediately teaming with his “brothers” in six man tag team matches and was managed by the ‘Mouth of the South’ Jimmy Hart. Terry Funk wound up suffering a knee injury and would ultimately leave the WWF. Jimmy Jack and Hoss Funk formed a tag team and were semi successful. That is until Dory Jr left the WWF leaving Jimmy Jack Funk by himself. Once the last remaining real Funk was gone, so was their manager Jimmy Hart.
Jimmy Jack almost immediately turned from a star to a jobber to the stars. He was used mainly on the under cards at TV taping losing to bigger names like the Junkyard Dog, Blackjack Mulligan and countless others. He remained that way until an unfortunate encounter with another WWF star.
Jimmy Jack Funk had a legitimate physical altercation with King Tonga aka Haku backstage in which Haku tried ripping out the eye of Jimmy Jack. The only thing that saved Barr’s eye was Haku spared him seeing as Barr had a wife and kids. The altercation led to the release of Jesse Barr from the WWF.
Barr would travel to other territories such as Memphis and World Class using the Jimmy Jack Funk gimmick with moderate success. After 17 years in the wrestling business, Barr hung up the boots and tights in 1997.
So, it begs the age old question, whatever happened to Jimmy Jack Funk? After his retirement from wrestling in late 1997, he has appeared occasionally at wrestling conventions. He now works full time as a boilermaker and lives with his family in Louisiana.