DragonKing Dark: The killing of Sam Cooke
DragonKing Dark continues our look at 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history by looking at the killing of legendary singer Sam Cooke.
On December 11, 1964, singer Sam Cooke was gunned down in Los Angeles, California. The original story and the one most commonly told is the 33 year old had taken a 22-year-old girl to a seedy motel and attempted to rape her, but she then escaped carrying his clothes, he chased after her, and they got into a physical altercation with the motel manager who then shot and killed him. Since his death in 1964, the story has gotten more complicated.
Karl Stern is a pro wrestling historian specializing in the 1980s and pioneer era (pre-1900) of pro wrestling. He is an author who has written several books on wrestling and independently runs the When It Was Cool retro pop culture website.