Tab Thacker

Thacker was on the football, basketball, track, and wrestling teams while at West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, North Carolina. He won the 1980 Junior National Greco-Roman championship before enrolling at NC State.[1]

Thacker was the NCAA Division I Wrestling heavyweight national champion in 1984 as a senior. Before that he finished 6th in 1983 as a junior, and 8th in 1982 as a sophomore, making him in total a 3-time All-American. He also won four Atlantic Coast Conference titles with the Wolfpack. He finished his college career 92-11-1, ranking second in NC State history with an .889 winning percentage and 54 pins. Thacker majored in criminal justice while at NC State.

He began his film career after Clint Eastwood noticed him in Time magazine and noted the 6-foot-4 and 450-pound (1.93 m, 204 kg) Thacker's size. Thacker went on to appear in several films including City Heat, Wildcats, two of the Police Academy films, and Identity Crisis.

After leaving Hollywood, Thacker returned to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he opened a remodeling business and operated several nightclubs. He later became a bail bondsman.

A North Carolina native, Thacker died in Raleigh, North Carolina on December 27, 2007, at the age of 45 after years of failing health. He developed diabetes and had a foot amputated some years before he died. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

• Tab Thacker at IMDb
• "NCAA wrestling champ, "Police Academy" actor from N.C. dies", The Charlotte Observer, 27 December 2007
• Tab Thacker, 45; NCAA wrestler cast in films. The Los Angeles Times, 30 December 2007