Ann Casey
| Ann Casey | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Lucille Ann Casey |
| Born | September 29, 1938 Saraland, Alabama |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ann Casey Panther Girl |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Trained by | The Fabulous Moolah |
| Debut | 1962 |
| Retired | 1990 |
Lucille Ann Casey (born September 29, 1938) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Ann Casey, or 'Panther Girl'.
Casey was born in Saraland, Alabama, one of nine children to John and Viola Casey. John was of Irish ancestry; Viola was a Creek Indian. After the family moved to a Mississippi cotton farm, Casey attended an Agricola Indian school. Once she graduated, she married and had a son, but soon divorced.
In 1962, while working at the ticket counter for a professional wrestling promotion, she met The Fabulous Moolah, who offered to train Casey to wrestle. Casey soon decided to take Moolah up on her offer and moved to South Carolina to train. Her first match was a tag team match that pitted her and Judy Grable against Rita Cortez and Brenda Scott that fall. Casey also wrestled Miss Brenda in a two out of three falls match for the opening of a December 1962 card also featuring Fred Blassie. While working under Moolah, Casey traveled all around the United States; she was also one of the first women to ever compete in a tag team match in the state of Hawaii. While in Hawaii, Casey fell in love with a local champion surfer and took a brief hiatus from wrestling.
Two years later, Casey returned to the continental United States and professional wrestling. She worked for promoters Vince McMahon, Sr., Vince McMahon, Jr., and Leroy McGuirk. During this time, she wrestled Donna Christanello at Madison Square Garden in New York. In 1964, she had a match that pitted her and Penny Banner against Cara Combs and Kathy O'Brien. The following year, she defeated Kay Noble in a match, but was defeated in another match by Bette Boucher. She was also defeated by Mae Young in a 1968 NWA United States Women's Championship match.
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