Reggie Parks (born Reginald David Parko; August 27, 1934 – October 7, 2021) was a Canadian professional wrestler and engraver, known for his work designing championship belts for wrestling, mixed martial arts, and boxing promotions.
He is known for the "Winged Eagle" belt he created for the then-WWF in the 1980s; he also contributed work to other wrestling promotions, as well as to the UFC and for an album cover by Madonna.
[3] Parks began his career training at a boxing club in Edmonton, where he met Stampede Wrestling promoter Stu Hart in 1955.
[1] Early in his career, Parks wrestled with a traveling carnival, competing in legitimate, unscripted matches with audience challengers and relying on his stamina and conditioning to out-wrestle them.
[4] While working in Joe Blanchard's Texas territory in 1968, Parks was the opponent for the debut match of future NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes.
[8] Parks began to create belts in 1962 while working in Omaha, Nebraska, after noticing that promoter Joe Dusek had been using a large trophy to represent a championship, which was beginning to fall apart.
[7] Parks was soon commissioned to make championship belts for the American Wrestling Association's tag team champions Harley Race and Larry Hennig after the team noticed his craftsmanship during a match against Parks; this and the visibility of a subsequent tour of Japanese wrestling promotions expanded his business significantly.
[2] His work was then sought out by other wrestling organizations, as well as appearing in taekwondo and boxing associations, the UFC and on the cover of Madonna's Hard Candy album.