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| December 12, 1967
Reprinted from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Title: Who Is Mr. Wrestling? Author: Paul Cox He started wrestling when he was 11 years old because he was too small to participate in other sports. He also was a pole vaulter, a musician, a tree surgeon, and has studied mechanical engineering. Jack Crawford, the manager of El Mongol and Oki Yama, says it took him 10 years to get through college. Locally, he has become one of the biggest draws in wrestling. Who is he? “I’ll take this mask off when I win the world championship,” Mr. Wrestling said. “This is not a gimmick. I don’t believe in gimmicks, because I believe they hurt wrestling. I put this mask on for a purpose.” Mr. Wrestling, obviously an educated man, tells it this way: “My best friend was on the wrestling team at the YMCA in Ithaca, NY, and I decided to give it a whirl because I was so much smaller than the other boys. I wrestled with the Y team until I was old enough to take up the sport in high school. “I was also a pole vaulter in high school, and I became interested in music. We had our own little combo and went to the semifinals of Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour in New York. “After I got out of high school I attended prep school in Kingston, PA, which was noted for preparing students for West Point and the Naval Academy. I had devoted my life to wrestling and I concentrated on the sport. “After prep school, I went to Cornell for a year and a half and studied agricultural engineering. I eventually dropped out of Cornell because they told me I would have to spend the summer working on a farm to keep my scholarship. “Frankly, I was pretty mad at the world after I left Cornell. I got a job as a lumberjack and worked like a fiend. The only other activity I had was wrestling, and I wrestled just about every weight.” Today, Mr. Wrestling is a physical specimen – 235 pounds of little but muscle. “I am four inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than anyone in my family,” he said. “Wrestling has done this for me, and I don’t smoke or drink.” Although few people know his real name, Mr. Wrestling’s story is unique from beginning to end. After working as a lumberjack, he later was admitted to the school of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado. This was after he gained some measure of national recognition by winning the AAU wrestling championship. “I spent one summer at Colorado and then went to Oklahoma State to study mechanical engineering,” he recalled. “I stayed there for two years, until they changed coaches. I was on a full scholarship when Art Griffis, one of the greatest in the business, was there. When he left, they wanted me to go to school on a half-academic, half-athletic scholarship. I changed schools and went to Michigan State, where I finally did graduate as a mechanical engineer.” After all that schooling, the wrestler felt like he was ready to tackle the world. Oddly, he found himself in the tree business. “We developed the largest tree business in central Michigan,” he said. All of this time, naturally, he was building his reputation as an amateur champion. He claimed the Canadian national title in 1962 and competed in the World Games at Toledo. A local promoter in Detroit finally “discovered” him and started him out as a professional wrestler. “I started wrestling under my own name,” he said, “but it was shortened later. Promoters have a habit of shortening wrestlers names if they are too long.” Despite the fact that he owned a glittering amateur record – including competition with the United States team in the Pan American Games in Japan – this wrestler found it difficult to get good matches. “The top pros are reluctant to give newcomers a chance,” he explained. “They want you to work your way up by wrestling somebody else, but I was in a hurry. I was reluctant to put on a mask. Few masked wrestlers have been successful, and none has ever won the world championship. But I had more than 20 years in wrestling and I had built my entire life around the sport. I had to do something to get recognition.” It was about two and a half years ago that Mr. Wrestling actually made his debut on the sports scene. He was not an immediate sensation. “I didn’t make much money,” he said. “However, I got my first break when I scored an upset over Mad Dog Vachon, who was recognized as champion by the American Wrestling Alliance. People started to notice me, and I started getting a chance at some of the big money.” Mr. Wrestling contends that he never takes the mask off when he’s in public. “I feel good wearing it, although it does impair my eyesight at times,” he said. “I have about 15 of the masks and I keep changing them all the time. You’ve got to keep them clean or your face will break out on a rash.” The masked “mystery man” actually came to this area about eight months ago. “This is a tough area,” he said. “There’s no better competition anywhere, but that’s what I want. Everything I do is aimed at becoming champion. I limit myself to a radius of 300 miles around Atlanta, and I wrestle about four or five times each week.” Mr. Wrestling feels working so often will keep him in top notch condition. “A lot of guys don’t get good until they’re too old physically,” he pointed out. “I don’t want that to happen to me.” Because of his background and experience, Mr. Wrestling feels he has a chance to become champion. “The competition is tough,” he said, “but wrestling is a great sport. It is one of the few sports where a fellow can compete equally regardless of his size. You meet a man exactly your same weight, and wrestling is mostly a scientific skill. Unfortunately, a great many of the good athletes are channeled into other sports.” He is married to a former “Homecoming” queen at Michigan State University, and they are the parents of a daughter, two and one-half years old. You’ve got the information so join in the game. Who is Mr. Wrestling? |