Gevechtssporthistoricus en krijgskunstenaar
Broadcast companies were looking for content during the early days of television. Besides older movies and some broadcast company productions, sports were a source of programming for many television stations. The Dumont Television Network was one of the powerhouse networks in the beginning of the Golden Age of Television. One of their most popular programs was wrestling and the star
Yusuf Ismail worstelde in de eerste helft slechts zes maanden in de Verenigde Staten 1898. In zijn eerste belangrijke wedstrijd, hij werd gediskwalificeerd wegens een gemene overtreding. In zijn enige andere belangrijke wedstrijd, hij gaf Evan “Worger” Lewis de klap van zijn leven. Toch maakte zijn korte tournee door de Verenigde Staten hem tot een legende. Ismail entered the
On a Thursday night, November 25, 1909, World Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch met Polish Wrestling Champion Stanislaus Zbyszko for a handicap match in Buffalo, New York. Gotch agreed to forfeit the bout if he could not throw Zbyszko twice in an hour. Zbyszko’s size and strength created problems for Gotch, who weighed 190 pounds to Zbyszko’s 260 pond. Echter, Zbyszko
Wrestling promoter Samuel Rachman created the International Wrestling Tournament in Spring 1915 to highlight the abilities of Aleksander “Alex” Aberg. Aberg was the Russian Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion. Rachman believed Aberg could beat any wrestler. Rachman also wanted to lure Frank Gotch, the last undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, out of retirement to wrestle with Aberg. Gotch wrestled George Lurich in
In a blog post last month, I wrote about the difficulty promoters had in staging the Joe Stecher vs Jess Westergaard match. Originally scheduled for Omaha, Nebraska, the Omaha Chief of Police and Police Commissioner were concerned about the match being prearranged or a “work”. They didn’t want gamblers being taken in by the exhibition. To prevent this occurrence, they
An ad was printed in the January 16, 1921 editie van de St. Louis Post-Dispatch advertising a mail order course on Jujitsu from Capt. Allan Smith. Capt. Smith was originally born in Scotland but was fascinated with demonstrations of Japanese Jujitsu (actually Judo) he saw in England. Smith traveled to Japan with a company and learned Judo reaching 1st degree
Frank Gotch, the farm boy from Humboldt, Iowa, would defeat George Hackenschmidt for the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in 1908. This victory and his subsequent defeat of “Hack” in de 1911 rematch cemented Gotch’s place as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Gotch was a very talented wrestler but he was not the undefeated wunderkind of legend. Gotch
On January 10, 1912, Stanislaus Zbyszko continued his campaign for another title shot with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. To press his claim, he secured a match with Gotch training partner and protegé, Jake Westergard. Westergard claimed a questionable win over his mentor Gotch, who probably dropped the match to Westergard in a prearranged match. Zbyszko was een vakman
Omaha hoofdcommissaris H.W. Dunn zorgde in maart voor het nieuws 28, 1915, toen hij een bevel uitvaardigde dat de geadverteerde professionele worstelwedstrijd tussen Joe Stecher en Jess Westergaard verbood. The April 6, 1915 wedstrijd was gepland voor het Omaha Auditorium. De chef vaardigde het bevel feitelijk uit in opdracht van hoofdinspecteur van politie A.C. Kugel. Kugel heeft een verklaring afgegeven
Op december 13, 1920, En “Worger” Lewis versloeg Joe Stecher voor zijn World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Professional wrestling was a staged exhibition by 1920. Echter, such was the strong feelings between the men that the match may have been a “shoot” or legitimate match in which Lewis took the belt. Whether the outcome of the match was real, the feud