Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
On May 10, 1870, 39-year-old prizefighter Jem Mace met 30-year-old prizefighter Tom Allen in Kennerville, Louisiana for the World Heavyweight Prizefighting Championship. Claims to the championship were very murky at the time. Thuggery and dirty tricks often obscured who was actually American Champion. Jem Mace, who was considered World Champion twice while fighting in England, was signed to meet Tom
Ed “Strangler” Lewis is one of the greatest professional wrestlers and world champions of all time. Lewis’ signature move was the stranglehold, which Lewis started using as promoters and wrestlers transitioned professional wrestling to a prearranged or “worked” exhibition. Lewis originally used the front face lock or guillotine choke. Lewis’ namesake Evan “Strangler” Lewis made the front face lock or
Sorakichi Matsuda originally trained in sumo wrestling. When Matsuda decided to become a catch-as-catch-can wrestler, he was forced to travel to the United States. Professional wrestling would not become popular in Japan until the middle of the Twentieth Century. Upon arriving in the United States in 1883, it took Matsuda a few months to secure a match. He finally secured
On February 23, 1946, my great uncle Francis Mosblech married Rosemary Kalt at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church. The 23-year old Francis had recently returned from service in the U.S. Army during World War II. Aunt Rosemary was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Kalt. Father Clarence Winkler officiated the ceremony. The March 3, 1946 edition of
With Choque, Vol. 2 (Amazon affiliate link), Roberto Pedreira picks up the story of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in what he considers its heyday in Brazil, 1950 – 1960. Besides Carlos and Helio Gracie, several other academies, such as Oswaldo Fadda’s, were also thriving. Judo was gaining in popularity but had not overcome Jiu-Jitsu in popularity. Vale Tudo matches were at the height
This film (affiliate link) was the first Sherlock Holmes film starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes. Sidney Lanfield directed The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) for Twentieth-Century Fox. Nigel Bruce co-stars as Dr. John Watson. Rathbone and Bruce would play Holmes and Watson in thirteen subsequent films, one more for Twentieth-Century Fox and twelve for Universal Pictures. This film is a
Actually, Samuel Rachman, who promoted both the 1915 International Wrestling Tournament and Greco-Roman World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Aleksander “Alex” Aberg, tried to lure retired World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch into the tournament. Rachman hoped to bolster Aberg’s claim as the successor to Gotch. Rachman offered Gotch $20,000 to wrestle Aberg in May 1915. Rachman’s tournament was to start Wednesday
Martin “Farmer” Burns reportedly trained over 1,000 wrestlers in his career as America’s foremost wrestling trainer. However, Burns was a great wrestler in his own right. Before he retired to train wrestlers full-time, Burns won the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship from Evan “The Strangler” Lewis in 1895. Burns held the title for two years. In 1893, Burns was still
The Vampire Bat (1933) is a genre bending film starring Lionel Atwill. Ostensibly, it is a horror film but is actually more of a mystery. It would fall into the “B” movie category, a short film meant to be the appetizer for the main film on a double bill. Majestic Pictures produced the film, which was directed by Frank R.
No one can question that Stanislaus Zbyszko was a great wrestler. He began wrestling when the pro game was still an actual competition. He continued to be successful after the game changed to worked (prearranged) matches. In fact, he participated in a shoot contest, when he legitimately defeated Big Wayne Munn for the title in 1925 by double-crossing his promotoers.