Georgo Tragos, la Origina Kriplilo
George Tragos akiris famon kiel la trejnisto de Lou Thesz, la domina National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion de la 1950-aj jaroj kaj fruaj 1960-aj jaroj. Trinkaĵoj, a 1920 Olimpikulo por sia denaska Grekio, posedis neriproĉeblan vivresumon en legitima luktado.
Naskiĝis marto 14, 1901, en Mesenio, Grekio, Tragos gajnis naciajn luktosporttitolojn antaŭ reprezentado de Grekio ĉe la 1920 Olimpikoj ĉe nur 19 Jaroj malnova.
After competing in the 1920 Olympics, Tragos immigrated to the United States in 1923. Tragos settled in St. Louis where his fellow countryman Batalsportaj Libroj, born Anthanasios Pakiotis, promoted professional wrestling.
Georgo Tragos, Olympic wrestler, middleweight professional wrestler, trainer and one of the most dangerous submission wrestlers of his day (Publika Domajno)
Tragos wrestled professionally and even won professional championships in the middleweight division. Tragos never achieved wrestling stardom though. Tragos did not have much of a personality which held him back in the worked era of professional wrestling.
Tragos achieved success as a trainer rather than an actual professional wrestler. Tragos coached the University of Missouri wrestling team from the middle 1920s until the early 1930s. Tragos also trained wrestlers at Harry Cook’s Business Men’s Gym in Downtown St. Louis.
It was in his role as trainer at the Business Men’s Gym that he met a young Lou Thesz around 1933. Tom Packs suggested Thesz ask Tragos to train him. The wrestlers worked out at the gym, often training in legitimate wrestling even though they worked the matches in the ring.
Tragos accepted Thesz as his student and trained him for the next two years. Thesz’s fellow wrestlers begged him not to train with Tragos. The wrestlers warned Thesz that Tragos would lose his temper during training and hurt Thesz on purpose.
Trinkaĵoj, Kvalifikita propona luktisto, hurt other wrestlers in training. If other wrestlers got cute with Tragos in training, he broke the arm, leg, or rib of the offending party. If the wrestler was a braggart, Tragos also hurt them. When Thesz asked Tragos why, Tragos said, “They have no respect for our sport.”
Packs used Tragos to weed out potential wrestlers. Pakoj, or his booker Bill Nelson, sent potential wrestlers to Cook’s gym to train with Tragos. Tragos stretched them, often hurt them, and sent them away. If the injured wrestler came back after healing up, Packs might give the aspiring wrestler an opportunity.
The guys guaranteed to get injured were fans or want-to-be tough guys, who showed up at Cook’s gym to test a wrestler. Without fail, Tragos took the challenge, broke the man’s arm or leg, and watched impassively as the ambulance took the screaming man away. Tragos showed no remorse for hurting the braggarts in these circumstances.
Despite his preference for legitimate wrestling, Tragos worked his professional matches. Dum februaro 1940, Tragos worked the opening match with Bob Haack at a Pack’s card in the Municipal Auditorium. St. Ludoviko-luktisto Warren Bockwinkel, a friend of Thesz, wrestled Ivan Managoff in the second match. Lou Thesz wrestled Bronko Nagurski for the National Wrestling Batalsportaj Libroj in the main event.
Despite the other wrestlers’ fears, Tragos never hurt Thesz. Tragos watched with pride as Thesz became the biggest name in professional wrestling during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
George Tragos passed away in St. Louis ĉe 54 Jaroj de aĝo sur septembro 5, 1955. Tragos suffered a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital. Tragos’s wife Mary and two sons survived him.
Few wrestlers made the impact inside the ring that Tragos made outside of it. One of the greatest legitimate submission wrestlers of the 20Th Century showed his skills inside the training room. Few wrestlers dared challenge him.
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Fontoj: St. Louis Stelo kaj Tempoj (St. Louis, Misuro), Februaro 17, 1940, P. 7, Hooker by Lou Thesz, Ĉapitro 2, and Missouri Death Certificate Database – George Tragos Death Certificate from 1955.
