Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
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When Wladek Zbyszko travelled from the United States to Brazil for a lucrative tour on
Who is the greatest legitimate professional wrestler to wrestle in the United States? How do
On April 3, 1908, American Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch met World Wrestling Champion George Hackenschmidt
I first heard about Chang Apana in a featurette on one of the Charlie Chan DVD sets. I knew a real life detective inspired Earl Derr Biggers to create Charlie Chan. I did not know who the man was. Chang Apana was that man. Chang Apana (born Ah Ping Chang) on December 26, 1871 on the island of Oahu was
The series of the Charlie Chan films starring Warner Oland were probably the strongest films in the Charlie Chan series. Sidney Toler made several good films also but eventually the series would become low-budget “B” films produced by Monogram Pictures. Charlie Chan’s Secret (1936) was one of the earlier Twentieth-Century Fox films about Charlie Chan. The production values are better
I have spent a lot of time studying different rank systems. The rank system seems to be a modern concept started by Dr. Jigaro Kano, an educator, who wanted a system of grading to separate students. Over the next century, numerous styles adopted the belt rank system but the only commonality was the belt systems meant what the creator decided
On Thursday, June 12, 1919, Earl Hunter and Charles Bergman, a parolee and ex-convict, held up the Meramec Trust Company shortly after it opened at 07:00 a.m. The robbery was not well planned and even more poorly executed. The corner of Virginia Avenue and Meramec Street was one of the busiest street car blocks in the city. The robbers had
One of the things that always impressed me about the Gracies is how they were able to turn out generation after generation of top-notch instructors. After reading a number of articles about their original belt system, etc., I started to adapt some of their methods with our own students. Once the student reaches Green Belt, we allow them to start
While doing research, I found this picture of the Manassa Mauler training for his July 4th, 1919 title fight with Jess Willard, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champions. Willard had knocked out the great Jack Johnson in 1915 to become champion. Willard was a giant of a man at 6’06” and 235 pounds. He posed a threat to anyone based on size alone. However,
My great grandfather Parker was the victim of one of the largest natural disasters to hit Cape Girardeau, MO, the 1949 tornado. It hit the city on Saturday, May 21, 1949 at 06:54 p.m. By 7:00 p.m., Parker Zimmerman was dead at 74 years of age. I always found my great grandfather interesting because he led such a varied life
While watching the Facebook Prelims for UFC 161, I observed a trend that happens often in mixed martial arts competition. One of the competitors would get a dominant position but would sacrifice it to chase a submission. He caught the other competitor in close to ten submissions but the other man escaped all ten and one a close split decision.
A number of the old Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes movies have recently become available on DVDs and streaming. The Universal series, is well done for a “B” film series. This film would have warmed the audience up for the main feature like Double Indemnity (1944). In the The Scarlet Claw (1944), Sherlock Holmes, played by Rathbone, is in Quebec,
William Dillon was responding to reports about the murder of Officer McKenna by the Lewis Brothers. Dillon believed that the Lewis Brothers, who were auto and wire thieves, were responsible for McKenna’s death. Dillon proceeded to the DeMorris home at 4232 Athlone Avenue. He observed two of the Lewis brothers enter the garage in the Ford. Dillon entered the garage