Stanislaus Zbyszko Meets Charley Olson

Stanislaus Zbyszko toured the United States in 1910 in preparation for a title match with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch later in the year.  His tour brought him to St. Louis on May 29, 1910.  Zbyszko was scheduled to meet highly regarded light heavyweight grappler Charley Olson.

Olson was a skilled wrestler, who trained with St. Louis wrestler George Baptiste and was based out of St. Louis.  However, Olson weighed 180 pounds at his heaviest.  Zbsyzko was the same height at 5’09” but he weighed 245 pounds for the match.  Zbyszko was a massive weightlifter, so he had size and strength not just mass.

Olson was game though and showed up for their match at the Olympic Theater confident of at least giving Zbyszko a tough match.  Zbyszko wouldn’t be denied on his tour though and defeated Olson in two straight falls.

Keen observers did see some areas of concern when Zbyszko actually wrestled Gotch, who was a talented technical wrestler with good size and strength.  Gotch was nearly 6 foot tall and weighed between 198 and 210 pounds.

Zbyszko was more familiar with Greco-Roman wrestling than catch-as-catch-can, the dominant American style and the style for this match with Olson.  Zbyszko undertook the tour to help him adapt to this wrestling style.

Zbyszko’s lack of exposure to catch-as-catch-can made him very defensive.  Olson was able to take Zbyszko’s back at one point but was unable to take Zbyszko off his feet.  The constant strain of trying to move Zbyszko eventually tired Olson.

After over 25 minutes of wrestling, Zbyszko secured a back hold and scissors for the first fall at the 28 minute mark.  After an intermission, the men met for the second fall, which Zbyszko dominated.  Zbyszko eventually secured an arm hold into a roll for the second fall in 16 minutes.

Zbyszko’s tour helped build anticipation for his match with Gotch.  Gotch would use a dirty tactic to win the first fall of this bout.  The match is shrouded in controversy to this day.  After this one title match, Gotch never wrestled Zbyszko again before retiring in 1913.

Zbyszko returned to Europe in frustration during 1914.  Caught up in World War II, he would not return to America until 1921, when he was in his early 40s.  Despite his advanced age, Ed “Strangler” Lewis said Zbyszko and Joe “Toots” Mondt were the only wrestlers who could give him a legitimate contest.

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Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 30, 1910 edition, p. 10 and Hooker by Lou Thesz

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