“Toots” Mondt Dies in St. Louis

On June 11, 1976, Joseph “Toots” Mondt died enroute to Christian Northeast Hospital in North St. Louis County. Mondt had moved to St. Louis 1969 to help take care of his wife Alda’s mother. After her mother died in 1971, the Mondts decided to stay in St. Louis, where Alda had been born and raised.

Mondt was a legendary figure in American professional wrestling but by 1976 he would no longer have been a household name for wrestling fans. Since the early 1930s, the one-time policeman for Ed “Strangler” Lewis had primarily worked behind the scenes in booking offices and promotions.

Mondt joined manager Billy Sandow and World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Lewis in 1923 to form the Gold Dust Trio. The Trio would dominate wrestling in the mid-1920s with Mondt given the credit for changing the in-ring wrestling to a more exciting spectator-friendly style. Shorter, more exciting matches led to bigger gates and a fortune for the Gold Dust Trio.

After the Gold Dust Trio broke up in 1928, Mondt would get involved with promoting wrestling in New York City. Mondt also established a booking office in New York, which allowed him to loan out wrestlers to other promoters. Mondt’s gifts lent themselves to booking, where Mondt would not only send wrestlers to other promoters but would often come up with the angles, feuds and match finishes as well.

Mondt would travel to Los Angeles in the 1940s before returning to New York in the 1950s. In New York for the second time, he would assist Vincent J. McMahon with building up the Northeastern United States territory known as the World Wide Wrestling Federations (WWWF).

Mondt did have a controversial reputation. Mondt was considered a poor payoff man. Due to Mondt’s reported gambling habit, many wrestlers, who worked for him at different times like Lou Thesz and Don Leo Jonathan, believed Mondt was stealing some of the payoff money from his wrestlers.

Mondt had also been barred for a few months in 1931 for trying to bribe a referee to double-cross current world champion Jim Londos. Mondt also drew bad press for keeping a championship belt loaned to him by a deceased wrestler.

By the late 1960s, Mondt was in his early 70s and tired of the wrestling wars. He sold his shares in WWWF to his other partners and left for St. Louis with his wife.

While the Colorado-born Mondt didn’t have any connection to the city, it was still a hotbed for professional wrestling. Mondt was well-acquainted with St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick. He would have lunch with his old friend a couple times a week. Mondt seemed to enjoy his retirement years in St. Louis.

In February 1976, Mondt caught pneumonia. Mondt fought hard but at 82-years-old and a lot of miles on his body, the disease was able to outlast him. Mondt was very ill upon waking at his apartment on June 11th. Before the ambulance could get him to the hospital, Mondt expired on the way.

After his funeral at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Mondt was interred at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. The last of the Gold Dust Trio was laid to rest.

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Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Şubat 1, 1976 baskı, p. 38 and June 12, 1976 baskı, p. 5

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