Ground&Pound

One issue of The Ring that I have lists the names of people who appeared on the cover and Lou Thesz is listed.

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ideamark

Lou Thesz was definitely a pro rasslin' superstar whose career and life spanned many decades, and eras. His mentor was a guy who claimed to have trained with early 1900s world champ George "the Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt (and alleges that Frank Gotch hired him to purposefully injure Hack before the 1911 rematch)... and I believe Thesz was still in the ring in the 1970s. He died only a handful of years ago.

Mark

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Peace
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Those who are ignorant of wrestling history are doomed...

ideamark

One thing that I've uncovered in my amateur wrestling research is the long-running, strong bonds between real wrestling and pro rasslin that go way back, long before Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin or Kurt Angle were a twinkling in their parents' eyes.

So many great college champs spent some time in the pro ring... whether it was for a few weeks or months (like 1931-32 NCAA hwt champ Jack Riley of Northwestern, Columbia's Nate Pendleton)... or enduring careers spanning decades, like Earl McCready (Oklahoma State hwt champ, 1928-30)... and Ed Don George of Michigan, same era as McCready.

One of the most interesting eras was the late 1940s. Of the top-ranked college big men of that era, at least four had successful pro careers: Ray Gunkel of Purdue... Bob Geigel of U of Iowa... Minnesota's Verne Gagne (1949 NCAA hwt champ)... and Dick Hutton of Oklahoma State (3x NCAA hwt champ, 1947-48, 1950... just missed being the first-ever 4x, losing to Gagne in '49) A couple more hwt champs who went pro: Dale Lewis of Oklahoma (early 60s champ), and Iowa State's Chris Taylor.

Back then, hardly anyone batted an eye when a college champ went pro; it may have even been considered cool. Not so sure now. Nowadays, it seems more college big men are choosing MMA over WWE.

Mark

PS For some reason I can't attach photos here. To see pics of any of these guys, go to http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group...weight_Champs/

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Peace
www.RevWrestling.com

Those who are ignorant of wrestling history are doomed...