St. Jo Wrestling: They grunt and they groan
By Bob Ford Special to
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“Doing the wrestling polka,” there are songs that hang with you for years and others for decades, the theme song from ‘50s-’60s KFEQ’s “Wrestling with Bob,” I can still hear. It would call the faithful every Saturday night to the TV studio for blood, sweat and jeers.
Wrestling was big in the Midwest and huge in St. Joseph.
Nattily-dressed Gust Karras was the promoter with his patented cigar and dapper hat. He would introduce the matches in his slow thick Greek accent for the auditorium Friday night and TV viewers Saturday, warming up the live crowd in both places to their usual frenzy.
Frank Pinzino was a devoted follower who’s uncle had the concession at the auditorium giving this boy special access. Pulling back the curtain Frank would occasionally hangout in the dressing room collecting stories and autographs. He was on cloud nine.
These names will bring back memories for many: locals, Sonny Meyers, Ronnie Etichison, Mike George, Larry Hamilton, Easy Ed Wiskowski and imports Pat O’Connor Happy Humphrey, Harley Race, Fuzzy Bob Geigle, Iron Mike, The Sheik, Cowboy Bob Ellis, The Stomper, The Viking, Bulldog Bob Brown, Stan the Moose, Dusty Rhodes, Rufus R. Jones, Danny Little Bear, and many more graced St. Joseph with their talent … salute to all.
Each night had a continuing storyline with grudge matches and redemptions reigning. It was all show, featuring “good vs evil.”
“One night The Stomper hit local hot head Larry Hamilton a little too hard with a chair … made him mad,” Frank said. “Off Larry went in a real rage chasing The Stomper with the same chair all over the auditorium, up and down the ramps occasionally stopping to exchange blows. To try and escape The Stomper ran outside into a snow storm, Larry and foul weather fans followed only to see the brawl continue as both threw each other into cars and snow banks.”
Five of our local finest finally broke apart the shorts clad warriors with everyone covered in white and soaking wet.
Wrestling is like Santa, growing up you believed, but once you caught on … it’s OK cause it’s all about the spirit, plus you like it! Fans didn’t care if matches were “fixed,” storylines were personal besides, the athleticism and entertainment was very real.
Every now and then Gust Karras would bring national acts in who had a following, Andre’ the Giant made periodic appearances, one of the highest paid wrestlers of the day dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” At 7’ 4” and 520 lbs. suffering from Gigantism, he was a force in the ring, bar and dinner table. Andre’ could eat 12 steaks and 15 lobsters in one sitting, lore has him guzzling over 100 beers one night with friends in New Orleans.
Once, favorite Happy Humphrey’s weighed in at a rope stretching 800 lbs. What brilliant strategy would put that man on the mat?
Mertie and Gertie Hite were twins, “little old ladies,” who didn’t miss a match and loved throwing insults from their ring side seats. Occasionally when the villain won and the lady’s blood was up, they would chase the victor out of the ring hitting them with their purses. Once Geritie whipped out a long hat pin jabbing at the now regretful winner.
Bob Slater remembers the old days in the auditorium, “we watched the matches through a blue haze, you could cut the smoke with a knife but we didn’t know or care.” Tickets for a Friday night of entertaining full-nelsons started at 50 cents. Vendors with leather straps around their neck carrying aluminum boxes full of Cherry Mashes, popcorn and pop roamed the crowd.
Casey Meyer’s Ford made a successful ad campaign for years with wrestling. Villains would mock Fords while heroes wouldn’t drive anything else. Carol Meyers recalls, “They were all such polite men, even the supposed bad ones!”
Then you have the referee, Richard Moody. He always just missed the illegal move by the bad guy that flipped the match. “Turn around!” the crowd would plead, but Richard never seemed to do it in time. Always when you thought your man had won the match, pinning his sinister foe for a three count, somehow he was thrown off after two, only then to get hit or slashed by an illicit object hidden in the villain’s waistband. For the fans they were fully involved, you had a feeling you could do something about it and make things right!
Talk about getting lost in a book or movie, if you were fortunate enough to attend or view these wrestling spectacles you saw Americana on parade.
Wrestling is still big business today, it attracts a certain type of person looking for that adrenal rush and it comes, it’s pure entertainment because the action is exciting, unpredictable, and raw.
