An international tug-of-war tournament was scheduled for Chicago on December 7, 1891 at the Battery D Armory. There were "teams" of German (led by Dan Kolb), Welch (led by Evan Lewis), and Canadian (led by Zorras) strongmen, plus others representing the Irish, Italian, Scotch, Swiss, and English. There were even going to be athletes representing the military from Fort Sheridan. On March 21, 1892 in Chicago, Evan Lewis was to wrestle John King of Iron Mountain, Michigan. King was the Cornish champion. The match was going to be a five-style competition and the winner was going to receive over $3,000. Lewis trained for this match at hishome in Ridgeway, Wisconsin and planned to wrestle at 190 pounds. In early February 1909, Chicago Assistant Chief of Police Schuettier indefinitely banned wrestler Raoul de Rouen from appearing in the city, citing his rough tactics, particularly in a recent match with Mahmout. No club who promoted him would receive a permit. C. Weston promoted in Decatur, Illinois in 1909, staging an important bout between Frank Gotch and Challender. Fans from Bloomington, and numerous other nearby towns were making arrangements to attended the show. A 21-year-old Chicago woman, Sadie Currie, brought a lawsuit against champion Gotch on November 9, 1909 claiming that the latter failed to keep his promise to marry her and wanted $25,000 in damages. The report claimed that Currie met Gotch in Minneapolis more than two years earlier. Alton, Illinois wrestler George Burton was found guilty on February 1, 1911 of killing two men with his bare hands before a jury in Edwardsville. Burton strangled both Leo Wentz and Louis Weibrecht to death. With the boom of interest in the Gotch-Hackenschmidt bout in Chicago (1911), ticket scalpers boasted prices from $10 to $15, and up to $20 for better seats. Prior to the match, all bets were called off by the referee, and Chicago Assistant Chief of Police Herman F. Schuettler defended the actions as "customary" because the police wanted to eliminate gambling from the "Windy City." The referee wanted to call off all bets in case the match was a bust, which it turned out to be, and perhaps he had some inside information when he made that particular move. There was tremendous backlash after the 1911 Gotch-Hackenschmidt affair, with one report claiming that "one more fiasco like this and wrestling is a dead card in Chicago." Before leaving for New York after his defeat, Hackenschmidt offered to wrestle a quick return match with Gotch privately for $5,000. This was on or around September 5, but he was already scheduled to leave for Europe on September 9, not leaving much time for the arrangements. It was also noted that Hackenschmidt had already said that he was never returning to the U.S. after this trip. Gotch had accepted the challenge, but it never would happen. Ernest Kartje was a significant professional wrestler in the Chicago area during the 1910s, and trained scores of athletes in the finer points of the business. Kartje, whose last name was often butchered by sports editors, was born in Austraia on November 12, 1882 and came to the United States around 1894. He was married to a Michigan woman named Mary, and had a daughter named Josephine and a son named August. In late 1912, Kartje held the Turner wrestling championship, and shined as a middleweight. When he filled out his World War I Draft Registration paperwork, he listed his occupation as working at the Chicago Stockyards. In the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, his job was listed as a salesman of physical culture literature. Empire Club promoter Joe Coffey was looking to sign a match between Henry Ordemann and Jess Westergaard for Chicago in December 1912. Minneapolis won the rights. Chicago Mayor Harrison was making a lot of sound about cleaning up the professional wrestling racket, claiming that the last Gotch-Hackenschmidt match was a "fiasco." Gotch denied it was a fiasco, saying that he trained hard, and didn't expect the match to be so easy. Gotch also agreed with Harrison that wrestling should be "kept clean," according to the Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, WI), February 22, 1913. Because of his animosity toward big-time pro wrestling in the Chicago and his cynicism about it, Mayor Harrison blocked a possible bout between George Lurich and Stanislaus Zbyszko in early February 1913. Harrison reminded everyone of the "Labor day swindle in 1911," saying that Lurich was either under management or had been under the management of one of the promoters of the 1911 affair. Mayor Harrison also said that "certainly no permit should ever be issued to any of the crowd which guiled the public in the Gotch-Hackenschmidt fiasco of 1911." He stated that the Chicago public could get along nicely with "small shows" in "halls and theaters." Once again, wrestling in Chicago took a hit when a masked "Mystery" wrestler began to gain steam as a top contender, only to be destroyed by an opponent, and unmasked to be a second-rate wrestler. This event occurred in February 1915 when the Mystery was topped by Bill Hokuff in two-straight falls and revealed to be John Freberg, angering the crowd who'd seen the latter work preliminary bouts in the city. The Mystery's manager, Ed White then told the audience that "this match was the only honest, square wrestling seen in Chicago in six years. This is not excepting the Gotch-Zbyszko and Gotch-Hackenschmidt matches." White said that he wanted to test his "theory in this way because I wanted to take a shot at the wrestling game" by picking up a wrestler who was "nothing more than a poor dub," putting a mask on him, and getting him over in eastern matches. Then having him wrestle straight in Chicago, proving he was a second-class grappler. Well known sportsman Charles Edward "Parson" Davies, who long had his homebase in Chicago, passed away in Bedford, Virginia on June 28, 1920. He would be buried in Chicago. Davies was a manager of fighters and wrestlers for many years. An article in the Miami Herald on March 12, 1922 stated that "Professional wrestling, until recently on the wane in Chicago, is becoming a rehabilitated success," and that Alderman A.J. Carmak "said that through the aid of the commission co-operation on the part of the promoters and introduction of a round-robin system, the sport has taken on a new lease of life." Chicago hosted a match between Jim Londos and Renato Gardini on April 6, 1926 and there was some heavy controversy surrounding it. In the weeks prior, there were several instances of note regarding Gardini in Chicago. He wrestled George Calza in what was advertised as a finish bout, but after only one fall, the bout was called, and Gardini was blamed. Two weeks earlier, Gardini battled Wladek Zbyszko in another finish bout, but after Renato dropped the initial fall, he refused to continue. Officials began an investigation, believing that this had something to do with the Stecher-Lewis syndicate war. Reportedly, the Gardini-Zbyszko affair was put on by a mysterious promoter, and no one knew the person's name. It was rumored that it was Nick Londes of St. Louis. The State Athletic Commission wanted to make it mandatory that all promoters obtain licenses to promote. Incidentally, Londos and Gardini went off without a hitch with the former winning two-of-three-falls. This left Aldermen Thomas Bowler and Joseph Smith with no eagerness to further an investigation. Members of the initial Illinois State Boxing Commission was selected on May 5, 1926 and consisted of Paul Prehn, John Righeimer, and Oswald W. Hunchke. Prehn was a former middleweight wrestler and champion. He was currently a wrestling coach at the University of Illinois and owned several restaurants in the Urbana area. Hunchke was a "wealthy" insurance man and Righeimer was a politician and ex-bar owner. On July 23, 1928, Johnny Meyers was suspended for a year and fined by the Illinois State Athletic Commission after his "disgraceful and unbecoming conduct" during his recent match with Karl Pojello. The Los Angeles Times (12/28/1928) noted that a major wrestling show in Chicago only drew 1,500 fans and that the sport was on the decline in the "Windy City." World heavyweight wrestling champion Gus Sonnenberg appeared before the Illinois Boxing Commission in February 1929 to demonstrate his flying tackle. The effort was to prove that it was a legal maneuver. News of this demonstration was printed in the February 17, 1929 edition of the Boston Globe. The commission deemed it legal for use in the state. In early April 1929, the Illinois and New York State Athletic Commissions agreed to "understand" each other in the formation of a working agreement. Suspensions, fines, and other penalties that were imposed in one state would be recognized by the other. The New York Times, on Sunday, December 29, 1929, reported that wrestling and boxing brought Illinois a profit of $72,488.40 during the fiscal year ending December 1. The gross receipts were $141,980.80 and expenses amounted to $69.492.40 "for maintaining the offices of the commission and providing inspectors and officials." On December 31, 1929, Paul Prehn married Alyene Westall of Janesville, Wisconsin at Champaign, IL. Prehn was former chairman of the Illinois Athletic Commission. They were to honeymoon in Florida. The marriage ceremony took place at the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority House. Well known Chicago wrestling promoter John "Doc" Krone died on February 8, 1935 at the age of 65 following an operation for a strangulated hernia. Krone had been a promoter for three decades. A former wrestler known as "Tiny" Timothy Baskin tried to get into the Army in December 1941 at Chicago, and claimed to know jiu-jitsu, but was rejected because he stood 6'7" and weighed 250 pounds. On December 12, 1946, Circuit Judge Harry M. Fisher in Chicago dismissed a suit brought by promoter Fred Kohler in his attempt to get the Illinois State Athletic Commission to allow him to bill his matches as contests and not exhibitions. Fisher told Kohler to request a commission hearing to decide the matter instead of it being ordered by the court. The Associated Press carried a wrestling story out of Joliet, IL in newspapers on May 14, 1950. The villainous Ivan Rasputin was smashed on the head with a wrench by an "irate fan" during a show on May 12. Rasputin needed four stitches to close the wound. 59 year old Harry Westelius was arrested for the deed and charged with disorderly conduct. Rasputin had been at Joliet Catholic High School for a match against Walter Palmer. The need for the talent seen on the DuMont Television wrestling program shown around the country every Saturday night gave Fred Kohler immense power throughout the wrestling industry. The reason why? Because he signed the wrestlers he featured on the DuMont show to exclusive contracts. Thus, he made money as the wrestlers went out and appeared in NWA member territories. Legally, Kohler wasn't allowed to be the promoter, booking agent, and the manager of wrestlers, so one of the jobs given to his young protege Jim Barnett was to fill that important role. On October 20, 1953, the Illinois State Athletic Commission announced that Hans Schmidt would not be allowed to use his German gimmick in the state. After receiving a number of complaints from German citizens and groups, the Commission ordered Schmidt to appear before them and Commissioner Livingston Osborne wanted to find out Schmidt's real name and nationality. There it was revealed that Schmidt was not, in fact, born in Germany, but in Montreal. The German "act" was a gimmick thought up by a promoter. An article in the June 22, 1958 edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune by Jeanne Franke featured information on the wrestling career of Richard B. Craddock of Park Forest, who at 44, had competed in more than 2,600 professional wrestling matches. He was originally from Alexandria, Virginia and began wrestling before he was a teenager. Craddock trained with Jim Londos at the Washington, D.C. YMCA, at one point, and Everette Marshall. The article stated that Buddy Litchfield, a former middleweight champion, was also a coach. In 1933, Craddock reportedly won the middleweight amateur title, and took the advice of Joe Turner to turn pro. He became known as "Earl Craddock," because it was similar to Earl Caddock. Craddock's last pro match occurred in September 1954 at Chicago. Craddock disliked many aspects of modern-day wrestling, including women's grapplers, saying it was "unladylike." The article stated that Craddock was "officially listed as the winner in 2,224 of his 2,638 professional matches." Notably, back in November 1952, Craddock planned to run professional wrestling shows in the basement of St. Irenaeus church weekly in Park Forest, along with Vincent Healy. On August 6, 1953, Sam Muchnick of St. Louis mailed a letter to Harry Newman, the promoter in Springfield, IL, and told him that he thought he was a "splendid promoter." Apparently Newman thought Muchnick didn't like him, and Muchnick cleared that assumption up. He wrote "that I wish we had a man like Harry Newman in our territory because of his conscientiousness, his hustle and his ability." He then went on to talk about various Illinois towns in which his office was booking into and what territory belonged to who. Muchnick admitted that he wanted to book East St. Louis, Wood River, Alton and Hillsboro, and had previously worked in Centralia. Newman put on a show in Vandalia, and Muchnick complained about it because he felt it was too close to St. Louis to stage a big show - but Newman had backing of the Illinois State Athletic Commissioner Joe Triner, who then asked Fred Kohler to book the affair. Kohler did so, dutifully. Muchnick said that he didn't want to be seen as the bad guy in this situation and wanted to work out clearer territorial boundaries at the Chicago convention of the NWA over towns in Southern Illinois. He also admitted that "I would just as soon concentrate on the St. Louis promotion and forget about the booking office and other towns." The December 15, 1961 edition of the Edwardsville Intelligence (Edwardsville, IL) included a UPI story out of East St. Louis regarding the former chairman of the Illinois State Athletic Commission Paul Prehn. Prehn "gave himself up before the U.S. marshal in regard" to an 11 count indictment charging violations of the Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. Prehn was released after posting $3,000 bond. Research by Tim Hornbaker |
Chicago Wrestling Territory |