Johnny Mae Young graduated from Sand Springs High School in Sand Springs,
Oklahoma in 1941.  She was a natural athlete, wrestling on the boys team, and playing
softball and football.  She told Mike Averill of the Tulsa World in an article dated October
20, 2004 that she got her first big break into the professional wrestling ranks in 1939
when Mildred Burke was in Tulsa to wrestle Gladys Gillem.

Young explained that she challenged Burke:  "The promoter said I wasn't qualified.  He
told me I could wrestle two other girls and I said, 'Bring 'em on.  I beat both girls in no time
and Mildred's manager said 'I can make a wrestler out of you.'"

That manager was the infamous Billy Wolfe, the impresario behind all of the major league
women's wrestling between the 1930s and late '50s.

In that same article, Ed "Strangler" Lewis told her that "he didn't really like girl wrestlers
because a woman's place is in the home," and then he said, "I have to say, you was born
to wrestle." Young took that as a compliment.

Young was being featured in a new exhibit at the Sand Springs Cultural and Historical
Museum.  Among the other athletes featured from Sand Springs were Marques Haynes,
Bennie "The Wizard" Osborn and Jerry Adair.









Research by Tim Hornbaker
Mae Young Wrestling History
PPV Ring Record        TV Ring Record        Career Record
Legends of Pro Wrestling