I find it illuminating that Frank Gotch is Tom Brands' favorite wrestler. According to Wikipedia Frank Gotch was born in Humboldt, Iowa in 1878 and died at age of 39 in 1917. He was the reigning world professional wrestling champion from 1908 to 1913. He was called by many of his contemporaries as a "dirty wrestler" who delighted in hurting or torturing lesser opponents. "He was always looking for an illegal edge when matched against worthy opponents. According to one contemporary, Charlie Cutter, who succeeded him as world champion, " Gotch would gouge, pull hair, even break a bone to gain advantage." One referee who officiated several of his matches said, "he was not exactly on the courageous side. Two or three times he saw needless acts of cruelty on his part."
After a year of troubled health he died in 1917 at age 39 of what was rumored to be Syphilis but the cause of death was officially said to be uremic poisoning. He was definitely one of the famous sports figures of the 1900's to 1910's and he is in the Iowa wrestling Hall of fame and the Lou Thesz Hall of fame. His most feared move was a "toe hold".
This post was edited on 10/24 7:32 PM by oberebo