I'm a trivia buff as well as a CACC buff, so I thought I'd see if anyone want's to play a little trivia. Ten fairly easy questions.
1. Who was Earl Caddock's chief cornerman for his first match with Joe Stecher in 1917? Caddock won btw.
2. What are the real names of the following: Ed Lewis / Ray Steele / Ad Santel?
3. What legendary wrestler did Ed Lewis conduct long-distance Chess matches with through the mail?
4. George Hackenschmidt was involved in a series of highly publicized debates across europe after his wrestling days. What was the subject of the debates? (They were all the same)
5. What boxing legend trained Frank Gotch for a possible try at the sport?
6. The "Gold Dust Trio" consisted of what three men?
7. One of the last great shoot matches was between Ed Lewis and Ray Steele, two great friends. What was the reason for Steele having to "give-up" and thus awarding the match to Lewis?
8. What was the name of the wrestler who was married to the great female athlete "Babe" Didrickson?
9. Frank Gotch defeated George Hackenschmidt for the "World Title" in 1908. Who had he earlier defeated to gain the U.S. Title?
10. Who served as head trainer for Hackenschmidt in his second match with Gotch?
BONUS QUESTIONS:
A. John Pesek belongs to a sporting Hall Of Fame other than Wrestling. What sport is it?
B. Name the wrestler who was able to "steal" the title from the Gold Dust Trio and then protect and defend it so well that the trio was forced to buy it back. Was not Stecher or Zbyszko.
Great questions, Scuffler!
No doubt there will be folks here who can answer at least some of them; unfortunately, I do not qualify. :(
Peace,
TFS
Thanks TFS. There are a couple in there that are pretty tough. Most should be fairly easy for the "catch" fans here.
Where are you guys at? Somebody knock out a few of these.......
1) Frank Gotch
2)Robert Friedrich,Pete?,adolf ernst
3)no idea
4)???
5)kid mcoy
6) ed lewis,toots mondt,billy sandow
7)foot injury
8)george zaharais
9)Tom jenkins
10)Dr B.F Roller
Very good de braco! Correct on all that you answered. Even Pete is correct, but Pete who?
#7 - foot injury due to wrestling barefoot at the advice of Jim Londos, but correct none the same.
So all that is left are #'s 3 & 4 and Ray "Pete" Steele's real last name.
I'm going to add two bonus questions. They are hard. If de braco or anyone else gets all 12 I'll mail them a copy of the 1920 Stecher - Caddock match. de braco already has 7 and 2/3 answered.
Note: the copyright has long expired on the rights to the match. There is no problem in that regard.
Bonus questions will be added to the first post on the thread.
a) Greyhound racing b) who else but stecher managed to hold the title under hostile circumstances? Stecher held lewis to several draws in shooting matches before dropping the title back to lewis.
A. Correct
B. Think 30's not 20's. Double-cross days....
de braco, I reviewed my source, which is very reliable (he was there). I misspoke concerning them buying it back. They attempted to without result and then tried to regain it in the courts, both failed. The wrestler in question then "sold" the title to another trust.
In '28 Mondt had a "falling-out" with Sandow and first brought this wrestler to the publics eye in an attempt to bust the Sandow / Lewis lock on the title at that time.
In fairness I am withdrawing the last question. As it is written it is not entirely accurate. Plus, to my knowledge the information can only be found in one fairly rare book, "Fall Guys" by Marcus Griffin.
The answer I was looking for was Dick Shikat. According to Shikat in May of 1932 a "problem" arose between himself, Lewis and Mondt over a double-cross involving Jim Browning. Shikat claimed that Lewis and Mondt invited him to Mondt's room at the Warwick Hotel to talk the matter over and instead beat him up so badly that he ended up in the Polyclinic Hospital. This account suprisingly enough is/was supported by Jack Pfeffer.
Shikat begin plotting his revenge that very day. It came om March 2, 1936 when he got an unsuspecting Danno O'Mahoney in the ring at Madison squre Garden. O'Mahoney was controled by the "trust" and Lewis served as his "policeman". Shikat shot and made quick work of O'Mahoney threatening to break his arm with the top-wristlock he easily secured if he wasn't awarded the title in front of the huge crowd of reporters. He was now the champion.
By '36 Lewis was old and very out-of-shape and although he asked again and again to be allowed to try and take the title back by shoot the "trust" feared that the very dangerous Shikat would win and make matters worse.
I believe that by this time Shikat would have indeed beaten Lewis who only a few months later drew with young Lee Wycoff in his final shoot. I believe Shikat was far more dangerous than Wycoff.
Shikat later "sold" the title to another trust and dropped it to Ali Babba, a man he could have beaten in minutes if not seconds if he cared to.
Tragically Shikat's wife, who many believed master-minded the whole revenge, was killed in a car crash just days after he handed the title to Babba.
All that remain are #'s 3 & 4 and Pete's last name.
I had to break down and look up pete sauer,is the hack question regarding to him crying all over europe about being cheated by gotch,i.e.
gouging,etc,etc,
Pete Sauer is right.
No on the Hack question. Although that's true :)
Despite the way he pissed and moaned about Gotch he was a rather remarkable fellow. He was involved in real debates and they were greatly reported.
I think there is at least one webpage with this info. I'd assume most any bio would have it too.
The answer to the Lewis Chess question can be found in "Hooker".
3. Hack, I think.
4. Science? Like relativity or something?
BTW, does anyone recall a story about Hugh F. Leonard gaining the wrestling instructor position at the New York Athletic Club by wrestling someone for it?
I'm trying to figure out if that is something I actually read before or just made up in my head.
Hack is correct.
Very close on the other.
"does anyone recall a story about Hugh F. Leonard gaining the wrestling instructor position at the New York Athletic Club by wrestling someone for it?"
Yeah, but I can't recall the exact story or even from what source I saw it.
Hack once challenged Einstein to debate relativity, so I'm tempted to give it to you. My understaning is that he was in a series of debates on science / religion, I assume creation stuff.
I know that Jason already has the tape, but I'll be glad to send you another if you want :)
de braco, my email is scuffler22@hotmail.com
if you want a copy of the tape let me know and I'll gladly mail you one.
Good Job!
here's a question for ya, Who wrote several articles in 1924 describing how he would take down and then submit the then world heavyweight boxing champ, jack dempsey,at least one article was published in a large circulation magazine?
Just off top off my head I'd say Ed Lewis. I know that he did challenge Dempsey more than once.
That seems too obvious though.......maybe Robin Reed? That's the year that he won the olympics I believe.
Nat Pendleton challenged Dempsey after his Olympic championship, but I believe that would have been in '20.
Or I could just keep naming names until I've covered all possibilities ;)
It was Nat Pendleton,he won a silver in the 1920 olympics and then tried like hell to set up a mma match with dempsey in 1923,1924,interestingly,he said he would use wrestling and jiu jitsu to defeat dempsey.
Really, wrestling and Jiu Jitsu...interesting.
I believe John Pesek beat Pendleton rather easily in a gym match. Any idea what Pendleton's weight was around that time?
BTW, welcome to the history forum de braco! The trolling here is very minimal, nothing like the underground. Great posts and great posters here. I hope you decide to continue posting here.
Man, this thread rocks...