Allen James Coage was an American judoka and professional wrestler.
32 Facts About Allen Coage
2.
Allen Coage won medals for the United States at several international judo competitions, including the heavyweight bronze medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and later appeared in professional wrestling promotions such as the World Wrestling Federation, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling under the ring names Bad News Brown, Buffalo Allen, and Bad News Allen.
3.
Allen Coage began training in judo under Jerome Mackey after seeing a poster for Mackey's dojo on the New York City Subway, at the age of 15.
4.
Allen Coage began his career in 1964 at the relatively late age of 22.
5.
Allen Coage achieved a black belt in two and a half years and after five years was named a sandan.
6.
Allen Coage practised a "classical" style, with his favored throws being the Ouchi gari and the Tai otoshi.
7.
Allen Coage studied judo and Tomiki Aikido under Kastuo Watanabe who awarded him shodan in the latter.
8.
Allen Coage won the Amateur Athletic Union judo championship in 1966,1968,1969,1970, and 1975, as well as winning the open division in 1970.
9.
Allen Coage competed in the Pan American Games, winning gold medals in the heavyweight class in 1967 and 1975.
10.
In 1970, Allen Coage relocated to Japan for two years, where he studied at Nihon University, majoring and minoring in judo.
11.
Allen Coage was initially excluded from the United States judo team until a class action lawsuit was filed against the United States Olympic Committee by the United States Judo Association.
12.
Allen Coage's victory made him the first African American to win a solo Olympic Games medal in a sport other than boxing or track and field.
13.
Allen Coage retired from competitive judo following the 1976 Summer Olympics due to frustrations around internal politics.
14.
Allen Coage went on to hold a number of other jobs, including briefly working as a bodyguard for singer Aretha Franklin, before deciding to train as a professional wrestler.
15.
Allen Coage began training as a professional wrestler under Antonio Inoki in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo in 1977.
16.
Allen Coage debuted in October 1977, briefly performing under his birth name before adopting the ring name "Buffalo Allen".
17.
Allen Coage wrestled intermittently for NJPW over the next 15 years.
18.
Allen Coage made a one-off appearance in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in February 1978, defeating jobber Frank Williams at a live event under his birth name.
19.
Allen Coage returned to the promotion in January 1979 and wrestled for the WWWF for the remainder of the year, appearing on several episodes of WWF Championship Wrestling.
20.
Late in 1979, at Madison Square Garden, teaming with JoJo Andrews, Coage challenged for the NWA North American Tag Team Championship against Riki Choshu and Seiji Sakaguchi.
21.
Allen Coage's team was unsuccessful when Andrews submitted to a Boston crab by Sakaguchi in a match that lasted just under 10 minutes.
22.
In 1982, Bad News Allen Coage found a long-term home in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, centered in Allen Coage's adopted home city of Calgary.
23.
Allen Coage remained with Stampede from 1982 until 1988, with some tours of Australia and Florida during that time, and had matches with wrestlers such as the Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart.
24.
Allen Coage often referred to himself in interviews as "The Ultimate Warrior".
25.
Allen Coage returned to the World Wrestling Federation in early 1988 as Bad News Brown, and it was during this time that he achieved his greatest notoriety.
26.
Allen Coage continued to work in independent promotions for several more years, including Japan's shoot wrestling UWFi promotion.
27.
Allen Coage continued occasionally working independent shows for friends while living in Calgary with his wife, and had considered starting a promotion himself.
28.
Allen Coage had another relationship with Lottie, in which he had two more children, Michael and Nancy.
29.
Allen Coage was then married for a second time to Katharine, in which he had Lynnette.
30.
At one point, Rick Bognar and Allen Coage ran a wrestling school out of Calgary, Alberta.
31.
Allen Coage was working on a book about his career and other wrestling stories before his death.
32.
Allen Coage died of a heart attack on the morning of March 6,2007, at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary, minutes after being rushed there due to chest pain.