John Joseph Bonica was a Sicilian American anesthesiologist and professional wrestler known as the founding father of the discipline of pain medicine.
22 Facts About John Bonica
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John Bonica's mother, Angela Zagame, was a midwife and practical nurse.
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John Bonica became the youngest Eagle Scout in the history of Brooklyn.
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John Bonica entered amateur wrestling in high school to pay his way through school and fulfill his dream to go to college.
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John Bonica went on to win championships in the city and state levels.
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John Bonica once defeated the entire 36 member wrestling team of an upstate New York college in one day.
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John Bonica's monikers included the Masked Marvel and Johnny "Bull" Walker.
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John Bonica wrestled many of the contemporary greats including Jim Londos, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, and had a one-hour draw with Lou Thesz.
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John Bonica won the light heavyweight championship of Canada in 1939.
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In 1941, John Bonica added the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship to his resume.
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John Bonica would be awarded the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame New York State Award in 2004.
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John Bonica graduated from Marquette University School of Medicine in Wisconsin in 1942.
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John Bonica completed residency in anesthesiology at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center in Manhattan.
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John Bonica then joined the United States Army in 1944, where at age 27 he was appointed Chief of Anesthesiology at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Washington for the next three years.
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In 1947, John Bonica left the Army and became Chief of Anesthesia at Tacoma General Hospital.
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John Bonica devoted his career to the study of pain, establishing it as a multidisciplinary field.
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John Bonica believed a team approach to the field of pain management, incorporating various specialties to treat acute and chronic pain.
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John Bonica created residency programs, chaired departments, wrote standard texts in the field, and had his work published in numerous languages.
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In 1960 John Bonica founded the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle where he established his Multidisciplinary Pain Center.
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John Bonica died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 77 at St Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota.
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John Bonica wrote and edited 41 books, while contributing to 60 others.
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John Bonica's masterpiece was considered The Management of Pain, Second Edition.