63 Facts About Lou Thesz

Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz was an American professional wrestler.

Alongside Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson, Lou Thesz later helped train young Japanese wrestlers and mixed martial artists in catch wrestling.

Lou Thesz's family moved to St Louis when he was a young boy.

At eight years old, Lou Thesz began a tough and thorough education in Greco-Roman wrestling under his father, which provided the fundamentals for his later success.

Lou Thesz trained in Greco-Roman wrestling under the guidance of his father for several years until transitioning to folkstyle wrestling at high school where he was a successful competitor on his school team.

Lou Thesz dropped out of high school by age 14 to work at his father's shoe repair business and began training in freestyle wrestling at Cleveland High School due to his father knowing the wrestling coaches.

Lou Thesz quickly became an accomplished freestyle wrestler, competing in city-wide intramurals and regional tournaments in the 160 lb division.

At aged 16, Lou Thesz then gained further training in freestyle wrestling under John Zastro.

Lou Thesz credited Zastro for elevating his wrestling and became his regular sparring partner.

Packs met with Lou Thesz and asked if he wanted to wrestle professionally and Lou Thesz accepted.

Lou Thesz later said he would have continued his amateur career had he not been asked.

George Tragos, a feared Greek Olympic freestyle wrestler, catch wrestler and wrestling coach at the University of Missouri, took a liking to Lou Thesz and respected his willingness to work hard and follow instruction.

Lou Thesz trained under the watchful eye of Tragos for nearly four years at the National Gym in St Louis.

Tragos specifically taught Lou Thesz submission wrestling and how to wrestle from the bottom.

Lou Thesz studied under German-born catch wrestler Ad Santel, who was known for his feud with the Kodokan judo school.

Lou Thesz studied under Santel for up to five days every week during a 6 month stay in California and remembered it being the "most intensive training period of my life".

Lou Thesz trained at the notorious Snake Pit catch wrestling school in Wigan, England.

However, Lou Thesz spent most of his early career honing his craft under the tutelage of George Tragos in both catch and freestyle wrestling, and later with Ad Santel.

Lou Thesz then worked the Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and California territory, continuing to compete on the undercards while honing his craft on the road.

Lou Thesz notably worked out with top amateurs trained by Billy Thom, head coach of the 1936 US Olympic wrestling team, and old carnival wrestlers around the region including Earl Wampler, who became his mentor and occasional workout partner on the road.

Lou Thesz later told wrestling historian Mike Chapman that he was there to wrestle competitively, which he did, and ended up winning the match, but was unsure if he actually won or Marshall dropped the title to him.

Lou Thesz later dropped the title to Steve "Crusher" Casey in Boston six weeks later.

Lou Thesz won the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship in 1939, defeating Marshall, and again in 1948, defeating Bill Longson.

Quinn and Muchnick ended their promotional war, and Lou Thesz' promotion was absorbed into the NWA.

Part of the deal was a title unification match between Brown and Lou Thesz, who held the National Wrestling Association's World Heavyweight Championship.

Lou Thesz was chosen for his skill as a "hooker" to prevent double crosses by would-be shooters who would deviate from the planned finish for personal glory.

Between 1949 and 1956, Lou Thesz set out to unify all the existing world titles into the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship.

Lou Thesz finally dropped the title to Whipper Billy Watson in 1956, and took several months off to recuperate from an ankle injury.

Lou Thesz regained the title from Watson seven months later.

The match was tied at two falls apiece when Lou Thesz claimed a legitimate back injury and forfeit the last fall, thus Carpentier was declared the winner; however, the NWA chose not to recognize the title change, deciding a championship could not change hands due to injury.

That same year, Lou Thesz became the first wrestler to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Japan, wrestling Rikidozan in a series of 60-minute draws.

Lou Thesz quickly dominated Rikidozan and easily beat him to win the first fall.

Lou Thesz would embark on a tour of Europe and Japan, billing himself as the NWA International Heavyweight Champion; this title is still recognized as a part of All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.

In 1963, Lou Thesz came out of semi-retirement to win his sixth world heavyweight championship from Buddy Rogers at the age of 46.

Ohki's move to shoot on Lou Thesz ended things fast, as Lou Thesz wounded him to the point that Ohki was stretchered off.

Lou Thesz would hold the NWA title until 1966 when, at the age of 50 when he lost it to Gene Kiniski.

On May 29,1968, in Bombay, Dara Singh's victory over Lou Thesz earned Dara Singh the World championship.

Lou Thesz wrestled on a part-time basis over the next 13 years, winning his last major title in 1978, in Mexico, becoming the inaugural Universal Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion at the age of 62, before dropping the championship to El Canek a year later.

Lou Thesz wrestled a match with Luke Graham in 1979 billed as his retirement match, though he did continue to wrestle periodically through the 1980s.

Lou Thesz finally wrestled his last public match on December 26,1990, in Hamamatsu, Japan at the age of 74, against his protege, Masahiro Chono.

Lou Thesz later became a special guest referee, promoter and trainer.

Lou Thesz became the commissioner and occasional trainer for the shoot-style promotion Union of Wrestling Force International, and lent the promotion one of his old NWA championship belts, which they recognized as their own world title.

Lou Thesz commented on the rise of mixed martial arts and favourably compared it to his early days as a competitive catch wrestler.

Lou Thesz remained active as a wrestling coach, holding seminars in Virginia and later Florida.

Lou Thesz made occasional visits to top collegiate universities in the country, most notably up striking up friendships with Old Dominion University head coach Gray Simons and University of Iowa head coach Dan Gable.

In 1992, Lou Thesz became the president of the Cauliflower Alley Club, an organization recognizing and supporting retired wrestlers, boxers and actors who enjoyed an association with wrestling.

Lou Thesz became the first inductee alongside George Tragos, Ed "Strangler" Lewis and Frank Gotch.

Lou Thesz served on the Board of Directors and did part-time coaching on the wrestling mats at the museum.

Lou Thesz was convalescing from a severe knee injury suffered in 1939 and from 1941 to 1944 worked as a dog breeder and trainer for Dogs for Defense and later as a supervisor for the Todd Houston Shipyard.

Lou Thesz divorced his first wife in 1944 and at the shipyard, Thesz met his second wife, Fredda Huddleston Winter, with whom he fathered three children: Jeff Thesz, Robert Thesz and Patrick Thesz.

Lou Thesz married Charlie Catherine Thesz and remained with her for the rest of his life.

Lou Thesz lived in Norfolk, Virginia for much of his later life and started a wrestling school called the Virginia Wrestling Academy in 1988.

Lou Thesz wrote an autobiography, Hooker: An Authentic Wrestler's Adventures Inside the Bizarre World of Professional Wrestling.

Lou Thesz was drafted into the army in 1944, despite a legitimate injury to his knee and multiple medical deferments.

Lou Thesz remained in remarkable physical condition in his older years, however after undergoing triple bypass surgery for an aortic valve replacement on April 9,2002, he died due to complications weeks later on April 28, four days after his 86th birthday, in Orlando, Florida.

Lou Thesz is strongly considered by many to be the greatest professional wrestler of the 20th century.

Lou Thesz was the first wrestler to ever hold the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, which became a part of what is the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship under All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Lou Thesz was the first UWA World Heavyweight Champion for the now defunct Universal Wrestling Association in Mexico, where he won the title after defeating Mil Mascaras on July 26,1976.

Lou Thesz was the first ever TWWA World Heavyweight Champion for the now defunct International Wrestling Enterprise as well.

In 2002, Lou Thesz was named the second greatest professional wrestler of all time behind Ric Flair in the magazine article "100 Wrestlers of All Time" by John Molinaro, edited by Dave Meltzer and Jeff Marek.

Lou Thesz represents everything that I think it should be.

Records are unclear as to where Lou Thesz first won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and which promotion he was wrestling in when he won it.

Lou Thesz's has two reigns with the title before the formation of the NWA and the title being renamed the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.