19 Facts About Professor Tanaka

Professor Tanaka was known by the ring names Professor Toru Tanaka, or simply Professor Tanaka.

Professor Tanaka was best known for his work with the World Wide Wrestling Federation from 1967 to 1978, and was a 3-time Tag Team Championship and one-time International Tag Team Champion.

Professor Tanaka's father was Native Hawaiian, and his mother was of Chinese descent.

Professor Tanaka played college football at the University of Utah, as a guard.

Professor Tanaka ran a Judo and Danzan-ryu academy with John Chow-Hoon.

Professor Tanaka employed a combination of power skills, martial arts, and his feared Japanese sleeper submission hold.

Professor Tanaka was a by-the-book guy, who looked at wrestling as a means to make a living.

Professor Tanaka wanted to work his match, shake hands with everyone afterwards, and save some money.

Professor Tanaka was the ring general, who'd lead everyone else in the match.

So, in addition to worrying about their opponents, Professor Tanaka had the responsibility of making sure that Fuji didn't get out of hand.

Professor Tanaka was pinned by Sammartino in a rematch six months later, and Tanaka occasionally teamed with Gorilla Monsoon.

Professor Tanaka main evented the Garden in tag matches, twice with Gorilla Monsoon vs Sammartino and Spyros Arion ; a year later with Monsoon against Sammartino and Victor Rivera.

Professor Tanaka subsequently teamed with Mitsu Arakawa in the WWF in 1969, acquiring the International Tag Team Championship; losing it at Madison Square Garden to Tony Marino and Victor Rivera.

Professor Tanaka left the WWWF in 1970 and worked in Texas.

Professor Tanaka while wrestling of the World Wrestling Council he was featured in a television commercial for the Sello Rojo brand of rice in Puerto Rico.

Professor Tanaka was seen as an extra in a few of David Lee Roth's music videos in the mid-1980s.

Professor Tanaka was one of three semi-retired professional wrestlers to compete in a tug-of-war match with two other wrestlers teamed up against a large group of children on the Nickelodeon series Wild and Crazy Kids in the early 1990s.

Professor Tanaka is survived by his wife Doris Kalani and his three children: Cheryle Kalani, Carl Kalani and Karen Kalani Beck.

Records do not show which NWA affiliate Professor Tanaka worked for when his two reigns with the title began.