1. Laverne Clarence "Verne" Gagne was an American amateur and professional wrestler, football player, wrestling trainer and wrestling promoter.
33 Facts About Verne Gagne
1. 2.
Verne Gagne was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association, the predominant promotion throughout the Midwest and Manitoba for many years.
3.
Verne Gagne remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded.
4.
Verne Gagne was an 11-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions, having held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship ten times and the IWA World Heavyweight Championship once as the IWA World Heavyweight Championship was considered a world championship in Japan.
5.
Verne Gagne has won top professional wrestling promotions World Heavyweight Championships such as the World Heavyweight Championship five times.
6.
Verne Gagne holds the record for the longest combined reign as a world champion in North America and is third for the longest single world title reign.
7.
Verne Gagne is one of only seven men inducted into each of the WWE, WCW and Professional Wrestling halls of fame.
8.
Verne Gagne was born in Corcoran, Minnesota, and grew up on a farm in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.
9.
Verne Gagne left home at the age of 14 after his mother died.
10.
Verne Gagne attended Robbinsdale High School, where he went on to win the state championship for high school wrestling in 1942 and 1943.
11.
Verne Gagne played on the Marines Football Team with the likes of Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, Gopher Great George Franck and other NFL Stars.
12.
Verne Gagne chose to return to the University of Minnesota, where, as an amateur wrestler, he captured two NCAA titles.
13.
Verne Gagne was an alternate for the US freestyle wrestling team at the 1948 Olympic Games, after losing a closely contested wrestle-off match to the eventual gold medalist Henry Wittenberg.
14.
Verne Gagne earned the starting spot for the US Greco-Roman wrestling team for the 1948 Olympics by finishing second in the US freestyle wrestle-offs, but upon arriving to London, the US coaches decided that the Greco-Roman team would not be competing.
15.
Verne Gagne joined the National Football League soon after being drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 16th round of the 1947 NFL draft.
16.
Verne Gagne went on to play three preseason games with the Packers before being released.
17.
In 1949, Verne Gagne decided to wrestle professionally, starting his career in Texas.
18.
On November 13,1950, Verne Gagne captured the National Wrestling Alliance Junior Heavyweight title in a tournament for the vacant championship.
19.
In September 1953 in Fred Kohler Enterprises, Verne Gagne was awarded the newly created Chicago version of the NWA United States Championship.
20.
Verne Gagne became one of the most well-known stars in wrestling during the golden age of television, thanks to his exposure on the Dumont Network, where he wowed audiences with his technical prowess.
21.
Verne Gagne was rumored to be one of the highest-paid wrestlers during the 1950s, reportedly earning a hundred thousand dollars a year.
22.
In 1960, Verne Gagne formed his own promotion, the American Wrestling Alliance.
23.
Verne Gagne always wrestled as a face and utilized the sleeper hold as his finisher.
24.
Verne Gagne would regain the title from Bockwinkel on July 18,1980, and drop it back to Bockwinkel on May 19,1981.
25.
Verne Gagne's last match was a six-man tag with his son Greg, and Jimmy Snuka defeating Boris Zhukov, John Nord and Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie on June 29,1986.
26.
Verne Gagne sought out wrestlers with amateur backgrounds over the larger, more impressive-looking wrestlers who dominated professional wrestling in the 1980s.
27.
The Iron Sheik, whom Verne Gagne trained, alleged that Verne Gagne bribed him to inflict career-threatening damage on Hogan's knee after it became apparent that Hogan was leaving for the WWF.
28.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, by the mid-1980s, Verne Gagne began promoting the AWA beyond the geographical bounds of its traditional territory.
29.
Verne Gagne's booking strategies for the wrestlers themselves continued to follow more traditional themes than those of the WWF, believing as he did that the top stars should be highly gifted technical wrestlers rather than those with just charismatic personalities.
30.
Verne Gagne is one of only seven people to be inducted into the WWE, WCW and Professional Wrestling Halls of Fame.
31.
On January 26,2009, Verne Gagne got into an altercation with Helmut Gutmann, a 97-year-old resident of the Bloomington, Minnesota nursing care facility where they both resided.
32.
Verne Gagne was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and had been living in the memory-loss section of a Bloomington, Minnesota health care facility.
33.
Verne Gagne continued to make public appearances in his last years, aided by his son Greg.