Remembering the full life of Princess Tona Tomah
Hoodude
By GREG OLIVER - Producer, SLAM! Wrestling
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2007/06/25/4289592.html
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2007/06/25/tomah_princess.JPG
Princess Tona Tomah
- photo by Bill Mobley, courtesy Bob Leonard
Amid the turmoil of late June, and the major media coverage of Chris
Benoit's horrible actions, the passing of woman wrestler Princess Tona
Tomah in Phoenix received little attention. It's unfortunate because
she lived a full, fascinating life.
One of the few legitimate Native American professional wrestlers,
Tomah toured the continent, dabbled in boxing, helped promote, and
raised a gaggle of kids through a series of marriages. She died June
15, 2007, at the age of 72.
Born Mercedes Waukago on June 5, 1935 on the Whitearth Indian
Reservation in Minnesota, she followed a sister into athletics and
wrestling, working on the carnival circuit at the age of 14, taking on
all-comers: men, women, and even de-clawed baboons.
According to her youngest son, Piper Carle, his mother desired more.
"She wasn't all that enthused about living on a reservation. She
wanted bigger and better," he told SLAM! Wrestling.
In the 1950s, there was only one man who controlled women's wrestling
-- Billy Wolfe, of Columbus, Ohio. Not only did Tomah seek out Wolfe
for training, she was also, apparently, married to him for a short
while. She was 18, and he was in his 60s, said her son. "I know they
separated because of his indiscretions. He had affairs on her, and
stuff like that. That was the parting of the ways. She was his
protégé," he said.
Taking advantage of her heritage was a natural. Princess Tona Tomah
would enter the ring in a full Indian headdress, and her war cry would
get the crowd going. "She had the whole outfit," said occasional
opponent Laura Martinez. The name "Tomah" is in reference to Tomah,
Wisconsin.
Usually a babyface, when she performed on a reservation, her opponent
would be a target of vitrol; in her autobiography, Penny Banner tells
about almost being scalped at such a show when she took on Tomah. "The
fans liked her. They thought she was real good," said Martinez.
"Princess Tomah is a Chippewa Indian who is fast heading for feminine
wrestling fame. This 22-year-old Indian girl was born on a
northern-Minnesota reservation," reported the Tuscon Daily Citizen in
1960 (obviously having been worked on her age).
Princess Tona Tomah was a pioneer during a trip north to the Stampede
Wrestling promotion. "Tona was a good solid hand. She had plenty of
fire, and was a good gate attraction, especially with First Nations
folks as she was about the first Indian girl wrestler to work here,"
recalled former Stampede promoter and photographer Bob Leonard. "I
recall her having her two very young kids on tour with her here, and
that was quite a handful for her, but she seemed to really enjoy
having them along."
Ah yes, the children.
Even her son, Piper, can't exactly pinpoint the number of marriages
his mother had. But he can list off his siblings:
* The first born was Robin Michel Carle; he is the son of Tomah
and Canadian midget wrestler Little Beaver (Lionel Giroux).
* The second son was Chip Arthur Reed Carle, and his father was a
model.
* The third was Lionel Ernest Carle, and his father is wrestler
Jerry London (Jerry Aitken) from Hamilton, Ontario.
* Tomah was predeceased by her daughter, Tona Tomah Illa, who
died October 14, 2005 in Scottsdale, Ariz., at the age of 41. She
contracted hepatitis, got sick, and complications from pneumonia and
the infection killed her, said her half-brother, Piper.
* The fourth son, and last child, was Piper Carle, born in 1965.
In the obituary in the Phoenix newspaper, Piper, Tona Tomah Illa and
her daughter -- Tomah's granddaughter -- Javette Goostree are the only
survivors listed. Piper adhered his mother's wish not to list her
"disrespectful" offspring.
"She had a hard life and a lot of bumps. She raised five kids
singlehandedly and she never picked up a straw, a needle, a pipe. She
wasn't a drug addict. She didn't smoke cigarettes. She was a good
mother," insisted Piper, who quit his job as a carpenter to be his
mother's caretaker in her final months.
Much of Princess Tona Tomah's life was centered around Arizona, where
she found a home and influenced many people. She was involved in the
Native American community, helping raise money for the Warrior Boxing
Club. For a fundraiser, she even got in the ring after 25 years to box
again to raise money. According to Piper, his mother was in the first
sanctioned women's boxing match in Arizona, at Phoenix's Exhibit
Plaza. "That was in six rounds, and she won by unanimous decision. My
mom had boxed 13 men before she was allowed to box women legally."
At the West Side Athletic Club in the 1960s, she helped Eddie Sullivan
get into pro wrestling, and knew Wayne Coleman before he was ever
Superstar Graham. Betty Clarke, who became a pro wrestler, was a
babysitter for Tomah at one point.
Another was "Big" Bill Anderson, who would go on to help train
wrestlers like Ultimate Warrior and Louie Spicolli. "I first met Tona
in 1973 while I was training and working for Kurt Von Steiger as a
ring announcer," said Anderson. "She was around every promotion that
came into Phoenix for the next 30 years. The wrestling business was in
her blood, and she couldn't stay away from shows."
According to Arizona historian and former wrestler Dale Pierce, Tomah
was around Phoenix's Madison Square Garden all the time, and ran some
wrestling shows of her own in the mid-1980s. She would often help out
at WWF shows in town, shepherding the ring when necessary or working
the door.
"Tomah knew numerous shoot moves," said Pierce. "She taught me and
several others a front facelock which, fortunately, I only had to use
once in a bout. This was when a new ref jumped in the ring on me on
promoter's orders and was wearing street clothes. I thought he was a
mark."
"She was a tough woman," confirmed Anderson. "Many male wrestlers were
afraid to anger her. Thankfully, we always were very friendly with one
another."
Another friendship was with the late Dr. Jerry Graham, said Pierce.
Arizona lore tells of a time where she and Graham were either arrested
or barely escaped arrest when they were drunk and decided to take
target practice on the lights of a giant cross on a church in Utah.
Tomah's career would down in the 1960s, and she was involved in law
enforcement for years, as well as keeping up with her passion for
boxing and wrestling. In 1993, she was honored by her peers in the
Ladies International Wrestling Association (LIWA) in Las Vegas.
For the last 20 years, "she was content with herself," said Piper
Carle. "She pretty much lived by herself. Her other sons would kind of
come in and out, back and forth."
A bad car wreck disabled Tomah. "The last few months, she couldn't
walk anymore, so she was homebound. I quit my job and became her home
healthcare provider. She was a diabetic for over 40 years too," said
Piper.
"My mom pretty much knew she was passing away. Once she couldn't walk
after being that physical all those years, it took her will to live,
it seemed to me. And when her only daughter, the only one she really
wanted, died, there wasn't a whole lot for her."
Greg Oliver founded SLAM! Wrestling with John Powell way back in 1996,
and has been writing about pro wrestling since 1985. His third book
The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels (with Steven Johnson) has
just come out from ECW Press, complimenting The Pro Wrestling Hall of
Fame: The Tag Teams (also with Johnson) and The Pro Wrestling Hall of
Fame: The Canadians. Order them all from the SLAM! Wrestling Store. He
can be emailed at goliver @ canoemail.com.
--
A recent study found the average American walks about 900 miles per year.
Another study found Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of beer a
year.
That means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon.
Kind Of Makes You Proud To Be American.
Rich Clancey
>Born Mercedes Waukago on June 5, 1935 on the Whitearth Indian
>Reservation in Minnesota, she followed a sister into athletics and
>wrestling, working on the carnival circuit at the age of 14, taking on
>all-comers: men, women, and even de-clawed baboons.
Do you run into a lot of those on the carnival circuit?
--
rich clancey r...@bahleevyoome.world.std.com
"Shun those who deny we have eyes in order to see, and instead say we
see because we happen to have eyes." -- Leibniz