Killer Kowalski, 81, wrestler dies
aad...@gmail.com
The life of Killer Kowalski may have ended on Friday, a few months
short of his 82nd birthday, in a Boston area hospital, but his legacy
will live on in so many ways. He was one of the most memorable bad
guys in history, one of the most articulate and intelligent men in the
business, and a trainer of many stars.
As a professional wrestler from 1947 to 1977, few could match
Kowalski. He was able to adapt not only to the changing style of
wrestling through the years -- from the long matches of the 1950s, to
the slam-bang shorter matches of the WWWF of the 1970s -- but also
recover from a car accident that nearly cost him his life, and a
personal experiment when he dropped 100 pounds of weight, just to see
if he could do it. He also was a vegetarian, sharing his knowledge
with a reluctant wrestling world when prompted.
When he decided to get off the road, he adapted yet again. Kowalski
became a trainer, and developed a friendlier persona for the media who
wanted to know more about the well-known school; after all, wrestling
schools were few and far between in those days, and Kowalski often
claimed to have the first one open to the public. Up until the days of
the mass media empire of World Wrestling Entertainment of the late
1990s, few wrestlers had appeared had the visibility of Kowalski -- he
penned a column for the Boston Globe, he appeared on Late Night With
Letterman (where he memorably quipped, "No no, that's loved" not
loathed), he was featured in People Magazine and Maclean's.
As he aged, Kowalski seemed to mellow, even marrying for the first
time at 79 years old. He became an elder, beloved statesman, profiled
by Esquire magazine when he was 80 in a column titled "What I've
Learned." His peers recognized him with the industry's top honour, the
Iron Mike Mazurki Award, presented by the Cauliflower Alley Club at
its 2002 reunion in Las Vegas. Kowalski was also a member of the
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2003), The Wrestling Observer
Hall of Fame (1996) and the WWE Hall of Fame (1996). The National
Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in Troy, Michigan recognized him
as well in 2007.
Don Leo Jonathan considered Kowalski a good friend, yet didn't know
his real name, or much about his family.
"Wally was sort of an individual. He certainly didn't go along with a
lot of the stuff that the guys did," said Jonathan. "He was, I don't
want to say a loner, because he could be quite charming and he got
along good with everybody, but if you done something that he really
didn't like, he would let you know about it -- especially if it would
hurt the business. He was very conscientious about wrestling."
In his book, I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler, wrestler-turned-
artist Ted Lewin tried to explain Kowalski's dualness. "Kowalski, the
meanest, kindest human being you'd ever want to meet. He was as gaunt
and lean as a Southern preacher, and a strict vegetarian. It was a
wonder how he maintained his weight of two hundred and eighty pounds
on lettuce and carrots."
Growing up in Windsor, Ontario, Edward Walter Spulnik -- his birth
name -- was a tall, skinny kid, weighing 160 pounds on a 6-foot-4
frame at age 14. He found his way to the local YMCA, where others
convinced him that weightlifting would easily add pounds to his frame.
It worked, and he grew into a 6-foot-7, 270-pound man.
Kowalski enrolled at Assumption College (now part of the University of
Windsor), studying electrical engineering, and found part-time work
with the Ford Motor Company in Detroit.
While at the YMCA, someone suggested that professional wrestling was a
good career for him. Kowalski hooked up with Detroit promoter Burt
Ruby, who saw something in the giant. Over the years Kowalski claimed
his first match was against Lou (Klein) Bastien, in 1948.
St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick saw something in "Tarzan" Kowalski,
and matched him up against world champion Lou Thesz. A conflict with
getting time off from Ford to wrestle abroad let to Kowalski quitting
his "day job."
In those early years, known as Tarzan Kowalski, he fought to get
better known. "He was a hell of an attraction," said Lou Thesz in
1998. "He had a great body back then. He was not a sophisticated
wrestler, but every promoter wanted him because he made a lot of
money."
"Killer Kowalski -- when I first saw him I thought he was the most
magnificent specimen of a human being I'd ever seen in my life," Joe
Hamilton told Rich Tate of Georgia Wrestling History. "He was working
out at the gym and was six feet six and about 280 pounds, and he was
ripped and just looked phenomenal. You know, back then they called him
Tarzan Kowalski, and he looked like Tarzan should look like -- big and
powerful.
Incredibly famous as a bad guy wrestler, few fans realize that he was
a popular fan favorite for many years. "Kowalski, who has made quite a
sweep of rivals and has become popular with the fans," reads one write-
up. Kowalski always maintained that he turned fully heel simply
because fans started booing him.
"He was such a good looking guy. He 6-foot-8, weighed over 300 pounds,
and had long hair and looked like Tarzan. He looked real good at
whatever he did," said Paul "Butcher" Vachon. "The women just loved
him and the men hated him. I heard about women fainting when Killer
Kowalski came into the ring."
"Just because I get over-enthused about my work people hate me,"
Kowalski said in a 1961 article in Wrestling Revue. "Everywhere I go
they throw chairs, newspapers, cigar butts, fruit and anything else
they can grab. I have been burned, knifed, blinded by pea shooters and
hit over the head with boards."
Though never recognized as one of the "big three" world champions
(AWA, WWWF, NWA), Kowalski held claim to the world title out of
Australia six times from 1964-67 and a variant of the AWA World title
based out of Boston. He also held a plethora of other belts: NWA Texas
tag team (by himsef!) in 1950, the Central States champ in 1951, the
Pacific Coast tag team champ in California in 1951, the International
champion in Quebec a remarkable 11 times from 1952-63, the Big Time
Wrestling champ 1958-61, the Pacific Coast tag team champ in B.C.
twice in 1961-62, the Stampede Canadian champ in 1962, the WWWF U.S.
tag team titles in 1963, the Hawaiian U.S. Heavyweight belt in
1965-66, the IWA tag team belts in Australia four times from 1967-71,
the NWA America's title in 1972, the Grand Prix heavyweight and tag
team titles out of Montreal two times each from 1972-73, the NWA
Southern title in Florida in 1975, and the WWWF tag team belts in 1976
(under a mask as the Executioners with Chuck Minton, a.k.a. Big John
Studd).
Retired from the ring since 1977, Kowalski has been a trainer of
wrestlers for years. His biggest name students are Triple H, Big John
Studd, Chyna, Mike Shaw (Makhan Singh, Norman the Lunatic, Bastion
Booger) and Frankie Kazarian.
"Kowalski had a great school. He spent a lot of time with us," said
Shaw.
"Anyone who knows me knows that I have always attributed Walter with
all of my success in pro wrestling," wrote Kazarian on his blog after
Kowalski's passing. "He took in a 20 year old kid who had traveled
3,000 miles from southern California, and embraced him like a son. He
was kind enough to pass on his extensive, and unique knowledge of this
business to me. From day one, Walter became my trainer, and my friend.
He guided me through every step of pro wrestling, but more
importantly, taught me how to be a genuine, good person, and to treat
others with respect, dignity and class. I owe so much to Walter, that
I could never put it all in words. The time we spent together is and
always will be some of the most precious memories I have, and I will
keep it in a special place in my heart."
Kowalski had been confined to a nursing home for a few months, with
problems with his knees. Doctors were reluctant to operate on an 81-
year-old former wrestler who had a pacemaker. On Friday, August 8th,
Kowalski suffered a heart attack and was moved to a hospital. For the
rest of the month, the prognosis for a recovery rarely looked good.
The family -- Kowalski's wife Theresa, and brother Stanley -- decided
to remove him from life support. The incredible physical specimen that
he was, Kowalski lasted more than a week with a supply of oxygen and
his functioning pacemaker.
Though he never released an autobiography, Kowalski did publish a book
of his photography in 2001, entitled Killer Pics.
MWB
Michael O'Connor
MWB
"Michael O'Connor" <mpoco...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1f3d3ce3-a017-4a1f...@56g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
>I was always more of a George The Animal Steele fan.
I miss those days.
GO THE CLAW
Mark
Michael O'Connor
> "Michael O'Connor" <mpoconn...@aol.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1f3d3ce3-a017-4a1f...@56g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
>
> >I was always more of a George The Animal Steele fan.
>
> I miss those days.
>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGICVo7UIm8&feature=related
I remember going to see Bruno Sammartino wrestle at the Pittsburgh
Civic Arena when I was a kid. I miss those days too, when the
wrestlers didn't have their own intro music and entourages like boxing
matches, and everything wasn't so scripted that it resembled soap
operas. The last time I logged more than about two minutes with
wrestling was about the time Hulk Hogan came along.
MWB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGICVo7UIm8&feature=related
I remember going to see Bruno Sammartino wrestle at the Pittsburgh
Civic Arena when I was a kid. I miss those days too, when the
wrestlers didn't have their own intro music and entourages like boxing
matches, and everything wasn't so scripted that it resembled soap
operas. The last time I logged more than about two minutes with
wrestling was about the time Hulk Hogan came along.
My friends took me to the Portland, Maine Civic Center in 1978 a night I'll
never forget.
I saw Baron Miguel Scicluna "The Master of the Hidden Foreign Object" fight
one of the good guys. I BOOOOOOD the good guy and an old lady hit me on the
head with her pocketbook. For my own safety, my friends wisely took me out
into the hall.
I saw the funniest thing I ever saw. Bob Backlund was choking Hulk Hogan.
The Hulk was on his back with his head hanging over the ring. He was looking
at the crowd upside down.
This 400 plus pound lady came out of the stands and rubbed a her panties on
the Hulk's face.
She tried it again and The Hulk spewed a loogie on her.
GO RED SOX
Mark
La N
"MWB" <bic...@gmail.com> wrote in message news:g9c93s$6q0$1...@aioe.org...
I miss those days too.
GO ANDRE.(the Giant)
GO MICHEL MARTEL
GO OWEN HART
GO STU HART
Farewell to old friends and memories.
xxxooo
- nilita
MWB
> "MWB" <bick...@gmail.com> wrote in messagenews:g9c93s$6q0$1...@aioe.org...
>
> > "Michael O'Connor" <mpoconn...@aol.com> wrote in message
> >news:1f3d3ce3-a017-4a1f...@56g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
> >>I was always more of a George The Animal Steele fan.
>
> > I miss those days.
>
> > GO THE CLAW
>
> > Mark
>
> I miss those days too.
>
> GO ANDRE.(the Giant)
>
> GO MICHEL MARTEL
>
> GO OWEN HART
>
> GO STU HART
>
> Farewell to old friends and memories.
>
> xxxooo
>
> - nilita
Your photo with ANDRE THE GIANT WAS PRICELESS.
I miss the Grand Wizard of Wrestling. He was a piece of work.
GO BUTCHER VACHON
Mark
La N
GO BUTCHER VACHON
******
I knew Vachon too .
I have a sister who is keeper of zee priceless family photos. I'll have to
hunt her down and scan some for the viewing audience ... or not .. ;)
- nilita
Michael O'Connor
La N
>I used to enjoy the antics of Fred Blassie.
Crossed paths with him.
The ones who used to frighten me (and yes, I saw them up close and personal)
were The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher.
- nilita
The Kentucky Wizard
after consultations with my Joint Chiefs of Staff, being briefed by members
of my Cabinet and many telephone conversations with various World Leaders, I
have come to the following conclusions:
> http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/2008/08/30/6617351.html
>
> The life of Killer Kowalski may have ended on Friday, a few months
> short of his 82nd birthday, in a Boston area hospital, but his legacy
> will live on in so many ways. He was one of the most memorable bad
> guys in history, one of the most articulate and intelligent men in the
> business, and a trainer of many stars.
So long, KK. You were good back in the day.
--
Never argue with an idiot; they'll drag you down to their level and beat you
with experience.
© The Wiz ®
«¤»¥«¤»¥«¤»
MWB
> "Michael O'Connor" <mpoconn...@aol.com> wrote in message
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTysqw6_P8&feature=related
Remember this???
GO GRAND WIZARD OF WRESTLING
Mark
La N
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTysqw6_P8&feature=related
Remember this???
**************************
Yup, I do. "Pencil necked geek" was the best insult one could give to
anyone in those days ... ;)
- nillita
La N
"La N" <nilita20...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:aBquk.10848$nu6.5110@edtnps83...
btw, the late comedian Andy Kaufman (miss him too) was a great fan of
Blassie.
- nilita, whose head is hurting from so much recall ....
King Daevid MacKenzie
> btw, the late comedian Andy Kaufman (miss him too) was a great fan of
> Blassie.
...hell, Kaufman made a movie (video, actually) with Blassie.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0085979/ MY BREAKFAST WITH BLASSIE was a
spoof of MY DINNER WITH ANDRE that (apologies to Andre Gregory and
Wallace Shawn) absolutely slaughtered it. I believe the theatrical
premiere of MY BREAKFAST WITH BLASSIE in Westwood, California, on 20
March 1984, was the last public appearance Kaufman made; he died eight
weeks later...
--
kdm
http://kingdaevid.podbean.com/
http://amp.az/home/User/KingDaevid
peace 'n oranges...