Frank Gotch

Frank Gotch
Data
Ring name	Frank Gotch Frank Kennedy
height	183 cm
Fighting weight	91 kg
birth	April 27, 1878 Humboldt , Iowa
death	December 16, 1917 Humboldt, Iowa
Trained by	Farmer Burns
debut	1899
retirement	1913

Frank Alvin Gotch ( April 27, 1878 - December 17, 1917 ) was an American catch wrestler of German origin. He started at a time when most fights in wrestling had not yet been agreed and his title reign as World Heavyweight Champion was the second-longest title reign of all time at seven years. He was one of the most popular athletes in the United States in the early 20th century. His fighting statistics were 154 wins with six losses. Gotch was considered one of the pioneers of modern wrestling and is considered one of the best wrestlers in the history of the sport.

childhood

Frank Alvin Gotch was born on April 27, 1878 on a farm three miles south of Humboldt , Iowa. He was the last of nine children of Frederick Rudolph and Amelia Gotch. His parents married in Germany in 1855 and emigrated to the United States in 1863.

Career

Gotch's first fight took place on June 18, 1899 against former American heavyweight champion Dan McLeod. Gotch impressed the veteran with his stamina, but was defeated after almost two hours. On December 18, 1899 he challenged another former heavyweight champion, "Farmer" Martin Burns . He lost the fight in eleven minutes but impressed Burns so much that he offered himself as a coach. Under Burns' leadership, Gotch won a series of fights in Iowa and later in Alaska . During his time in Alaska Gotch fought under the name Frank Kennedy and won the title "Champion of the Klondike". He also tried boxing, but failed miserably in a fight against Frank Slavin .

Gotch returned to Iowa and challenged reigning American Heavyweight Champion Tom Jenkins. Gotch lost the first confrontation in 1903, but defeated Jenkins in a rematch on January 27, 1904 and won the title. After he gave up the title, Gotch set himself the goal of winning the World Heavyweight Championship . The then undefeated Estonian champion Georg Hackenschmidt was the favorite, but Gotch won after two hard-fought hours after Hackenschmidt gave up on a handle, the ankle lock . Allegedly Gotch is said to have used illegal tactics, he is said to have rubbed himself with oil, rubbed oil in Hackenschmidt's eyes and hit Hackenschmidt on the nose. According to Lou Albano's book, Gotch oiled himself to free himself from Hackenschmidt's Bear Hug .

Gotch dominated the sport for the next three years. He defeated opponents such as Jenkins, Benjamin Roller and Stanislaus Zbyszko, who allegedly had been undefeated in 900 fights before his loss to Gotch on June 11, 1910. Gotch became a celebrity who appeared in plays and even received an invitation to the White House from then President Theodore Roosevelt .

Gotch met Hackenschmid again on September 4, 1911 in Chicago in front of almost 30,000 spectators. This rematch was one of the most anticipated and controversial fights in the history of the sport. Hackenschmidt had injured his knee weeks earlier in a training match with Ad Santel . It was later announced that Gotch had paid Santel so that Hackenschmidt was not fully operational for the rematch. The injury was so severe that Hackenschmidt almost canceled the fight, but still took part because Gotch claimed to be fighting despite a neck injury. Before the match, the two had agreed that Gotch would win the fight, but on the condition that Hackenschmidt won the first round so that he did not seem totally inferior. Gotch didn't stick to the agreement and was able to impressively win against the injured Hackenschmidt.

Gotch retired in 1913 after successfully defending his title over seven years and three months.

retirement

During his retirement, Gotch joined the Sells-Floto Circus , where he fought on the condition that he would pay $ 250 to anyone he couldn't defeat in 15 minutes. He didn't have to pay a single time. After his time at the circus, he returned to his home town of Humboldt. After a year of health problems, he allegedly died of syphilis in 1917 , but the official cause of death was kidney failure due to uremia .

successes

Gotch was the second recognized World Heavyweight Champion, the longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion and the second longest reigning Wrestling Champion, only surpassed by Bruno Sammartino's 7 year and 8 month title defense of the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship .

• 1 × World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship
• 3 × American Heavyweight Championship

Web links

• Official website (English)
• Hickok Sports Biography: Frank Gotch ( Memento from July 16, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl Stern: Pioneers of Wrestling. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: KarlStern.com )
2. ↑ Mike Chapman: Frank Gotch, World's Greatest Wrestler . William S. Hein & Co., Buffalo, New York 1990.
3. ^ Hackenschmidt biography. (No longer available online.) Sandowplus.co.uk, archived from the original on March 17, 2008 ; Retrieved March 6, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Lou Albano: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pro Wrestling . Indianapolis, Ind .: Alpha; Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-02-863961-8 .
5. ^ Wrestling Museum . wrestlingmuseum.com, accessed March 6, 2008 .