Rocky Aoki

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Rocky Aoki , born as Hiroaki Aoki ( Japanese 青木 廣 彰 ), (born October 9, 1938 in Tokyo ; † July 10, 2008 in New York City ), was a Japanese-born American wrestler , wrestler , speedboat driver and founder of the restaurant Chain benihana .

He was married to Chizuru Kobayashi Aoki (1964–1981; divorced), Pamela Hilberger Aoki (1981–1991; divorced) and Keiko Ono Aoki (2002–2008; widowed). He had 7 children including model Devon Aoki and DJ / record producer Steve Aoki .

biography

Early life

Born in Tokyo , Aoki formed a rock-n-roll band called Rowdy Sounds with friends , although Aoki later gave up music in favor of sports. He later explained: "I play bass. But I tell you why I change to wrestling: No good on tempo." Aoki attended Keio University , where he competed in athletics , karate and wrestling before settling for fighting. He qualified for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome , but did not appear. However, he later toured the United States and was undefeated in wrestling in the 112-pound flyweight class.

Aoki has been offered a wrestling scholarship from various American colleges. He attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts and later moved to CW Post College on Long Island .

Moved to the USA

He moved to New York City , where he won the U.S. flyweight titles in 1962, 1963, and 1964. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995.

Restaurant business

In New York, Aoki worked seven days a week in an ice cream truck that he rented in Harlem while studying restaurant management at New York City Community College . After receiving his associate degree in management in 1963, he used the $ 10,000 he had saved from the ice cream van business to co-invest with his father in the first Benihana , a four-table teppanyaki restaurant on West 56th Street. Aoki's father suggested the name "Benihana", derived from the Japanese name for a safflower . According to family legend, Aoki's father was walking through the bombed post-war Tokyo when he came across a single red safflower in the rubble.

He was an open sea powerboat racer with 1986 APBA World Powerboat Championship helmsman, Errol Lanier , a former Fort Lauderdale firefighter who saved his life in an almost tragic powerboat accident under the Golden Gate Bridge in 1979 . After injuries from an accident in 1982, Aoki, then resident in Tenafly, New Jersey , told sports reporters that he was leaving the sport.

Family life

Rocky once said that he had three children from three different women at the same time. He learned about his seventh child with the third wife through a paternity lawsuit. 2005 Rocky sued four of his children (Grace, Kevin, Kyle and echo) for the alleged attempt to take ownership of, founded by him companies worth an estimated 60 to 100 million at that time the US dollar had.

Before his death, he became a US citizen. Aoki received the Award of Excellence from the International Center in New York . He died in New York City at a pneumonia . At the time of his death, he was suffering from diabetes , hepatitis C , and cirrhosis . He is said to have contracted the hepatitis C infection during a blood transfusion after the boat accident in 1979.

After his death, Rocky Aoki left behind his seven children, his wife and 4 grandchildren.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rocky’s Family Horror Show . In: New York . October 25, 2007, ISSN  0028-7369 .
  2. ↑ a b Rocky Aoki Biography . In: Rocky H Aoki . Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  3. ↑ a b c Matt Schudel: Rocky Aoki; Flashy Founder of Benihana . In: The Washington Post , July 12, 2008. 
  4. ^ Aoki Will Leave Powerboat Racing . In: The New York Times , February 7, 1983. 
  5. ↑ Survivors
personal data
SURNAME Aoki, Rocky
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aoki, Hiroaki (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler and restaurant owner
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokyo
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 2008
Place of death New York City , New York , United States