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Dean Higuchi
Dean Kiyoshi Higuchi (July 18, 1940 – February 20, 2021) was an American bodybuilder and professional wrestler, known by his ring name, Dean Ho. He competed in North American promotions including Pacific Northwest Wrestling, the World Wide Wrestling Federation and Big Time Wrestling during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. A longtime veteran of the Vancouver's NWA All-Star Wrestling, he feuded with Terry Adonis, The Brute and former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Gene Kiniski. Bodybuilding career After graduating from President Theodore Roosevelt High School, Higuchi was one of Hawaii's prominent bodybuilders during the 1950s winning the title "Mr. Hawaiian Islands" competition in 1956 and finishing in sixth place in the "Mr. America" competition in Philadelphia. Dean's Gym He opened his gym on Kalakaua Avenue in 1957, and it was a popular training center for both bodybuilders and professional wrestlers. Many of the areas top bodybuilders such as Mike Brown and professional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island of Oahu, and is the westernmost and southernmost major U.S. city. Honolulu is Hawaii's main gateway to the world. It is also a major hub for business, finance, hospitality, and military defense in both the state and Oceania. The city is characterized by a mix of various Asian, Western, and Pacific cultures, reflected in its diverse demography, cuisine, and traditions. ''Honolulu'' means "sheltered harbor" or "calm port" in Hawaiian; its old name, ''Kou'', roughly encompasses the area from Nuuanu Avenue to Alakea Street and from Hotel Street to Queen Street, which is the heart of the present downtown district. The city's desirability as a port accounts for its historical growth and importance in the Hawaiian archipelago and the broader Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl Gotch
Charles Istaz (August 3, 1924 – July 28, 2007) was a Belgian-born German-American professional wrestler and trainer, best known by his ring name Karl Gotch. In Japan, Gotch was known as the "God of Wrestling" due to his influence in shaping the Japanese professional wrestling style. He was no relation to earlier wrestler Frank Gotch. Early life Istaz was born in Antwerp, Belgium to a Hungarian father and German mother. He grew up in Antwerp, on the waterfront. He learned Greco-Roman wrestling in his early years and from the beginning he was a very well known sportsman. He wrestled in "The Hippodroom", a notable sports center in Antwerp, where amateur fights like boxing matches, savate matches and wrestling matches were fought. During World War II, Istaz was a forced laborer in the " REIMAHG" at Kahla. (Lager E - Kahla) Amateur wrestling career Istaz excelled in amateur wrestling and experienced a major breakthrough in his career by competing as Charles Istaz for Belgium ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl Maynard
Earl Maynard (born November 28, 1935) is a bodybuilder and professional wrestler as well as a film actor, producer and director from Barbados. Career Bodybuilding Maynard won the 1964 Universe - Pro - NABBA bodybuilding competition - part of the Universe Championships, the 1965 Universe - IFBB - now the World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships and the 1978 Masters Mr. America - AAU contest. He was also the winner of Mr. Europe 1959 and Mr. England 1960 early in his career. Professional wrestling Maynard started wrestling while he was in the Royal Air Force stationed on Cyprus. The sports facilities were very limited, so the implements for his weightlifting and conditioning had to be improvised with what materials he could find. While He was on Cyprus, a British wrestling promoter, who was there on vacation, spotted him and liked what he saw. Maynard became a professional wrestler in 1960. It was wrestling promoter Gus Karras who eventually brought Earl to the United States to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern and western border with the United States, stretching , is the world's longest binational land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Indigenous peoples have continuously inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years. Beginning in the 16th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast. As a consequence of various armed conflicts, France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Greater Vancouver, Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2.6million in 2021, making it the List of census metropolitan areas and agglomerations in Canada#List, third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Greater Vancouver, along with the Fraser Valley Regional District, Fraser Valley, comprises the Lower Mainland with a regional population of over 3 million. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada, with over 5,700 people per square kilometre, and fourth highest in North America (after New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City). Vancouver is one of the most Ethnic origins of people in Canada, ethnically and Languages of Canada, linguistically diverse cities in Canada: 49.3 percent of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ripper Collins (wrestler)
Roy Lee Albern (October 10, 1933 – November 12, 1991), known by the ring name Ripper Collins, was an American professional wrestler who wrestled mainly during his career for 50th State Big Time Wrestling also known as NWA Hawaii. Professional wrestling career Collins started pro wrestling in Texas and later went to St. Louis. In 1961, he made his debut in the American Wrestling Association where he stayed until 1963. NWA Hawaii (1965-1979) Collins made his debut in 50th State Big Time Wrestling in 1965. He would stay there for most of his career as a heel. He held the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship fourteen times from 1966-1973, 1978-1979 and the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship seven times from 1966-1967, 1969-1971. On January 19, 1966, he defeated Ron Reed for NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship. In August, he dropped it to Neff Maivia and recaptured the title in October. On March 15, 1967, he dropped it to Jim Hady. On October 29, 1969, Collins won the title from Pam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curtis Iaukea
Colonel Curtis Piʻehu Iaukea (December 13, 1855 – March 5, 1940) served as a court official, army officer and diplomat of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He later became an influential official for the subsequent regimes of the Provisional Government and the Republic and the Territory of Hawaii. Iaukea was raised from an early age to serve the Hawaiian royal family. He first gained prominence during the reign of King Kalākaua when he served as an important court official and an army officer in the volunteer army of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He held numerous significant positions including governor of Oahu and chamberlain to the Royal Household. He also served as Hawaii's ambassador to Europe and Asia, attending the coronation of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Iaukea received numerous Hawaiian honors and foreign decorations during his service to the kingdom. Following the overthrow of the monarchy, he continued to work for the subsequent regi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Fujiwara
Harry Masayoshi Fujiwara (May 4, 1934 – August 28, 2016) was an American professional wrestler and manager, known professionally by his ring name Mr. Fuji (or Master Fuji to his protégés). He was famous for often throwing salt in the eyes of fan favorite wrestlers. Notable wrestlers and tag teams managed by him include Don Muraco, Yokozuna and Demolition. Early life Harry Masayoshi Fujiwara was born on May 4, 1934 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was of Japanese and Native Hawaiian ancestry. Professional wrestling career Early career (1965–1971) Fujiwara made his professional wrestling debut in 1962 in his native Hawaii under the ring name Mr. Fujiwara. He won his first championship, the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship, with King Curtis Iaukea on January 7, 1966. He shortened his ring name to Mr. Fuji and toured many territories, including Don Owen's Portland, Oregon based NWA Pacific Northwest Wrestling where he won many championships. World Wide Wrestling Federation (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Barend
John R. Barend (March 27, 1929 – September 20, 2011), better known as "Handsome" Johnny Barend, was an American professional wrestler. Early life Born in 1929 in Rochester, New York, Barend started wrestling as an amateur at the age of eight. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in Rochester in 1944, he served in the United States Navy during World War II and wrestled while in the service. Professional wrestling career Early career (1949–1962) He was trained to wrestle professionally by Ed Don George and made his professional debut on November 1, 1949, defeating Faro Rinaldi. In 1956, he started teaming with Gene Dubuque, who was wrestling under the name, Magnificent Maurice. Barend's original manager was Ernie Roth, then using the name Mr. Kleen. Roth would gain fame in the WWWF as the Grand Wizard of Wrestling during the 1970s. Barend and Maurice went on to win many tag-team championships. Barend first appeared in Hawaii with 50th State Big Time Wrestli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Mortier
Jacob "Jaap" Grobbe (January 28, 1924 – December 15, 2010), better known as Hans Mortier, was a Dutch professional wrestler best known for his stint in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and his feud with WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino in the 1960s. Hans Mortier was a world-class bodybuilder before he entered the ring and was known by many as "The Great". Professional wrestling career Before becoming a professional wrestler, Grobbe worked as a professional body builder. His first wrestling match was in Tacoma in 1946 against Abe Yourist. He later wrestled out of Columbus, Ohio, in the late 1940s and early 1950s using under the ring name Dutch Howlett. Grobbe went around the world fighting in New Zealand, Australia as the Great Zorro, South Africa, and France. He at one time held the European Championship. By the early 1960s, Grobbe returned to the United States. In 1963, Grobbe signed a contract with the World Wide Wrestling Federation where he was managed by Wild Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mongolian Stomper
Archibald Edward Gouldie (November 22, 1936 – January 23, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He wrestled for Stampede Wrestling for decades as Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie, with the nickname coming from the wrestler's reputation of "stomping" on his opponents, when they were down, with his black cowboy boots. He was also known by the ring name The Mongolian Stomper. Professional wrestling career Central States Wrestling Early in his career, Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie was a babyface (good guy) in the Central States territory. He won the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Central States Version) from Enrique Torres in St. Joseph on Dec. 20, 1963, losing it to Rocky Hamilton on Jan 31, 1964. He regained it on May 22, 1964, only to lose it to Sonny Myers June 12, 1964. He regained it yet again in 1965 from Sonny Myers, and dropped it to Bobby Shane in December in Waterloo, IA. Archie won his first Central States Heavyweight Title from Ron Reed in St.Joseph, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tosh Togo
, better known as Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and film actor of Japanese descent. He won a silver medal for the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting, and later became a popular professional wrestler under the ring name Tosh Togo, wrestling primarily for various National Wrestling Alliance territories as a tag team with Great Togo. He also wrestled extensively in Japan for All Japan Pro Wrestling, and was a one-time All Asia Tag Team Championship with Rikidōzan. On the basis of his wrestling work, he was cast in the James Bond film '' Goldfinger'' (1964) as the villain Oddjob, a role he would be closely associated with for the rest of his life. Early life Toshiyuki Sakata was born on July 1, 1920, in Holualoa, Hawaii, to Japanese-American parents who worked at a Kona coffee farm. His father Risaburo was ''issei'' (first-generation), and his mother Matsue was ''nisei''. He had ten siblings, six ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
