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Rod Trongard
Rodney Douglas Trongard (February 16, 1933 – July 16, 2005) was a Minnesota-based sports broadcaster on both radio and television in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for more than fifty years. Early career Trongard's career began in 1953 at KXRA Alexandria, followed by positions at KSDN Aberdeen, South Dakota, and KDIO Ortonville. He moved to the Twin Cities in 1959 as news director at WLOL. It was there than Trongard began his sports broadcasting career, calling basketball for the Minnesota Muskies as well as the Minneapolis Lakers (preceding Chick Hearn until the Lakers moved to Los Angeles). Trongard also called University of Minnesota football and basketball. He joined KSTP in 1968, where he broadcast Minnesota Pipers basketball, produced Minnesota Vikings football and Minnesota North Stars hockey broadcasts, and did player and coach interviews. He also hosted Minnesota Gopher football coach Cal Stoll’s show on KSTP TV. He also was the public address announcer for the Minnes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Hayes (wrestler)
Alfred George James Hayes (8 August 1928 – 21 July 2005) was an English professional wrestler, manager and commentator, best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation between 1982 and 1995 where he was known as Lord Alfred Hayes. Hayes was distinguished by his "Masterpiece Theatre diction" and "Oxford accent". Professional wrestling career Early career Born in London, Hayes attended the North-Western Polytechnic, which was evacuated to Luton Modern School during World War II. He attained a black belt in judo before training as a wrestler under Sir Atholl Oakeley, Bt. Wrestling as "Judo" Al Hayes, he appeared on the British circuit from the late 1950s to the late 1960s, when he left the United Kingdom and traveled to the United States. He was a blue-eye who battled all of the heavyweight heels of his time, and held the Southern Area Heavyweight Championship for a number of years. He traded heavily on his judo background, and specia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superstar Billy Graham
Eldridge Wayne Coleman (born June 7, 1943), better known by his ring name "Superstar" Billy Graham, is an American former professional wrestler. He gained recognition for his tenure as the WWWF Heavyweight Champion in 1977–1978. He is a three-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions. As an award-winning bodybuilder, he was a training partner and close friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is most remembered for revolutionizing the interview and physique aspects of the professional wrestling industry, and for his charismatic performance style. Some of his wrestling protégés include Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, and Ric Flair. Early life Coleman was born into a working-class family in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 7, 1943. His father was from Mississippi, and his mother, who claimed Cherokee ancestry, was from Arkansas. Coleman was attracted to weight lifting in the fifth grade. As a teenager he was an avid reader of bodybuilding magazines, his idols being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and various other business ventures. The company is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to companies to produce video games and action figures. The promotion was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. It is the largest wrestling promotion in the world with its main roster divided up into two primary touring groups, along with a developmental roster based in Orlando, Florida (referred to by WWE as "brands"). Overall, WWE is available in more than 1 billion homes worldwide in 30 languages. The company's global headquarters is located in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai and Munich. As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Marshall (announcer)
Lee Marshall (born Marshall Aaron Mayer; November 28, 1949 – April 26, 2014) was an American professional wrestling announcer formerly of the American Wrestling Association (AWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Women of Wrestling (WOW!). Professional wrestling announcing World Wrestling Federation Marshall was briefly with the World Wrestling Federation as a ring announcer. He was the ring announcer the Los Angeles portion of WrestleMania 2. American Wrestling Association Marshall joined the broadcast team when the ''AWA Championship Wrestling'' show was on ESPN. World Championship Wrestling He later joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he was known as "Stagger Lee". Marshall was the co-host of ''WCW Thunder'' alongside Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiavone. He interviewed and announced alongside Mike Tenay and Scott Hudson on ''WCW Saturday Night'' as well. A staple of ''WCW Monday Nitro'' was his regular cracking of "Weasel" jokes directed at Heenan, which wou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The company was founded in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen along with his son Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan. ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in Bristol, Connecticut. The network also operates offices and auxiliary studios in Miami, New York City, Las Vegas, Seattle, Charlotte, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. James Pitaro currently serves as chairman of ESPN, a position he has held since March 5, 2018, following the resignation of John Skipper on December 18, 2017. While ESPN is one of the most successful sports networks, there has been criticism of ESPN. This includes accusations of biased coverage, conflict of interest, and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts. , ESPN reaches approximately 76 million te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shawn Michaels
Michael Shawn Hickenbottom (born July 22, 1965), better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is known by the nicknames "Heartbreak Kid", "The Showstopper", and "Mr. WrestleMania". Michaels wrestled consistently for WWE, formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), from 1988 until a back injury forced his first retirement in 1998. He performed in non-wrestling roles for the next two years and returned to the ring for a match in his own Texas Wrestling Academy (TWA) in 2000. Michaels resumed his wrestling career with WWE in 2002 and retired ceremoniously in 2010. He returned for a final match in 2018. In 2016, he began working as a coach at the WWE Performance Center, and since 2018 as a producer on ''WWE NXT''. He is currently WWE's Senior Vice President of Talent Development ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Road Warriors
The Road Warriors, also known as the Legion of Doom, were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Road Warrior Hawk (Michael Hegstrand) and Road Warrior Animal (Joseph Laurinaitis).. They performed under the name "The Road Warriors" in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the name "Legion of Doom" (LOD) in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Under either name, their gimmick was the same – two imposing wrestlers in face paint. For brief periods, other wrestlers were added as stand-in partners for both men. In Japan in the 1990s, Kensuke "Power Warrior" Sasaki often teamed with Hawk and Animal, separately and together, while in WWE were joined by Ahmed Johnson and Droz in the 1990s and Heidenreich in the 2000s. The team also had three managers: Sunny in the 1990s, Christy Hemme in the 2000s, and Paul Ellering, the manager associated with the original team. Hawk and Animal were kno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verne Gagne
Laverne Clarence Gagne (February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2015) was an American amateur and professional wrestler, football player, wrestling trainer, and wrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis-based American Wrestling Association (AWA), the predominant promotion throughout the Midwest and Manitoba for many years. He remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded. As an amateur wrestler, Gagne won two NCAA titles and was an alternate for the U.S freestyle wrestling team at the 1948 Olympic Games before turning professional in 1949. Gagne was an 11-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions, having held the AWA World Heavyweight Championship ten times and the IWA World Heavyweight Championship once as the IWA World Heavyweight Championship was considered a world championship in Japan. He has also won top professional wrestling promotions World Heavyweight Championships such as the World Heavyweight Championship (Oma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Heenan
Raymond Louis Heenan (November 1, 1944 – September 17, 2017) was an American professional wrestling manager, color commentator, wrestler, and comedian. He performed with the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Heenan was known for his skill in elevating villainous on-screen talent by drawing negative reactions for himself and his wrestlers from the crowd. He was paired with numerous wrestlers, including Nick Bockwinkel, whom he led to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, and he became an integral figure in the 1980s professional wrestling boom by managing King Kong Bundy and André the Giant in WWF main event matches with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 2 and WrestleMania III respectively. The wrestlers under his tutelage were collectively known as "The Heenan Family" at various times throughout his career. Known for his quick wit and comed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Bockwinkel
Nicholas Warren Francis "Nick" Bockwinkel (December 6, 1934 – November 14, 2015) was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the 1970s and 1980s. Bockwinkel had a lengthy professional wrestling career with matches in 34 consecutive years. Debuting in 1954, Bockwinkel spent the first half of his career as a journeyman babyface, wrestling primarily in California and Hawaii with stints in Texas, Georgia, and the Pacific Northwest as well as Canada and Australia. In 1970, he joined the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based AWA, where he would be based for the remainder of his career. Swiftly rising to prominence as a main event heel, Bockwinkel held the AWA World Tag Team Championship three times then the AWA World Heavyweight Championship four times before retiring in 1987. Bockwinkel was recognized for his exceptional technical wrestling ability, mastery of in-ring psychology, and even-toned, articulate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
