Gustave Adolph Sonnenberg (March 6, 1898 – September 9, 1944) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

of German descent and World Heavyweight Champion. As a wrestler, he was

National Wrestling Association The National Wrestling Association (NWA) was an early professional wrestling sanctioning body created in 1930 by the National Boxing Association (NBA; now the World Boxing Association, WBA) as an attempt to create a governing body for professional ...

world heavyweight champion. He played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) from 1923 until 1930, for the

Buffalo All-Americans Buffalo, New York had a turbulent, early-era National Football League team that operated under multiple names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The early NFL-era franchise was variously called the Buffalo All-Stars from ...

Columbus Tigers The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before foldin ...

, Detroit Panthers, and Providence Steam Roller, where he was a member of the 1928 NFL championship team.

Football

Born in Ewen, Michigan, Sonnenberg grew up on a farm in Green Garden, Michigan. He played football at Marquette High School from 1912 to 1915, playing on Marquette's

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...

championship team in 1915 when the team went 6–0, outscoring opponents 211 to 7.Oberthaler, Joan, "Gus Sonnenberg, Football Star, Champion of the World," Marquette Monthly, October 2000
Da Yoopers Hall of Fame
/ref> He went on to

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1916, dropping out after his first year, but returning for a second year in 1919 before transferring to the

University of Detroit Mercy The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic univers ...

, where he graduated. In 1923, at age 25, Sonnenberg turned professional, playing in the NFL for the Buffalo All Americans (one game) and the Columbus Tigers. In 1924, he helped the Pottsville Maroons win the Anthracite League Championship in 1924. He played two seasons for the Detroit Panthers (1925, 1926) and then joined the Providence Steam Roller in 1927 and played on the NFL championship team there in 1928.

Professional wrestling

While playing in Providence, Sonnenberg was trained in professional wrestling and made his mat debut on January 24, 1928, at the Arcadia Ballroom in Providence, defeating Ivan Ludlow.Luce, Don, "Gus Sonnenberg,
Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame
Despite being just 5'7" and 200 pounds and having no background in wrestling, Sonnenberg quickly became a sensation in professional wrestling, changing the style of the sport with his signature move, the "flying tackle."Yohe, Steve, "A Study of Danno O'Mahoney,

He became a main event wrestler for Boston-based promoter

Paul Bowser Paul Forbes Bowser (May 28, 1886 – July 17, 1960) was a professional wrestling promoter who was active from the 1920s to the 1950s in the Boston area.Tim Hornbaker,Paul Bowser Biography" 2006 Wrestler Bowser grew up on a farm in western Pennsy ...

and unsuccessfully challenged world heavyweight champion Ed "Strangler" Lewis on June 30, 1928, at Boston Arena. After returning to the Steam Roller for their championship season, Sonnenberg again wrestled Lewis for the world title on January 4, 1929, and won the championship. Sonnenberg held the title for nearly two years before losing it to Ed Don George on December 10, 1930, in

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. Sonnenberg and Jim Londos were the two largest draws in pro wrestling in 1929–1930. In October 1929, Sonnenberg was attacked on the streets of Los Angeles by part-time wrestler Pete Ladjimi in an attempt to expose the reigning world champion as weak. Ladjimi was associated with Londos, Sonnenberg's rival. Sonnenberg was again recognized as world champion in the Boston area in 1939, after defeating and unmasking The Shadow (Marvin Westenberg) to become the American Wrestling Association champion. He only held the title for 13 days before dropping it to Steve "Crusher" Casey in Boston on March 29, 1939. He continued to wrestle until joining the Navy in 1942.

Personal life

In July 1932, Sonnenberg was involved in a fatal car accident in

Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...

when the car he was driving hit the car of policeman Richard Morrissey, who was killed. Sonnenberg was charged with drunk driving and was acquitted in March 1933. Days after his acquittal, Sonnenberg married actress Judith Allen. Four months later, in July 1933, Sonnenberg was reported to have suffered a heart attack in Los Angeles. Allen announced her intention to file for divorce while Sonnenberg was recovering in the hospital. She was said to have been seen on a date with

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

. The divorce was finalized in September. He was later married to Mildred Micelli, who left him. In 1942, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Sonnenberg joined the Navy. He was serving there when he died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

at the Naval Hospital in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which ...

on September 12, 1944, at age 46.

Wrestling championships and accomplishments

*American Wrestling Association ''(Boston)'' :*

AWA World Heavyweight Championship The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight C ...

(2 times) *

World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version) The World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was the first recognized professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created in 1905 to identify the best catch as catch can wrestler in the world. The subsequent legacy of the championshi ...

(1 time) * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame :*2007 Pioneer Era inductee to the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame *

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four W ...

** Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonnenberg, Gus 1898 births 1944 deaths American football running backs American football tackles American male professional wrestlers American people of German descent United States Navy personnel killed in World War II Buffalo All-Americans players Columbus Tigers players Dartmouth Big Green football players Deaths from cancer in Maryland Deaths from leukemia Detroit Panthers players Detroit Titans football players People from Ontonagon County, Michigan Players of American football from Michigan Pottsville Maroons (Anthracite League) players Professional wrestlers from Michigan Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Providence Steam Roller players United States Navy sailors