Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'Wahoo' McDaniel, wrestling giant, dead at 63
Houston Chronicle ^ | April 22, 2002 | TONY FREEMANTLE

Posted on 04/22/2002 1:01:21 PM PDT by ValerieUSA

Ed "Wahoo" McDaniel, whose considerable physical talents and colorful personality earned him a place among the elite in the worlds of professional football and wrestling, died last week in Houston. He was 63.
McDaniel, who had been ailing for some time after losing both kidneys, was on the waiting list for a transplant when he suffered a stroke Thursday and died of complications from renal failure and diabetes, said his daughter, Nikki Rowe.

A standout football player at the University of Oklahoma who still holds the university record for a punt return -- 92 yards against Iowa State in 1958 -- McDaniel went on to a successful career in the American Football League as a linebacker for the Houston Oilers, the Dallas Texans, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Denver Broncos, the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins.
But McDaniel was probably best known for his flamboyant career as a professional wrestler, in which he claimed to have fought more than 10,000 matches against some the best and meanest athletes in the sport.

McDaniel, part Choctaw, part Chickasaw, was fiercely proud of his Native American heritage, his daughter said, and would often enter the ring wearing his trademark feathered war bonnet and knee-high mocassins.
In a wrestling career that spanned more than 20 years, McDaniel held titles in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance.
Some of his most worthy opponents, with whom he engaged in death matches, cage matches and Indian strap matches, included wrestlers in the pantheon of the sport: Ric Flair, Johnny Valentine, Andre the Giant, Blackjack Mulligan, Sergeant Slaughter and Jesse Ventura.

In today's wrestling world, McDaniel not only would have been famous, he would have been very rich. He started professional wrestling in 1961, his second year in the AFL, after he heard that a promoter in Oklahoma City was looking for a Native American, and he did so partly to supplement his income as a football player, which was $45,000 a year at its peak.

McDaniel was born June 19, 1938, in Berniece, La., to Hugh "Big Wahoo" and Catherine McDaniel of Midland, where the family lived after his birth and where he began his illustrious sporting career as the catcher on a Pony League baseball team. That team, according to an article about McDaniel last year in Sports Illustrated, was coached by former Presdident Bush.
From 1957 to 1959, McDaniel distinguished himself as a football player at the University of Oklahoma, lettering three years on a team that posted a 27-5 record. He played professional football from 1960 to 1968.

After health problems forced him to retire from wrestling, McDaniel lived in Charlotte, N.C., where he devoted his life to golf and rasing his son, Zack. In February, with his health declining, he moved to Houston to live with his daughter and son-in-law.
McDaniel was married five times to four women. In July last year, Sports Illustrated quoted him as saying: "When you wrestle for a living, you're never home, and that's hard on relationships, and, well, I never pretended to be an angel."
Maybe not. But Rowe said her father was a"giving man" with a strong will and that there was only one person who could control her father -- his mother.
"He was a mama's boy," Rowe said. "She was the only one who could keep him in line. She would hit him with a folding chair."

McDaniel is survived by his mother, daughters Nikki Rowe and Cindi Blank, son Zack McDaniel, two sisters and four grandchildren.
A service will be held Saturday at Pipkin Funeral Home in Midland.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Sports
KEYWORDS: diabetes; football; nfl; texas; universityofok

1 posted on 04/22/2002 1:01:21 PM PDT by ValerieUSA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ValerieUSA

2 posted on 04/22/2002 1:16:07 PM PDT by jgrubbs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson