Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Wrestling legend Killer Kowalski passes away
411mania ^ | 30 August 2008

Posted on 08/30/2008 2:59:50 PM PDT by CounterCounterCulture

Killer Kowalski Passes Away

Walter "Killer" Kowalski passed away early this morning. Kowalski had been taken off life support two weeks ago. He suffered a massive heart attack back on August 8th.


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: awa; clawhold; killer; kowalski; nwa; wrasslin; wrestling; wwwe
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last
To: LibFreeOrDie

I’ve got an autographed photo, too. He was at a firing range open-house in Massachsetts. He was this huge, folded-up elderly guy with a very gentle manner. I told him I’d watched him when I was a little kid, and he laughed as he signed the photo. Nothing like the monster he pretended to be for the cameras.


21 posted on 08/30/2008 3:34:33 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine (Is /sarc really necessary?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: CounterCounterCulture
Yes, he lives here in MN! He wrote and played himself in a play about his life that ran at the Minnesota History Theater. And it was indeed him that developed The Claw. Him and Mad Dog Vachon are my two favorite "old-school" AWA wrestlers.

Photobucket

22 posted on 08/30/2008 3:36:10 PM PDT by lesser_satan (Satire today, headlines tomorrow...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: CounterCounterCulture

God bless Killer, enjoyed his shows..


23 posted on 08/30/2008 4:03:40 PM PDT by stockpirate (Be a maverick like McCain. And support the McCain/Palin ticket)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CounterCounterCulture

I’m old enough to remember Killer Kowalski and Haystack . Pro wrestling was a hoot in those days . I remember an urban myth going around that Haystack ate a dozen eggs for breakfast . Hehehe...R.I.P. Killer .


24 posted on 08/30/2008 4:13:00 PM PDT by sushiman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CounterCounterCulture

Maybe you can help me . This must have been in the 70’s ...There was a little guy who managed a stable of wrestlers , and he used to wear a fortune teller’s turban . What was that cat’s name ?


25 posted on 08/30/2008 4:22:50 PM PDT by sushiman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: FlingWingFlyer; Roccus

Wasn’t it Vern Gagne with the sleeper hold?


26 posted on 08/30/2008 4:24:45 PM PDT by oldbill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: oldbill

Somebody above said it was Lou Thesz.


27 posted on 08/30/2008 4:26:43 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (DemocRATS are a visible reminder of what it was like before people became civilized.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: sushiman
The Grand Wizard
28 posted on 08/30/2008 4:26:51 PM PDT by CounterCounterCulture
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: CounterCounterCulture

I saw Kowalski wrestle Bruno in the late 1960s in Baltimore. Legend had it that he bit off a guy’s ear in a bout in Toronto. That was long before Mike Tyson tried it. RIP Killer.


29 posted on 08/30/2008 4:32:11 PM PDT by PaleoBob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CounterCounterCulture

Thanks . Those were the days . Grand Wizard ; Captain Lou and Fred Blassie !


30 posted on 08/30/2008 4:33:38 PM PDT by sushiman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: PaleoBob

31 posted on 08/30/2008 4:37:52 PM PDT by CounterCounterCulture
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: FlingWingFlyer

I thought Toro Tanaka called it the sleeper hold first??


32 posted on 08/30/2008 4:37:58 PM PDT by RaceBannon (Innocent until proven guilty; The Pendleton 8: We are not going down without a fight)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: sushiman
I remember an urban myth going around that Haystack ate a dozen eggs for breakfast.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. He was a huge dude!

33 posted on 08/30/2008 4:45:37 PM PDT by lesser_satan (Satire today, headlines tomorrow...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: lesser_satan

From Wikipedia :

” Born on August 3, 1934, William Dee Calhoun grew up on a farm in McKinney, Texas; a rural suburb located in Collin County, about 30 miles north of Dallas. William was an unusually large child with an extraordinary appetite (it was said that he regularly ate a dozen eggs for breakfast); and by age 14, he already weighed 300 pounds. “

Maybe it WASn’t a myth after all !


34 posted on 08/30/2008 4:50:57 PM PDT by sushiman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: oldbill
"Wasn’t it Vern Gagne with the sleeper hold?"

==============================================

Sometime in the late 70s I saw Vern on Jim Klobuchars PBS interview show where Jim told Vern that wrestling was fake. Vern took exception to that and put Jim in the sleeper hold until he went unconscious, set him on the floor and took over the show while Jim slept there at his feet.

One of my old drinking buddies was 240 lbs and covered in hair when he was 16 years old and was cousins with Vern.
My buddy who had been drinking saw Vern at a family reunion and went up to him and told him that wrestling was all fake. Next thing he knew it he was looking up at the sky and he didn't even know what happened and he said he felt like an old man for the next 3 days.

35 posted on 08/30/2008 4:53:36 PM PDT by Manic_Episode (Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: CounterCounterCulture

Thanks. Montreal, not Toronto.


36 posted on 08/30/2008 4:55:54 PM PDT by PaleoBob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: CounterCounterCulture; xsmommy; lizol; A. Pole; mikrofon

Executioners Ping

DAĆ WIECZNE ODPOCZYWANIE

37 posted on 08/30/2008 5:42:38 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: martin_fierro
May he Wrestle in Peace
38 posted on 08/30/2008 6:36:10 PM PDT by mikrofon (70's BUMP)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: zappo

hi


39 posted on 08/30/2008 9:17:46 PM PDT by Cheapskate (Still backing Hunter"I refuse to be fitted with collar and chain, and given a pat on the back")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cheapskate

bttt


40 posted on 08/31/2008 6:42:52 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55 (Obama is the Democrats guy. They bought the ticket, now they must take the ride.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-44 next last

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
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

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