St. Louis: 1873-1927 by Scott Teal

BOOK DETAILS

Publisher: Crowbar Press

8-1/2 x 11 Perfect Bound

Pages: 198

Words: 164,296

Photos: 141 b&w

Cover: Full color

ISBN: 978-1-940391-53-3

Item #: 71-gwv07

Price: $26.95

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Synopsis | Excerpts | Reviews | Media Appearances | Crowbar Press

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"St. Louis, 1873-1927" is available exclusively from Crowbar Press.
All books will be shipped via Media Mail (U.S.), Priority Mail, or International Priority Mail (Canada/overseas).

The Great Pro Wrestling Venues, vol. 7
St. Louis, Missouri —1873-1927
by Scott Teal

"It wasn’t easy to ignore wrestling in St. Louis. The city was one of the centers of the wrestling culture in the United States during those years, in large part because the city had a large base of European immigrants who had brought their enthusiasm for the sport with them to this country. The southern part of the city, where I was raised, was composed of solidly ethnic neighborhoods — Germans, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Greeks, Scandinavians — and each had plenty of amateur clubs where they taught the sport to children and staged competitions with each other as entertainment. The public schools had an intramural wrestling program, as well, and the local newspapers wrote about it regularly.

"This enthusiasm for wrestling carried over into the pro scene, too, which was run by a Greek immigrant named Tom Pakiotis. He had staged his first card in 1922 as a special event inside a theater, and the response was so good that he started running regular cards. By the time I attended my first match, Pakiotis — he had changed his last name by then to Packs — had established St. Louis as one of the top wrestling towns in North America, a claim that held true for most of the 20th century."

— Lou Thesz, HOOKER (Crowbar Press, 2011), 35.

$26.95

In this latest edition of "The Great Pro Wrestling Venues," Scott Teal explores the origins of professional wrestling in St. Louis, Missouri.

St. Louis was the city in which every main-event wrestler in the world aspired to appear. It was the venue in which several versions of the world heavyweight title changed hands, the first taking place when Ed (Strangler) Lewis defeated Joe Stecher in the Coliseum for the AWA version of the title, and ten years later Lewis’ protégé, Lou Thesz, took the belt from Everette Marshall at the Auditorium. And from 1936 to 1987, the National Wrestling Association and National Wrestling Alliance versions of the title changed hands a total of 14 times in St. Louis.

St. Louis also claims the distinction of having produced the classiest TV wrestling program to be found anywhere. Taped weekly at the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel in the beautiful Khorassan Room from May 23, 1959, until Sept. 10, 1983, more than 1,000 shows were taped for airing on KPLR-TV Channel 11.

And we can‘t forget the two men responsible for making St. Louis the most respected territory in wrestling history, namely Tom Packs and Sam Muchnick. You’ll learn about them in this — the first in the series — and future volumes, but for now, enjoy the history of every detail we’ve been able to find — quite possibly every detail still in existence — pertaining to pro wrestling in St. Louis for the years 1873 to 1927.

You'll learn about:

☆ The first reference in newspapers to any noteworthy wrestling match in St. Louis.
☆ The first reference to wrestlers in St. Louis taking on challengers from the audience, i.e. "all-comers".
☆ The first-ever Græco-Roman wrestling match to take place in St. Louis.
☆ The first-ever wrestling match between ladies to take place in St. Louis.
☆ The first-ever wrestling match in which a lady took on all-comers — INCLUDING MEN — in St. Louis.
☆ A listing of every known match that took place in the various venues — Theatre Comique, The Temple, Central Turner Hall, Masonic Hall, Standard Theater, Tom Kelly’s bar, The Coliseum, The Arena, Kiel Auditorium, and many others.
☆ Challenges, telegrams, and letters, to and from wrestlers, published in the newspapers.
☆ Newspaper reports about incidents involving wrestlers, including riots, arrests, assaults, scams, cons, thefts, lawsuits, injuries, deaths, & divorces.
☆ How wrestlers swindle unsuspecting fans out of their money by convincing them to place wagers on matches.
☆ The first pro wrestling tournament held in St. Louis.
☆ The formation of the Missouri Amateur Athletic Club.
☆ The very first photo of a St. Louis wrestling match published in a newspaper.
☆ The wrestler who smeared Vaseline all over his body before a match.
☆ An in-depth, three-part exposé of professional wrestling that appeared in a local newspaper.
☆ The origin of the St. Louis City Boxing Commission, which also controlled wrestling.
☆ Attempts to form a Municipal Athletic Commission, which would supervise pro wrestling and boxing in the city.
☆ Details (when known) and stipulations of wrestling matches, attendance figures, box office reports, a description of the promoters & promotions, plus origins of the local champions and the titles.
☆ The origins of Tom Packs,the first major St. Louis promoter, and that of future referees Harry Sharpe, John C. Meyers & Harry Cook.
☆ PLUS! The earliest sightings of a young Sam Muchnick (19 years old!), who would one day promote wrestling in St. Louis and go down in history as "The Dean of Wrestling Promoters."
☆ And much, much more!

This fascinating, comprehensive book of historical information is enhanced by an amazing array of more than 140 rare photos, classic newspaper ads, and little-known facts and stories. This is a reference that wrestling historians, and even casual fans of sports entertainment, will refer to over and over again.

$26.95