Professional Wrestling May 1939

Home // 1939 // Previous month // Next month

Hammond IN: May 8, 1939: (Civic Che enter, att. 4,000) ... (World Title) Lou Thesz* beat Mike Mazurki (2-1, cor) ... Referee: Dick Patton ... Chief Tom Marvin beat Warren Bockwinkel (sub for Joe Corbett) (2-1) ... NOTE: Thesz billed as the "Hungarian Hurricane" and "proclaimed champion by the United States Professional Wrestling Association ... owns the $10,000 jeweled belt, emblematic of the title ... Fans who can't leave fireside or business to see the Civic Center show may listen to John Whitaker, Hammond Times sports editor, describe the main event over a local radio station from 10 to 10:30" ... Thesz said to have posted $5,000 "binding him to a contract to meet any wrestler in the world, any time, any place." -- Hammond IN Times, May 5, 1939

HUNGARIAN KEEPS TITLE; MARVIN WINS
(By George T. Ault, Hammond IN Times, May 9, 1939)

Four thousand fans saw two heavyweight wrestlers forget their script for one brief second at the Hammond Civic entger last night and 475 pounds of prime beef spilled over the ropes onto the hardwood floor in a crash which sent one limping and one horizontal to their dressing rooms.

Dragging his left leg, Don Louis Thesz, the Hungarian mat idol, pulled himself back into the ring to claim the third and deciding fall from Polish Mike Mazurki and retain his world's championship. It was Big Mike's first Civic Center defeat and it came after Thesz had been pinned for the first time in two years.

The 4,000 fans came out to see Chief Tommy Marvin, the ornery Oklahoma Osage whose ring tactics are a throwback to the gentle art of scalping as practiced by the noble redskin. But Marvin's semi-windup victory over Warren Bockwinkel of St. Louis was almost forgotten in the thrilling finish to the Thesz-Mazurki feature match.

Thesz took the first fall in 15:15 after a fast series of head scissors left Mazurki groggy. Mike was knocked out when Thesz leaped high in the air and kicked his opponent in the jaw.

But Don Louis' sit-down strike -- he rolls himself into a ball with his arms locked under his knees and his head down -- proved disastrous when Polish Mike rolled the Hungarian over backwards and sat on him long enough for Referee Dick Patton to count three seconds in the fastest time on record. Thesz didn't like the decision and he left the ring in a mood which ultimately proved disastrous for Mazurki. The second fall came in 14:20.

Mike wasted little time when they returned for the third fall, however, and he applied the body scissors which injured California Joe Corbett two weeks ago. Thesz, who weighs 222 pounds, finally managed to get to his feet with the 235-pound Mazurki atop him with legs around the champion's mid-riff. Thesz walked to the ropes to dump his opponent but the top-heavy load sent both wrestlers crashing to the floor below.

Thesz landed in the small of Mazurki's back and wrenhed his own left ankle. Referee Patton counted -- more slowly this time -- and Thesz crawled back into the ring. It all happened in three minutes and 32 seconds. Mazurki was carried to his dressing room. Thesz, leaning on a second, dragged his left leg.

His famous Indian "death lock" gave Chief Marvin two straight falls in the semi-windup after Bockwinkel, the handsome St. Louisian, had spilled the Osage with a series of shoulder charges in 13:55. Feminine rasslebugs almost cried when Marvin won the second and third falls in the identical time of 8:25 and sent Bockwinkel to the showers with a blood nose ...

Hammond IN: May 15, 1939: (Civic Center) ... Chief Tom Marvin vs Henry Piers ... George Hagen vs Bob Haak ... (plus) "a battle royal between five colored lads who like to toss gloves" ... Promoter: A.B. Scott ... NOTE: Haak, a former Hammond High and Indiana University wrestler and all-Big Ten tackle, was making his pro wrestling debut

Home // 1939 // Previous month // Next month