Frank Gotch
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April 27, 1877 Frank Gotch was born according to a monument in his honor and the mausoleum where he was born. Some historians state he was actually born in 1878. To make matters even worse at time of death some state he was born in 1876 while others state 1878. Unless his record of birth is ever found we may never know how old Frank Gotch actually was for definite, however, I'm inclined to believe the mausoleum based on the fact it would have been his family who had the plates inscribed with his details.
What is agreed upon though is that he grew up on a farm just south of Humbolt, Iowa, he was one of nine children from Fred and Amelia Gotch. Frank would possess that uncanny natural strength that many great wrestlers from a farming background had and still have to this day. By the time he was teenager he had taken to wrestling in his local area making some what of a name for himself in the community.
Frank's first professional match is listed as April 2, 1899 when he took on Marshall Green, Gotch won via a strangle hold. he is quoted as saying that he won three straight falls in approximately an hours match. His first prominent match came on June 16, 1899 when he met the American Heavyweight Champion at the time, Dan McLeod. Like his date of birth there's more than one story to this contest. Some places claim McLeod was sent there to test the young man who was really coming on the radars, while others state the match was purely coincidental. It is agreed that McLeod used pseudonym for the match though. Gotch lost but put on quite a showing lasting nearly an hour before succumbing to the first call against him and taking it over an hour before being felled a second time.
Six months later on December 18, 1899 Gotch met Farmer Burns. He had purposely gone to seek out the match and accepted an open challenge that Burns was holding prior to a scheduled match against Halil Adali. Burns threw Gotch in 11 minutes. Clearly it was enough to leave Burns impressed as by January 4, 1900 Gotch would be accepted into the Martin Farmer Burns wrestling program and wrestling troupe that toured the nation.
The next month on February 26, 1900 Frank Gotch won his very first championship when he defeated Linn Ruby in two straight falls totaling 1 hour and 20 minutes. Nebraska State Champion J.H. Gallentine challenged Gotch to a match following this. Going forward Gotch would continue competing through-out the surrounding regions, September 26, 1900 saw a big match for him when he took on and defeated Ernest Roeber, who was William Muldoon's pupil.
Under two months later on November 1 Gotch met Tom Jenkins and lasted nearly a full hour before being thrown by top Catch competitor. December 22 saw Frank Gotch suffer a defeat to Michael Crowe. I mentioned earlier that Gotch was challenged by J.H. Gallentine, the two met in a handicap contest on March 9, 1900, however, I have no record of a title match between the two. With this loss to Michael Crowe it is that Gotch lost both the Nebraska and Iowa State Championships so it's a safe assumption at some point between March 9 and December 22 he had defeated Gallentine.
At some point over the next three months Frank won back the Iowa State Championship only to lose it again, this time to Oscar Wasem, two falls to one, on March 27, 1901. It should be noted Farmer Burns defeated Wasem a week later. In the summer of that year Gotch traveled to Alaska and the Yukon area of Canada. There he cleaned house money-wise under the pseudonym of Frank Kennedy. He had gone there as part of a troupe put together by J.C. 'Ole' Marsh with James Hiram McLaughlin. In his final appearance Gotch competed in a boxing match but would be disqualified for throwing his opponent and thus losing $1,000. Even with that loss it's still thought he took home at least $30,000, with a newspaper quoting $18,000+ for just the one match where he defeated Silas Archer the Alaska State Champion.
Back in Iowa and across the Midwestern states Frank Gotch came home to be celebrated as a conquering hero, with the story being pushed in newspapers that he had gone their originally looking for work in the mining villages. He picked up a win in a return bout with Oscar Wasem and with it regained his Iowa State Championship in December 1901 to crown off what had been an extremely lucrative year for the young man.
Through-out 1902 he carried on touring the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest with the Burns/Ole Marsh troupe. This time was all about solidifying Gotch, giving him a number of wins over recognizable names to build him up as the person to take over as the lead man of the camp when Martin Burns decided to step down. A heavyweight wrestler like Gotch would be better for business than the smaller Burns.
Going into 1903 his ascension in the ranks continued as he took down reputable wrestler Carl Pons on January 10 before moving on to a contest against Tom Jenkins, one of the top Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestlers in the country. Gotch would lose but he lasted 1 hour and 5 minutes with the formidable Jenkins. Gotch was still being billed as both the Klondike and Iowa State Champion at this time. For the rest of the year he continued to build steam and even traded victories with Farmer Burns. The pupil had gone form being beaten by the master to being able to get a victory from him on occasion.
Of course the rest of 1903 had all been about building up to a rematch between Gotch and Jenkins. January 27, 1904 marked that rematch. In what the papers called a vicious contest Frank Gotch defeated Tom Jenkins two falls to none in front of 5,000 fans to capture the American Heavyweight Championship. On February 3 the first tease for Frank Gotch Vs. Georg Hackenschmidt is circulated in newspapers. Along with this for the first half of 1904 much talks is thrown around of a third match between Jenkins and Gotch, with large sums of money being said to be put up by both men.
June 11 of that year would see him defeat the Canadian Champion, Dan McMahon, further cementing Gotch's place as the best wrestler in all of North America. Some papers had begun calling Gotch the World Champion prior to this bout, but it was often a claim made to whoever was in possession of the American Heavyweight Championship. Frank, in July, started to make claims he would go on an international tour to meet Hackenschmidt rather than on waiting for Hackenschmidt to come to America.
Gotch would get to go against Dan McLeod again on August 8 and this time he beat the Canadian two falls to one. They would meet again on October 5 with Gotch winning in two straight falls this time. On top of all the promoting of possible matches with Jenkins and Hackenschmidt by the end of December Frank Gotch had also issued a challenge to champion boxer, Jim Jeffries.
A slight hitch occurred in the push of Gotch during the opening months of 1905 when he lost the American title on March 15, 1905. Or may-be it had all been manufactured so Georg Hackenschmidt who was already booked in a contest with Tom Jenkins could win the 'unified' World Heavyweight Championship on May 4, 1905 leading to a bigger match between Hackenschmidt and Gotch who still hadn't met yet with already a year of teasing in papers and from both men and a further prolonging in the build of what would become the match of the century.
To add further fuel to the fire Gotch publicly challenged Hackenschmidt in an arena before the Russian Lion took to the ring for a match on May 6, just two days after the World Title victory. Hackenschmidt refused the challenge stating he'd be happy to face the Iowan on his next tour later that year. For the rest of 1905 Gotch continued to tour and get victories over all comers such as Magnus Bech-Olsen the former Danish and some claim World Champion (That's a whole other story though) and Professor M.J. Dwyer.
Going into 1906 if it wasn't already clear that Gotch was the number one name in professional wrestling in the North of America a win over Tom Jenkins to recapture the American Heavyweight Championship sure was the final accolade to put him right at the top with no peers as Jenkins was ready to bow out of the grapple game. Again Frank started up heavily on wanting to face Hackenschmidt offering to put up large forfeiture money to make the contest happen.
Again on the assumption that all of this was worked to bring int he maximum gate for what had to be the inevitable match between Hackenschmidt and Gotch what can only be called a sheer piece of genius by the match makers was played through-out 1906. That was placing Frank against foreign opponents for him to beat and mow down proving he was indeed the rightful man to be granted a match against the Estonian Russian Lion.
Some believe this was a clever angle in a way to boost tickets over the holiday season without harming Gotch's reputation, others believe it was a freak accident, however, on December 1, 1906 Frank Gotch was defeated by light heavyweight and vast underdog wrestler, Fred Beell. The loss occurred after Gotch reportedly fell out of the ring hitting his head off the hard floor causing him to be knocked senseless and in the process losing the American Heavyweight Championship.
Just a few days later on December 17, Frank Gotch easily defeated Beell in the rematch to reclaim his championship laurels. 1907 would be some what of a quiet year for Gotch as he spread his matches apart and took on what would be considered a light schedule for him after the pace he had set the previous years. He still had notable matches though and would only lose in handicap matches for the year. Most of the contests were against people with in the Burns/Gotch troupe, by this time Marsh had left.
Finally after nearly four years of hype and potential matches in February of 1908 it was signed, sealed and delivered Frank Gotch would go one-on-one with Georg Hackenschmidt for the World Heavyweight Championship. The leading days would be used to hold 'warm-up' matches for both men often against similar opponents if not actually the same ones letting the public cast their speculation over what would happen when the two met based on the outcomes against this string of opponents.
In Chicago on April 3, 1908, at Dexter Park Pavilion in front of 6,000+ fans , the match was set, it was a nationwide extravaganza, with everyone believing the bigger and stronger Russian Lion would be the victor, but Frank Gotch had been painted as the American hope so while everyone had their doubts, they had faith Frank Gotch could do something no other American could do.
The first fall would go for over two hours until Gotch finally managed to lock on one of his variations of the toe hold. Hackenschmidt would concede the first fall then refuse to come back out for the second, forfeiting the championship. Gotch's popularity just exploded from there becoming arguably the most famous athlete of his day. Starring in a play called 'All About A Bout,' he was invited to the White House to meet President Teddy Roosevelt and also defeating a Japanese jui jitsu expert via submission. When attending a Chicago Cubs game almost the whole team approached him for his autograph following it. His play became a huge hit everywhere taking it overseas receiving a standing ovation no matter where it was the play would be extremely well received.
Initially Hackenschmidt was a gracious winner. Back in England he took to claiming Gotch had used foul tactics which the referee had failed to acknowledge and also that Gotch had been oiled. Of course Gotch denied this and while all this talk was going on the motion picture of the event was being sent from town-to-town of the contest. To coincide with his play Gotch took part in a tour of Britain and performed in a few exhibition matches during late 1908. Talk of a match with Hackenschmidt was rampant for his whole stay there. Hackenschmidt had swore never to face Gotch again though.
Back in America a new foreign menace was taking over and toppling all the people Gotch had already beaten, naturally when Gotch arrived back in America he went through the same list of people again before having a big match in front of 15,000+ fans against Yussiff Mahmout. With Gotch's popularity at an all time high he didn't need to worry about who he was wrestling to a degree as fans would pay to see him wrestle anyone even if they knew it was a sure thing and that's how it stayed for 1909.
1910 saw an interesting turn in the Hackenschmidt-Gotch feud as while the Russian Lion was in Australia in January it was announced in a newspapers that a match had been signed for later that month in Melbourne between the two. No match ever took place. Frank Gotch even denied he had even been contacted about one, Hackenschmidt on the other hand constantly stated his only purpose of going to Australia was to secure a contest on neutral soil as he felt being in Chicago the fans were all against him.
Really there was a battle going on between promoters on who would get the match and in what city. Everyone wanted it, the first hadn't been the match of the century, it was never intended to be the rematch was going to be the big one. Talk died down again as the year moved on to the spring and Gotch busied himself with working the circuits in America as well as taking on the newest foreign threat in Stanislaus Zbyszko on June 1.
Both Hackenschmidt and Gotch would claim retirement from the ring in late 1910. Gotch even going as far as to award his American Heavyweight Championship to Henry Ordemann on October 25. He, however, stated it was not his place to award the World Championship to someone and rather would hold onto that one until it was decided what should be done about it.
By the end of the year it had come out in certain newspapers that Gotch and Hackenschmidt would take place in 1911. The only problem being this had not been announced by either camps confirmed by anyone involved in the negotiations. The papers were one hundred percent correct though. In early 1911 it was announced officially that on September 4, 1911 from Comiskey Park in Chicago the two would meet for the second time.
Similar to the first time they met both men went through a series of a 'warm-up' matches and the training of both men was heavily documented. This truly was the biggest match wrestling had ever seen and would remain that way for a long time to come. It was anticipated by the whole international sporting world. So big was this night, that the evening prior around 1,000 fans crowded outside Gotch's hotel chanting his name, refusing to leave until he made an appearance.
The match itself is noted as being viewed by 33,000 fans. This time it would be no where near as long as the first with Gotch winning the first fall in 27 minutes and the second in only six minutes.
There is much controversy surrounding this match, Hackenschmidt claimed to have sustained a leg injury, although it was said any injury sustained was not of enough to cause a detrimental effect to his match time ability. How the injury occurred was said by Hackenschmidt himself to have been during a session with his physician and training partner, Dr. Benjamin F. Roller. A story cropped up after the fact that Adolph Ernst also known as Ad Santel had been paid by the Gotch camp to injure Hackenschmidt, the story was given further life when Lou Thesz claimed Santel had told him it. As far as I can tell from records at the time there is no proof Santel was ever even at the Hackenschmidt training camp.
Gotch finished out the year with a series of easy bouts. Through-out 1912 and the beginning of 1913 he kept up a steady pace of bouts but by this point he was made for life money-wise his star could get no brighter and he picked and chose when and where he competed. One of his most notable appearances was on April 1, 1913 against Georg Lurich which Gotch won in just over 23 minutes. In 1914 he officially vacated the World Championship.
He'd opened up an automobile repair shop in 1912, his image was being used for advertising and as far as the audience was concerned he'd beaten everyone there was to beat. Gotch would float in and out of retirement, usually coming out when their was a new menace from abroad who could not be conquered until the World Champion laced up the boots 'one more time' to prove that America was still the number one country.
While wrestling for the Sells-Floto circus, run by Jack Curley, Gotch would take on all comers in 1916, he had been signed to a big money deal by the promoter for a thirty-week tour. During that tour Gotch broke his ankle in a training bout with Bob Managoff Sr.. The injury couldn't have come at a worse time as they were just building up to a huge match between young kid on the block Joe Stecher and Frank Gotch.
That match would never take place though. In August Gotch wrestled in a special exhibition match with Jim Esson for a film recording. This instead would be Frank Gotch's last match and with it he went out a victor. Shortly after Gotch would be forced to retire permanently to his home in Iowa as he had taken a turn for the sick and would be bed ridden for nearly a year before passing away on December 16, 1917, of kidney failure, although there is a rumor it was actually syphilis, but isn't there always with famous people?
According to Mac Davis:
"When news of his death reached the people of his native Iowa, the whole state went into mourning. In Humboldt, his hometown, every store closed down, the schoolhouse was shuttered and empty, on the day of his funeral. Thousands of weeping mourners, gathered from many parts of the land, trudged the icy path to the rural cemetery on a cold December day to bid a final farewell to the farm boy who had been the greatest wrestling champion in history."
Frank Gotch will never be forgotten by the people in the state of Iowa. There's a road named after him, in 2012 a statue of him was erected in Humboldt, local schools and athletics clubs use his name. Many people to this day still consider him the greatest professional wrestler who ever lived. It was reported he passed away with up to $400,000 to his name which is over $7,000,000 in today's money. That's without any merchandising deals, without television, with just newspapers and word of mouth.
George Barton, sports editor of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune - "He was a remarkable physical specimen. He was tremendously strong, amazingly fast and catlike in movements. Frank was master of all holds on offense and blocks for these holds on defense. He also mastered leverage to the nth degree and was the last word in courage."
George Whiting, Governor of Iowa wanted Gotch to run for Governor, but Gotch had fell ill.
In 1924, the Des Moines Register conducted a poll to see what Iowan the state's citizens admired most, in any field of endeavor. Frank Gotch was an easy winner.
A 1928 poster entitled "Celebrities in the World of Sports" had photos of 88 athletes, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Red Grange, Knute Rockne, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. Frank Gotch was included...even though he had been dead for 11 years.
A 1934 advertisement in Popular Mechanics magazine, for Harley-Davidson motorcycles, boasted that "Frank Gotch had the power that wins and so does the 1934 Harley-Davidson." The ad appeared 17 years after Frank had passed from the scene.
1950's Karl Gotch honors Frank Gotch by adopting his surname to compete under.
As late as the 1980s, some Humboldt businesses were still using his name and photo in local advertisements.
In the best-selling Book of Lists (published in 1977), Gotch is ranked as the No. 1 professional wrestler of all time. The list was taken from a 1934 article written by Nat Fleischer, dean of boxing and wrestling writers and founder of The Ring magazine. Hackenschmidt is rated No. 2.
The Humboldt school district sponsors a Frank Gotch Wrestling Tournament for kids yet today, and a local kids wrestling club still uses his name.
A ten-acre park south of Humboldt bears his name. The acreage is near where he grew up on his father's old farmstead. On the large stone marker in the park is an etching of a smiling Frank Gotch and the following words: "The sports world has never known his equal."
December 1, 2011 - A new sign for a street in Humboldt, Iowa, has been erected in honor of the great world heavyweight wrestling champion, Frank Gotch.
July 17, 2012 - Gotch statue unveiling makes an unforgettable event. Some 95 years after his death some 400 fans saw a magnificent statue of Gotch unveiled in his hometown of Humboldt, Iowa. The eight-foot tall bronze statue stands on a three-foot pedestal in Bicknell Park, the very spot where Gotch trained for his epic match with George Hackenschmidt, The Russian Lion, in 1911.
George Barton, sports editor of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune - "He was a remarkable physical specimen. He was tremendously strong, amazingly fast and catlike in movements. Frank was master of all holds on offense and blocks for these holds on defense. He also mastered leverage to the nth degree and was the last word in courage."
George Whiting, Governor of Iowa wanted Gotch to run for Governor, but Gotch had fell ill.
In 1924, the Des Moines Register conducted a poll to see what Iowan the state's citizens admired most, in any field of endeavor. Frank Gotch was an easy winner.
A 1928 poster entitled "Celebrities in the World of Sports" had photos of 88 athletes, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Red Grange, Knute Rockne, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney. Frank Gotch was included...even though he had been dead for 11 years.
A 1934 advertisement in Popular Mechanics magazine, for Harley-Davidson motorcycles, boasted that "Frank Gotch had the power that wins and so does the 1934 Harley-Davidson." The ad appeared 17 years after Frank had passed from the scene.
1950's Karl Gotch honors Frank Gotch by adopting his surname to compete under.
As late as the 1980s, some Humboldt businesses were still using his name and photo in local advertisements.
In the best-selling Book of Lists (published in 1977), Gotch is ranked as the No. 1 professional wrestler of all time. The list was taken from a 1934 article written by Nat Fleischer, dean of boxing and wrestling writers and founder of The Ring magazine. Hackenschmidt is rated No. 2.
The Humboldt school district sponsors a Frank Gotch Wrestling Tournament for kids yet today, and a local kids wrestling club still uses his name.
A ten-acre park south of Humboldt bears his name. The acreage is near where he grew up on his father's old farmstead. On the large stone marker in the park is an etching of a smiling Frank Gotch and the following words: "The sports world has never known his equal."
December 1, 2011 - A new sign for a street in Humboldt, Iowa, has been erected in honor of the great world heavyweight wrestling champion, Frank Gotch.
July 17, 2012 - Gotch statue unveiling makes an unforgettable event. Some 95 years after his death some 400 fans saw a magnificent statue of Gotch unveiled in his hometown of Humboldt, Iowa. The eight-foot tall bronze statue stands on a three-foot pedestal in Bicknell Park, the very spot where Gotch trained for his epic match with George Hackenschmidt, The Russian Lion, in 1911.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Frank Gotch.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #56.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Last Updated: August 21, 2019.