Koca Yusuf
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February 21, 1898 - Philadelphia Times
Better known as Youssouf Ishmaelo, Yusuf Ismail, and the "Original Terrible Turk."
When we talk about someone who transcended wrestling, chances are it's the same names that are going to come up every time. Ismail is not one of them. He should be. To work out what is fact and what is fiction about his life is a task in itself, for in Turkey Ismail is almost like a mythical figure, held on the highest of high pedestals. Thus causing his story to be often exaggerated and stretched. As it would happen Ismail actually was not born in Turkey, he was from Bulgaria, which fell under the Ottoman Empire, around 1857.
It seems pretty safe to say that he started wrestling as a child, some accounts state that he actually started off wrestling young bulls while just nine years old. As he matured into a teenager it's said that his reputation had already began to spread far and wide, most importantly it had traveled to the Kirkpinar area the oil wrestling capital, actually in Turkey, where they had been holding an annual tournament since the 1300's. To this day they still hold the event each year, these days it has been moved to Edirne, Turkey, however, it retains the name "Kirkpinar."
Legend has it as a 'hairless boy,' he took on the winner of the tournament for the last twenty-six years, Kel Alico and neither man instead they wrestled all day until the Sun was setting and the following exchange of words took place, ”Here is called Kirkpinar. This place is the place of the brave. Wrestling continues here until the winner is known. Why are you not burning the tar barrels and firewood? Let them start burning. How could you abandon a hot wrestling match? If it is in my destiny to be defeated by this boy, let it be so, I'll also withdraw from these fields of the brave. How will Yusuf find the fortune again to defeat the Alico?”
Ismail replied, "Master of the masters, the greatest wrestler of all wrestlers, my brave master! Come on, let’s quit this match. You defeated me with your own words. You made me lose my strength. I can't hold you after hearing your words. If you want, please, hold me and hit my back to the ground."
Moved by the sentiment Alico uttered, ”This field is yours from now on. I would quit wrestling without any concern after seeing a pehlivan like you. The prize and the title of head wrestler is yours. Take both of them happily. Son, you deserved both of them." At that very moment the legend that would become Koca Yusuf officially began.
American newspapers reported with his local fame he was summoned to appear before the 'King' of the Empire, and was honored there as the best wrestler in all the land. With this he was given permission to travel to countries close to the region such as Egypt, Algeria, Greece, and the Ionian Islands. When he returned to the home of Kirpinar he would always help in training the young wrestlers, many of which would follow near enough identically in his footsteps.
Around 1894 he was first contacted by European promoters who wanted him to come compete in their areas, realizing the value of pitting their local heroes against this monster of man with extreme strength. During his tour across Europe it is thought he never lost. Only ever drawing on a single occasion when he met another 'Turk' named Memlik. He also said to have traveled to Asia where he took down Japanese judo experts.
After returning to Kirkpinar to continue his work with his pupils and his own training he was contacted to go to America. In late 1897 he set off on a cruise ship there and arrived either in December or January. Once there he was billed as the 'Terrible Turk.' An undefeated monster who was a borderline savage. Newspapers remarked how he drank coffee from large jugs, ground beans and all and how he always ate with his bare hands.
Something that was stressed in the papers was how the rules were different where he was from and it was emphasized that he would have to adhere to the rules now he was in America. This paid dividends as in several encounters he was disqualified for using illegal holds including against Ernest Roeber. While Ismail versus Roeber for the first time drew just as well as the following match, most people probably consider Roeber his second biggest opponent in the US. Ismail's most famous match was against "Strangler" Evan Lewis for the "Championship of the World," in front of between 7,000 and 10,000 fans. A huge crowd for that time.
Famous wrestling promoter Jack Curley remembers the 'Turk' swinging Lewis round by his ankle until he made a merry-go-around only dropping Lewis when he saw fit; it left him dizzy for two weeks apparently. Newspapers at the time generally seem to state that the 'Turk' locked on a choke-hold and was disqualified, as it was illegal. Lewis demanded he did not want to accept the fall and the rematch was restarted with a new referee, and the 'Turk' won via two falls shortly after. One paper says he actually won the other two holds via a choke?! It may just be that Lewis was incapacitated to the point where the match was declared over. Other newspapers stuck to Lewis had won the match via disqualification.
Either way, one paper quoted Lewis as saying the 'Turk' was simply the better man that night and they would meet again in the future. The 'Turk's' manager declared that he would be returning in the fall of the year after a trip back to Kirkpinar. Unfortunately 14 days later on that trip back to the Ottoman Empire, Yusuf Ismail tragically died when the ship he was on sank and over 600 people's lives were lost.
Even his death is surrounded with speculation. He was traveling on the La Buorgogne when it collided with another boat. Upon impact all the passengers were awoken by the crash and reportedly mayhem broke loos with people fighting to get off the sinking ship and the crew of the vessel totally ignoring any duties to help the passengers, instead they got themselves life boats to escape and attacked those trying to join them with oars, boat hooks, and their fists if no weapons were available preventing them from being saved.
Only 163 of the 725 passengers survived. As for Ismail the story goes he had earned the amount of $8,000 ($217,299.08 in today's money) during his time in America and insisted only being paid in gold, which he always carried in a money belt around his waist. It is said he strapped it on when he realized the sink was swimming and jumped overboard figuring he could just swim to one of the lifeboats, however, with the weight of the gold around his waist he simply sank to the bottom to the ocean with his fortune still attached to him.
One can't help but feel that story may very well be just that, a story. It is actually used in Turkish lore as a kind of fable as to why living a life full of greed will not lead to any good. Whatever happened on July 4, 1898 the professional wrestling world lost possibly what could have been the biggest attraction to that point. Ismail was only in America for six months approximately but he always drew sizable crowds and seemed to genuinely terrify the audiences perfect for an American hero to try and conquer.
We will never know if he would have been as successful on his follow-up tour in the fall of that year or not. It's perfectly plausible that he may have not as during the Lewis encounter, his last in the country, the match was met with jeers and cried of fake from the audience. Then again memory tends to make the heart grow fonder so all may have blown over by his return and he could have gone on to a rematch with Lewis in front of an even larger audience if billed right.
In stead one of his pupils traveled to America later that year as the brand new, bigger and better 'Terrible Turk.' From there on there would be many pupils of Ismail who would make that trip across the oceans after winning the Kirkpinar to intimidate and strike fear in American audience member's hearts as the 'Turks' grappled with their favorite stars. As far as we know Ismail was the first foreign savage to be billed in America and since then we've had a whole heap of them, each one paying homage to him whether they realize it or not. To everyone in Turkey he will forever be known as "Koca Yusuf" (The Great Yusuf) and will live on in the legends of their folklore forever.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Koca Yusuf.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #140.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Updated: December 27, 2018.
As with a lot of foreign wrestlers, Yusuf's name was changed while in various countries. Then take into consideration the high amount of errors in newspapers back in the late 19th century and you end up with many variations of his name. Too many to list.
As with a lot of foreign wrestlers, Yusuf's name was changed while in various countries. Then take into consideration the high amount of errors in newspapers back in the late 19th century and you end up with many variations of his name. Too many to list.