Remembering Lou Klein |
|
If I could turn back the hands of time and relive my past, I would be a very happy man. Some of my earliest memories were watching wrestling from the Chicago Amphitheater with greats like Mr. Moto, Hans Schmidt, Moose Cholak, Bobo Brazil, The Bavarian Boys, Don Eagle and many others. About the time I went to my first live wrestling match in Flint, Michigan, I watched the matches every Saturday afternoon from WXYZ-TV out of Detroit. It had its own bunch of heroes and bad guys. Dick "Mr. Michigan" Garza (later to be IGOR), Jim Hady, the Kalmikoff Brothers (Ivan and Karol), Larry Chene, Brute Bernard and Ricky Cortez, formerly the masked Crusher. These were but a few of the greats to wrestle in the Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Ontario circuit. One man that stood out in my mind was Lou Klein from Allen Park, Michigan. He had been involved in the business from as early as 1941 following a super amateur career. Not many people knew that, when Louie started, he wore a mask as the Green Hornet (yes, there were others besides me that chose that name) so that he could compete as a professional and earn a living for his growing family. Many nights he would pack the old Chesterfield arena, the Arcadia or the state fairgrounds coliseum. This era was from the 40's through the mid 50's before the Olympia and Cobo Arena were built. Lou and his half brother Red Bastein went to New York and captured the United States Tag Team Championship in the early 60's and did return to Detroit during the mid 60's. (see attached picture)
Lou wrestled for nearly four decades as a pro and is still talked about when someone asks about "The Atomic Blond from Detroit." Lou wrestled until he was 60 and retired to Okeechobee, Florida. This is from The Mellus Newspapers, October 17, 1979 about Louie's life and death. Lou Klein left the wrestling ring a champion on July 9, 1977. For more than 40 years he had entertained wrestling fans all over the metropolitan Detroit area and the country. And when he teamed up with Captain Ed George in his final bout against the Bounty Hunters in a tag team title match, the crowd gave the 245-pound Allen Parker a standing ovation. Klein took the memories of that ovation with him to Okeechobee, Fla., where he lived the final two years of his life. But at 62, Klein met an opponent he couldn't send crashing to the mat. A heart attack caught Klein unaware at his Florida home where he died Thursday. Klein fought his first wrestling match in 1935 and dominated the state's wrestling scene for five years after that. He won both the AAU and YMCA championships in Detroit and Michigan, and earned four national titles in the process. For three straight years he was voted the outstanding wrestler in the national tournament. In 1941, Klein launched a new career - giving up his amateur status to battle the forces of evil in the pro wrestling ring. In his four-decade career, Klein would battle, and subdue, such notorious opponents as The Sheik, Killer Kowalski , Dr. Jerry Graham and John Valentine. More than 9,200 matches later, Klein would recall that he won more than 90 percent - drew in five percent of his events and "was robbed" in the remaining five percent. But Klein was a teacher of the sport and act he embraced as a youngster, opening a small gym in Allen Park to teach others his favorite sport. When he moved to Florida, the gym doors closed. Klein is survived by his wife, Emily; three daughters, Linda , Sharon and Lois ; two grandchildren, two brothers and a sister. Funeral services were held Monday in Okeechobee Funeral Home, with burial at Evergreen Cemetery in Okeechobee. Lou's memory to me is that of a super parent, a great wrestler and a wonderful friend. Rest in Peace , Louis J. Klein. Percival A. Friend,
Retired
|
Comments to Percival can be made and a reply will be given if you include your addy in the E-mail to [email protected] |
E-mail the site designer at [email protected]
