Gene Stanlee

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Eugene Stanlee Zygowicz
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Gene Stanlee
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Billed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Born	January 1, 1917(1917-01-01) Chicago, Illinois
Died	September 23, 2005 Los Angeles, California
Debut	1946

Gene Stanlee (January 1, 1917 - September 23, 2005) was an American professional wrestling star of the 1950s. During his wrestling career, he was known by the nickname "Mr America".

1 Early life
2 Professional wrestling career
3 Later life
4 Championships and accomplishments
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early life

Eugene Stanley Zygowicz was born in Chicago, Illinois.^[1] His parents, Victoria and Paul Zygowicz, were Polish immigrants.^[1] Gene was the eighth child of fifteen -- he had eight brothers and six sisters.

At the age of five, Gene fell down a set of stairs, leaving himself partially paralyzed. Though given his last rites at his bedside, Gene fought back to regain his health, inspired in part by seeing a strongman at a church. When he turned eight years old, he was able to start wrestling and competing against other boys. To develop his physique, Gene collected iron from the railyard and fashioned his own homemade gym. Soon, young Gene competed in bodybuilding competitions. By his own count, he claimed to have 165 bodybuilding trophies and 50 gold medals.

During World War II, Gene served on a U.S. Navy floating repair ship as a machinist alongside his brother Steve, who was also in the Navy. He reportedly wrestled 134 matches for audiences of fellow servicemen in the South Pacific area during the war.^[2] Upon his discharge, he was sought out by wrestling promoters, who wanted to capitalize on the publicity garnered by this "pinup boy of the Navy."

[edit] Professional wrestling career

According to historian Fred Hornby, who published a Gene Stanlee Record Book in the early 1980s, Stanlee's first professional match was April 26, 1946 in Milwaukee against Leo Kirilenko. His early matches were all around the Chicago-Milwaukee area.

His career as Gene "Mr. America" Stanlee picked up in 1951. After defeating Pat O'Hara on September 24 of that year Gene became NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion, and it was around this time he formed a tag team with his real life brother Steve Stanlee. Bob Merrill also worked as a kayfabe third brother, Bob Stanlee.

On November 18, 1952 Lou Thesz faced off, and defeated, Gene Stanlee in 15:14 to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Gene sold out Madison Square Garden over 50 times in his career.

While wrestling for the Midwest Wrestling Association, Stanlee won the Ohio version of the MWA Heavyweight Championship on February 2, 1956.^[3] He held the belt for over two months before dropping it to Bobo Brazil on April 19.^[4]

In an interview for the Icons of Wrestling program that aired on Canada's Biography Channel, and later Britain's TWC, Stanlee explained his concept of showmanship. "When I walked into the ring, I would add a little showmanship to my style before I wrestled. I noticed that as I was achieving more and more showmanship, I started getting ideas. I seen that the sport was not bringing in women. So I starting glamorizing, thinking up beautiful costumes." In an era when a ring jacket was a novelty, Stanlee shone, and his 52 different ring jackets (which he would never wear twice in a year) sparkled. He had monogrammed towels -- "Wrestling's TV King" -- made up to wear once he took off the ring jacket. The elaborate entrance would serve to infuriate opponents, whether they be face or heel. The glitz would be rewarded with over 200 magazine covers during his career.

[edit] Later life

After retiring from the squared circle, Stanlee, who was a health nut and longtime vegetarian, began to sell a line of supplements and later became an advisor/physical trainer for many of Hollywood's great actors and actresses, such as Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Cheryl Tiggs. Gene described himself as the "world's foremost authority on age reversal through blood purification", something that worked well for himself as he would go on to still be very active up until the day he died.

Gene had not made a public appearance in over 20 years when he was honored at the Cauliflower Alley Club 2002 reunion in Las Vegas.