Stan Holek

Stan Holek
Born April 4, 1933[1]
Chatham, Ontario, Canada[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Stan Holek
Stan Lisowski
Stan Neilson
Cowboy Elliott Hardy
Stan Lutze
Billed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Billed weight 240 lb (110 kg)[1]
Billed from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Trained by Bret Rubi[1]
The Sheik[1]
Larry Shane[1]
Debut 1951[1]

Stan Holek (April 4, 1933) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring names, Stan Lisowski and Stan Neilson. He became known for being part of two famous "brother" tag teams, the Lisowskis (with Reggie Lisowski) and the Neilsons (with Art Neilson).

Professional wrestling career

Holek originally got into wrestling after his older brother began wrestling in Detroit.[1] At age 18 in 1951, he debuted after training with Bert Rubi, The Sheik and Larry Shane in Detroit.[1] He then began teaming with Reggie Lisowski as the Lisowski Brothers.[1]

After the team split up, Holek began teaming with Lisowski's old partner Art Neilson.[1] Neilson and Holek became known as the Neilsons.[1] The Neilsons would become AWA World Tag Team Champions in 1962 defeating the team of Bob Geigel and Stan Kowalski. They lost the title later that year to Mr. High (Doug "Gilbert" Lindzy, no relation to the latter Doug Gilbert) and Mr. Low (Dick Steinborn).

In addition, Holek wrestled as Stan Lutze in New England in the 1950s.[1] He also toured Japan in the 1960s.[1]

Personal life

Holek grew up on a farm in Chatham, Ontario and has an older brother named Laddie.[1] He moved to California in 1960 and later became an American citizen.[1] He worked in the rodeo for 13 years, and he also worked in gold mines in Nevada.[1]

He was married twice.[1] He has been married to his second wife for over 30 years, and they have two daughters.[1]

Championships and accomplishments

  • AWA World Tag Team Championship (Indiana version) (4 times) - with Art Neilson
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (Chicago version) (3 times) - with Reggie Lisowski
  • NWA International Tag Team Championship (Calgary version) (2 times) - with Art Neilson

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 Oliver, Greg (October 6, 2004). "How Holek became Lisowski then Neilson". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-12-10.

External links