Butch Levy

For similarly named people, see Leonard Levy (disambiguation).
Butch Levy
No. 64, 76, 35
Position: Guard
Personal information
Date of birth: (1921-02-19)February 19, 1921
Place of birth: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Date of death: February 9, 1999(1999-02-09) (aged 77)
Place of death: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight: 256 lb (116 kg)
Career information
High school: Minneapolis (MN) West
College: Minnesota
NFL draft: 1942 / Round: 4 / Pick: 27
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Leonard Bernard "Butch" Levy (February 19, 1921 – February 9, 1999) was an American professional athlete. The 1941 NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion and 1942 AAU champion, Levy would be selected by the Cleveland Rams of the National Football League in the 1942 NFL Draft. He instead enlisted in the United States Navy to play guard for one of that branch's organized military service teams, playing for the Great Lakes Blue Jackets for three seasons.

Following discharge from the Navy, Levy played for two seasons with the NFL's Rams, winning a NFL Championship in 1945 and helping to launch the franchise in Los Angeles in 1946. He then jumped to the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference for the 1947 and 1948 seasons, winning First Team All League honors in the latter year — his final season of professional football.

Following his football career, Levy moved into the world of professional wrestling as part of the American Wrestling Association.

Biography

Early years

Levy attended West High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he won a total of twelve letters in wrestling, football, baseball and hockey. He was the 1937 and 1938 Minnesota high school and Northwest AAU heavyweight wrestling champion.[1]

College career

Levy played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers from 1939 to 1941.[2] The Gophers won the national championship in 1940 and 1941, finishing with an 8-0 record both seasons while Levy earned All-American honors both years.[1][3] He garnered AP All-Western Conference first team recognition his senior year in 1941.[2] He was named to the Chicago College All-Star Game in 1942.[1]

Levy participated in collegiate wrestling, winning the NCAA heavyweight championship in 1941, becoming the first Golden Gopher to do so and also earned All-American honors the same year.[4][5] He suffered a broken foot midway through the 1941-42 season, causing him to miss the rest of the year.[5] He won the AAU heavyweight championship in wrestling in 1942.[6][7] Levy also lettered in baseball for the Golden Gophers in 1942.[8] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics.[1]

He would be inducted into the University of Minnesota's "M" Club Hall of Fame in 1994.[4]

Professional football career

Levy was selected by the Cleveland Rams with the 27th pick in the 1942 NFL Draft.

Initially disallowed from joining the military during World War II due to poor eyesight, Levy was allowed entry after agreeing to play football for the Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets, one of the organized Military service football teams.[1][9] He would spend three years as a member of the United States Navy playing for the team.[2]

The Guard Levy was regarded as a massive lineman by the standards of his era, standing 6'0" and hitting the scales at 260 pounds.[10] He would play in seven games for the Rams during the 1945 season, winning the NFL Championship with the team.[2]

When the Rams moved to Los Angeles in 1946, Levy followed, inking a one year contract in March 1946 and appearing in ten games for the team in 1946.[2]

The following season, Levy jumped leagues to sign with the Los Angeles Dons of the upstart All-America Football Conference (AAFC). He would play in 25 games for the Dons in 1947 and 1948, earning All-AAFC first team honors in his final year.[2] Levy retired from professional football at the end of the 1948 season.[2]

Professional wrestling career

Levy became a professional wrestler after his football career. He participated in the NWA Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club / American Wrestling Association, wrestling under the ring name of "Butch Levy". He was a two-time NWA World Tag Team champion, first with Verne Gagne and later with Leo Nomellini, both of whom also played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.[5] Levy met amateur wrestler Pat O'Connor from New Zealand during a wrestling tour in Pat's home country in 1950.[11] Levy then trained him to be a professional wrestler. O'Connor later won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship and NWA World Heavyweight Championship.[12]

Personal life

Levy married Loretta "Lucky" Bellson in January 1944 and they had three children.[13] Lucky died in 1997.[14] Len was Jewish and was active in the Jewish community.[1][15] He worked in his father's plumbing business before selling it in the late 1960s and becoming an insurance agent for Bankers Life. Levy became a stockbroker in the 1970s and later worked for Piper Jaffray.[1] He was also a securities salesman.[16] He suffered a brain tumor in 1991. Levy's son Rand said Len was "supposed to die" but "people were just astounded to see him a year later on the golf course."[1]

Levy died of cancer on February 9, 1999 at his home in Minneapolis.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Her, Lucy Y. (February 11, 1999). "Butch Levy, 78, 'U' football star". Star Tribune. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Levy, Len "Butch"". jewsinsports.org. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Minnesota Yearly Results". cfbdatawarehouse.com. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Leonard "Butch" Levy". gophersports.com. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Palmer, Mark (May 31, 2007). "InterMat Rewind: Minnesota's heavyweight legacy". intermatwrestle.com. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  6. ↑ Wechsler, Bob (2008). Day by Day in Jewish Sports History. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 102.
  7. ↑ "AAU NATIONAL FREESTYLE CHAMPIONS" (PDF). aausports.org. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  8. ↑ Christensen, Ray (2012). Ray Christensen's Gopher Tales: Stories from all Eleven University of Minnesota's Men's Sports. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
  9. ↑ "There's a Battle Ahead in Soldier's Field". Chicago Daily Tribune. October 13, 1942. p. 25. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  10. ↑ Associated Press, "LA Rams Contract Heavyweight Guard," Klamath Falls Herald and News, whole no. 10,773 (March 20, 1946), pg. 7.
  11. ↑ "Pat O'Connor". pwhf.org. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  12. ↑ Grasso, John (2014). Historical Dictionary of Wrestling. Scarecrow Press. p. 213.
  13. ↑ "Leonard (Butch) Levy papers.". Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Leonard "Butch" Levy". jhsum.org. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  15. ↑ Hunegs, Steve (November 23, 2011). "Ruminations on Gopher football, racism, WWII and Sandy Stephens from a long-suffering fan". minnpost.com. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Leonard "Butch" Levy in his Navy uniform, Minneapolis, Minnesota". mndigital.org. Retrieved July 26, 2015.

External links

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