Joe Stecher
| Joe Stecher | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
April 4, 1893 Dodge, Nebraska |
| Died | March 29, 1974 (aged 80) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Joe Stecher |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Billed weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
| Debut | 1912 |
| Retired | 1934 |
Joe Stecher (April 4, 1893 – March 29, 1974), sometimes spelled Joe Stetcher, was a professional wrestler and three-time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.
Stecher is the first professional wrestler to regain the original version of the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship.
The son of Bohemian immigrants, Joseph "Joe" Stecher was born on April 4, 1893 on a 400-acre (1.6 km2) farm in Dodge, Nebraska. Joe was the youngest of the family’s eight children, and as a youth, he excelled in numerous sports, including swimming, golf, tennis, and baseball. While the boys were still young, Frank Stecher enrolled his three sons in a wrestling course at the local Fremont YMCA, and Joe's older brothers soon emerged as accomplished amateur grapplers. Joe's eldest brother, Lewis, would earn a commission to Annapolis, and as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, he was eventually recognized as the National Intercollegiate Light Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Moreover, Anton ("Tony") Stecher starred as the premier wrestler at Fremont High School; and as a result, Joe was determined to follow in his brothers' large footsteps. From the moment he took the mat, it was clear that Joe was a natural wrestling talent, as he utilized his strong body and long limbs to outclass his opponents. Then in 1909, as a high school senior at just age 16, he nearly defeated "Doc" Benjamin Roller, one of the world's top turn-of-the-century grapplers, in a hard-fought exhibition bout while Roller was touring the Midwest.
In 1912, both Joe and Tony Stecher decided to join the professional ranks; and Joe easily defeated Bill Hokief in his first pro match. After a few months, it soon became apparent that Joe, who was taller and heavier than his older brother, was also the clearly superior grappler. However, Tony possessed greater savvy for the business; and so he subsequently became Joe's trainer and co-manager along with Joe Hetmanek (who had previously served as the Dodge postmaster). During this time, he also developed freakishly strong leg muscles as he practiced squeezing 100-pound sacks of grain on the farm until they would ultimately burst. As a result, Stecher soon became renowned for his feared leg scissors submission hold, which subsequently earned him the nickname of "The Scissors King". Nevertheless, Stecher would not gain national awareness until attracting the attention of the fabled "Farmer" Martin Burns, the former American Heavyweight Champion who was also the mentor to the now-current World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, Frank Gotch. While touring the area, Burns planned to sucker the area gamblers by offering cash to any local wrestler who could defeat his "strongman", who just happened to be world-class hooker Yussiff Hussane, one of wrestling's feared "Terrible Turks". This was a standard con for Burns' group, and when young Stecher accepted the offer, nobody anticipated that he would pose a legitimate challenge. However, Stecher proceeded to outwrestle the great champion, and when he finally slapped on his patented scissors hold after 45 minutes, a desperate Hussane was disqualified for biting Stecher’s leg.
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