King Curtis Iaukea
| King Curtis Iaukea | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Birth name | Curtis Piehau Iaukea III |
| Born |
September 15, 1937 Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Died | December 4, 2010 (aged 73) Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | King Curtis Iaukea Prince Kuhio The Wizard Prince Curtis Iaukea The Master |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Billed weight | 290 lb (130 kg) |
| Debut | 1962 |
| Retired | 1980s |
Curtis Piehau Iaukea III (September 15, 1937 – December 4, 2010) was a professional wrestler better known as King Curtis Iaukea. Iaukea won championships in several of the major regional U.S. promotions, both as a single and in various tag team combinations, during the 1960s. He then competed in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) where he won the WWF Tag Team Championship with Baron Scicluna. He was also later The Master of the Dungeon of Doom in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Under the name "Iau Kea" he appeared in the film The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze with Moe Howard declaring "That's not a man! That's a committee!".
He was the great grandson of Colonel Curtis P. Iaukea, a royal chamberlain and diplomat to the court of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliuokalani and son of Honolulu Police Department Inspector Curtis Iaukea II. He attended Punahou School and the University of California Berkeley as an economics major where he lettered as a lineman until he dropped out. He played as a tackle for the BC Lions from 1958-1959 and the Montreal Alouettes in 1959. He was also in camp with the Oakland Raiders in 1960 before being cut.
In the early mid sixties, 1963–1964, post football and before his pro wrestling debut with 50th State Wrestling, Curtis "the Bull" Iaukea briefly worked as a disc jockey for KUMU Radio station in Kaimuki under then station owner/manager John Wiser. Playing a "Classical Music" format, he provided the first OJT job internship cueing records and tapes as a station gopher/programing assistant for a young upcoming south-shore surfer Steve Gilbert, whom he paid out of his own pocket. As a result of necessitated chair replacement, KUMU DJ's benefitted for years getting to use the extremely solid yet comfortable steel swivel DJ chair with lumbar support, a legacy of "Da Bull's" near 300 lb girth which simply demolished several prior replacement bar stool type chairs becoming a major expense of legendary proportion.
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