Tom Packs
| Tom Packs | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
August 15, 1894 Poulithra, Arcadia, Greece |
| Died | October 22, 1964 (aged 70) St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Tom Packs |
| Debut | c. 1920 |
Thomas Nicholas Packs (August 15, 1894 – October 22, 1964), born Anthanasios Pakiotis, was a Greek-American professional wrestling promoter. He was one of the top promoters over the first half of the 20th century and was responsible for building one of the nation’s most prestigious wrestling territories in St. Louis.
Anthanasios Pakiotis was born in Poulithra, Arcadia, Greece on August 15, 1894, though he would eventually become part of the flood of turn-of-the-century Eastern European immigrants when his parents brought him to the United States in 1907. Upon entering the country, his name was anglicized to Thomas Nicholas Packs; and his family then settled in Chicago, which subsequently played host to a pro wrestling boom period during his teenage years (as Packs thus witnessed the sport’s two high-profile encounters between Georg Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch). Moreover, one of Packs’ relatives, John Contos, had begun promoting wrestling matches in St. Louis during the early 1920s, and Packs subsequently joined him in 1922 as a partner at age 28.
Though just starting out in the business, Tom Packs quickly distinguished himself as a crafty promoter and a shrewd businessman. After the rise of the Gold Dust Trio in the early 1920s, Packs astutely recognized the industry’s emerging shift from legitimate contests towards worked results; and he began engaging in the practice of “trading” the world title with other promoters. In return for a fee, Packs would instruct his region’s “champion” to drop the belt to a grappler from another territory, thus boosting the new champion’s credibility with fans while concurrently earning additional revenues for himself. Regardless, Packs retained control over the title itself, and he was not above stripping the belt from a dishonest competitor who failed to go along with the pre-arranged plan. Consequently, Packs was able to raise fan interest while also increasing the gate receipts; and before long, he incorporated Tom Packs Sport Enterprises, which soon established itself as the area’s top sports franchise while promoting both wrestling and boxing events. Then in 1930, Packs officially joined the National Wrestling Association, a division of the National Boxing Association that maintained control over various state athletic commissions.
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Wikipedia