Toots Mondt
| Toots Mondt | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Birth name | James Ervin Mondt |
| Born |
January 18, 1894 Garden Grove, Iowa |
| Died | June 11, 1976 (aged 82) St.Louis, Missouri |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Toots Mondt |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Billed weight | 260 lb (118 kg) |
| Trained by | Farmer Burns |
| Debut | 1912 |
| Retired | 1942 |
James Ervin "Toots" Mondt (January 18, 1894 – June 11, 1976) was an American professional wrestler and promoter who revolutionized the wrestling industry in the early to mid-1920s and co-promoted the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Some of the stars Mondt helped create from the 1920s through the 1960s included Wayne Munn, Jim Londos, Antonino Rocca, Bruno Sammartino, Stu Hart and Cowboy Bill Watts.
James Ervin Mondt was born in Garden Grove, Iowa on January 18, 1894. Joseph (Joe) Toots was his professional name. Toots' father, Frank, was a farmer and building contractor. The Mondt family moved to Weld County, Colorado in 1904.
Toots Mondt made his wrestling debut in Greeley in 1912 at the age of 18 in a carnival/wrestling style match, a match he would wrestle in for many years.Stu Hart claimed he ran into Toots by chance while wrestling in New York City and that Mondt said he received his first wrestling lesson in 1916 from Jack Taylor, and Mondt tried to recruit Hart into a territory in Washington D.C. Around this time, he also tried his hand at acrobatics. However, this was an unsuccessful move and Toots returned to wrestling matches. Toots received his big break when he was discovered by wrestling pioneer Farmer Burns during one of his scouting trips. The nickname ‘Toots’, had to do with either his small feet or his relative youth and . Mondt was the youngest wrestler in Farmer Burns' camp.
Until 1919, wrestling matches were slow-moving exhibitions mainly confined to the mat and lasting on an average 60 minutes. Crowds no longer found this to be suitable entertainment and accordingly, they began to dwindle. Wrestling matches slowly and eventually became pre-determined. Toots Mondt joined the camp of Ed "Strangler" Lewis with the recommendation of Farmer Burns. Toots served in many capacities as a sparring partner, trainer, sometimes as an opponent and as a police officer. As a sparring partner and trainer, Toots Mondt helped Ed Lewis develop new holds and counters. The working relationship and unity amongst wrestling promoters was beginning to wear thin and crowd attendance was still low. Toots conceived a solution and combined features of a boxing ring, Greco-Roman, freestyle wrestling, and the old-time lumber-camp style of fighting. Toots had called it ’Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling’.
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