Professional Wrestling Career
Curtis decided to become a professional wrestling in 1951, after working out with Lou Thesz. During his early career, he worked in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
Beginning in 1958, he teamed with Mark Lewin, after promoter Eddie Graham put them together. Curtis and Lewin held the NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) twice in 1958, trading it with Graham and his "brother" Jerry. They were also the first holders of the championship, defeating Hans Schmidt and Dick the Bruiser.
Curtis teamed with Graham in May 1960 to win the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Florida version). He also held the title with Joe Scarpa in October 1962, Bob Ellis in March 1964 and Jose Lothario in March 1967.
In 1962, Curtis moved to Florida. In 1962, he teamed with Joe Scarpa to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version) from Kurt and Karl Von Brauner. In January 1963, he won the title with Lewin from The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello and Roy Heffernan). After vacating the title, Curtis and Lewin regained it in December from the Assassins (Assassin 1 and 2). Lewin left the promotion the following month, and the title was once again vacated. In May 1964, Curtis teamed with Abe Jacobs to hold the title for the last time. In Jacksonville, Florida, Curtis promoted shows and managed the coliseum.
After wrestling Curtis was inducted into the U.B. Athletic Hall of Fame for wrestling and football in 1980, as well as managing the Jacksonville Coliseum. In 2009, he was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum with Mark Lewin under the "Tag Team" category.
Read more about this topic: Don Curtis
Famous quotes containing the words professional, wrestling and/or career:
“The professional must learn to be moved and touched emotionally, yet at the same time stand back objectively: I’ve seen a lot of damage done by tea and sympathy.”
—Anthony Storr (b. 1920)
“There are people who think that wrestling is an ignoble sport. Wrestling is not sport, it is a spectacle, and it is no more ignoble to attend a wrestled performance of suffering than a performance of the sorrows of Arnolphe or Andromaque.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)