Post Wrestling
Lewis went into semi-retirement in 1935, but came out of retirement, at the age of 51, in 1942 despite being legally blind. He retired from wrestling for good in 1948, at 57 years old. At the November 1949 NWA Convention in St. Louis, Lewis was named the ambassador of good will for the NWA. In later years, he would become the manager of his good friend, and reigning NWA Champion, Lou Thesz.
Lewis went blind from trachoma. He was destitute and relied on his wife and acquaintances to survive. He died in New York on August 8, 1966 at the age of 75. In 1999, Lewis was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame. Today, a Wisconsin state historical marker commemorates his achievements in his hometown of Nekoosa on Prospect Avenue. In 2002 Lewis was voted in by wrestlers, historians and writers and inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Amsterdam NY.
Read more about this topic: Ed Lewis (wrestler)
Famous quotes containing the words post and/or wrestling:
“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“We laugh at him who steps out of his room at the very moment when the sun steps out, and says: “I will the sun to rise”; and at him who cannot stop the wheel, and says: “I will it to roll”; and at him who is taken down in a wrestling match, and says: “I lie here, but I will that I lie here!” And yet, all laughter aside, do we ever do anything other than one of these three things when we use the expression, “I will”?”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)