20.03.2007, 10:52
Daily Oklahoman
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
10 October 1953
Life of a Wrestler Agrees With Gagne
New York, Oct. 9 – (AP) – Vern Gagne is a burly, handsome young man with an engaging smile and a brace of muffin ears that well, you might say they are the earmarks of his profession.
Gagne is a professional wrestler, and before you start sneering just remember you’d be sneering at $100,000 a year. That’s his annual gross take, so he can say to a lot of big-name baseball players and golfers and other sports performers: “Move over, po’ folks, and make room for a plutocrat.”
We look on pro rassling with a jaundieed eye; as something that should be covered by a drama critic, or better yet, a blanket. So it’s always a surprise to find that the performers on the whole are highly intelligent, well-spoken gentlemen when not engaged in their simulated mayhem.
Gagne is no exception. He’s a college graduate (Minnesota), a former member of the Olympic team, and was a good enough football player to be chosen for the All Star game in Chicago and to take a fling at pro football.
“Always wanted to be a wrestler,” he said. “I came from a small town in Minnesota where wrestling was popular. While in school I won the NCAA heavyweight title twice, the National AAU title, and in 1948 went to London with the Olympic Team.
“I went as a Greco-Roman wrestler. We didn’t know anything about that type of wrestling, and were withdrawn before we made a spectacle of ourselves.
“In 1949, I took a shot at pro football, signed with the Green Bay Packers. Got $6,000 for about six months work. Now I average about $2,000 a week.”
Pro wrestling is a lot tougher than football,” Gagne says.
“I never got hurt badly playing football, although I got one of these ears in football. Since becoming a pro wrestler, though, I’ve had fingers broken, teeth knocked out, a chipped knee and a broken nose. However,” he added philosophically, “the money is good.”
If Gagne is a brain, his manager is a super-brain. He is Jim Barnett, who was graduated from Harvard and then earned a master’s degree in English at the University of Chicago.
Barnett intended to be a teacher, and he looks the part. If you were to pick a man from a crowd whom you would rate as the last man to manage a wrestler, Barnett would be that man.
“I met Vern through a friend, and we became close friends,” Barnett explained. “I just sort of drifted into the managing end.”
Note: A letter to Harvard in January 2005 revealed that Barnett was, in fact, not a student prior to attending the University of Chicago. This seems to be nothing but wrestling lore.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
10 October 1953
Life of a Wrestler Agrees With Gagne
New York, Oct. 9 – (AP) – Vern Gagne is a burly, handsome young man with an engaging smile and a brace of muffin ears that well, you might say they are the earmarks of his profession.
Gagne is a professional wrestler, and before you start sneering just remember you’d be sneering at $100,000 a year. That’s his annual gross take, so he can say to a lot of big-name baseball players and golfers and other sports performers: “Move over, po’ folks, and make room for a plutocrat.”
We look on pro rassling with a jaundieed eye; as something that should be covered by a drama critic, or better yet, a blanket. So it’s always a surprise to find that the performers on the whole are highly intelligent, well-spoken gentlemen when not engaged in their simulated mayhem.
Gagne is no exception. He’s a college graduate (Minnesota), a former member of the Olympic team, and was a good enough football player to be chosen for the All Star game in Chicago and to take a fling at pro football.
“Always wanted to be a wrestler,” he said. “I came from a small town in Minnesota where wrestling was popular. While in school I won the NCAA heavyweight title twice, the National AAU title, and in 1948 went to London with the Olympic Team.
“I went as a Greco-Roman wrestler. We didn’t know anything about that type of wrestling, and were withdrawn before we made a spectacle of ourselves.
“In 1949, I took a shot at pro football, signed with the Green Bay Packers. Got $6,000 for about six months work. Now I average about $2,000 a week.”
Pro wrestling is a lot tougher than football,” Gagne says.
“I never got hurt badly playing football, although I got one of these ears in football. Since becoming a pro wrestler, though, I’ve had fingers broken, teeth knocked out, a chipped knee and a broken nose. However,” he added philosophically, “the money is good.”
If Gagne is a brain, his manager is a super-brain. He is Jim Barnett, who was graduated from Harvard and then earned a master’s degree in English at the University of Chicago.
Barnett intended to be a teacher, and he looks the part. If you were to pick a man from a crowd whom you would rate as the last man to manage a wrestler, Barnett would be that man.
“I met Vern through a friend, and we became close friends,” Barnett explained. “I just sort of drifted into the managing end.”
Note: A letter to Harvard in January 2005 revealed that Barnett was, in fact, not a student prior to attending the University of Chicago. This seems to be nothing but wrestling lore.