11.07.2007, 09:45
Detroit News
Detroit, Michigan
29 Maerz 1972
lucille dupree says she's detroit's champ
"i take my work very seriously!"
"when i go to work, i'm dressed up. i wear a top hat, tails, bow tie, and dickey over a white bathing suit."
so spke lucille dupree, lady wrestler from detroit, who believes she is the city's best.
"i figure if somebody beats me, they must have tricked me in some way."
the years of dislocated hips, water on the knee, broken arms, and an occasional smashed nose are over, she says.
'i've been wrestling for 10 years and have it down to a science." there days there are only a fes sprains, bruises, and torn ligaments.
lucille comes from a french speaking community in rhode island, got her start in boston where she hoped to make the roller derby. "i got into wrestling by accident -- just helping somebody out in the arena where i used to skate."
"i trained for a couple of months, but i really leaned everything in the ring -- you might say from experience."
"it was a hard way to learn."
lucille was the new england women's champion for six years. two years ago a promoter lured her to detroit. she's often seen at cobo and on local television and sometimes travels to sports arenas around the country and in canada.
twice she wrestled in japan for four months, and hopes to go back.
"did you know that the japanese are a superior race? those japanese girls are fantastic when it comes to wrestling, there's no one in the world like them!"
lucille tries boxing once but "didn't like it too much." two years ago at coobo she fought mary jane mull.
"she was using her fists to beat me at wrestling. i got mad and grabbed the microphone and publicly challenged her to a boxing match.
"a week later we put the gloves on. i think i won, but the way we boxed it was hard to tell."
if lucille has one ambition, it's to beat the "fabulous moolah" who holds the women's world title in wrestling.
"i've had tag team matches with her, but i want a title bout. i think maybe i could take her."
moolah, lucille charges, has stayed on the top for 20 years bcause "she fights dirty. she knows all the little tricks -- just when to do something really nasty. every time i try to slip something like that in, the referee cathes me."
sneaking in the little nasties, lucille said, is grounds for a fine. too many fines brig a ring suspension.
"good wrestling is all strategy. you've got to out-think your opponent, think a couple of holds ahead. the key is cocentration. you've got to put the fans and the noise and the ballho out of your mind. and just keep concentrating.
like you've got to be scientific about it."
"i guess my best hold is the drop kick, although im good with the sleeper, jackknife, or reverse slam. i'm small and fast. that's what puts me over."
lucille stands 5 foot 2 inches tall and weighs 126 1/2 pounds with a shape that any woman could envy.
'i don't like that brawny look. you can get that from lifting weights, and i don't lift weights."
instead she goes through calisthenics and isometrics twice a day., three sets at a session, a routine that totals two to three hours of ecercise daily.
no white bread or potatoes. lots of liver, steaks, and fruits, plus liver pills and vitamin c.
wrestling pays well, lucille says, but its a arlife fo a woman, and because of the traveling, no good at all for a married woman.
still, she wishes the girls going itno the sport today would work harder at it. "they're too interested in meeting they guys or they want to get famous too quick."
"they don't take their work seriuosly."
Detroit, Michigan
29 Maerz 1972
lucille dupree says she's detroit's champ
"i take my work very seriously!"
"when i go to work, i'm dressed up. i wear a top hat, tails, bow tie, and dickey over a white bathing suit."
so spke lucille dupree, lady wrestler from detroit, who believes she is the city's best.
"i figure if somebody beats me, they must have tricked me in some way."
the years of dislocated hips, water on the knee, broken arms, and an occasional smashed nose are over, she says.
'i've been wrestling for 10 years and have it down to a science." there days there are only a fes sprains, bruises, and torn ligaments.
lucille comes from a french speaking community in rhode island, got her start in boston where she hoped to make the roller derby. "i got into wrestling by accident -- just helping somebody out in the arena where i used to skate."
"i trained for a couple of months, but i really leaned everything in the ring -- you might say from experience."
"it was a hard way to learn."
lucille was the new england women's champion for six years. two years ago a promoter lured her to detroit. she's often seen at cobo and on local television and sometimes travels to sports arenas around the country and in canada.
twice she wrestled in japan for four months, and hopes to go back.
"did you know that the japanese are a superior race? those japanese girls are fantastic when it comes to wrestling, there's no one in the world like them!"
lucille tries boxing once but "didn't like it too much." two years ago at coobo she fought mary jane mull.
"she was using her fists to beat me at wrestling. i got mad and grabbed the microphone and publicly challenged her to a boxing match.
"a week later we put the gloves on. i think i won, but the way we boxed it was hard to tell."
if lucille has one ambition, it's to beat the "fabulous moolah" who holds the women's world title in wrestling.
"i've had tag team matches with her, but i want a title bout. i think maybe i could take her."
moolah, lucille charges, has stayed on the top for 20 years bcause "she fights dirty. she knows all the little tricks -- just when to do something really nasty. every time i try to slip something like that in, the referee cathes me."
sneaking in the little nasties, lucille said, is grounds for a fine. too many fines brig a ring suspension.
"good wrestling is all strategy. you've got to out-think your opponent, think a couple of holds ahead. the key is cocentration. you've got to put the fans and the noise and the ballho out of your mind. and just keep concentrating.
like you've got to be scientific about it."
"i guess my best hold is the drop kick, although im good with the sleeper, jackknife, or reverse slam. i'm small and fast. that's what puts me over."
lucille stands 5 foot 2 inches tall and weighs 126 1/2 pounds with a shape that any woman could envy.
'i don't like that brawny look. you can get that from lifting weights, and i don't lift weights."
instead she goes through calisthenics and isometrics twice a day., three sets at a session, a routine that totals two to three hours of ecercise daily.
no white bread or potatoes. lots of liver, steaks, and fruits, plus liver pills and vitamin c.
wrestling pays well, lucille says, but its a arlife fo a woman, and because of the traveling, no good at all for a married woman.
still, she wishes the girls going itno the sport today would work harder at it. "they're too interested in meeting they guys or they want to get famous too quick."
"they don't take their work seriuosly."