Building a Book on Alabama Pro Wrestling History (Part 4)

    Back in Montgomery, at the Archives, trying to knock out the last years of Birmingham I need to get rolling on the writing part of this project.  I will be mighty glad to get to that.  Today, I knocked out the rest of what I was missing from 1931, and picked up January through August of 1936, which leaves me a day and a half to try to get as much of the remaining 52 months as I can.  I don't think I'll quite make it, but having wrapped up 1931, at least I can get started writing as I now have the beginning of the wrestling boom in Alabama.

    It would appear that what Chris Jordan ultimately built into a multi-state territory by 1940 began with a man by the name of Curtis Sanford, who began promoting boxing for the American Legion in Birmingham in February of 1931.  This was specifically the Gorgas Post No. 115, that got the ball rolling.  The first wrestling card was held on April 6th, and deadlined by Ernie Dusek vs. John Katan with an undercard of Homer Smiles vs Billy Edwards and three boxing matches.  Smiles would go on to be a very popular football coach (there is a stadium named after him in Leeds), and Billy Edwards would soon be better known as Bad Bill Edwards, one of the more prominent heels to work cards mostly around the Birmingham area.

     The State of Alabama had recently reorganized its athletic and boxing commission, and under the new rules, only American Legion posts were to be issued promoting licenses for boxing and wrestling, so that the Legion could use the proceeds from the events to continue their community and charitable work.   By 1930, Birmingham was large enough that it had two Legion Posts, typically referred to as Post No. 1 and the Gorgas Post (No. 115).  Almost instantly, there was contention between the two posts, that would take a couple of years to shake out.  In the years and decades to follow, Post No. 115 would merge into Post No. 1, and the name of General Gorgas would be retained, and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization would be given equal footing with the American Legion in the state, as far as promoting sporting events.

  By April 16th, Sanford stepped aside when the American Legion (Post No. 1) brought in Sam Siegel, along with his connections to Rudy Dusek, and thus the talent pool of Jack Curley of Jim Londos, Jim McMillen and the Duseks, all the way down to "Rubber Man" Sol Slagel.  Siegel wrote a series of articles for the Birmingham News from mid-April to June, explaining the "new style" of wrestling, introducing many of the wrestlers that would be coming to Alabama, as well as some brief history of the last few years and how he came to be in Birmingham.

  Most of the towns that began running wrestling over the following years seem to have begun as boxing towns.  In the first few years, mixed boxing and wrestling cards were common, and in a couple towns, like Sheffield and Huntsville, boxing was often the more popular, resulting in extended periods with no wrestling.  Battling Bozo was probably the most popular draw in boxing in the state in the early 1930s, both for his comedic boxing stylings, as well as his frequent appearances as a special guest referee.

   The American Legion post in Tarrant City began holding boxing cards in May, and by August, had appointed Kid Lott as their new boxing and wrestling promoter, and held their first wrestling card on August 11th.  The snowball effect kicked in, and shortly thereafter, American Legion posts all over the state wanted in on the action, promoting their own boxing and wrestling events, and thus the Alabama wrestling boom of the 1930s was born.