 Gagne in 1964 asAWA World Heavyweight Champion | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Laverne Clarence Gagne (1926-02-26)February 26, 1926 Corcoran, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | April 27, 2015(2015-04-27) (aged 89) Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
| Children | 4, includingGreg Gagne |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Verne Gagne |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 215 lb (98 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Joe Pazandak[2] Tony Stecher[2] |
| Debut | 1949[2] |
| Retired | 1986 |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Navy United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1943–1946 |
| Unit | Underwater Demolition Team |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Collegiate Wrestling | ||
| Representing theMinnesota Golden Gophers | ||
| NCAA Championships | ||
 | 1948 Bethlehem | 191 lb |
| 1949 Fort Collins | Heavyweight |
 | 1947 Champaign | Heavyweight |
Laverne Clarence "Verne"Gagne[2] (/ˈɡɑːnjeɪ/GAHN-yay; February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2015)[3] was an Americanamateur andprofessional wrestler,football player, wrestling trainer andwrestling promoter. He was the owner and promoter of theMinneapolis-basedAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA), the predominant promotion throughout theMidwest andManitoba for many years. He remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded.
As an amateur wrestler, Gagne won two NCAA titles and was an alternate for the U.S. freestyle wrestling team at the 1948 Olympic Games before turning professional in 1949. Gagne was an 11-timeworld champion in majorprofessional wrestling promotions, having held theAWA World Heavyweight Championship ten times and theIWA World Heavyweight Championship once as theIWA World Heavyweight Championship was considered aworld championship in Japan. He has also won topprofessional wrestling promotionsWorld Heavyweight Championships such as theWorld Heavyweight Championship (Omaha version) five times. He holds the record for the longest combined reign as a world champion in North America and is third (behindBruno Sammartino andLou Thesz) for the longest single world title reign.[a] He is one of only seven men inducted into each of theWWE,WCW andProfessional Wrestling halls of fame.
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Gagne was born inCorcoran, Minnesota, and grew up on afarm inRobbinsdale, Minnesota.[4] He left home at the age of 14 after his mother died. He attendedRobbinsdale High School, where he went on to win the state championship for high school wrestling in 1942 and 1943.[5] In 1943, he was recruited to play football at theUniversity of Minnesota as defensive end and tight end, while also continuing wrestling.[6] As a freshman, Gagne won the Big Ten 175 pound wrestling title in 1944 after returning from duty in the Marine Corps.[7]
Gagne's football and wrestling career was interrupted by a tour of duty with theUnited States Marine Corps in 1943.[7] He played on the Marines Football Team with the likes ofElroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, Gopher GreatGeorge Franck and other NFL Stars.[8] Gagne also served with theU.S. Navy'sUnderwater Demolition Team.[2] He chose to return to theUniversity of Minnesota, where, as an amateur wrestler, he captured twoNCAA titles. In 1948, he beat Charles Gottfried of Illinois in the 191-pound class to win his first NCAA championship in Pennsylvania.
The next year, he returned to the championships but had moved up a class, to heavyweight. In the final, he met futureNWA World Heavyweight ChampionDick Hutton, the two-time defending national champion in the division. The showdown ended in a 1–1 tie, but Gagne was awarded the win because he controlled Hutton for longer periods of the match.[9]
He was also an alternate for the U.S. freestyle wrestling team at the1948 Olympic Games, after losing a closely contested wrestle-off match to the eventual gold medalistHenry Wittenberg. He earned the starting spot for the U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling team for the 1948 Olympics by finishing second in the U.S. freestyle wrestle-offs, but upon arriving to London, the U.S. coaches decided that the Greco-Roman team would not be competing.[10]
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Gagne joined theNational Football League (NFL) soon after being drafted by theChicago Bears in the 16th round (145th pick) of the1947 NFL draft.[11]
In 2006'sThe Spectacular Legacy of the AWA, Verne's son,Greg, said in an interview that Bears ownerGeorge Halas prevented his father from pursuing both football and wrestling, and forced him to make a choice.[12] In the same interview, Greg mentioned that wrestling was a much better paying job at the time than playing football and as a result, Verne chose wrestling over football.[13][14]
By 1949, Gagne had signed with the NFL'sGreen Bay Packers. He went on to play three preseason games with the Packers before being released.[15]
In 1949, Gagne decided to wrestle professionally, starting his career in Texas. In his debut, he defeated Abe Kashey, with former World Heavyweight boxing ChampionJack Dempsey as the referee. On November 13, 1950, Gagne captured theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Junior Heavyweight title in a tournament for the vacant championship.[2]
In September 1953 inFred Kohler Enterprises, Gagne was awarded the newly createdChicago version of the NWA United States Championship.[2] Gagne became one of the most well-known stars in wrestling during thegolden age of television, thanks to his exposure on theDumont Network, where he wowed audiences with his technical prowess. He was rumored to be one of the highest-paid wrestlers during the 1950s, reportedly earning a hundred thousand dollars a year.[16]
On June 14, 1957,Edouard Carpentier defeated NWA ChampionLou Thesz in Chicago. The NWA later overruled the decision of the referee in Chicago and gave the title back to Thesz. However, certain wrestling territories of the NWA including Nebraska refused to go along with the decision and continued to recognize Carpentier. Carpentier lost his title to Gagne inOmaha on August 9, 1958,[2] making him the recognized NWA World champion in the NWA territories that had recognized Carpentier, before dropping the belt three months later toWilbur Snyder. By early 1960, the wealthy Gagne rarely wrestled and turned his focus towards building a wrestling promotion of his own.[citation needed]
In 1960, Gagne formed his own promotion, theAmerican Wrestling Alliance (later it became Association). Before this, the Minneapolis territory was under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) umbrella. Setting up to pull away from the NWA, the Minneapolis territory (as it was known), gave a "story-line only" edict to the NWA in May 1960 that unless their NWA World ChampionPat O'Connor defended his title against Verne Gagne with 90 days, Verne Gagne would become recognized World Champion by default. There was never any intention of such a match taking place. At the end of the 90 day period, the AWA was formed in August 1960 and it was announced that because NWA champion Pat O'Connor failed to meet Gagne, that the AWA recognized Gagne as the firstAWA World Champion.
Some of Gagne's biggest feuds were againstGene Kiniski,Dr. Bill Miller (under a mask both as Dr. X and then Mr. M),Fritz Von Erich,Dr. X,The Crusher,Ray Stevens,Mad Dog Vachon, the Czar,Larry Hennig, Yukon Johns, andNick Bockwinkel while champion and title changes. He always wrestled as aface and utilized the sleeper hold as his finisher. His longest reign as champion was for 7 years, from August 31, 1968, to November 8, 1975, dropping the title to Nick Bockwinkel. He would regain the title from Bockwinkel on July 18, 1980, and drop it back to Bockwinkel on May 19, 1981.
After his last title loss in 1981, Gagne would wrestle occasionally for AWA until 1986. Gagne's last match was a six-man tag with his son Greg, andJimmy Snuka defeatingBoris Zhukov,John Nord andSheik Adnan Al-Kassie on June 29, 1986.[17]
As AWA head, Gagne was known for putting on an "old school" show. He sought out wrestlers with amateur backgrounds over the larger, more impressive-looking wrestlers who dominated professional wrestling in the 1980s. This led to a problem with his biggest draw,Hulk Hogan, whom Gagne had acquired after Hogan had been let go by theWorld Wide Wrestling Federation and who Gagne also felt was not championship material, due to the fact that Hogan was a power wrestler rather than a technical wrestler. Seeing Hogan as the company's top draw, Gagne did, however, let Hogan feud with Bockwinkel.
Eventually, as noted on the 2006Spectacular Legacy of AWA DVD, Gagne agreed to make Hogan his champion after Hogan's feud with Bockwinkel ran its course in April 1983, but only on condition that Gagne would receive the bulk of Hogan's revenues from both merchandise sales and his matches in Japan, which Hogan refused. In late 1983, Hogan accepted an offer fromVincent K. McMahon to return to the WWF.The Iron Sheik, whom Gagne trained, alleged that Gagne bribed him to inflict career-threatening damage on Hogan's knee after it became apparent that Hogan was leaving for the WWF. What followed was an exodus of major stars from various territories and promotions, including Gagne's AWA, to the WWF. McMahon wished to take his promotion "national" and do away with the traditional territorial system that dominated the North American pro wrestling landscape for decades.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, by the mid-1980s, Gagne began promoting the AWA beyond the geographical bounds of its traditional territory. In September 1985,ESPN began broadcastingAWA Championship Wrestling, giving the promotion national exposure like the WWF. However, the AWA suffered numerous setbacks. ESPN did not treatAWA Championship Wrestling as a priority; the show was sometimes not aired in its regular time slot (occasionally ESPN would change the time slot without advertising the change beforehand), and sometimes it was preempted by live sporting events. This resulted in many fans being unable to tune in on a regular basis. Gagne's booking strategies for the wrestlers themselves continued to follow more traditional themes than those of the WWF, believing as he did that the top stars should be highly gifted technical wrestlers rather than those with just charismatic personalities. Throughout the mid to late 1980s, the AWA would lose the vast majority of its top stars to McMahon, while ratings and live attendance continued to decline. By 1991, the damage had been done, and the AWA shut down after 30 years. Gagne would eventually end up in bankruptcy court.[18]
In April 2006, Gagne was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame by his son,Greg Gagne. He is one of only seven people to be inducted into theWWE,WCW andProfessional Wrestling Halls of Fame.[19]
In 2018, he was inducted into the Nebraska Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame.
On January 26, 2009, Gagne got into an altercation with Helmut Gutmann, a 97-year-old resident of theBloomington, Minnesota nursing care facility where they both resided. According to Gutmann's widow, who was not present during the altercation, Gagne picked Gutmann up and threw him to the floor, then broke his hip by pulling back on his body before applying the sleeper hold.[20] Neither man had any recollection of the incident.[21] Gutmann was admitted to the hospital, and died on February 14 from complications of the injury; on February 25, 2009, his death was officially ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County medical examiner's office.[21]
In the wake of Gutmann's death, it was reported that Gagne had been diagnosed withAlzheimer's disease[22]– which may be been a result ofchronic traumatic encephalopathy from a lifetime of head injuries– and was living in the memory-loss section of the care facility. As a result of his condition, on March 12, 2009, theHennepin County prosecutor's office announced that Gagne would not be charged with Gutmann's murder because he lacked themental capacity to commit such a crime.[23]
After Gutmann's death, Gagne was withdrawn from the healthcare facility; by 2012, he was living in the home of his daughter Beth and her husband Will.[24] He also continued to make public appearances in his last years, aided by his sonGreg.[25]
On April 27, 2015, Gagne died in Bloomington at the age of 89.[26]
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| International | |
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