 Tanaka,c. 1973 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Charles J. Kalani Jr. (1930-01-06)January 6, 1930 Honolulu,Territory of Hawaii, U.S. |
| Died | August 22, 2000(2000-08-22) (aged 70)[2] Lake Forest, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Weber State University University of Utah |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Professor Tanaka Professor Toru Tanaka |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 280 lb (130 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Hiroshima,Japan[1] |
| Debut | 1958 |
| Retired | 1986 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1955-1966 |
| Rank | .svg) Sergeant |
Charles J. Kalani Jr. (January 6, 1930 – August 22, 2000), known by thering namesProfessor Toru Tanaka or simplyProfessor Tanaka, was an Americanprofessional wrestler,professional boxer,[3]martial artist and actor. He was best known for his work with theWorld Wide Wrestling Federation from 1967 to 1978, and was a 3-timeTag Team Championship (with partnerMr. Fuji) and one-timeInternational Tag Team Champion (withMitsu Arakawa). In2019, he was posthumously inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame as a Legacy Member.[4]
Kalani was born inHonolulu,Territory of Hawaii, the son of Charles J. Kalani and Christina Leong Kalani. His father wasNative Hawaiian, and his mother was ofChinese descent. Kalani began studyingjudo in 1939, and earned ablack belt inDanzan-ryuJujitsu fromSeishiro Okazaki.
Kalani graduated fromIolani School in 1949.[5] His wife, Doris Kalani, later credited Kalani's time on thefootball team andKenneth A. Bray's influence with keeping him away from trouble.[6] After graduating from high school, Kalani attended Weber Junior College (nowWeber State University), where he met his wife in 1952.[6] He also played college football at theUniversity of Utah, as aguard.[7]
In 1955, Kalani was drafted into theU.S. Army, where he rose to the rank ofsergeant.[8] Kalani left the military in 1966 and moved toMonterey, California. He ran aJudo and Danzan-ryu academy with John Chow-Hoon.
Kalani was also aheavyweight boxer. He advanced to the finals of the 1950NCAA Junior College Boxing Championships, but was defeated by Ed Sanders. He fought professionally from March 1953 to February 1954, retiring with a record of 3–2–0, with one win by knockout.[9]
Kalani got into professional wrestling in 1958, making his debut in his home state of Hawaii during his service with the military. In 1966 after retiring from the military, Kalani began wrestling full time.San Francisco promoterRoy Shire approached Kalani in 1967, launching his career in earnest.[10] He also worked forWorld Championship Wrestling in Australia.
Kalani adopted theheelgimmick ofProfessor Toru Tanaka (or simplyProfessor Tanaka), a Japanese villain fromHiroshima (though Kalani was actually ofHawaiian andChinese origin). One of the characteristics of his gimmick was that he threw ceremonial salt in his opponents' eyes after "blessing" each corner of the ring, a tactic that is most commonly associated with Japanese villain wrestlers.[11] Tanaka did play the stereotypical Japanese villain with the requisite knowledge of martial arts. He employed a combination of power skills, martial arts, and his feared Japanese sleeper submission hold. Tanaka's most famous tag team partner wasHarry Fujiwara (better known as Mr. Fuji), whom he knew from high school in Hawaii. In his book,Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks,Freddie Blassie explored the relationship between the two "Japanese" heels.
From Tanaka's point of view, he was passing time with Fuji because it made sense to team up with another Japanese villain. The two certainly had no great admiration for one another. Tanaka was a by-the-book guy, who looked at wrestling as a means to make a living. He wanted to work his match, shake hands with everyone afterwards, and save some money. He was a professional.
If you wanted to talk about an angle beforehand, you always went to Tanaka. He was the ring general, who'd lead everyone else in the match. Fuji was certainly a good performer, but you couldn't control him. So, in addition to worrying about their opponents, Tanaka had the responsibility of making sure that Fuji didn't get out of hand. I guess he did a pretty good job because, years later, when Tanaka was relegated to working these tiny independent shows to earn a few extra bucks, Fuji himself had become a manager.
— Freddie Blassie,Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks
Tanaka had a long successful run with theWWF in 1967, including being #1 contender to championBruno Sammartino. Sammartino was the one who requested Tanaka (who was working in Australia) to the WWF's owner at the time, Vince McMahon Sr. In their first Madison Square Garden meeting, Tanaka was disqualified for throwing salt. He was pinned by Sammartino in a rematch six months later, and Tanaka occasionally teamed withGorilla Monsoon. Tanaka also main evented the Garden in tag matches, twice withGorilla Monsoon vs. Sammartino and Spyros Arion (Tanaka and his partner winning the first via disqualification; losing the second in a Texas Death Match); a year later with Monsoon against Sammartino and Victor Rivera. Monsoon & Tanaka had other Garden matches, including victories overAl Costello & Dr.Bill Miller; andBobo Brazil andEarl Maynard.
Tanaka subsequently teamed withMitsu Arakawa in the WWF in 1969, acquiring the International Tag Team Championship; losing it at Madison Square Garden to Tony Marino and Victor Rivera. He left the WWWF in 1970 and worked in Texas. In 1971, he returned to the WWWF. The team of Tanaka and Mr. Fuji won threeWWF World Tag Team Championships, with Blassie as manager for the third reign andThe Grand Wizard as manager for the first two. They first won the belts fromSonny King andChief Jay Strongbow on June 27, 1972, inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, at aHouse show. They lost the belts toHaystacks Calhoun andTony Garea on May 30, 1973, again at a Hamburg house show, but regained them on September 11, 1973, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before losing them again toTony Garea andDean Ho on November 14, 1973, again in Hamburg. Their third win came on September 27, 1977, at a Philadelphia house show when they defeatedTony Garea andLarry Zbyszko in a tournament final for the vacant belts, holding them until March 14, 1978, when they lost the titles toDino Bravo andDominic DeNucci in Philadelphia. This third reign set a record for number of championship reigns which would not be bettered untilThe New Age Outlaws won a fourth reign in 1999.
After WWWF, Tanaka returned to Japan, Hawaii and other territories until retiring in 1986.
Professor Tanaka while wrestling of theWorld Wrestling Council he was also featured in a television commercial for the Sello Rojo brand ofrice inPuerto Rico. His other appearance in a commercial was forColgate toothpaste withPat Morita. Tanaka was seen as an extra in a few ofDavid Lee Roth's music videos in the mid-1980s.By the early 1980s, Kalani's body could not handle the beatings in the ring any longer, and he moved into the film world on a more permanent basis. His first film was the 1981Chuck Norris vehicleAn Eye for an Eye and his last film was 1995'sHard Justice (starringDavid Bradley andCharles Napier). He appeared oppositeArnold Schwarzenegger inThe Running Man as "Sub-Zero", the red-armor clad "stalker" who is a sadistic hockey-samurai with a scythe that "slices his enemies limb from limb into quivering, bloody sushi".
Other notable roles includeThe Perfect Weapon,3 Ninjas,Black Rain,Darkman,Pee-wee's Big Adventure, andLast Action Hero.
Tanaka was one of three semi-retired professional wrestlers to compete in atug-of-war match with two other wrestlers teamed up against a large group of children on theNickelodeon seriesWild and Crazy Kids in the early 1990s.
Kalani died of heart failure on August 22, 2000. His ashes were spread in the ocean nearHaleʻiwa, Hawaii. He is survived by his wife Doris Kalani and his three children: Cheryle Kalani, Carl Kalani and Karen Kalani Beck.
1Records do not show which NWA affiliate Tanaka worked for when his two reigns with the title began. While usually defended inSoutheastern Championship Wrestling, it was occasionally used in other promotions.
,Cagematch,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling Database
