Funk's Corner - Killer Kowalski - His "Stomp to the Face"
Didn't Hurt at All
In 1952, wrestling magazines were as important to
professional wrestling as television. As a 10 year old kid I living on
Dory Funk Sr.'s Flying Mare Ranch in Umbarger, Texas we had no wrestling
on television. My main source of information was the wrestling magazines
published in New York.
I was shocked when I read the front page of Wrestling
Review and saw a picture of Killer Kowalski and Yukon Eric. The headline
read, Killer Kowalski kicks off Yukon Eric's ear.
Kowalski was 6' 6" tall and looked like the most amazing
athlete I had ever seen. I could imagine Kowalski's boot coming down on
Yukon Eric's ear and knocking it right off his head. Killer Kowalski was
the top heel in the country at the time.
Twelve years later, my father received a call from Jim
Barnett, Wrestling Promoter in Sydney Australia asking if I would be
interested in coming to Australia for three months. As I got off a Quantas
Airlines 707 at Sydney International Airport people were talking about
professional wrestling on television and "Bad Guy" Killer Kowalski.
They told me of an interview on a national TV show where
the host asked Killer Kowalski if it hurt when he stomped his opponent in
the face with his size 16 wrestling boot. Killer replied, "No it doesn't
hurt at all. I wear special thick soles and it doesn't hurt my foot at
all."
The value of a professional wrestler to a promotion is his
box office appeal. My first match was in Sydney Stadium, only a short walk
from our hotel in Kings Cross. Sydney Stadium held 17,000 people and it
was packed to the rafters for the main event, Killer Kowalski against Tex
McKenzie. That same week Killer Kowalski and Tex McKenzie sold out
Melbourne's Festival Hall, 12,000 fans, Perth Australia's National Stadium
25,000 people and Brisbane sold out to the tune of 8,000 people. Killer
Kowalski was the biggest star in one of the best territories in the world,
Australia.
We worked five days a week and traveled first class from
one end of the country to the other. Killer Kowalski was the top heel for
Jim Barnett's Promotion. First class is the best way to describe Killer
Kowalski as a person. It was such a thrill on the end of the tour to have
the opportunity to wrestle the person I had been so impressed with as a
child.
Killer Kowalski was a dear friend of Marti and I.
We will miss him.
Our condolences to his family.
