Abie Coleman, the Jewish wrestling champion, hails from California where the Baers come from. He too, like young Lochinvar, came out of the west to seek fortune in the east. How ever, Abie, the Jewish Ape Man, determined to make a name in the wrestling ring. He began his hectic heaving campaign in New York only last November and already he is a past master at the art of grunts, groans, and grimaces.
ONE OF JACK CURLEY’S ‘HORSES’
Abie is one of the best Hebrew horses in Jack Curley’s stable. And invariably, contrary to the usual burping contests. Coleman puts on a hard fighting scrap with any opponent whom he is slated to meet and has caused all of them considerable trouble.
This heave and grunter, is in our estimation one of the best bets among the coming youngsters of the mat circle. His massive legs and great strength, his brawn and the fact that he is a wrestling walloper is one of the chief causes why he hasn’t been beaten as yet.
A LEAPING LITVACK
Abie, the western ‘rassling wrangler, knows the tricks of the trade like an old hand and can dish out a series of flying mares, airplane spins, headlocks, crotch holds and full nelsons to order. He scrambles around the ring in a very artistic manner despite the fact that he weighs well over 220 pounds on the hoof. Of course the bag of tricks that Abie has mastered is topped off with the “Coleman Special.” The Jewish champ can deliver a flying butt to the button in the best Savoldi style that would make the Italian yell, “down with Hitler.”
TACKLES LONDOS TONIGHT
Coleman meets Jim Londos at the Ridgewood Grove in Brooklyn tonight. The Greek Strumberry man and once mighty wrestler has been slipping these past few months. Many wrestling fans throughout the country are of the same opinion as Abe that the Jewish grappler will take over the Greek Adonis.
A year ago in April, Jumping Joe Savoldi pinned the Londos man in Chicago. Since then two men have held him to draws and it took Jim over three hours to win his bout from Everett Marshall in Philadelphia recently. The latter, as you may know, has never been looked upon as better than a second rate matman.
IN EXCELLENT CONDITION
Coleman is reported to be in the finest shape of his career for his big chance. He isn’t one of the wrestling hacks that make the usual one night stands in any hamlet that can put up the five dollar salary fee. On the other hand he has wrestled with all comers and for the last few months has averaged two scraps a week.
We saw the Californian Litvak in his tussle with Hans Kampfer two weeks ago and in his scrap against Bull Komar the Lithuanian giant last Friday night at Stauch’s Coney Island. The way he threw the Chicago lad was a pleasure to the fans at the seaside sport resort.
Hans Kampfer, the German gorilla, tried a flying adagio leap at the Jewish champ and despite the fact that Coleman is such a huge target, the man from Das Vaterland missed completely and sailed through the ropes of the Ridgewood Grove ring. He landed on the hard floor and was counted out.
COLEMAN’S VICTIMS GOOD MEN
Among Abe’s victims on the mat since he went on the warpath last November are two notable victories over Rudy Dusek, the Rowdy from Omaha, and the one we have just spoken of, over Heine Hans Kampfer. He also has taken Marshall Blackstock, formerly of the University of Georgia, and Jagat Singh, the Indian Marvel, for the proverbial ride.
Matchmaker Rudy Miller says that advance sales are the healthiest in club history and he looks for a record crowd at the Grove tonight. Many Greek and Jewish societies and clubs have reserved blocks of seats for the scrap.
The rest of the card is a bang up affair. The special attraction between Hans Kampfer, the German Apollo, and the powerful Joe Bull Komar being particularly inviting.
PHILLY PFLASHES
Last Saturday afternoon we witnessed the triangular track meet between Temple, N. Y. U., and C. C. N. Y. that was held at the Owl’s stadium in Philadelphia. The Violet track and field contingent swept everything before them and ran up a total of eighty-six points.
Julie Finklestein, of Brooklyn, who took first place in the shot put with a heave of forty-four feet three and one-half inches, beat out Babe Scheuer, also of the Hall of Fame track squad by two inches.
But as soon as the officials had removed themselves to another part of the field, Scheuer said to Finklestein: “Let’s have some fun.”
“O, Kay,” replied Jules, “we’ll toss for ice cream sodas.”
The result of this individual contest which kept the stands in a merry mood was that Scheuer beat out Finklestein by almost a foot. The Babe tossed the shot well over forty-six feet when inspired by the reward of a soda notwithstanding the fact that he had only been able to heave the sixteen pound ball forty-four feet when contending for his alma mater.
C. C. N. Y. BASKETBALL
City College basketball team, coached by the game’s greatest player, Nat Holman, will expand its cage activities next season. Seven of the games will be played away from home while nine are listed as “home games” for C.C. N.Y.
In contrast to the custom of former years, the Lavender will do plenty of traveling. They will reach out as far west as Pittsburgh and as far south as Washington for contests with the courtmen from Duquesne and George Washington Universities. The Lavender five will also invade Pennsylvania twice for battles with Geneva at Beaver Falls and Villanova on the outskirts of Philly.
Four old opponents have been dropped from the schedule and five new ones added. The alumni, Baltimore, Rutgers, and Providence are no longer listed. However, City will face plenty of tough opposition away from the campus. It will be the visiting team in the traditional clashes with Fordham, N. Y. U. and Manhattan.
Captain Sam Winograd, star forward and veteran courtman will lead the Holman quintet next fall. Pincus, Weisbrodt, and Banks are left of the men who have seen action on last year’s team.
HAKOAH SOCCER SPECIAL
The Hakoah Soccer Club, one of the best known Jewish amateur football teams in the metropolitan area, played another tie game with the Stamford Club, a German aggregation from Connecticut.
The score of this second game in the series was 2-2. The first contest waged some time ago also resulted in a tie to the tune of 1-1.
The game was a thrilling affair and was played on the Crotona Park field under a scorching sun. Despite terrific heat the Hakoah players showed up to advantage and managed to pierce the sterling defense of the Stamford backs twice during the fray. Max Ruback and “Kid” Liss scored the two goals for the Hakoah eleven with two perfectly executed shots from difficult angles of the field.
Nat Greenblatt, Schwartz, Finkel and Novick played a beautiful brand of football that day and evoked cheers and cheers all through the contest. Irving Novick, who has invariably come through for Hakoah when they needed extra points, was very closely guarded and failed to score for the first time in a long while due to this impregnable defense set up by the Stamford backs.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
