Abie Coleman, the Californian burper, master of the arts of groans, grunts, and grimaces, seems to be a past master. He’s not the same Abie we saw last November when he first came east and started a blazing campaign for the ‘rassling crown. At present he’s just a flash in the pan with the emphasis on the pan. In fact even his burps and belches seem to be of the dying gladiator type.
Abie used to be one of the best horses in Jack Curley’s stable and because of his splendid work on the mats around New York was riding on to the big money and a name for himself every time he released one of his flying butts to the button.
However, for the past month or so, Abie, the former Jewish wrestling idol, doesn’t even put on a good act when he gets into the arena. His old repertoire of tricks, the flying mares, the airplane spins, the full nelsons, and crotch holds, that he used to dish out, are just so much siwash now. And mind you, this has been going on ever since the Little Litvack lost to Jeem Londos at the Ridgewood Grove on May 9.
HAS THE STUFF FOR A CRACK WRESTLER
Abie has the stuff in him to be one of the best heave and grunt men in mat circles. His massive legs, his great strength, his brawn and the fact that he can be a wrestling walloper when he so desires, are the chief facts that make us so interested in this Jewish lad.
Since he came east last November he has beaten the whole herd of burpers that Jack Curley puts on the board three times a week in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Brownsville. This guy Coleman used to be a swell egg. He would give the fans a run for their money with clean and real ‘rassling that made the burp fans, those old dear diehards, throw orchids instead of a Bronx rasperry at the end of every fight.
Coleman threw Rowdy Rudy Dusek with so much gusto that the old cynics, the men in the working press boxes, claimed they hadn’t had so much fun since Aunt Tillie caught her left arm in the wash wringer. Hans Kampfer and Bull Komar were bowled over with a ten-strike that was heard in Peoria. Jagat Singh was thrown with a grace and an ease that the man on the flying trapeze would envy. And so on right down the list, Rubi, Blackstock, Steinke, Ernie Dusek, Zelesniak and You-soff were just a little pocket money for this Jewish lad. But, what has happened to Abie Coleman in the last month?
OPEN UP, ABIE! THE WAR IS OVER
Coleman was thrown for a loop by the Greek strumberry man at the Ridgewood Grove. Since then he has been going from bad to worse. A glance at his ‘rassling record for the last two weeks reveals a batting average of {SPAN}#,000{/SPAN} with no runs, no hits and six errors.
It couldn’t be that Abie is getting money on the side to throw the fights instead of his opponents Abie is too swell a guy even to try to pull a stunt like that. Maybe the poor fellow is in love and doesn’t know it. If this is the case we’ll be glad to drop him a line and tell him the war’s over.
Bull Komar last Tuesday night at the Coliseum made Abie look like a fish out of water. At the prelim to the Londos-Browning fray he was taken for a buggy ride by a comparative unknown Eddie Marshall. All the boys of the Curley tribe have taken their poke at Coleman and found him soft and stale. Either that, or the boys are playing a game of tag and it’s Abie’s chance to be “it.”
MEETS ROWDY RUDY DUSEK TONIGHT
Tonight at the Coney Island Velodrome Abie meets Rowdy Rudy Dusek in the feature finish attraction. Abie has the stuff to finish the Rowdy in a manner that would delight the Italian fans in Coney Island, the Swedes in the Bronx, and the Jews all over New York. We say he can do it and here’s the reason why.
The Rowdy is the dirtiest wrestler in the game today. His record should reach O’Ryan any day if it hasn’t come to the Police Commissioner’s ears as yet. Every time the Rowdy steps into the ring, a special cordon of cops have to be sent to the arena where he is wrestling. In the past month the sport pages of the metropolis have headlined the news that “Police Protection Was Needed to Protect Rudy Dusek.” His antics arouse the fans to such a degree of intensity that the last time he fought at the Velodrome and was brutal to his opponent, the irate Italian gentry tore up the seats and threw them at the roughneck from Omaha.
Maybe this is what Coleman really needs. A little of this and a bit of that that Dusek can dish out will be enough to wake the lethargic Abie Coleman out of his trance.
We predict a great scrap for tonight at the Coney Island Velodrome, especially in view of the fact that Otto Bass, with an eye to what happened a few weeks ago, has asked for additional police protection.
GOOD CARD ON PROGRAM
The Dusek-Coleman clash tops another exceptional program, including a special attraction between the Georgia Peach, Marshal Blackstock, and Sam Cordovano, Columbia football coach. Paul Boesch meets Hans Kampfer, For the opening number the Russian madman, Vanka Zelesniak grapples against Bruno Gerassini of Italy.
THE MACCABI SPORT PROGRAM; WHITE PLAINS CONTEST
Dave White, executive secretary of the United States Maccabi Association, is planning on a boxing or wrestling contest that will bring together the best talent in the east. Benny Leonard, national director of the Maccabi Boxing Committee, has taken over the business end of the affair. Benny knows all the fight promoters and fighters by their first names and should have no difficulty in arranging a card that will prove both profitable to the fans and the Maccabi organization.
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.
