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THE LAST YEARS OF FRANK GOTCH (1911-1917)

-- Beginning with the second bout with Georg Hackenschmidt in Chicago --


1911

(Gotch trains nearly seven weeks at Humboldt, Iowa, for return match with Hackenschmidt; Emil Klank is his manager and Farmer Burns his trainer.)

9-4ChicagoGeorg Hackenschmidtwon

Gotch was guaranteed $21,000 for this bout; Hackenschmidt $11,000. Gotch was a 3 to 5 choice, but all bets were called off. Chief of Police McWeens and President Charles Comiskey (the match was staged in the White Sox ballpark) did the calling off just before the match. Gotch won the first fall with crotch and neck hold at 14:18 and "the second by mere suggestion" at 5:32. At least 25,000 were present, largest crowd ever to see a wrestling match.

The Chicago Tribune said: "The official declaration (of bets off) was the first intimation of the existence of something queer about the match, but its signficance got through only to the sophisticated sporting element, which was not in the majority. The public had no intimation that Hackenschmidt would lie down at the first plausible opportunity but that, as since discovered, was exactly what he intended to do -- and did."

Gotch left the day afterward for Des Moines as Klank prepared to launch another theatrical tour of the West. Hackenschmidt took the Twentieth Century train to New York, claiming a swollen left knee which was covered with heavy bandages.

       
10-13Kansas City MOGeorge Padoubnywon
10-14St. JosephFred Beellwon
10-17Des MoinesEmile Pietrowon
10-28DenverJess Westergaardwon
10-30Salt Lake CityWilliam Demetralwon
11-1Portland ORGeorge Roeberwon
11-2TacomaJim Asbellwon
11-3SeattleJack Leonwon
11-4Bellingham??????
11-6Vancouver BCChet McIntyrewon
11-23BuffaloLeon Robalskiwon
12-1MinneapolisCharles Hackenschmidtwon
12-27Kansas CityAlec Munrowon
12-28(GOTCH ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT...AGAIN)


1912

(The Seattle Times observes in January: "Gotch defeated Alec Munroe, British title holder, saying it was his last appearance. He said Roller was the only American he would meet and that he would pin him six times in an hour... the usual handicap match is arranged on a basis of two falls in an hour, so it reduces down to the mathematical proposition that Gotch thinks Roller is less than a decimal point."
2-3ChicagoMarin Plestinawon
3-12ChicagoJoe Geshtoutwon
Paul Martinsonwon
3-13MinneapolisHenry Ordemannlost(handicap, failed to throw)
3-14St. PaulMarin Plestinawon
3-15ChicagoHenry Ordemannlost(handicap, failed to throw)
3-17MilwaukeeMarin Plestinawon
3-22OmahaHenry Ordemannlost(handicap, failed to throw)
6-13Baltimore"Americus" (Gus Schoenlein)won
8-22Kansas CityJess Westergaardwon
11-7(GOTCH ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT...AGAIN, SAYS JESS WESTERGAARD DESERVING OF TITLE)


1913

1-7(Gotch referees Jess Westergaard-Henry Ordemann match in Minneapolis)
2-7(Gotch referees Stanislaus Zbyszko-Raymond Cazeaux match in Chicago)
4-1Kansas CityGeorge Lurichwon

(In addition to the above, said Joseph B. Bowles in the 1913 "Frank A. Gotch: World's Champion Wrestler," Gotch wrestled in more than 200 fifteen-minute handicap matches and participated in hundreds of exhibitions, impromptu and benefit encounters over the years)

(In this year, Gotch formed an automobile dealership with Albert Wittman and P.F. Saul, in Humboldt)
   
11-7(GOTCH ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT...AGAIN)


1914

1-29(GOTCH ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT...AGAIN...SAYS: "Please announce positively that I am through with wrestling forever. My wife and myself have gone over the matter thoroughly and nothing will induce me to change my mind. The call of the foreigners and the offer of the big New York purses...$25,000 for three bouts...will never make me leave the farm again. I would suggest that Beell and Americus get together and then let the winner of this match defend the title. I will willingly waive my rights to the title in favor of the winner of the Beell-Americus match"...quoted in letter to Emil Klank, published in New York Times)

(Gotch's son was born in this year; curiously, he was given the name Robert Frederick Gotch -- remarkably close to the real name of Ed "Strangler" Lewis.)


1915

7-3Humboldt IAHenry Ordemannwon
11-18Kansas City Mo(Promoter W.D. Scoville says Gotch will come out of retirement and meet Joe Stecher in the spring "after wrestling two or three men in the West." New York promoters have offered $25,000 for the match.)


1916

(In May, Gotch says, outside of Stecher, there are no great wrestlers and there are few good wrestlers -- Cutler is the class")
6-13(Gotch signs contract with owners of Sells-Floto Circus, which includes a scheduled autumn match with Joe Stecher, to be held either in Omaha, Kansas City or Chicago, and for which Gotch will receive $15,000 -- the same amount for which he came out of "retirement" to wrestle European champion George Lurich in 1913)
7-18Kenosha WIBob Managoffdraw(no contest, Gotch breaks leg)

(Although most agree this was the end of Gotch's career, some accounts say he later "wrestled" Jim Essen as part of a role in a silent movie)


1917

12-16(Gotch dies of uremic poisoning, age 39)

(ED. NOTE from J Michael Kenyon : Just before his death, Gotch had sold 1,065 acres in Hamilton County at an average price of $100 per acre, and still retained a 470-acre farm 3 1-2 miles south of Humboldt valued at $200 per acre, plus additional land in the Dakotas and Canada and some city lots in Seattle, Wash. He was a bank director, president of a street railway and electric light company and still part owner of Gotch & Saul Auto Company, which sold Mitchell automobiles. He had a cigar named for him, and he was a personal friend of Gov. W.L. Harding. Fully two thousand people attended his funeral, which was held at the Congregational Church in Humboldt, Dec. 19, 1917, at 2:30 p.m. Governor Harding delivered the eulogy. Gotch's body was buried in Union Cemetary in an imposing mausoleum.)

 

Article provided by J Michael Kenyon of WRESTLING AS WE LIKED IT.