The Territory Photo Albums--Pittsburgh 1969

Since its inception this blog has always had something of a Pittsburgh flavor. After all, I've made my home in Pittsburgh for my entire life. But "The Burgh" is somewhat underappreciated for its rich wrestling history. Of course we claim Bruno Sammartino as our own, but it's sometimes forgotten on a larger scale just how many big names of wrestling's past spent their time here. Bruno needed challengers, allies and plenty of other talent to fill out cards at the Civic Arena and on the immensely popular "Studio Wrestling" program.

The Pittsburgh wrestling office, like many territories, periodically released photo album publications to remind you of the great wrestling roster in your area. There were five total, all released under the banner of "Tri-State Wrestling." I've featured them on this blog before, with the 1967 edition being a previous entry in the "Territory Photo Albums" series, but today we're looking at the final one that was produced in 1969. 

While the first editon, published in 1963, has Buddy Rogers featured most prominently, Bruno has clearly become the star in his six years as champion. In fact this edition features more Bruno than anyone else. There's no doubt about it, though, he was the man. While most associate New York as his top town, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who grew up in Pittsburgh in the '60s who didn't know The Living Legend. The Italian Superman. The Champ. He was, and still is, a Pittsburgh sports icon revered alongside the likes of Roberto Clemente. 

Our cover features Bruno sharing the spotlight with Tony "Battman" Marino who we just recently lost. Marino is showing off his famous physique without the costume of The Caped Crusader covering it up. With the Batman television series being off of the air for over a year at this point, the gimmick was about to come to an end as well. Mr. Marino was a class act and is much missed. When I had this particular album signed, he even brought the original "Battman" cowl. Did I mention that the gentleman, well into his '80s at that point, had a patch of hair, on his otherwise bald head, shaved into the Batman logo? 

Inside we get Bruno right off the bat! It's actually the entire Sammartino clan. Carol, David and the twins. Despite what we know about Bruno and David's relationship later on, it's nice to see some family time shown here. This album also includes several pages dedicated to "The Bruno Sammartino Course Of Body Building." This was actually also released as its own publication around the same time as well and I would imagine that it set many a Pittsburgh youth off on the right foot as far as training is concerned. I won't go on a tangent, but there aren't any true role models left in sports today. Bruno was the role model in every sense of the term.

As mentioned above we get great glimpses of so many legends who either starred in the Pittsburgh area or at least passed through. Domenic DeNucci, Ivan Koloff, Lou Albano and Tony Altomare, Waldo Von Erich, Gorilla Monsoon and George "The Animal" Steele. We also have the Pittsburgh mainstays like Bobby "Hurricane" Hunt, Jumpin' Johnny DeFazio and Frank Holtz. The latter may actually be the final living Pittsburgh wrestling star of this era following the recent deaths of DeFazio, Marino and DeNucci.

The Tri-State albums always featured bits on non-wrestlers, too, such as Pittsburgh broadcasting legend Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille who was our voice of wrestling, promoters (including Vincent J. McMahon in one of the early books) and the man credited with discovering Bruno, Rudy Miller. This last installment also features a full page photo featuring three young women labeled "Judo Girls." Darlene Kalb, Donna Waxter and Jordie Ludwig were local judo champions who performed exhibitions during cards at the Civic Arena. I have no idea if the three are still with us, but adding their autographs to the book would certainly be fun as would hearing their stories from the era. 

While we always hear about WWF Magazine, pay-per-view event programs and other similar publications, very little is ever written about these great photo albums. I'm both thrilled and honored to document them for posterity. For more photos of this edition, including more of the autographs that I've filled this one with, follow us on Instagram @jws_wrestling_memorabilia. 

The Territory Photo Albums--AWA 1974

Who doesn't love looking through the old territory photo albums? Even non-collecting wrestling fans get a kick out of them. They're a time capsule of a particular promotion and are usually from a golden era. If business was down and the stars weren't exactly top notch the promoters probably weren't going to spend a lot of money to advertise that fact. As I said in the first installment of this feature many years ago, you didn't have the Internet where you could fly to any promotion's website or app and instantly view the current roster, alumni, Hall of Fame, etc. So what did you do? You spent a couple bucks and bought a photo album if your area was lucky enough to have one.

Being one of the premiere wrestling promotions in the country, the American Wrestling Association had many photo albums. In this case, way back in 1974, it's a yearbook. I've long wanted this particular publication and the price is usually fairly high when it comes up. I've not only been on an AWA "kick" as of late, but I happened upon a small but amazing collection chock full of items from both this promotion and "nearby" Central States. I'm sure we'll be seeing much more from that lot both here on the blog and on the associated social media pages. I must say that I'm particularly thrilled over the inclusion of a side of a popcorn box that was used for collecting autographs. It really isn't even the autographs that are as exciting to me as it being an actual piece of a popcorn box from a nearly fifty-year-old wrestling show. If you wouldn't be feeling the same, get off of this blog now.

Kidding, of course! We've got 1974 to go back to here. If you've already browsed through the photos or own this book yourself, you may notice the resemblance to the 1976 World Wide Wrestling Federation Championship Wrestling Yearbook. That yearbook was also published by the team of Gary Halvorson and Gary Juster and is very similar in feel and format. Juster, of course, is best remembered for his involvement in World Championship Wrestling in the early '90s and was still around the wrestling business within the last few years. Seeing as that the WWWF version was listed as being published in St. Paul, Minnesota, one has to wonder if Vince McMahon or another WWWF promoter saw this AWA work and decided that they wanted to commission one for themselves.

The table of contents for this AWA yearbook lists Verne Gagne, The Crusher, Billy Robinson, Billy "Superstar" Graham, Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens, Bobby Heenan, Larry "The Axe" Hennig, Ivan Putski, Baron Von Raschke and Horst Hoffman, Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell, Dick The Bruiser, Buddy Wolff, Geoff Portz, Chris Taylor, Andre The Giant, and Nikolai Volkoff among the top wrestlers. Of course there are also a few pages with additional wrestlers as well as other dignitaries. In showing how everyone wanted to stay "fresh" in those days, several of the stars featured would end up in the WWWF version two years later. 

It's no surprise our cover boy is Verne Gagne himself. I've said it many times, but I still can't believe that we didn't get a Remco Verne figure. Nonetheless, here he is demonstrating his pure wrestling prowess on Billy Robinson and featuring in the first, and biggest, bio. Son Greg is on the inside cover. I don't agree with the hate that Greg gets, but it's just simply telling that he's right there. While you might've guessed Robinson as the second bio, you would be wrong. He came in third right behind The Crusher. Even as he was getting up in age, I'm sure that Reggie "Crusher" Lisowski was still a top drawing card in the region, especially in Milwaukee. Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

We get a look at Billy Graham (when "Superstar" got middle billing) and then arrive upon the man that I, personally, connect most closely with the AWA, the one and only Nick Bockwinkel. He may have been the classiest champion that there ever was, but you could also argue that he was the classiest heel, too. While I'm sure that Nick Aldis in our modern era is mostly trying to emulate Ric Flair, he actually comes across much more in the style of Bockwinkel as far as promos and presentation. Nevertheless, both in and out of the ring Bockwinkel is unmatched. 

While they don't have the bios that the "home based" AWA talent gets, Andre the Giant and Nikolai Volkoff share a featured page that obviously points out their importance. With Andre it was no secret. Looking through AWA results of the era you can see the many tours that Andre did throughout the Midwest, often competing in a battle royal or helping dispose of the most dastardly AWA heels. Volkoff was likely coming in from the WWWF, as he's pictured with a nice head of hair and "Classy" Freddie Blassie who would not have made the trip, being a WWWF lifer at that point.

There are two full pages of smaller pictures displaying "More Wrestling Stars." It's sort of surprising to see Dusty Rhodes here instead of getting a full profile, though this would be right when he was becoming "The American Dream" in Florida. We do get to see a photo that I have never seen before of young "Rick Flair," probably not too far removed from the days when he yearned to be known as "Rambling" Ricky Rhodes. We also get to see Rene Goulet, Red Bastien, Larry Heiniemi (Lars Anderson), Khosrow Ali Vaziri (The Iron Sheik), and a young, slim, dark haired grappler named Paul Perschman who would later be immortalized in plastic by the AWA as "Playboy" Buddy Rose. Interestingly we also get a photo of "Odd Job," labeled as such. This is obviously actor Harold Sakata who played the famous James Bond villain, but I wasn't aware that he actually wrestled under the character name. Rather I recall him being billed in the ring as Tosh Togo.

After the wrestlers we get a full page dedicated to promoter Wally Karbo (who Bobby Heenan had a million stories about) and a subsequent page with other AWA officials. Stanley Blackburn, Bob Luce, Al DeRusha, Lord James"Tally Ho" Blears and Ed Francis are a few of the more familiar names. We end the publication with a profile on longtime AWA broadcaster Marty O'Neill and two unsurprising ads. The first is for the publications produced by "The Wrestling News." Although the ordering address is in New York, these publications were largely produced out of the AWA territory and always seemed to have a large focus on that area. Last but not least is an ad for the film "The Wrestler." This is, of course, the 1974 version which co-starred Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson. It's worth going out of your way to see, is widely available, and the bar fight featuring The Texas Outlaws (Rhodes and Dick Murdoch) is a real highlight. And there's Harold Sakata again looking a lot like Odd Job.

Did I say how much I love these old books? I know that I'm not the only one. I can't cram all of the pictures into one blog entry, but I do try to feature enough to convey the look and feel. If you want to see more, give us a follow over on Instagram (@jws_wrestling_memorabilia) where I just recently posted a brief tour of this yearbook with photos you did not see here including Wahoo McDaniel, Vivian Vachon, Ken Patera, Wilbur Snyder, and one of my off-beat favorites from the era, Bull Bullinski. If there was ever a wrestler of the '70s, it's Bull.

While Ron Trongard wasn't in this particular AWA publication, can't you just hear him? "From coast to coast, continent to continent, border to border, it's the A-DOUBLE-YEW-A!"

The Territory Photo Albums--WWWF 1976

Before the Internet, how did you see the rosters of your local wrestling territory? If you were lucky, your promotion put out a photo album or yearbook! Usually for a nominal fee, plus postage and handling, these publications could be the key to any fan becoming an expert on the stars and champions of any number of promotions. Some areas kept up better than others at maintaining these guides, but most put out at least a few that are known to exist today.

Bruno Sammartino featured heavily in the five Tri-State Wrestling photo albums put out by the Pittsburgh wrestling office in the 1960's. It's no surprise that "The Living Legend" also made the cover of the 1976 World Wide Wrestling Federation album. Officially titled "Championship Wrestling Yearbook," Sammartino is shown on the cover in a fierce battle with longtime nemesis "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. Of course, Koloff is also the man who ended Sammartino's first World Heavyweight Championship reign.

Also on the cover is the famous Madison Square Garden logo. These were likely sold at the Garden, though the inside cover shows that these were also marketed through the mail. Just $2.00 ($1.50 for the yearbook, .50 for postage and handling) was all that this forty-page treasure cost 42 years ago. As with so much shown on this blog, if we only had a time machine...

The yearbook features two page spreads on the top stars, while others get single pages (including one each on "The Three Wise Men of The East") and many other get a single photo. All in all we've got Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, Ivan Putski, Koloff, Louis Cerdan, Tony Parisi, Buggsy McGraw, Andre the Giant, Fabulous Moolah, Gorilla Monsoon, Spiros Arion, Bobo Brazil, Lou Albano, Freddie Blassie, The Grand Wizard, Haystack Calhoun, Dominick DeNucci, Pat Barrett, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Chief Jay Strongbow, Ernie Ladd, Francisco Flores, Manuel Soto, Pete Sanchez, Johnny Rodz, Black Jack Lanza, Black Jack Mulligan, Jimmy Valiant, Johnny Valiant, Kevin Sullivan, Crusher Blackwell, Dave O'Hannon, Pete Reeves, George Steele, Bob Duncum, Butcher Vachon, Waldo Von Erich, Tony Altimore, The Wolfman, Tony Garea, Dean Ho, Pedro Morales, Taro Tanaka, Susan Greene, Toni Rose, and "The WWWF," which we'll get to.

The many misspellings above are intentional. Those are the misspellings used in the yearbook itself, so I repeated them here for historical accuracy. Most of the photos match up, even if you'll be thrown for a loop at just how young and different the man later known as "The Taskmaster" looks here as regular Kevin Sullivan. It should be noted that the picture used for Toni Rose is actually her tag partner Donna Christanello. The two were often mistaken for each other in photos, and I always enjoy seeing my late friend Donna show up. She is sorely missed.

The last page, listed in the table of contents as "The WWWF," features the brass. The head honchos. The office. Shown are Willie Gilzenberg, Vince McMahon, Arnold Skoaland, Phil Zacko, Angelo Savoldi, and television announcers Vince McMahon Jr. and Antonino Rocca. It's amazing that only Skaaland was misspelled. Of everyone on this page, only Vincent Kennedy McMahon is alive today, though Savoldi just passed away a few years ago and made it as one of the longest living wrestlers on record. If anyone knew where the bodies were buried, it's these seven men.

It's always a blast to look through these publications. Back then, they were a fun look at the stars of the wrestling world as it was in your area. Today they're a time capsule of a bygone era with men and women who are now legends. Featured here were the stars of what the wrestling world knew as "New York." They filled the Garden to capacity and then moved onto the next town, no matter how big or small. The promoters were happy with an ass every eighteen inches, the wrestlers were happy with a decent check and a six-pack.

May those days be remembered forever...

The Territory Photo Albums--Pittsburgh 1967

 Fans nowadays have it easy!  If they want to know who's officially on the WWE roster, they can simply pull up the WWE App and a fully interactive listing is available at their disposal, complete with photos, facts, and even videos.  Back in the territorial days of wrestling, this would've been looked at as something out of science fiction.  The more advantageous fan might contact or even visit the offices of their local wrestling promoter in order to gain more info and facts, but that was about as far as it went.  If the fan wanted a "Who's Who" of wrestling stars and info they could usually purchase a program at an event, but one item was just a tad better: the photo album.

Most territories eventually released a publication billed as either a photo album or something similar.  These books were program/magazine sized and printed on a variety of materials.  Some had color, some did not.  Some had thicker, sturdier covers while others were all on standard paper.  A few were produced by the promotion itself, while others had some help from other publishers.  No matter the differences, they all served to advertise and promote the talent to the masses.

Since so many different albums were produced, it'd be an injustice to lump them all into one entry.  As a continuing series, we'll take a look at photo albums from territories around the country featuring many of the all-time greats and even some forgotten names.  For a few reasons, we'll start right here in the home city of this very blog, Pittsburgh, PA.

The photo albums put out by the Pittsburgh wrestling office, known as Spectator Sports, were titled "Tri-State Wrestling."  To many, they're known as the "Studio Wrestling photo albums," as "Studio Wrestling" was the name of the much-missed Pittsburgh wrestling television program, most famously hosted by Bill Cardille.  Growing up, I would constantly hear the WWF and other then-current wrestling promotions referred to as "Studio Wrestling" by adults.  I later figured out that the name is simply what these folks grew up on, so it became a generic title for which to refer to any form of pro wrestling.

Five of the Pittsburgh Tri-State Wrestling photo albums were produced in all, ranging from roughly 1963 to 1969.  The albums were sold through advertisements on arena programs and on the Studio Wrestling show itself.  For a nominal fee, you could own an album showing you full page shots of your local wrestling favorites, and even some national stars that were thrown in for good measure.  In the days before the over-saturation of televised wrestling, not to mention the Internet, these albums were the kind of thing that fans stared at for hours.

Exact release dates on these albums are fuzzy at best, but most agree that the edition shown here today is from around 1967 and would've been the third of the five released.  As with all but one of the Tri-State albums, the WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino is featured in a classic pose on the cover.  These Tri-State covers were usually very colorful, and this one is a mix of color and glorious black and white.  Interestingly, Sammartino is referred to as the "Holder Of World-Wide Wrestling Federation Championship."  It is often recalled that the title was usually just referred to as the "World Championship" on Studio Wrestling broadcasts.

In addition to being fun to look at, these albums also often provided a great place to obtain autographs in those very early days of wrestling merchandising.  Subsequently, it is not unusual to purchase any territorial photo album that contain signatures.  Long time readers of this blog may remember this Tri-State album, as I once uncovered a photo of the late Chief White Owl autographing the cover of one.  Whether or not this is the exact one or not will never be known, but the one in my collection does indeed have White Owl's signature right on the cover.  I've since been able to add Sammartino's signature as well as other living Pittsburgh wrestling legends, but it's always interesting to see just who the original fan was able to meet up with all of those years ago.

The Tri-State albums are a mix of promotional style photos and action shots.  In addition to men who competed in the Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania area like Sammartino, George Steele, Gorilla Monsoon, Bill Miller, Johnny DeFazio, and The Battman are wrestlers who had either passed through the area at one time or may never have really spent any time here at all such as Bobo Brazil, Arman Hussain, Toru Tanaka, and Luke Graham.  It was a smart idea by the Pittsburgh promoters to make the promotion seem even larger and more important.

Another fun gimmick that the promoters used to make the promotion seem larger can be seen in several of the photos, most notably in the in-ring photo of Steele.  Though crowds at the WIIC (now WPXI) studios were boisterous, fake fans made of cardboard helped to fill out certain sides of the ring in an attempt to make the studio seem even larger.  In the days before high-definition television cameras, this most likely worked to a degree, despite being blatantly obvious here in print.

Speaking of the studio, it seems that the original owner of this album most likely attended a live television broadcast of Studio Wrestling.  The thought behind this is the inclusion of the two gem autographs of the album, the first of which is promoter Rudy Miller.  Miller is often credited with discovering Bruno Sammartino himself, and is in fact listed as such right here in the album.  Although he was probably accessible for an autograph, it likely didn't occur to many fans to ask him for one.  After all, he wasn't a wrestler.  Also shown on the page are various officials, the ring announcer, and Dr. Louis R. Civitarese.  Civitarese, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 92, was the doctor who attended to Sammartino when the legend broke his neck in the 1970's.

The other star autograph in the album is also of a man who was not a wrestler, but rather a baseball Hall of Famer.  Pie Traynor, legendary Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman, is best remembered in the city today for being the pitchman for American Heating Company.  Traynor would do live commercials during the Studio Wrestling program where he would proclaim "Who Can? AmeriCAN!" to a generation of steel town wrestling fans.  Today, mentioning either Traynor or Studio Wrestling to a Pittsburgher above the age of 55 will likely produce an imitation of the famous pitch.

I have a soft spot for Pittsburgh for many reasons that I've covered over the years, but looking through the photo album of any wrestling territory is a thrill.  They're yet another great relic of the wrestling business gone-by, but in some ways they're continuing today.  In upcoming editions of "The Territory Photo Albums," we'll take a look at all aspects of such publications, and I hope that the stars pop out of these entries the way that they do in these albums of ten, twenty, and even fifty years ago.