It's been 23years since Wild Bill Longson died, and a whole lot more than that since he put Gorgeous George in a headlock, but that didn't curb the enthusiasm any for Frank Longson, who will turn 76 on his next birthday, when he heard they'd finally gotten around to putting his uncle in the Hall of Fame.
"When I got the news, I smiled," said Frank, "I thought, well, he deserved it."
Willard Rowe "Wild Bill" Longson, who was born in 1906 in Salt Lake City and moved to St. Louis when his professional wrestling career took off in the late 1930s, was recently inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Schenectady, N.Y., as part of the Class of 2006.
Since Longson died at the age of 76 in 1982, he was not around to personally enjoy the moment.
But his nephew was.
"He was champion of the world three different times," said Frank. "Ask anyone over 80, they'll remember him."
Frank was just 9 years old when Uncle Bill moved to St. Louis in 1939, but he remembers watching him wrestle in person on return visits to Salt Lake at the Fairgrounds Coliseum. He also remembers visiting his uncle many times as a grown man when his work as a salesman took him through St. Louis.
"I'd stay with them," said Frank, referring to Bill and his wife, Althea. "He was always just a regular guy to me. He was a terrific uncle."
Bill was the second of five Longson boys born to George, a prison guard, and Alice Longson, of Sugar House. "My dad, Henry, was the oldest. Then Bill," said Frank. "They were all wild."
But Bill was the only one to have 15,000 people at St. Louis's Kiel Auditorium scream out his name — some in support, some otherwise.
"He fought dirty," said Frank, winking. "That's how he packed the house."
At 240 pounds, Wild Bill Longson won and re-won the world professional wrestling championship three times: in 1942, 1943 and 1947. At his peak, he made more money a year — reportedly over $100,000 — than Babe Ruth (who peaked out at $80,000 with the Yankees). During the war year of 1944, Wild Bill was part of no less than 39 pro wrestling cards in St. Louis — then considered the wrestling capital of the world — and during one stretch as the headliner, he helped pull in 16 consecutive sellouts.
But his most impressive move in a sport that was as much "show" back then as it is now came earlier in his career.
When he was just getting started in 1937, he met a "Georgia hillbilly" in San Francisco named Man Mountain Dean, who proceeded to throw him out of the ring and break his back.
Longson returned to Salt Lake and spent 18 months recuperating.
After which he put on a purple mask and returned to San Francisco as the "Purple Shadow," where he got a match against — you guessed it — Man Mountain Dean.
This time, he broke Man Mountain Dean's leg.
And then took off the mask.
And moved to St. Louis.
And Wild Bill Longson was born.
Employing such moves as the airplane spin, the flying leap and — his trademark — the pile driver, he wrestled the best of the best, including the aforementioned Gorgeous George and the legendary Lou Thesz, who went on to succeed Wild Bill as world champion in 1948. Both Gorgeous George and Thesz are fellow Hall of Famers, along with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Killer Kowalski, Andre the Giant, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Bobby Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel and a bunch of other guys who could bodyslam you into next Tuesday.
"I just think it's something people in Utah would be interested to know," said Frank, "that somebody born and raised in Sugar House went that far."
And now has the Hall of Fame credentials to prove it.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.