Indianapolis Star – August 17, 1966
By Woolsey Teller
Oldtimers must have felt something of a shock at reading of the death recently of one of the most famous wrestlers of all time, Ed (Strangler) Lewis. Anybody who ever saw Lewis would find it difficult to imagine how anything, even the Grim Reaper, could cut down such a rugged example of manly strength.
Lewis had all the physical attributes of the Rock of Gibraltar. In his heyday he weighed 270 pounds, all of it solid muscle. His immense neck measured 21 inches around. Ordinary neckties didn’t fit him so he had special ones made, eight inches longer than the normal cravat. His chest was 56 inches and his waist 44.
Years ago when he was in Indianapolis he joked that he was the only baby in the world who was never slapped when he was born. “I was so big the doctor was afraid I’d slap him back,” he said.
After he retired Lewis spent most of his time toward the betterment of what he called “his hobby.” And he explained, “Youth is my hobby.” He visited schools for the blind and orphan homes, and seemed happiest when he was among the youngsters.
For what the title was worth, Lewis won the world’s heavyweight wrestling championship five times, taking it the first time in 1920 with a victory over the famed Joe Stecher.
Possessor of what was considered the most powerful headlock in the trade, Lewis in 1922 challenged Jack Dempsey, then the heavyweight champion prizefighter, to a mixed wrestling-boxing match. The contest never took place but Lewis’ challenge demonstrated his belief that by wrestling, he could whip any man on earth, even so tough a customer as was Dempsey.
It is saddening to consider what the ravages of time can do to even so magnificent a specimen as Lewis. He was blind and poor at his death in Oklahoma at 76 although he had earned $4 million during his career.
But if time ended his eyesight and emptied his pockets it could not dampen his great fighting heart. He said of the terrible affliction that plunged him into darkness: “This is just another test to prove the allness, the omnipotence of God. I’m going through a beautiful experience.”
Lewis said that faith in God had enabled him to sustain his life after he became sightless. “I have come to realize a true sense of values through this tribulation,” he explained.
The great old catch-as-catch-can artist knew all the holds, and all the ways to break holds. He was wise in the ways of the mat and knew how to size up and how to grapple against a tough adversary.
As for the toughest adversary of all – the one that each human on earth must grapple with daily – life itself, Strangler Lewis had a headlock on it all the way to the end of the match. Because, as it turned out, his heart was even bigger than his neck.
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