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Frank Gotch
Frank Gotch in a published photo
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Frank Gotch Frank Kennedy
Billed height	183 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Billed weight	91 kg (210 lb)
Born	April 27, 1878(1878-04-27) Humboldt, Iowa
Died	December 16, 1917 (aged 39) Humboldt, Iowa
Trained by	Farmer Burns
Debut	1899
Retired	1913

Frank Alvin Gotch (April 27, 1878 - December 17, 1917) was an American professional wrestler credited for popularizing professional wrestling in the United States. He competed back when the contests were largely legitimate (see catch wrestling), and his reign as World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion (from 1908 to 1915) is the second longest in the history of wrestling. He became one of the most popular athletes in America from the 1900s to the 1910s.

He was the first inductee to both the Professional Wrestling Writers Hall of Fame in Latham, New York and the Lou Thesz/George Tragos Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Newton, Iowa; his professional wrestling record is 154 wins and 6 losses.

Frank Gotch vs. Georg Hackenschmidt at Comiskey Park

The son of Frederick Rudolph and Amelia Gotch, Gotch was born and raised on a small farm three miles south of Humboldt, Iowa. He took up wrestling in his teens, earning a reputation by beating locals. He adopted the toe hold as his finishing/signature move.

Gotch wrestled his first professional match in Lu Verne, Iowa, on June 18, 1899, against former American Heavyweight Champion, Dan McLeod. Gotch impressed the veteran by holding his own for nearly two hours before losing. On December 18, 1899, Gotch challenged another former American Champion, "Farmer" Martin Burns, losing in 11 minutes, but impressing Burns, who offered to train Gotch. Under the guidance of Burns, Gotch won a series of matches in Iowa and later, Alaska. While in Alaska, Gotch wrestled under the name Frank Kennedy and won the title of "Champion of the Klondike". During his time in Alaska, Gotch tried his hand at boxing, but failed miserably against the heavyweight Frank Slavin.

Gotch returned to Iowa and instantly challenged the reigning American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins. Gotch lost their first match in 1903, before defeating Jenkins in a rematch on January 27, 1904 to take the championship. After trading the title with Jenkins and Fred Beel, Gotch set his sights on the World Heavyweight Championship, then held by the undefeated Estonian Georg Hackenschmidt. Hackenschmidt was favored to win, but he submitted to Gotch after 2 grueling hours to an ankle lock submission [1]; It has been alleged that Gotch used illegal techniques in the match to defeat Hackenschmidt, which included oiling up his body, rubbing oil into Hack's eyes, scratching, gouging and hitting. At one time, Gotch also punched Hackenschmidt on the nose [2]. According to the Lou Albano's book,The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pro Wrestling, Gotch's reason for smothering himself with oil (in his first encounter against Georg Hackenschmidt) was to insure that Hackenschmidt couldn't apply his signature bearhug.

Gotch would spend the next three years establishing his dominance over the sport, defeating the likes of Jenkins, Benjamin Roller, and Stanislaus Zbyszko, who was believed to have won over 900 matches before falling to Gotch on June 1, 1910. Gotch became a national sensation, appearing in plays and even receiving an invitation to the White House by then president Theodore Roosevelt.

Gotch would meet Hackenschmidt again on September 4, 1911 at the newly opened Comiskey Park in Chicago, which drew a crowd of nearly 30,000 spectators and a record gate of $87,000. The rematch is one of the most controversial and talked about matches in wrestling history, as Hackenschmidt injured his knee in a training session with Ad Santel weeks before the match, and it was later revealed that Gotch had paid off Santel to insure that Hackenschmidt was not at 100% condition for the rematch [3]. The injury was so severe that Hackenschmidt nearly withdrew from the match, but agreed to go on with the match only after Gotch had fabricated the claim that he also had an injury (his neck), but was still willing to compete regardless [4]. Before the match, the two had allegedly agreed on Gotch winning the match, but under the condition that Gotch would lose the first fall so that Hackenschmidt would look strong in defeat. Despite their agreement before the match, Gotch ended up double-crossing Hackenschmidt by quickly defeating him in two straight falls.

Gotch would continue to reign as the World Heavyweight Champion until he retired in 1913]. Gotch is one of the longest reigning World Champions in the history of professional wrestling, with a reign that spanned 7 years and 3 months; the only other champion to have a longer reign than Gotch is Bruno Sammartino, who held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship for a record of 7 years and 8 months. Gotch is still the longest reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion, with Lou Thesz's first reign (which is an exact year shy of Gotch's reign) being the only one to come close to Gotch's.

While in retirement, Gotch joined Sells-Floto Circus where he would pay any man $250.00 if they could last 15 minutes in a match against him without being pinned or conceding. Not once did he have to pay. He grew tired of touring and moved back to Humboldt. After a year of health troubles, Frank Gotch died in 1917 of what was rumored to be syphilis, but the official cause of death was uremic poisoning.

There is a park named the Frank A. Gotch State Park, three miles south of Humboldt near his childhood farm, in homage to Gotch. The Humboldt Community School District also sponsors the annual Frank Gotch Wrestling Tournament as well.

Step Over Toe Hold

Belly-to-back suplex

Double leg takedown

• American Heavyweight Championship (3 time)
• World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 1996)

• Dave Meltzer & John F. Molinaro (2002). Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of all Time. Winding Stair Press. ISBN 1-55366-305-5. 
• Gotch: A German-American Hero
• Hickok Sports Biography: Gotch, Frank A.
• Mike Chapman (1990). Frank Gotch, World's Greatest Wrestler. Buffalo, New York: William S. Hein & Co.. 
• Karl Stern. Pioneers of Wrestling. KarlStern.com.