Verne Gagne, pro wrestler, dies at 89

[sassy69]

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/spo...-gagne-dies-89

Minnesota pro wrestling legend Verne Gagne has died, the WWE announced Monday night. He was 89.

Gagne, of Robbinsdale, was a University of Minnesota wrestler and competed in the 1948 Olympics before turning to pro wrestling in 1950. He joined the America Wrestling Association in 1960 and eventually became sole owner of the Minneapolis-based association.

"Sad to hear my longtime friend Verne Gagne has passed today," "Mean" Gene Okerlund, the pro wrestling announcer who worked for Gagne for 13 years in the Twin Cities, said in a Twitter post. "To me their was never anybody quite like him."

Gagne was a successful promoter and talent recruiter, drawing sell-out crowds to the St. Paul Civic Center during the AWA's biggest years in the 1970s and early '80s.

The AWA and its syndicated "All-Star Wrestling" television show featured performers such as Jesse Ventura, Baron von Raschke, Hulk Hogan, Nick Bockwinkel, Jerry "The Crusher" Blackwell and "Mad Dog" Vachon.

Gagne was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006, according to the wrestling organization.

In his 80s, Gagne suffered from Alzheimer's disease. In 2009 at a Bloomington care center, he shoved a fellow resident, who broke a hip and later died of pneumonia. Prosecutors declined to press charges because of Gagne's dementia.

Some early video of Verne: http://www.startribune.com/local/301510931.html

[Granite-Dawg]

Rip.. I remember watching AWA as a kid he left a good legacy.

[hifrommike65]

He helped invent pro wrestling as it exists today. Thanks for letting us know. RIP Gagne.

[cook]

Yes he was a legend

[swingslammer]

He last got in the ring at the age of....74!

Sure it is "Fake" but that is still some longevity.

[Curt James]

May he rest in peace.

[sassy69]

That era of the early wrestlers is starting to come to an end - I also had no idea most of it was centered in the Twin Cities. I totally grew up w/ All Star Wrestling!

[Jon Bodin]

That era of the early wrestlers is starting to come to an end - I also had no idea most of it was centered in the Twin Cities. I totally grew up w/ All Star Wrestling!

I remember going to the television tapings for All Star Wrestling as a kid and watching it every weekend. Later I worked out with quite a few of them at The Gym in Plymouth (Hawk, Animal, The Warlord, Curt Hennig, Medusa, Wayne Bloom, Jesse Ventura and others). Sad day indeed!