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Frank Alvin Gotch was born April 27, 1878, on a farm three miles south of Humboldt. He was the last of nine children of Frederick Rudolph and Amelia Gotch. His parents were married in their native Germany in 1855 and immigrated to the United States in 1863. In 1864, Frederick enlisted in the Union Army, and served in 186th New York Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered out in 1865.  He then journeyed to Iowa, were he purchased land south of Humboldt.

The Gotch Home

Frank worked hard on the family farm.  Like many other kids of that time, he attended school mostly in the winter months when he was needed to work on the farm.  His favorite past time at school was wrestling and boxing with the other boys.  He had aspirations  of becoming a prizefighter, like John L. Sullivan.

As a teenager, Frank developed a reputation as a tough guy, because of his "fun" wrestling matches with others.  On June 18, 1899, Frank was at a baseball game in LuVerne.  It was there that he answered the challenge to a wrestling match, by Dan McLeod.  McLeod was the former heavyweight champion  of America.  Frank was either pretty confidante, or he was displaying the naiveté of a young Iowa farm boy.   The match lasted almost two hours before McLeod won the match.  McLeod was not the only winner that day, because Frank had so impressed him that McLeod would later tell Farmer Burns that Frank Gotch had the makings of a world champ.

To find out more about the career of Frank Gotch, visit Gotch An American Hero.  

Frank with his wife Gladys

 

Gotch Day - 1908 - Humboldt, IA

 

Gotch died on December 16, 1917 at the age of 41. A national hero, over 2,000 mourners attended his funeral. Few men garnered the respect Gotch earned during his time as champion, and for many years afterward, every champion that followed him was invariably compared to the great Gotch, the "measuring stick" of that era. The Ring Chronicle is proud to induct the man many consider to be the 1st truly great World Wrestling Champion, Frank Gotch, into T. R. C. 's pro wrestling Hall of Fame.