Brief History:
El Paso, for decades, was a wrestling haven for non-heavyweights.
Background:
As of September 14, 1939, Harry Coffman, a 300-pound former wrestler and promoter at San Antonio, was named matchmaker for the Liberty Hall in El Paso. Coffman would work with promoter McIntosh, who had been doing the job for upwards of 20 years. McIntosh told the newspaper that he was turning "everything" over to Coffman and that he was in "absolute charge of arranging the cards." Coffman, reportedly, knew many wrestlers, and would continue to book middleweight and light heavyweight wrestlers in El Paso for the time being. He was going to launch his operations beginning on October 3, 1939. Coffman also planned to attempt to revive boxing in El Paso.
Andy Tremaine, a veteran wrestler, captured the Light Heavyweight wrestling championship (175-pounds) from Monte LaDue on April 18, 1950 at the Coliseum in El Paso. Tremaine was immediately planning a Midwestern tour, which was being scheduled by McIntosh and was to begin in late May. “Although he claims El Paso his home, his family lives in Nogales,” Arizona. The El Paso Herald Post stated that “Tremaine first entered into the wrestling game in 1932. He joined the Border Patrol in 1940 and quit the game. He returned to the ring in 1949.”
John McIntosh promoted El Paso for 23 seasons before selling his interests in the promotional business on April 20, 1950 because of an illness in his family, forcing him to relocate to California. Andy Tremaine, who won the National Wrestling Association Light Heavyweight Title literally only two days before, bought the territory for an undisclosed amount of money. His license to promote was approved with the singular rule that he not be allowed to actually wrestle in El Paso. He was allowed to wrestle anywhere else.
Interestingly enough, ex-wrestler Sam Menacker entered the territory with his own intentions to promote at the Coliseum on Tuesday evenings, the established night for grappling in El Paso, and would basically be opposition to Tremaine. Menacker's offerings began on Tuesday, August 15, 1950 with Mike London, Bobby Coleman, Leon Kirilanko, and a pair of little people wrestlers.
The El Paso circuit sent grapplers on diffferent evenings to parts of Mexico, including Juarez on Sundays, into New Mexico and Arizona. At different points, it also merged with the booking office of Amarillo and the West Texas scene.
Instead of a prolonged and bitter war for the hearts of El Paso wrestling fans, Tremaine sold his promotion to Menacker, it was announced in the September 14, 1950 El Paso Herald-Post. He indicated an urge to continue his focus on wrestling and defending his light heavyweight champion, particularly in El Paso.
Menacker was on a roll, and with top names like Lou Thesz, Baron Michele Leone, Enrique Torres, and Wilbur Snyder, the Coliseum was seeing huge numbers. On August 25, 1953, Thesz successfully defended his NWA championship against Torres with more than 7,200 paying $10,143. Leone was on the undercard, going over King Kong Kashey in three-falls. Thesz battled Leone on February 16, 1954, and 7,111 paied $12,698.14 to see the two championship claimants go at it. Thesz won handily, but the duo had scored again at the box office. And Menacker was establishing El Paso as one of the hottest towns in the country.
Wrestlers from El Paso:
According to his obituary, Yaqui Joe succeeded Matty Matsuda as the biggest gate attraction in his hometown of El Paso. Joe was also a claimant, at one time, of the World Middleweight Champion and a protege of promoter John McIntosh.
Obituaries:
John McIntosh died on Monday, March 1, 1965 at the age of 78 in North Hollywood, California. McIntosh was a promoter for "about 30 years at Liberty Hall" in El Paso, according to his obituary. He was surived by four children and buried at Valla Halla Cemetery in North Hollywood.
Wrestler Yaqui Joe (Frank Close) died on Sunday, December 15, 1968 in El Paso. The 72 year old was survived by two siblings and was buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery.
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