Omaha Wrestling Results

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, January 6, 1941
(City Auditorium) … John Pesek b. Walter Podolak (1-0) (Podolak was unable to continue
for the second fall) … Roy Dunn and Joe Dusek drew … Rube Wright b. Bob Jessen (4:
14) … Emil Dusek and Joe Hubka drew … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (referees: Pat
McGill, Joe Zikmund) … (1,600 fans)
Notes: Roy Dunn was billed as “Leroy Dunn.” His match with Dusek was “the season’s
best.”

*On Friday, January 10, 1941, wrestler George Vanous was going to face boxer Tommy
Corbett at the Main Recreation Center in Omaha. The event also featured a number of
amateur boxing matches.

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, January 13, 1941
(City Auditorium) … Everette Marshall b. Ras Samara (2/3) … Jack “Sockeye” McDonald
and Earl Wampler drew (30:00) … Jerry Adam b. Abe Friedman (10:28) … Sammy
Feeback b. Alf Johnson (16:08) … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Joe Zikmund)
… (1,400 fans)
Notes: In attendance was the outgoing Nebraska State Boxing (Athletic) Commissioner L.
B. Hokuf, who said he was “ousted” on Saturday. However, he was “sent up to ‘handle’
this show.” Hokuf was saying his goodbyes, reportedly. Hokuf, from Crete, was originally
appointed during the Charles W. Bryan administration, and remained during the six-year
term of R.L. Cochran. Governor Dwight Griswold was going to name his successor.

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, January 20, 1941
(City Auditorium) … Roy Dunn b. Rudolph “Rudy” LaDitzi (2/3) (third fall by DQ) … Ralph
Garibaldi and Dick Raines drew (30:00) … Joe Dusek b. Andy Moen (9:19) … Emil Dusek
and Alf Johnson drew (20:00) … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Joe Zikmund) …
(1,600 fans)

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, January 27, 1941
(City Auditorium) … Rudy LaDitzi b. Ralph Garibaldi (2/3) … Rube Wright b. Alf Johnson
(19:52) … Johnny Atkins b. Ed “Strangler” White (DQ) … Ras Samara and Rube
Strongberg drew (20:00) … (promoter: Max Clayton)

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, February 10, 1941
(City Auditorium) … NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ray Steele b. Dick Raines (2-0)
(first fall by DQ) … Emil Dusek and Jack Edwards drew (20:00) … Walter Podolak b. Alf
Johnson (16:36) … Rudy Strongberg b. Jack “Sockeye” McDonald (16:09) … (promoter:
Max Clayton) … (referee: John Lehl) … (1,800 fans)
Notes: The newspaper stated that this was the first “championship rassling match since
the Jim Londos-Paul Jones encounter about five years ago.” Steele was “better known to
Nebraskans as Pete Sauer of Lincoln’s athletic family.” Steele “also is noted for being the
last man to defeat John Pesek.” Edwards was said to be from Little Rock. Clayton
expected that the Sonja Henie ice show would “ruin” his gate.

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, February 17, 1941
(City Auditorium) … John Pesek b. Ras Samara (2/3) (Pesek lost the first fall, then won
the second and third both, inside of 10:00) … Rudy Strongberg b. Earl Wampler (15:36)
… Walter Podolak b. Jack Edwards (DQ) (11:29) … Joe Hubka and Stanley Mysljeck
drew (Hubka was a substitute for Andy Moen … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (announcer:
Billy Fox)
Notes: It was said that “it was the first time Pesek has lost a fall in the Auditorium in three
years.” Also, Moen “became father of an eight-pound son early Monday and couldn’t
answer the bell.”

Lincoln, Nebraska: Monday, February 24, 1941
( ) … John Pesek b. Hans Kampfer (2/3) (Pesek won the first fall in 1:00:17, Kampfer won
the second in 3:04, and Pesek took the final in 12:00) … Rudy Strongberg b. Jack
Edwards (19:48) … Earl Wampler b. Abe Friedman (10:58) … (1,800 fans)
Note: Said to be the largest crowd locally “in a year.”

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, March 10, 1941
(City Auditorium) … Rudy LaDitzi b. Rudy Strongberg (2/3) … Walter Podolak b. Stanley
Mysljeck … Ralph Garibaldi and Earl Wampler drew (20:00) … Joe Dusek and Jim Wright
drew (30:00) … (promoter: Max Clayton)

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, March 17, 1941
(City Auditorium) … John Pesek b. Rudy LaDitzi (2-0) (second fall by DQ) (Pesek was a
substitute for NWA World Champion Bronko Nagurski, who was “snowbound”) … Steve
Brody and Earl Wampler drew (15:00) … Joe Dusek b. Joe Hubka (14:36) … Emil Dusek
b. Alf Johnson (17:36) … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Joe Zikmund) …
(sponsored by: American Legion, post No.1) … (1,500 fans)
Notes: Joe Hubka was from Dodge, Nebraska, Johnson from Duluth, and LaDitzi from
Poughkeepsie. The newspaper said that Nagurski “is now proclaimed champion for the
third time. Each time he won the belt from a different foe. The latest was Ray Steele who
was de-belted at Minneapolis last Tuesday. Before that he had taken a title from Louis
Thesz, St. Louis, and Dean Detton.” Nagurski was recognized as champion in “something
like 42 states,” according to Robert Phipps of the Omaha World Herald. There were
some cancelations due to the main event substitutions.

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, March 24, 1941
(City Auditorium) … Lou Thesz b. Joe Dusek (2/3) … Rudy LaDitzi and Jim Wright drew
(30:00) … Hans Steinke b. Jack Russell (11:14) … Steve Brody and Ralph Garibaldi drew
(20:00) … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Pat McGill) … (1,400 fans)
Note: Omaha World Herald writer Robert Phipps commented on Thesz, saying that he
“had a good distribution of strength and his ring actions have grace, poise and speed.”
He also wrote that Steinke “had the misfortune to work a house that was totally
unresponsive to his tried, true and boring ability. One gallery god jeered: ‘Well, I see all
the young guys have gone to the army.’”

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, March 31, 1941
(City Auditorium) … Women’s World Champion Mildred Burke b. Ethel Meade (11:06) …
Rudy LaDitzi b. Don McIntyre (2/3) … Jim Wright b. Emil Dusek … Steve Brody and Jack
Edwards drew (15:00) … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Pat McGill) … (3,500
fans)
Notes: The regular attendance of around 1,500 jumped to 3,500 tonight because of the
women wrestlers, according to Robert Phipps.

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, April 7, 1941
(City Auditorium) … World Heavyweight Champion Bronko Nagurski b. Rudy LaDitzi (2-0)
… Rudy Strongberg b. Sammy Feeback … Emil Dusek and Ralph Garibaldi drew (20:00)
… Alvin Britt and Steve Brody drew (20:00) … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee:
Wally Karbo) … (1,500 fans)
Notes: Karbo was said to be a member of Tony Stecher’s office in Minneapolis, and
traveling with Bronko Nagurski. He weighed 145-pounds. Robert Phipps of the Omaha
World Herald exposed the fact that Karbo was traveling with the champion to “protect
him.” He wrote that Nagurski had never met Pesek, and wondered why not. But “Pesek,
you recall, never enters an Omaha ring unless the 245-pound Joe Zikmund is the
referee.” Karbo’s name was spelled “Carboe.”

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, April 28, 1941
(City Auditorium) … John Pesek b. Everette Marshall (2/3) … Abe Coleman and
Wladislaw Talun drew (20:00) … Ras Samara b. Milt Peters (18:06) … Joe Dusek b. Cy
Berres (11:50) … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Pat McGill) … (sponsored by:
South Omaha Eagles) … (3,000 fans)
Notes: The newspaper indicated that Talun stood 6’9” compared to his opponent, Abe
Coleman, who was 5’4”. Cy Berres was from Boston and Britt from Emporia, Kansas. The
Pesek-Marshall bout was said to be the “finest match they [the wrestlers] have seen in
ages. It was clean and the fundamentals of a once-honored sport, such a blocking, were
neatly limned.” Coleman and Talun went “20 comical minutes.” Joe Brown of Council
Bluffs was called a “super special fan.”

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, May 5, 1941
(City Auditorium) … Wladislaw Talun b. Ernie Dusek … Abe Coleman b. Emil Dusek (21:
41) … Joe Dusek and Don McIntyre drew … Hans Steinke b. Charlie Harben (4:00) …
(promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Joe Zikmund)
Notes: Stanislaus Zbyszko, who managed by Talun, was “the 12-language man from the
University of Vienna.” Robert Phipps of the Omaha World Herald wrote that there was a
“delightful (for the fans) and embarrassing (for [referee Joe] Zikmund) moment” in the
bout between Emil Dusek and Abe Coleman. Emil had his opponent in a toehold and
Coleman shoulders were touching the mat. Zikmund pounded the mat once, then twice,
then expected Coleman to move his shoulders from the mat. Instead, his hand pounded
a third time, but he said “two” again. “Emil Dusek wasn’t ready for the fall and neither
was Coleman. And neither was Zikmund. As a matter of fact, Coleman won later on, at
21:41.” Phipps added that “Zikmund’s face purpled with shame and confusion.”

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, May 12, 1941
(City Auditorium) … Abe Coleman b. Wladislaw Talun when the latter was unable to
continue due to a sprained ankle … Rudy Strongberg and Earl Wampler drew (30:00) …
Joe Hubka b. Jack Edwards (DQ) (8:19) … Jack Russell and Ras Samara drew …
(promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Joe Zikmund) … (small crowd)
Note: Talun was barefoot in the ring.

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, May 19, 1941
(City Auditorium) … John Pesek b. Abe Coleman (2-0) … Joe Dusek and Rudy
Strongberg drew (30:00) … Earl Wampler b. Stanley Mysljeck (18:26) … Emil Dusek and
Don McIntyre drew (20:00) … (promoter: Max Clayton) … (timekeeper: Clink Clair)
Notes: Ernie Dusek was originally supposed to wrestle Abe Coleman, but he was injured
in Texas. There was a large photo of Pesek with wild turkeys in the Omaha World Herald
on May 19. The paper said that Pesek didn’t break a sweat during his match. McIntyre
was a former football player for Washburn University.

Omaha, Nebraska: Monday, May 26, 1941
(City Auditorium) .. Joe Dusek b. Rudy Strongberg … Ras Samara and Earl Wampler
drew … Joe Hubka and Dobie Osborne drew … Jim Wright b. Dick Raines (DQ) (8:23) …
(promoter: Max Clayton) … (referee: Pat McGill) … (announcer: Bill Fox) …
(timekeeper: Clink Clair) … (smaller than usual crowd) … (benefit for the World Herald
Fresh Air Fund, $70 was donated)
Notes: The wrestlers and officials for the show donated their services for the benefit. A
Don McIntyre-Jack Russell bout was originally scheduled to be the opener for this show
but apparently didn’t come off. Samara had been billed from Greenfield, Massachusetts,
while Russell was from Saginaw, Missouri. Last indoor program of the season.

Research by Tim Hornbaker
February 27, 2008

Omaha Wrestling Results - 1941