San Francisco Wrestling Results

San Francisco, California: Tuesday, January 2, 1917
(Civic Auditorium) … Ed “Strangler” Lewis and Ad Santel wrestled to a draw (2-hours, 31-
minutes) (no falls) … Billy Romanoff and Charlie Streibart drew (7-minutes) … (promoter:
Frank Schuler) … (referee: Al Williams) … (5,000+ fans) … (gate: $6,275)
Notes: Lewis received 30% of the gate receipts - $1,882.25. Santell received 35% of the
gate - $2,196.25 (for performance and management)
Notes: Al Williams, who was selected as referee, was the wrestling instructor at the
Olympic Club. To prepare for the bout, Ad Santell trained at the Center Club (Golden Gate
Avenue and Octavia street). Lewis trained at the YMCA.

*Joe Stecher would be able to pick his opponent for San Francisco on February 22, 1917
because there was no winner between Santell and Lewis. Many speculated that Santell
was going to be the man selected. He was.

*The Saturday, February 3, 1917 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that
“Stecher, so says report from Omaha, has been discharged from Excelsior Springs as a
cured patient.”

San Francisco, California: Wednesday, February 7, 1917
(Civic Auditorium) … Ad Santel b. William Demetral (2-0) … (promoter: Frank Schuler) …
(referee: Charley Andrews) … (In attendance: Ed “Strangler” Lewis)

San Francisco, California: Thursday, February 22, 1917
(Civic Auditorium) … World Heavyweight Champion Joe Stecher b. Ad Santel (2-0)
(Stecher won the first in 38:17 and the second in 17:54) (Stecher was accompanied by his
wife, Tony Stecher and his wife and manager Hetmanek) (Stecher suffered a sprained
knee ligament during the bout) … (promoter: Frank Schuler) … (referee: Charlie
Andrews) … (10-12,000 fans in attendance) … (gate: $12,643)
Notes: Gate breakdown: Santel Received: $4,425.05 (35 percent); Stecher Received:
$3,792.90 (30 percent); Promoter Received: $4,425.05. Stecher trained for this match at
the Olympic Club with his brother Tony. People were impressed with his workouts,
including Bill von Poellnitz, a trainer at the club. Tiv Kreling liked Stecher’s abilities, but
didn’t think he was fully committed to preparing for the match, and expressed his thoughts
in the February 22 Chronicle. He noted that when the Stecher Brothers trained, they
looked like a vaudeville act. Harry B. Smith of the Chronicle noted that Stecher looked
more like a boxer than a wrestler. Santell trained on the beach with Nick Daviscourt and
his manager Henry Webber. Referee Andrews was wrestling instructor at the University of
California. Santell was credited for reviving wrestling in the area.

*The Wednesday, March 14, 1917 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that
Constantine Romanoff was a wrestling 'ringer' whose real name was Jack Meyers. He was
known for wrestling "under assumed names." Wrestlers were known to "shuffle their names
around like a gambler does a deck of cards." There apparently had been "talk" of
Romanoff entering San Francisco to wrestle Ad Santell before the latter's match with
Stecher.

*On Saturday, March 17, 1917, Ad Santell wrestled Antone Jirsa, who was planned by
promoter Frank Schuler to take on World Champion Joe Stecher on Tuesday in San
Francisco. The match took place at the YMCA gymnasium and was won by Santell in a
very convincing fashion. Santell’s “double-cross” eliminated Jirsa from contention and
cancelled Schuler’s scheduled match, creating a tremendous rift in the local wrestling
troupe. One of the reasons behind Santell’s act was that he was not going to get a piece
of the gate from the Stecher-Jirsa match of which he felt he deserved. In fact, Ad wanted
50%. Jirsa had been built up as a serious challenger to Stecher’s championship and
Schuler had hoped that Santell was going “go along” and further build up Tuesday’s bout.

*Santell was applauded locally for his exposure of Antone Jirsa as not a credible
challenger. Frank Schuler lost $600 in the non-bout between Stecher and Jirsa and was
willing to overlook the situation and continue working with Santell. Santell, after all, was the
top wrestler in San Francisco.

*Through the middle of April 1917, the buzz in San Francisco focused on two major areas.
One was that Earl Caddock had taken the World Heavyweight Title from Joe Stecher and
was making arrangements to tour California. The other was that Chris Londos was going
to return to the city for a series of engagements. He wanted a match with Ad Santell.
Another item was that Harry Foley was going to run a rival promotion against Frank Schuler.

*Chris Londos challenged Ad Santell for a match at the Olympic Club in San Francisco on
Monday, April 16, 1917. Santell didn’t appear. Londos was said to have a boil on the back
of his neck.

San Francisco, California: Tuesday, April 17, 1917
(Dreamland Rink) … Chris Londos b. Taro Myaki (2-0) … (promoter: Frank Schuler) …
(small crowd in attendance)

*New San Francisco promoter Harry Foley made a deal with Charlie Newman in the
promotion of wrestling shows.

San Francisco, California: Tuesday, April 24, 1917
(Dreamland Rink) … Ad Santell b. Farmer Stanton (2-0) … Young Romanoff b. Jim Morgan
(2-0) … Charley Kelly b. Al Studley … LaVance and Schultz drew … (promoters: Harry
Foley and Charlie Newman) … (small crowd in attendance)

*As the wrestling war in San Francisco began to heat up, the devious attempts to discredit
their rivals did as well. An anoynomous source sent a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle
newspaper seemingly written by Adolph Ernst, otherwise known as Ad Santell. The
Chronicle reported that the possible date of the letter was January 6, 1916 and was to a
friend in Chicago, possibly Ivan Michailoff. In the body of the letter, it states that Santell
wanted the receipent to venture to San Francisco and have a series of two matches with
him, thus proving that Ad was lining up his own opponents. It also proved that Santell was
running the city’s wrestling game. The Chronicle reported that there was also no question
that it was Santell who wrote the letter after experts evaluated the signature. The banner
across page 11 of the Wednesday, April 25, 1917 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle
read “Letter indicates Ad Santell Framed San Francisco Matches.”

*Ad Santell accused Al Williams of the Olympic Club as the one who released the letter.
The public was getting wise to the fact that Santell was not only involved in bringing
opponents to the city and “framing” matches, but taking a piece of the gate.

*Chris Londos was scheduled to wrestle Farmer Stanton on Tuesday, May 1, 1917, but
had to pull out due to break of out boils. Nick Daviscourt of San Jose was called in as a
replacement by promoter Harry Foley.

San Francisco, California: Tuesday, May 1, 1917
(Dreamland Rink) … World Middleweight Champion Walter Miller b. World Middleweight
claimant Ted Thye (referee’s decision) (titles were unified) (90:00) … Farmer Stanton b.
Nick Daviscourt (dec., 90:00) … (promoters: Harry Foley and Charlie Newman) …
(referee: Charlie Andrews)
Notes: Thye was said to be from Spokane, Washington.

San Francisco, California: Tuesday, May 15, 1917
(Dreamland Rink) … Marin Plestina b. Ad Santell (dec., 3-hours) (Santell was managed by
Henry Webber) … (promoters: Harry Foley and Charlie Newman) … (referee: Charlie
Andrews)
Note: Plestina was managed by Peter Loch. In preparing for this match, Plestina trained
with George Vasil and Louis O’Donnell at the Center Club gymnasium. It was said in the
papers that Santell (as Ernst) beat Plestina in Chicago around ten years earlier.

*Ad Santell’s match with Marin Plestina all but destroyed his credibility as a formidable
competitor in San Francisco. Many questioned the loss and his lack of offense as a way
out of the city for good. Santell was apparantly avoiding contact with his opponent and it
was very obvious to all that witnessed the match that everything was not on the level.

*With reports in San Francisco of the May 2 Ed Lewis-John Olin controversial match in
Chicago, fans were offered a wide range of criticizm to professional wrestling in the
newspapers. In a match billed as being for the World Heavyweight Title, things didn’t seem
to be squared up, then to have the Santell-Plestina fiasco, wrestling was slowly facing a
death in the Bay Area. The next big match in San Francisco was not going to make things
any better.

San Francisco, California: Tuesday, June 5, 1917
(Civic Auditorium) … Wladek Zbyszko b. Ed “Strangler” Lewis to capture a claim to the
World Heavyweight Title (1-0) (Zbyszko won the only fall after 1:12:02) (time limit expired at
2-hours and 30-minutes) (The matches were originially supposed to stop at 12:00, but
police allowed the bout to go to a finish) (The start of the match was delayed from 9:00 p.
m. until 10:55) (Zbyszko was accompanied by manager Jack Curley) (Lewis was
accompanied by manager Billy Sandow) … (promoters: Harry Foley and Charlie Newman)
… (referee: Charlie Andrews)

*Promoter Charlie Newman was heavily critizied for the handling of the match. His night
began quite strange as well when a lawyer served a judgment of more than $1300 to him at
9:00. Newman proceeded to punch attorney F.T. Finch in the face. Wrangling over money
between Newman, Billy Sandow and Jack Curley delayed the match. Fans began to
display their anger, some wanting their money back. Police were called in to quelm any
potential violence.

Research by Tim Hornbaker
October 21, 2010

San Francisco Results - 1917