Tulsa Wrestling Results

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, July 25, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Hugh Nichols b. Danny McShain (2/3) … Jesse James b. Dick Trout (38:
30) (James used his “Southern Cross” hold, which was a “spectacular flying body scissors”)
… Billy Raburn b. Gil LaCrosse (third round) … Maurice LaChappelle b. Bob Montgomery
(DQ) … Charley Carr b. Steve Nenoff (third round) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee:
Charley Carr)
Notes: Nichols was called twice champion and this match with McShain was see if he should
continue after champion Leroy McGuirk, or “return to his comfortable Hollywood home and
retirement.” McShain was said to be “only 25 years old.” After the main event, the Tulsa City
Athletic Commission held up the purses of Nichols and McShain for a violation of the rules.”

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, August 1, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Danny McShain b. Hugh Nichols (2/3) … Jesse James b. Billy Raburn (2-0)
… Maurice LaChappelle b. Paul Orth (second round) (flying tackle) (LaChappelle was a
substitute for Monte LaDue) … Jimmy Lott and Bob Montgomery drew … Charley Carr b.
Pete Belcastro (second round) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referees: Red Andrews, Eddie
Rogers)
Note: Pete Belcastro was from Weed, California.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, August 8, 1938
(The Coliseum) … World Light Heavyweight Champion Leroy McGuirk b. Jesse James (2/3)
(non-title match) … Maurice LaChappelle b. Paul Orth (21:00) … Toots Estes b. Monte
LaDue (10:00) … Gil LaCrosse b. Bobby Wagner (25:00) … Charley Carr b. Eddie Rogers
(20:00) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referees: Red Andrews, Jimmy Lott)
Notes: Rogers was said to be from Columbus and Carr from Cleveland. Bobby Wagner was
from Manchester, New Hampshire. After McGuirk won, there was both applause and booes,
leading to a fight amongst the fans. Toots Estes claimed to never have lost a match in Tulsa
and wanted a bout with McGuirk for the title.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, August 15, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Toots Estes b. World Light Heavyweight Champion Leroy McGuirk (2/3)
(non-title match) (Estes was three pounds over the 175 pound limit) … Red Berry b. Maurice
LaChappelle (2-0) … Jimmy Lott b. Buddy Knox … Jack Lipscomb b. Steve Nenoff (12:00) …
(promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee: Red Andrews)
Notes: Toots Estes had attended Southwestern State Teachers college and learned about
wrestling from Joe Milam, who was taught by McGuirk’s teacher, Ed Gallagher. Lipscomb was
from Indianapolis.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, August 22, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Toots Estes b. Red Berry (2-0) (first fall by DQ) … Jesse James b. Jimmy
Lott (2-0) (McShain refereed this match and was showing pro-James favortism, which drew
the ire of fans) … Marshall Carter b. Charley Carr (20:00) … Toto Higami b. Jack Lipscomb
(DQ) (Lipscomb initially won the match, then smashed referee McShian, and the decision was
reversed) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referees: Red Andrews, Danny McShain)
Notes: Marshall Carter was from Sedalia or Centralia, Missouri. The Tulsa Daily World
stated that “Toots is a smaller edition of Jack Dempsey, even to Jack’s ‘ladylike’ voice and
ham-like hands. The high soft voice is misleading.” Leroy McGuirk demanded a rematch with
Toots Estes.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, August 29, 1938
(The Coliseum) … World Light Heavyweight Champion Leroy McGuirk b. Toots Estes (2/3)
(grudge match, title not on the line) (McGuirk was booed by the audience) … Danny McShain
b. Jack Lipscomb … Jesse James b. Maurice LaChappelle (22:00) … Billy Raburn b. Charley
Carr (29:00) … (promoter: Sam Avey)

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, September 5, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Jesse James b. World Light Heavyweight Champion Leroy McGuirk in the
finals of a five-man battle royal (title was not on the line) (24:00) (Paul Orth was the first
eliminated, and “was dismissed for the evening without pay”) … Red Berry b. Danny McShain
(10:00) … George Wagner b. Jack Lipscomb (17:00) … Benny Wilson b. Flash Clifford (9:00)
… (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee: Red Andrews)
Notes: George Wagner was said to be from Albany, New York and Benny Wilson from
Abilene, who was called the Texas Light Heavyweight Champion. Orth reportedly had three
teeth knocked loose during the battle royal.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, September 12, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Toots Estes b. Jesse James (2/3) … Red Berry b. Tony Morelli (14:30) …
George Wagner b. Buddy Knox … Benny Wilson b. Jack Lipscomb (DQ) … (promoter: Sam
Avey)
Notes: Toots Estes had reportedly been wrestling since he was in grade school. The winner
of the Estes-James bout would face McGuirk for the Light Heavyweight Title. Toots was
called a “brilliant speedster, and is especially well gorunded in the finer points of wrestling.
His long experience as an amateur, on top of his professional experience, gives him a fine
background,” according to the Tulsa Daily World.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, September 19, 1938
(The Coliseum) … World Light Heavyweight Champion Leroy McGuirk b. Toots Estes (2-0)
(first fall occurred in 1:10:00, and the second in less than a minute) (the referee stopped the
bout in the second fall) … Red Berry b. Paul Orth (Orth went for a flying tackle, and ended up
knocking himself out and the referee) … Toto Higami b. Sugy Hayamaka (11:30) … Jimmy
Lott b. Buddy Knox (19:00) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee: Red Andrews) … (about
5,000 fans)
Notes: The Tulsa Daily World stated that McGuirk “has been a dominant figure in Oklahoma
wrestling for the past 10 years or more.” He “starred at Tulsa Central high school and
Oklahoma A & M college before turning pro, had more than 400 matches before his
shoulders were ever pinned.” The newspaper said that if McGuirk lost the Estes, he would
not only lose his championship, but also the “distinction of being Oklahoma’s all-time No. 1
grappler.” Tony Morelli issued a challenge to the winner of the Berry-Orth bout.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, September 26, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Jesse James b. Danny McShain (2-0) (first fall by DQ) … Tony Morelli b.
Red Berry (2/3) … Speedy LaRance b. George Wagner (18:00) … Bob Montgomery b. Flash
Clifford (Clifford was a substitute for Benny Wilson) … (promoter: Sam Avey)

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, October 3, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Jesse James b. Tony Morelli (2/3) … Toots Estes b. “Sailor” Dick Trout (37:
00) … Speedy LaRance b. Billy Venable (third round) … George Wagner b. Larry Tillman
(second round) (dropkicks) … (promoter: Sam Avey)
Notes: Jesse James wanted matches with the 175-pound champion McGuirk and the 190-
pound champion Bob Keneston. The paper still said that Wagner was from Albany.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, October 10, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Toots Estes b. Frank Wolff (24:00) … Speedy LaRance b. Paul Orth (18:
00) … Jackie Nichols b. George Wagner (21:00) (called the cleanest and fastest duel of the
evening – and it was a thrilling sizzler”) … Tony Morelli b. Joe Smolinski (14:30) … Ali Pasha
b. Fritz Krueger (9:00)
Notes: Frank Wolff “was shipped out to sea when he was a 14-year-old lad and joined the
army when he was 17.” In response to the statement that he was getting up there in age,
Wolff responded that he was younger than Jim Londos, “the best wrestler in the world today.”
Smolinski was called a Lithuanian from Portland, Nichols was from Syracuse, and Krueger
was from Minneapolis. Wagner was called a “short-legged Albany speedball.” All matches
were one-fall to a finish.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, October 17, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Toots Estes and “Sailor” Dick Trout b. Bob Montgomery and Frank Wolff
(2-0) (team match) … Jesse James b. Jackie Nichols (28:00) … George Wagner b. Bob
Castle (DQ in second round) (match scheduled for three ten minute rounds, or one fall) … Ali
Pasha b. Billy Venable (second round) … (promoter: Sam Avey)
Notes: Bob Keneston was called the “newly crowned junior heavyweight (190-pound)
wrestling champion.” He was going to appear in the city, and had four challengers in James,
McGuirk, Morelli, and LaRance. Castle was a newcomer from Kansas City. Estes and Trout
were called the “team match champions of the southwest,” and had won three straight team
bouts.

*The Wednesday, October 19, 1938 edition of the Tulsa Daily World reported that Danny
McShain captured the World Light Heavyweight Title from Leroy McGuirk in Little Rock on
October 18, winning one-fall in a two-hour bout. The paper said that McGuirk protested the
decision, but Col. Harry L. Landry, present of the NWA who was ringside, “said a two-hour
match was a championship contest under association rules. He presented McShain with the
diamond studded belt emblematic of the championship.” Tuesday night, according to the
paper, McGuirk called the Tulsa Daily World and explained that he will continue to protest the
decision, thus “would continue to claim the 175-pound title.” McGuirk said “I won that crown in
a two-out-of-three-falls finish match and that’s the only way I can rightfully lose it. Colonel
Landry ruled against me, but I’m going to appeal to the championship committee of the NWA.
All I want is a fair deal. McShain just got in a lucky punch as I came off the ropes. I can
outwrestle him any day of the week and he knows it.”

*The paper said, “This is the second time McGuirk has lost the title he won from Hugh
Nicholss (sic) more than four years ago and the second time McShain has been the
recognized NWA champion. McGuirk lost to Bobby Chick in a match here and Chick then was
deprived of the title by Red Berry, who in turn was beaten by McShain. McGuirk then
dethroned McShain last winter.”

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, October 24, 1938
(The Coliseum) … World Junior Heavyweight Champion Sergeant Bob Keneston b. Leroy
McGuirk (2/3) … Bobby Chick b. Speedy LaRance (27:00) … “Sailor” Dick Trout b. Sugy
Hayamaka (18:00) … Frank Wolff b. Bob Castle (13:00) … Benny Wilson b. Billy Venable (17:
30) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee: Red Andrews)
Notes: Keneston, reportedly, “captured the junior heavyweight title from Dude Chick only
recently.” It was McGuirk’s second shot at the junior title, having also wrestled Chick in Tulsa.
Bobby Chick was called a “former light heavyweight champ.” The paper hyped up the fact
that McGuirk had lost his second bout within a week. McGuirk reportedly was “sprinkled with
boils from his shoulders to his ankles,” and claimed that effected his performance. He said
that he only had one boil going into the match, “but afterward they popped out all at once. I
guess I perspired too much salt out of my body, for I was never before troubled this way.” The
paper stated that Clara Mortensen was “billed nationally as the champion woman wrestler of
the world,” and that she was going to wrestle in Tulsa next Monday.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, October 31, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Danny McShain b. Bobby Chick (2/3) (non-title match) (Bobby was
accompanied by his brother Dude) … Women’s Champion Clara Mortensen b. Mildred White
(14:00) (flying body scissors) … “Sailor” Dick Trout b. Leo Mortensen (20:00) … Joe
Smolinski b. Flash Clifford … Toto Higami b. Eddie Rogers … (promoter: Sam Avey) …
(referee: Red Andrews)
Notes: The Tulsa Daily World stated that Clara Mortensen, “according to Jack Dempsey, can
really wrestle. The Old Mauler, in recommending her said: ‘She can beat a lot of men – and I
don’t mean boys.’” Mildred White was a brunette from Chicago. Dude Chick was Bobby’s
older brother.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, November 7, 1938
(The Coliseum) … The Chick Brothers (Bobby and Dude Chick) b. Speedy LaRance and
Frank Wolff (2-0) … Women’s Champion Clara Mortensen b. Lucille Wilson (14:00) … Jesse
James b. Toto Higami (20:00) … Fritz Krueger b. Leo Mortensen (third round) … Bob Castle
b. Johan Von Bromberg (second round) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee: Red Andrews)
Notes: The Tulsa Daily World (11/6/38) stated that Bobby was the smaller of the two Chick
Brothers, and “turned professional first – while Dude was riding wild horses in rodeos – so he
is generally reagarded as the older. Bobby even admits it, with a smile, and so does Dude.
However, the boys were born in Sidney, Neb., and a writer for that paper recently insisted
that, while Bobby may be the older of the two, Dude is no more than five minutes his junior.
So they may be twins, but Bobby can’t be accused of misrepresenting facts. For five
minutes, after all, is five minutes. The ‘Big Chick,’ who is known all over the Pacific coast as
‘Cowboy’ Dude, forgot all about bareback riding when Bobby, then still a youngster,
astounding the mat world by taking the 147-pound title from Jack Reynolds. Reynolds, a
miracle man of the mat, beat him in a rematch and was a champion for about 18 years, but
Bobby firmly established himself in that one match, and years later won and lost the 175-
pound belt. Dude, who has been emulating his ‘older’ brother in everything pertaining to
wrestling, was never satisified until he won a title, too. He took the 190-pound crown from big
Alvin Britt and defended it scores of times against the best junior heavyweights in the world.
But he finally ran into Sergt. Bob Keneston, the big, battering former marine, and now there is
no wrestling crown in the Chick family.” Wolff “might have found the fountain of youth during
his campaign in Old Mexico,” and “is one of the best conditioned athletes in the country.”
Lucille Wilson of Omaha “has kith and kin that are both weight lifters and wrestlers, as well as
a brother (George of Washington U.) that was an all-American football star, and is rated by
many as the best back in Pacific Coast conference history.” Mortensen was called the 135-
pound women’s champion.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, November 14, 1938
(The Coliseum) … World Light Heavyweight Champion Danny McShain b. Bobby Chick (2-0)
(second fall by countout) … Ernie Piluso b. Speedy LaRance (19:00) … Red Berry b. Toots
Estes (24:00) … Toto Higami b. Larry Tillman (13:00) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee:
Red Andrews)
Notes: The Tulsa Daily World stated that Bobby Chick “won the undisputed championship of
the 147-pound division when he was a youngster, not fully developed. He took a one-fall
verdict over Gus Kallio, the 160-pound titleholder, in a bout that was stopped by a ‘midnight
law’ and layed claim to the middleweight crown. He met Kallio twice later, getting a draw on
each occasion, and then gave up the quest for that title because he was gaining weight too
rapidly.” The paper also stated that “No one can deny that Chick met the best when he lost
his titles, as Jack Reynolds captured his 147-pound championship and Hugh Nichols knocked
him off the light heavyweight perch.” McShain was a major heel in Tulsa.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, November 21, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Red Berry b. World Light Heavyweight Champion Danny McShain (2-0)
(non title match) … Ernie Piluso b. “Sailor” Dick Trout (33:00) … Frankie Taylor b. Emir Badui
(16:00) … Frank Wolff b. Ali Pasha (17:30) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referees: Red
Andrews, Eddie Rogers)
Note: Dick Trout “wrestled in the orient during his service in the U.S. Navy.”

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, November 28, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Ernie Piluso b. Red Berry (2/3) … “Sailor” Dick Trout b. Speedy LaRance
(22:00) … Jesse James b. Emir Badui (DQ) … Bunny Martin b. Bob Castle (second round) …
(promoter: Sam Avey) … (referees: Red Andrews, Eddie Rogers)
Note: Martin was from Sand Springs.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, December 5, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Ernie Piluso b. Red Berry (2-0) (first fall by DQ) (second fall in 30
seconds) … Dude Chick b. Taro Eito (23:00) … “Wild” Bill Zimovich b. Fritz Krueger (13:30)
… Bill Marcus b. Jose Rodriguez (DQ) … (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee: Red Andrews)
Notes: With the win, Piluso was the leading challenger to McShain’s championship. Dude
Chick was said to be from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Zimovich was said to be from Nicaragua.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, December 12, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Ernie Piluso b. Leroy McGuirk (2/3) … Dude Chick b. Bill Zimovich (21:30)
… “Sailor” Dick Trout b. Bob Montgomery (23:00) … Taro Eito b. Jose Rodriguez (DQ) …
(promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee: Red Andrews)
Note: Chick, reportedly, hadn’t lost a bout in Tulsa in more than a year.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, December 19, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Ernie Piluso b. “Sailor” Dick Trout in the finals of an eight-man battle royal
(Speedy LaRance and Frank Wolff were the first two eliminated) … Red Lyons b. Joe
Smolinski (11:00) … Red Berry b. Fritz Krueger (14:00) … Larry Tillman b. Eddie Rogers …
(promoter: Sam Avey)
Notes: The Tulsa Daily World stated that Ernie Piluso was “Ernesto Vinciquerra Piluso.” The
paper also said that “Broni Smolinski” was “better known as Joe or ‘Muscles.’”

Tulsa, Oklahoma: Monday, December 26, 1938
(The Coliseum) … Ernie Piluso and “Sailor” Dick Trout b. Red Berry and Red Lyons (2/3)
(Berry was forced to leave the match after the second fall due to a back injury) … Toots
Estes b. Frank Wolff (24:00) (rolling cradle) (Estes suffered a “gash” on the side of his nose
during the bout) … Joe Smolinski b. Speedy LaRance (DQ) … Bob Montgomery b. Ali Pasha
… (promoter: Sam Avey) … (referee: Red Andrews)

Research by Tim Hornbaker

Tulsa Wrestling Results - 1938

Custom Search