Thursday, November 12, 2009

R.I.P. Captain Lou Albano: 1933-2009

It’s Oct. 14, 2009. It’s probably around midnight or later when I’m online checking my usual Web sites. For some reason, as I’m logging onto Yahoo! and Google checking my e-mail, I was drawn to onlineworldofwrestling.com to look up Captain Lou Albano. As I scrolled down, reading his historic career, I was shocked by what I read at the very end of the page…“October 14, 2009: Legendary Captain Lou Albano passed away in Florida at the age of 76.”

I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true. Not Captain Lou.

But, alas, my dear wrestling fanatics it is true. The wrestling world has lost one of the greatest managers of all time…Captain Lou Albano.

Albano was born July 29, 1933 in Rome, Italy. Eventually him and his family immigrated to the United States and lived in the great state of New York. He grew up there actually wanting to become a boxer, but Willy Gilzenberg, a boxing promoter, said he was too short to be a boxer (how rude!) so he instead suggested he become a wrestler. Albano recalls the moment in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pro Wrestling: Second Edition (he's one of the authors), “After I had gotten out of the service, I went to Willie Gilzenberg, who handled boxers ‘Two Ton’ Tony Galento and Red Cochrane, and I told him that I wanted to be a boxer. Gilzenberg said I was too short and suggested that I try wrestling as a career move. Not incidentally, Gilzenberg was also part of the World Wresting Federation. He arranged for me to train, one-on-one, with Soldier Barry and Arnold Skaaland.”

According to the WWE Encyclopedia, Albano began competing in front of small crowds around the New York area. However, after some time, he started working for better promotions in Canada and Chicago. It was while he was working in Chicago he began teaming up with Tony Altomare and created one of the most controversial teams in history; The Sicilians (they were considered controversial because of their mafia innuendos they made on a nightly bases). In 1967 they made the move to the WWE (then, of course, the WWF) and became the WWF US Tag Team Champions after defeating Spiros Arion and Arnold Skaaland (Albano’s mentor).

However, Albano wasn’t exactly the greatest wrestler in the world and he admitted to that. He stated in The Complete Idiots Guide that when he did wrestle he was the one who would ran away from the likes of Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino, and “anyone else who looked like they could do bodily harm”. Even though his act of running away was selling out arenas he was starting to give his career some second thoughts. That’s when Bruno Sammartino said to him, “You’re not a great wrestler, but you never shut up. You’d be a good manager.” With this in mind, Albano went to Vince, Sr. who replied, “You’d be a natural--you’re a good BS-er."

After that Captain Lou Albano was born.

Now it says in the encyclopedia that the first wrestler he managed was Crusher Verdu, a.k.a The Spanish Hercules, while The Complete Idiot’s Guide says it was Oscar LeDoux. Well, whoever was first it was only the beginning of an amazing managerial career that spanned from the late sixties to the early nineties; an incredible twenty-plus years career. Throughout the Complete Idiot's book, Albano tells numerous stories of when he managed the likes of Ivan Koloff, George “The Animal” Steele, Freddie Blassie, the Wild Samoans, and, of course, his infamous feud with Cyndi Lauper that led to one of WrestleMania’s great matches Wendi Richter vs. Lelani Kai. There’s two of Albano’s stories that I have to tell because they’re so unbelievable that they need to be retold so hopefully you guys don’t mind hearing them again.

The first one is how he hyped up Koloff when he faced Bruno Sammartino for the WWF Championship at Madison Square Garden in the early seventies. He decided to attack Italians since Sammartino was, obviously, one. In one promo he stated, “Bruno Sammartino’s Italian. I used to be an Italian, but I changed my name to Captain Lou Albert. Let’s face it, what have ‘guineas’ ever done? All they’ve ever done is drive garbage trucks. I mean, you take the garbage trucks in NY and you see an Italian driving and a Puerto Rican loading. At midday they switch off…”

Ouch! I’m a fellow Italian and that just smarts; especially since my brother works for the town primarily as a garbage man. However, because of those remarks Puerto Ricans and Italians were threatening him. There was one Puerto Rican gang called the Young Lords that actually threatened to kill him.

The night of the match, MSG was packed, which made Captain Lou very happy, but everybody else was scared for their lives. In fact, Koloff told Albano to stay away from him that way he didn’t get hurt, or worse, killed. As soon as the match was over, as Koloff ended Sammartino’s seven year reign as champion, somebody fired off a firecracker. When Albano heard it go off he ran straight out of the arena. As he did fans were throwing everything at him from flowerpots to beer cups, etc.

He ran into a nearby restaurant to seek refuge, but in there there were a bunch of young guys starring at him with ill intent. The bartender said, “Captain Lou, you’d better get out of here!”

He yelled, “Call the cops,” and ran outside to grab a cab. As he did some of those guys followed him out and started banging on the windows and doors of the cab. The cab driver asked him to get out, which he did and ran right back into the restaurant. They followed in and would cause $27,000 worth in damage. Albano, at one point, said in the book, “It was a wild scene, and my managerial hype had created it.” Something good ol’ Captain Lou would say.

The other story is how his feud with Cyndi Lauper began and how he was a huge part of making WrestleMania what it is today. It all started when he met Lauper on a plane ride to Puerto Rico a few years before the first WrestleMania happened. She approached him and said how she’s been a wrestling fan all her life and asked if he wanted to be in her music video “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”. Interesting side story…there was a rumor going around at the time that Lauper was his daughter. However, Albano put an end to it when he said in The Complete Idiot’s Guide that he might’ve played her father in her videos, but that’s it. He was only acting.

While filming the video, Rowdy Roddy Piper asked him to appear on his show “Piper’s Pit”. When he did Piper instead started talking about male supremacy and not the music video or his personal life. So Albano went with the flow and said some derogatory remarks like, “Women are garbage and only good for having babies and cleaning the house.”

Now I’m telling you this story to set up for this story. Since Vince McMahon, Jr. is open to new ideas, Albano decided to go to him with an idea for the very first WrestleMania; Wendi Richter vs. Lelani Kai for the Women’s Championship. However, because of his close friendship with Lauper it became more of Captain Lou Albano vs. Cyndi Lauper to see which gender was better. They set-up the match by having him and Lauper run into each other one night at MSG. That night he, again, said some derogatory remarks like, “You were just a dirty little broad before you met me.”

However, she stood her ground and said, “Tell you what, fat man -- I’m going to put a woman wrestler up against one of your choice. And if my woman wins, you’re going to have to apologize and admit women are at least as good as men -- maybe even better!”

She picked Richter while he, obviously, picked the champion, Kai, but for Vince to truly include the match at the grand spectacle Albano had to publicize it. He did so by going on the Letterman Show. The night he was on women liberation advocates were in the audience booing him though Lou said they were screaming, “Lou, Lou” because he has “the body women love and men envy.” Again a typical Captain Lou response. In the end, Wendi did win and Albano had to eat his words. He considers the match to be very successful, which added to the success of WrestleMania.

Albano wasn't famous just in the wrestling world, though. He would become very famous in the entertainment world starring in movies like Body Slam, Wiseguys, and Stay Tuned. He also lent his voice as Mario in “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show” and created “Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection” in the mid-80’s. But he always stuck with wrestling, managering not only single competitors, but some of the greatest tag teams in wrestling history including the Valiant Brothers, the Wild Samoans, and the British Bulldogs. According to the encyclopedia he actually lead close to twenty teams to titles, which is more than any other manager in sports-entertainment history.

Albano has also showed his kinder side by giving to charities. He was actually named National Fundraising Chairmen of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Finally, in 1996 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately, on Oct. 14 Captain Lou was found dead in his home. He was only 76 years old.

In the encyclopedia writers Brian Shields and Kevin Sullivan had this to say about the wacky manager…“Capt. Lou Albano was a short, round man with limited wrestling ability, but that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the greatest entertainers the industry has ever seen. After a brilliant five decades in the wrestling business, the eccentric Albano will forever be remembered for managing an unprecedented number of champions, an amazing speaking ability and, believe it or not, rubber bands hanging from his face.”

I don't think William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens or any other great writer could've said it any better.

I might be 22 years old, but I do remember Captain Lou and his antics. He was creepy, with the rubber bands hanging from his cheeks, but he was truly a great entertainer.

You will be sorely missed not only by your family and friends, Capt. Lou, but by your fans. Rest in peace!

Much love and “Have a nice day!”.

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